Harv's meth monster project

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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

Virgin crank, crack tested and machined for the Eagle rods. Chamfered on the big-end lands to reduce the stress riser. Crank girdle. Ross balancer.

If it cracks (and it might) it shouldn’t destroy the pricey top-end. Have one spare crank, six others that were either cracked or too far over to suit the Eagle rods.

Figure I’ll maybe bust this one, maybe bust another, then pony up the $5k for a billet crank. Hoping it lasts longer though… some of the Hambstrs are seeing 100+ runs on girdled/bridged cranks.

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Errol62
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Harv's meth monster project

Post by Errol62 »

Did they shot peen it Harv?


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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

No shot pein, no nitride, no cryo. Just machined.

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
Fex
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Fex »

Harv wrote: Fri Feb 11, 2022 7:10 pm Virgin crank, crack tested and machined for the Eagle rods. Chamfered on the big-end lands to reduce the stress riser. Crank girdle. Ross balancer.

If it cracks (and it might) it shouldn’t destroy the pricey top-end. Have one spare crank, six others that were either cracked or too far over to suit the Eagle rods.

Figure I’ll maybe bust this one, maybe bust another, then pony up the $5k for a billet crank. Hoping it lasts longer though… some of the Hambstrs are seeing 100+ runs on girdled/bridged cranks.

Cheers,
Harv
Bugger, won’t take too long to rack up 100 laps around the block? 🤔😂
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

I need some forum suspension help please (I think).

From the test run, the car was rubbing on full right lock (full left lock was fine). Not a small rub either... enough to lock the car up and stop it moving if you were at a standstill. Took a look-see underneath, and the rub is from the passenger's side upper control arm outer grease nipple rubbing on the periphery of the Sampson rim. This nipple is on the front of the control arm.

rubbing grease nipple.jpg
rubbing grease nipple.jpg (852.61 KiB) Viewed 803 times

A quick check shows a decent gap on the drivers side nipple at left full lock.

Perhaps my Sampsons were different offset (I've only ever measured one of the four), but a rough check (rim edge to disk inner face) shows the two fronts are the same.

Initial thoughts were that the toe-in was incorrect. In the twelve years I have owned the car its never had a wheel alignment :oops: . Its had plenty of tyres, evenly worn. Handles fine, and does a lot of miles (stop start, towing, spirited driving). Never seen the need to check the alignment... perhaps my bad. It's had the steering box and pitman arm replaced maybe 10 years ago (Dad did that one while I was on the road for work). Never been in a heavy prang, at least not that I know of. Steering connecting rod adjusters look about even side-to-side.

To get a feel for it, I put the front of the car up on stands. I took a string line and ran two strings, one down each side of the car. The strings were placed about midway up the rear wheels, and parallel to the rear tyres (just touching the tyre at the front and rear of the rear wheel). Started out with the pitman arm at 90 degrees (made a cardboard template to check pitman to connecting rod angle). The measurements looked way wrong. Potential there that Dad has installed the pitman arm off a few splines, and not so easy given that the new disk brake front may have different track to the banjo read.

Turned the wheels slightly, and got the result below:

toe-in.jpg
toe-in.jpg (547.79 KiB) Viewed 803 times

Drivers front wheel dead ahead and aligned pretty close to rear wheel track. Passengers front wheel turned heavily to the left. Track appears to be skewed slightly to drivers side.

Next thought would be to start from basics:
a) Put pitman arm back to 90 degrees,
b) Use steering connecting rod adjusters to set front wheels dead-ahead using string line,
c) Spin front wheels and scribe a line down the tread of each with a nail,
d) Measure between scribe lines at front and rear of tyre, back off connecting rod adjusters (even number of turns each) until difference between scribe lines is 1/16" - 3/16" toed-in.

Worries me though that it looks like the two connecting rod adjusters would end up at very different thread engagements.

Am I missing something here? Does the process above sound like a wise way to proceed? School me please :)

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
EK283
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by EK283 »

Ahhh I love a good wheel alignment challenge!
I always start with centering the steering wheel then the box you know 2 turns left equals 2 turns right etc, then center the pitman arm off that and continue to the wheels.
I have aligners take the steering wheel off to center it but that’s just wrong !
Greg
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

You're probably right, and I should start at the box. I've got to pull the column anyway to put the Alien collapsible one in place. Figured I should sort the brakes out before I started another bit of the jigsaw puzzle.

