I thought i'd drop you a link to a slideshow of all the progress on the car so far plus a few new photos to show you where it's at at the moment.

 

Just having a mass ebay then ordering new parts in the next couple of weeks.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/600zx/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers daffy, finished checking tolerances last night and journal bearings are perfectly to spec. Bore never gives me the same reading twice - I'm not keen on these digital Verniers I've had to borrow. Wish I'd remembered to pick up pete's clock one up on the way out Thursday :headvswal

Nick you really need a bowers bore gauge to check the cylinders, so you need to find a friendly engineering shop who will lend you one as they are about £1500 to buy:scared:

if you can get hold of one you can step check the bores at various depths of the bore for any tapper discrepency.

looks sweet mate. keep it up :thumbup:

Cheers buddy :)

 

Nick you really need a bowers bore gauge to check the cylinders, so you need to find a friendly engineering shop who will lend you one as they are about £1500 to buy:scared:

if you can get hold of one you can step check the bores at various depths of the bore for any tapper discrepency.

 

Blimey that looks like a substantial piece of kit!

 

The engine has come from the same engineering shop so the tolerances should be very similar and from measuring they look about the same as they're both supposed to be bored to 3 thou over although my old engine looks a little looser.

 

I think i'm going to have to resort to taking the rings off each piston and regrind them or at least check a couple of them to see just how far off they are. If the ring fits back in with no difference in gap i should be alright to fit the pistons straight back in as is.

 

Unfortunately i don't know any engineers round this way with that sort of kit so i'll just have to do it the old fashioned way.

I can send you some internal calipers and a micrometer to suit the size bore I think I have a 3"-4" micrometer in my box if you get stuck

Cheers daffy, finished checking tolerances last night and journal bearings are perfectly to spec. Bore never gives me the same reading twice - I'm not keen on these digital Verniers I've had to borrow. Wish I'd remembered to pick up pete's clock one up on the way out Thursday :headvswal

 

ime not either mate...there never consistent enough and the market is flooded with "ting tong go wrong" shite:censored: clock one all day:thumbup1:

I can send you some internal calipers and a micrometer to suit the size bore I think I have a 3"-4" micrometer in my box if you get stuck

 

Cheers mate, i think the best and only way to do this properly is just to take a cast ring off the piston gently and sit in the bore and measure the gap.

 

If it's to spec in both bores on both blocks i know for sure everything will fit if not then i'll have to regrind the rings before fitting each piston.

 

It's a pain but not too bad with 16 rings and i've got the tools to do it.

 

Cheers for the offer mate :)

 

ime not either mate...there never consistent enough and the market is flooded with "ting tong go wrong" shite:censored: clock one all day:thumbup1:

 

These are dodgy chinese ones from what i can see and nowhere near as good as the good old dial ones :)

Well you guys and gals have motivated me to push on till the end so last night spent the evening stripping the new engine down and boxing things up then loading the old and new blocks up into the back of the estate and i'm taking an extended lunchbreak to drop them off at knight racing services to be honed out.

 

Peter remembered me amazingly enough from the last time and knows exactly which block it is but they're in the process of building 35(!) race spec LS7 corvette engines to run in the various events this year so estimated time is 2-4 weeks.

 

That would take me into mid/late feb and right to the knuckle as i lose the current house on the 28th.

 

I'll give you more news as i know it but hopefully my mondeo will be a little bit lighter on the way home tonight! :lol:

Nice to hear that Nick :D

Okay first update in a while. Firstly thanks to all you guys who've helped me out, i'm still awaiting the block to come back from the engineering shop so i've had to decide whether i'll have time to get it done and back in the car.

 

The answer is no unfortunately, i need at least 2 weeks to build the engine and get it in and the garage needs to be empty on the 28th so i'll have to resort to plan B. The engine parts are in the garage at my gran's with enough room to build the engine but not put it in the car so i'll crack on with that as soon as i get it back.

 

In the meantime i decided it was a good time to move the shell to the new house.

 

I borrowed a solid towbar off Slick Pete yesterday and got the car prepped to drag over to measham. Bearing in mind i've not driven the car on the road since october and i've completely reworked the subframe and suspension design so i had no idea how it was going to handle.

 

The other problem was steering alignment which i had no idea where the wheels were at, it was tipping it down with rain and the car was fogged up.

 

I have to say it was probably one of the least pleasant drives i've ever had in my life with being able to see about 3 foot in front of the car, the mondeo taking up all the view and hanging out the window like a dog in the summer being hit with crap off the road, gravel and hard rain.

 

The car handles brilliantly, steering is solid and there is absolutely 100% no bump steer so looks like my design worked spot on! :hyper:

 

The car is now sitting on the driveway of my new house so in the meantime i'm going to crack on with rewiring and piping my engine bay as well as tidy it up in preparation for the engine coming back.

