Winter Engine build

[HFStuart]

As ever Eric you're quite right.

I'd be less frustrated if it weren't for the fact that it's hardly my first build, not even my first T/C. It is my first 'failure' though and the fact that I don't know what I did bugs me.

Still I'll see what Guy says of the baffles and then it's reassembly with perhaps news rings and a hone and new guides & seats. Then everything carefully together and see how it goes. Given the power it made on the standard carb it was obvioulsy fundamentaly a good unit. I've ordered that VX oil pump to go with it - though as it's New Old Stock Guy might get that to check too.

PS As of today the garage is cleaned and painted 

[HFStuart]

Wow - I'd forgotten how old this thread was...

With the second rebuild engine in, running and MOT'd with (so far) no sign of the previous oil surge I've had a bit of a windfall from Mr PPI courtesy of HBOS.

So next week I'm going to Emerald tuning to talk about sizing of Jenveys and the kit of parts I need to convert. I've already got some bits for the Megajolt I was going to put on some of which I can use but obviously there's lots more for EFI. I'll also have a measure up to see if I can get the shorter (91mm) Jenvey TBs in without moving the radiator.

Watch this space but with luck in a couple of months I should have a very interesting car to drive.

NB For those worried about originality everything will be reversible!

[HFStuart]

I've made steady progress on the throttle body conversion, particulary in the last two weekends but if anyone is thinking of doing this don't be fooled by thinking it's a 'bolt-on' job.

Just about every part of it has required a modification and/or some serious head scratching. Just fitting the TBs required three different lengths of studs and the Guy Croft manifold much the same. I've had to fit an idler pulley to the alternator belt to stop it fouling the crank sensor. Even the ECU itself has a custome made bracket to sit on. I've made things a little more difficult for myself by having everything easily reversible but there's still a load to do to fit around family and children.

Going in - BTW when fitting a GC inlet put the servo vacuum offtake in first otherwise you'll find there isn't quite enough room to rotate it and end up cutting it short as you can't face removing the manifold again....


Fuel lines going in  - this is a bit more advanced now with both low pressure and high pressure circuits finished and pressure tested


More pics to follow.

[lanciamad]

Nice to see this progressing Stuart, look forward to following it, I hope to get mine done eventually 

[HFStuart]

The throttle cable went on today (again a bit of a problem - custom made clevis for the pedal end and an M8 adjuster to get through the bulkhead, with the cable routed though the middle of the alternator bracket) and amazingly I got a perfect fit first time with full throttle as the pedal hit the stop.

Last weekend I finished and pressure tested the fuel system. That was all OK at 5 bar so I've turned it back down to 3 ready for running. Calculations on flow rates showed that the mechanical pump would probably be OK as a lift pump but I decided 'probably' wasn't good enough so a solid state facet has gone under the boot floor, wired in tandem with the HP pump. Both pumps are supplied vial a fused relay the feed to which goes through an inertia switch (just in case). I may yet run them via an oil pressure switch too but I haven't quite figured out how to deal with starting 

All the mechanical and fuel is now done. Wife and daughter are way next weekend so I expect that's when I'll do the electrical and maybe see if she'll start.

BTW does anyone know even roughly how the oil pressure gauge is calibrated and/or what pressure the light comes on at?

[WestonE]

Stuart

You have done very well and the low oil pressure switch come on at 14PSI which Is why I changes mine for one that switches at 35PSI (demon tweeks via 1/8NPt to 14mm adaptor. For the cranks sensor I used a cut down VX pulley and a disc from twigger wheels.com because the VX pulley has a step on it. Sorry I cannot engage more my wife is in hospital so I am not very lancia focused just now.

Eric 

[WestonE]

Stuart

For the oil pressure/temp gauge invest in proper ones i.e. Autometer or Racetech with the matched senders. For a single gauge I would go for the Racetech mechanical combined oil pressure oil temp with the oil temp in the plumbing coming back from the oil cooler to the engine. You just cannot trust the Lancia gauges or the wiring to them to tell you what you need to know.

Eric

[HFStuart]

Thanks Eric - 14psi eek!

I think I'll change the pressure sender for a decent one and find a discreet location for a decent capiliary gauge as I agree the Lancia one is not trustworthy. When I had a T/C in my skoda I ended up with a racetech one - a perfect fit in the OE dash too!

I like the case study in the new GC book by the way - though I think Guy could have used a better proofreader.