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Errol62
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Errol62 »

As Greg says, if the box is not centred you may not be getting full lock on one side, hence not fouling that side. The wheels I sent up also fouled on the front outer end of my kingpin UCA, near the nipple.

You can’t set the toe precisely without the full weight of the car on all four wheels by the way. Don’t try and do it when you have just dropped the front off the jack either. You need to settle them in by rolling back and forth and measure the toe front and back at the same point on the tyres by rolling through 180 rotation on the floor.


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ardiesse
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by ardiesse »

Harv,

Your LH upper outer pivot bolt is in backwards. The grease nipple is supposed to be at the rear.
(I haven't read any further in the thread, but reversing the upper outer pivot bolts my be a start.)

There was such a thing as an HD-king-pin-only upper outer pivot bolt. It will probably take someone like Dr Terry to explain why there's a sui generis HD upper outer pivot bolt and what the differences are, but I'm guessing it'll be to do with wheels fouling at full lock.

Rob
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

Interesting. The EK Workshop Manual has a warning:
Caution: The upper control arm outer bolt must be screwed in from the rear, otherwise the head of the bolt will foul wheel balance weights when steering is on full lock.

That's pretty much what is happening here.

Tomorrow: turn around the upper outer bolts, see how it goes. Remembered too that my pitman arm puller is out on loan... must chase that one now that things are getting more serious in the steering department.

Thanks gentlemen.

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

Bolt out, turned around, bolt back in. Road test.

To quote Cadet Mahoney:
"It fits! The damn thing fits! I thought there were no more spaces. Am I an idiot or what?".

So short of the actual brake test, I'm calling done on the Whopper Stopper upgrade. Will tidy my notes up and post them here somewhere for the next bloke.

Next stop: collapsible column. Parts are all here, but it dawned on me last night that the collapsible column does not have a column shift. It would have been just my dumb luck to install the new column, only to realise I couldn't shift the car around the driveway anymore :roll: :oops: :lol:

Looks like the floor shifter better come first. Onwards to fit the Impala inline floor shifter to the crashie :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. Rain delays play, repair Number 1 Sons fender bender, work delays play.

Got the gearshift linkages removed, front carpet and underlay out. No rust under the carpet, but half of Crowdy Head beach sand still in the carpet.

Printed out the template for the Impala shifter install from the Crashbox Guide. Marked the floorpan with yellow paint marker for the slot I need to cut.
floor shifter.jpg
floor shifter.jpg (595.17 KiB) Viewed 717 times
Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Harv
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by Harv »

Thinking through the practicalities of running the Repco head on a drag strip, and got to thinking about the sideplate breather. Some tracks get very fussy about the need for a catch-can, and may not be very enthusiastic about the use of the walking stick (I have to run a Coke bottle on the Grace's radiator overflow line at Eastern Creek).

I've seen some photos of Repco-headed race vehicles where the normal GMH rocker cover breather is used, and a catch-can is fitted to the side plate in lieu of the walking stick. This would stop any oil getting on the track, but doesn't do much for crankcase ventilation - with no walking stick to venturi out the fumes, it would tend to be fumey. Not the end of the world, but not too elegant either.

Got me to thinking about crankcase extractors. These are used on some race vehicles to draw a vacuum on the crankcase. They work exactly the same way as the walking stick does, but instead of using air flowing under the car to draw the venturi, they use exhaust gas. There are a number of companies that make weld-in kits (like Moroso). The setup would be similar to the image below:

Exhaust ejector.png
Exhaust ejector.png (75.5 KiB) Viewed 675 times

Air is sucked in through the standard rocker cover breather, and out through the sideplate. A length of pipe takes the fumes down to the headers, where the extractor fitting is welded in. Any oil droplets go into the hot exhaust, and get burnt before exiting the rear of the car.

Anyone have experience of using exhaust extractors like this?

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by gpi »

BS
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Re: Harv's meth monster project

Post by BS »

Hey Harv,

I run mine straight to a catch can. Not ideal but keeps it safe and the tech inspectors happy.

Peter Grant has his plumbed into his exhaust.

Happy to flick you some pics or Peters details (if you don’t already have them)

Cheers


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