 

More to come as it gets done folks :)

Fantastic! The block's ready to be collected! :hyper:

 

Going to pick it up tonight so i'll get it straight round my gran's house tonight and get stuck in cleaning it :)

Well done mate, will look forward to seeing it and having a ride at the BBQ :)

Well done Nick I am glad to see you back on track :)

Well done mate, will look forward to seeing it and having a ride at the BBQ :)

 

Well done Nick I am glad to see you back on track :)

 

Cheers guys, you'll both more than welcome to come out for a spin in it :)

 

I still haven't had chance to put that cheque in yet Allan (i put it on the firepolace at the new house and put it away somewhere but can't find it! :headvswal )

dont loose it as the money has already been removed from my account as it is classed as a cash withdrawal

No worries about that - it'll be in the folder with all the other paperwork i scooped off the fireplace :)

Fingers crossed........good luck with Mate

nice one mate, wish i was closer, couldnt do much but im a great support and cracking tea maker lol

 

good to see you sticking with it

Fingers crossed........good luck with Mate

 

Cheers buddy, already busy moving all the components across to the engine building workshop as we speak :)

 

nice one mate, wish i was closer, couldnt do much but im a great support and cracking tea maker lol

 

good to see you sticking with it

 

lol, cheers mate - I could do with a few nice brews while i'm working the most i have is a pint glass filled up with water because there's no flipping kettle.

 

Good news is the new garage is at my gran's so i get free tea and amazing cakes :rofl:

lol, i'll put some up when i get back to the garage tomorrow :)

 

Well popped down to see Peter Knight at Knight Motorsport Services to collect the block and as promised it's spot on. He was busy prepping a ford small block on the dyno when i got there so stayed an hour or so chatting to him about the project.

 

If anyone knows how much this engine will put out it's him (they're building 37 at the moment and 100s over the years) and after telling him the spec he firstly complimented me on my choice of components, secondly said they should all work together very nicely and thirdly said that i'd be well over 400bhp and approaching 500bhp but the manifolds are going to hold me back by about 60bhp so i think 450bhp is a target with those headers on.

 

Something to think about later on but he recommends long headers to get the power out of the block in the long run but other than that all this mythology of single/dual plane witchcraft is a load of rubbish for the spec of engine i'm running he says and single plane is the way to go with this build which is a relief!

 

He's said cashwise he can set the whole engine up on the dyno for £400 if i provide my oil and petrol which sounds alot but this guy can eek every last ounce of power out of that block so i've decided for the time being i'll build the engine, get it running and in the car and get it as close to perfect as i can using the AEM wideband sensor.

 

When i take it off the road at the end of the year i'll remove the engine, drop it off and get them to set it up while i respray and re-loom the engine bay.

 

Popped the block in the back, took it to gran's with the engine crane and dropped it off.

 

So all being well tomorrow night i'll go over and start prepping the block for the build. I'm off all sunday afternoon/evening so i'll crack on with it then for a long session.

 

More to come as we get there.

Well seeing as i haven't said anything for weeks here's an update for you guys. I moved in about 4 weeks ago, finally finished clearing the place Monday night and found i'd ran completely out of space in my new house to store anything - in fact i'm now driving to and from work with a car full of bits from the garage :(

 

As you'll see from the photos in a sec i haven't got any outdoor storage apart from a tiny 2 x 6 shed that's full with Rover parts so i've ordered a new shed to be delivered this Sunday. It's 12' long and 8' wide so moving everything from my gran's garage to it over the course of the weekend ready to start building the engine next week in the evenings.

 

All the stuff in boxes should actually be refitted onto the V8 when it's done so hopefully should have loads of storage available when it's finished and set it up as a proper workshop.

 

Anyway back to the project itself. Last weekend Neil came up and picked up the spoiler - bit of a pain to get off (ended up using a breadknife in the end to cut the silicon!) but it came off, a bit of cash in the pocket for it and just rested the table top spoiler on top to see what it looks like before filling the boot and drilling the new holes.

 

I have to admit i like it but starting to think more and more about selling that two and using the money to buy a 99 spec rear spoiler which is what i would have liked originally.

 

What are your thoughts guys?

 

As you can see - minimal space to work but if i move it around i should just be able to get the engine hoist under it and get the engine and box back in again fingers crossed.

 

The coal bunker is coming down this weekend so if anyone wants one for gratis as well as a shed load of timber from cutting the hedge down drop me a PM.

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit i like it but starting to think more and more about selling that two and using the money to buy a 99 spec rear spoiler which is what i would have liked originally.

 

After all your hard graft getting this project done mate, if I were you I would go for the look you really want, and not something anyone else thinks, you may end up dissapointed if you go any other way. So I would say 99spec rear spoiler as it's what you really want imho.:yes:

You are right unfortunately buddy, i haven't skimped anywhere on the project so i shouldn't really with this, especially if i'm having to spray the boot after welding and filling it - i only want to be doing it once! :headvswal

 

Well in that case i haven't got enough right now so i'll smooth the boot off, get it sprayed and start saving for a 99spec next month.

You wanna get the front lowered there a bit fella :lol:

I like it with the table top, I was always a 99spec fan, but the table top is growing more and more on me and it looks good on your car.