Hi all, been a while since I’ve been on here. Kind of lost interest with my car being off the road really, a few had been asking about the car so …

Now another 12 weeks delay because of piston manufacturer being useless!!

 

To cut a long story short when the engine first failed we stripped it down and discovered that the first machinist had put the valve pockets in the wrong place so had some valve/piston contact hi revs, pistons scrap 

Original pistons were made by wossner but they couldn’t do a new set any time soon and very expensive so went to one of the American companies, been a nightmare with almost 6 months of waiting and mess-ups! Fortunately Chris who is now building the engine is a great guy and over 30 years experience of high end motorsport engine builds, I suspect most would not have spotted these issues. Happened like this:

 

Us: Hi, can you make me a set pf pistons like the one I sent you but with correct pockets?

Them: Yes, no problem.

Us: Great, when.

Them: Oh, about 4 weeks.

Us: OK, brilliant.

 

At this point we cleaned up the block and heads, got replacement valves etc. then they called back.

 

Them: You know your pistons, well we can’t make rings in that size, can you go up to 98.5mm on the bore (0.5mm up).

Us: Well OK, but it’s a hassle as block has just been prepped but OK.

 

Now took nearly 3 MONTHS to get the pistons by which time I was getting very annoyed.

So now bottom end fully prepped, balanced and assembled for dummy build with oil control rings only on.

Dummy build done and valve clearances, cam movement allowance checked etc.

On removal for final build, the oil control rings didn’t ‘feel’ right. Turned out they were a 2.8mm ring pack and the groove was 3.0mm fortunately Chris spotted this, I wouldn’t have! So got back in touch.

 

Us: Explained situation.

Them: Ah, yes you’re right, we find matching rings for that bore size.

Us: Well OK, but we changed the bore size to suit the rings!

Them: Oh, right, erm let me talk to engineering.

 

Nearly a month of constant phone calls and we get

 

Them: Erm, we’re going to have to make a new set, will rush it through as this is all terribly embarrassing. Let me assure you I’ll personally make sure the next set are correct.

Us: OK, but bottom end all balanced, you need to make them to target weight as well.

Them: No problem, be with you in 2 weeks.

 

Another 2 MONTHS passes with lots of calls then finally new set arrive but unbelievably they’re wrong too!!!!

Us: Yes we received them but the groove is still wrong.

Them: No sir, it’s 2.8mm.

Us: Yes, but its 5mm deep for a 2.5mm ring, the ends can cross!

Them: Oh, b*****s, terribly sorry etc.

 

So still waiting for the new set!

 

On the plus side, I now have 24 very nice paperweights!

 

I would be bouncing things off the wall by now

Good to see you back John but sad to here the problems with your US supplier and hope it is finally sorted this time.

not again!

Sounds like a nightmare. What's the target with this build are you keeping it NA?

Sounds like a nightmare. What's the target with this build are you keeping it NA?

 

Yeah, its 5.2L, 12:1CR and ~8.5k rpm so plenty of power for the chassis especially with a 4.1 diff. Nowhere near the power of the big turbo cars but that was never the point.

The whole idea of the car from the start was to get a nice NA engine in there, I can't stand lag / rubbish throttle response you get from turbos. With 8 48mm throttles this is almost telepathic.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

not again!

Yep, even Chris is loosing his rag with them now.

Excellent, sounds awesome as well I'm probably responsible for half the view count of your main video on YouTube, nothing better than a V8 would love one :tongue_smilie: When I started calculating costs to do it with a VH you need to be able to do alot of work yourself to make it even remotely affordable:pinch:

Nice to see you back John and i can imagine why youve lost interest after all the work you have put into the beast.

Excellent, sounds awesome as well I'm probably responsible for half the view count of your main video on YouTube, nothing better than a V8 would love one :tongue_smilie: When I started calculating costs to do it with a VH you need to be able to do alot of work yourself to make it even remotely affordable:pinch:

 

Glad you like it! Sounds much better now, there were no trumpets in the air box when that was shot and was only revving to something like 5.5k. It sounds mental at 9k!

There are companies like Mazworks that do kits now with mounts etc so not that expensive now I don't think ...

thats shocking service from the piston guy:(...would the piston/valve issue have anything to do with the "clackerty" sound when you 1st had it running John or did it have solid lifters ect.

hope you get this mess sorted john and long time no see!!!

Sorry to hear about the piston issues John, but look forward to seeing it on the road again.

thats shocking service from the piston guy:(...would the piston/valve issue have anything to do with the "clackerty" sound when you 1st had it running John or did it have solid lifters ect.

 

Worst is it's not just one guy, its one of the biggest custom piston companies in the USA, given this is all they do you'd think they'd get it right!

To be honest it'll always be pretty clackerty due the the cam profiles, that being said they were wrong at first too - it's been a long slog. Worst is it's all the bits I had to farm out that were wrong, so bloody annoying.

It will be worth it in the end ! The car is renowned in Z circles all over the world as having the most impressive engine conversion around.

Worst is it's not just one guy, its one of the biggest custom piston companies in the USA, given this is all they do you'd think they'd get it right!

To be honest it'll always be pretty clackerty due the the cam profiles, that being said they were wrong at first too - it's been a long slog. Worst is it's all the bits I had to farm out that were wrong, so bloody annoying.

 

it appears all the odds have been stacked against you building this car then...hope you see it through so iff only i can hear them throttle bodies singing again on here:thumbup1:

Cheers all. It will def run again, hopefully this year (pistons, work travel allowing and Leon's availability allowing). Lots of work to do on re-fit as I've totally redesigned the oil system to solve a few overcooling issues too.

Well, 3rd set have turned up and look good so far!

Fingers crossed all the final measurements and weights are OK

Sweet, what's the due date all being good with this set?

good luck with this set will be good to see you back on the road ...

As eggs said I have also watched that video a few times, and what a car! Looking forward to more pics and also seeing it in the flesh!

Bloody hell what are he odds of someone on the same forum with the same name "johnDixon" glad my user name is after my scouse cat otherwise there would be some confusion?????

I would be bouncing things off the wall by now

 

I would fly to America and be bouncing them off the walls now! I'm quite surprised there's no one in the UK able to help :(

There are some UK suppliers but nobody that would do a single set :(

Ah good old V8 projects and the complications that arrive with engineering firms - sorry to see you're still off the road buddy, always fancied racing my old V8 project against yours when it was all done but never got the chance.

 

Hopefully catch up with you at some point :)

Would have been fun for sure. Car should be sorted by the end of the year presuming I can find time to get it done so will def be at some track days and some of Mike's drag days next year so maybe catch up then?

Some good news at last from the engine builder:

 

"Now you promise you won’t go all giddy on me, will you, BUT....I've actually fitted a piston and rod complete with rings and bearings and it all goes up and down and round and round with the correct running clearances and everything!!!

I'll finish building short motor by weekend and send you a pic"