I didn't get as much done at the weekend as I'd hoped but the cables are roughtly routed with CTS ATS, power and earth connected. I have also sprial wrapped the cables runs that are in final position and managed to cut my face with the end of it as it whipped round  (ouch)

[Ammy]

"People in glass houses" springs to mind ! ! !

[HFStuart]

Very true  - but I'm not publishing a book and Guy claims it was proof read!

[HFStuart]

So.....first time on the car since before Christmas, a day and a half of wiring and...

It didn't start

Then I saw I'd left the dust caps in the throttle bodies ( idiot ! ) and away it went. OK so it didn't run very long and the bodies  / pot etc need setting up but it started and ran on all four and made a very nice noise too!

Very happy at the moment.

Less good is that the Ford coil pack has M4 pin connections so my leads don't fit and I'll have to get a custom set made - my brass nut bodge will do for now though.

[HFStuart]

A bit of fettling today.

The custom leads turned up (24hr turnaround from Magnecor - very good) so I fitted them also the rampipes and temporary filters. A few other bits & bobs too like the cam cover and strut braces.

I jury rigged the tacho drive to find it needs a voltage amplifier to run - not to worry one cam with the ECU so I fitted that too.

The engine ran and idled OK but it wouldn't pick up cleanly, it was just like carbs with no accelerator pump. Before I mucked about with anything I spoke to Emerald and they suggested using the injector scaling function to adjust the whole map at once. Suspecting it was lean I started increasing the fuelling in small increments. Once I got to 25% more fuel it then ran really well, perhaps a touch rich but I'll cope with that until it's mapped (booked for the 24th Feb). I then used the live adjustment feature to lean off the idle mixture a bit to give a lump free idle.

A ten minute round the block and all seems very well it pulls cleanly with bags of torque on part throttle and nothing fell off or went bang.

I'm seriously impressed with the Emerald kit now I've got used to it and I'm struggling to believe it's actually working - I'm not sure how it could have gone better.

I've a few more jobs to do - fabricate an airbox, fit an in head thermostat and probably move the radiator out a bit more but essentially it's done. I'm now VERY curious to see what it makes when Emerald map it.

[WestonE]

Stuart

Congratulations and good luck on the Rolling Road. I would suggest you run it in on the Rolling Road (40 minutes) and do an oil Change before full mapping. And I strongly suggest you do not drive it any more under load until it has been mapped e.g. use a trailer.

Cheers

Eric 

[HFStuart]

Thankfully the engines done 500 trouble free miles on the carb before I started the conversion so it's nicely bedded in.

Todays work was finishing fabricating the airbox and giving in and moving the rad.

I'm quite please with the airbox considering I've never made anything like it before. Pop rivets rather than welded but good enough I think



The curve on it is to clear the alternator battery +ve



I've used some neoprene foam to get the lid to seal.




I also cleared out the shed to try to find my spare top rail (which wasn't in there...)  Amazingly this is just the stuff that was in the shed on the floor the stuff on the racks stayed put (the roller is helping the fence stand up in the wind!)



Next weekend reassembly and making sure it still runs OK.

[75coupe]

Nice work on the airbox Stuart! Are you using a remote filter?

[HFStuart]

And the answer is......

153 bhp @ 6300 without the airbox
147 bhp @ 6300 with the airbox.

Near flat torque curve from 3000rpm at 130-135lb/ft and will take full throttle from 1200prm in 5th.

Nothing fell off, nothing broke and the guy on the road described mapping it as a pleasure

I'm really, really happy with that. I can't belive how driveable it is, there's no big rush to the red line just a linear shove and a great sound to go with it.
It's properly quick, quick enough that the rev counter can't keep up in second so I hit the soft cut at 6400 while the rev counter still said 5800!

With the airbox off it ran slightly lean at higher revs so there was probably a few more horses to come. We didn't bother mapping that as it's stupidly noisy with just the trumpets and I wouldn't run it on the road like that.



This was taken from the middle of the session when we ran it to 6200. It looked to be tailing off but we ran to 6400rpm and peak was at just under 6300

[gengis]

Absolutely superb...you got to be pleased with that.

Enjoy.

[HFStuart]

Here's a clip of the rolling road session

(And yes, I'm delighted with it)

Lancia Beta Spider Rolling Road. Jenvey Throttle bodies + Emerald

[lbcoupe76]

Nice one, sounds good too.