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Thanks Craig - very tidy

Craig Allardyce wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:38 am 5/8 wally

Been a while since she's had a trip.

Shame she wont be tripping to Towoomba

Hope you are doing ok Craig.

FB ute driver, EK van project

This is one nice vehicle. Your patience in posting what you found as you built it taught me a lot. Great to see it on the road again.

Cheers,
Harv

Yep Blacky, my long trips are a problem now. Hopefully things get better down the track.
Thanks Errol, going ok.
Thanks Tim, Buster is flat out sleeping. I'll ask him tomorrow Looks like Molly is a car nut too.
Buster has a little friend now that keeps him busy and very tired. Beau.

Craig Allardyce wrote: Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:28 pm Finally got the engine running today! Was good to hear that note again..........hope the neighbours enjoyed it as much as I did. I did at least have a muffler on it.
Oil pressure turned out real good with the full flow system so that was sigh of relief. Timing gear was also nice and quiet (wasn't sure how this would go as many have just said to replace the cam gear only). I did both cam and crank and its good.
I ended up cutting open the oil filter after the run for a check. No dramas there but plan to check again after a few miles are done on the road.

Hi Craig, thanks for the link to your full flow oil filter system. I just read the whole thread (and will have to do it again). You certainly have a fine vehicle there, I hope you are enjoying it. I'll be happy if my Betty is half as nice!

I assume the full flow oil filter is still going strong? Is the pipe size you used bigger than the standard and I assume no drama's going through the block?

Cheers

Dave

Yes thanks mate. Still going well. Pipe size I used was 1/2" which is larger ID than the main gallery. I went larger to compensate for the number of restrictions from fittings and bends.

Well I'm back and yes it's been a long while. Lifes distractions have got in the way over the last few years but I have been toiling away at a few things on the FB.
Notably I've pulled the engine to do a rear main seal conversion. During the teardown I found cylinders 3 & 4 corrosion stained and polished out (Glycol is abrasive). The engine was rebuilt by RPM engines many many years ago and the finish cut on the deck surface was very course which had eventually caused a very small leak path between the cylinders and cooling system. This answers the question of a few niggling issues I had with the cooling system. Annoyingly it meant re-honing those cylinders so I've also made the jump to hi comp pistons in the process. I'm going for 10:1 comp.
Another issue I've had is the steering connecting rod always rubbed on the sump at full lock. I've now found that EJ sumps are different in shape to previous models. My FB was repowered with a J block back before I bought it.
Another little mod I've completed is converting to a viscous crankshaft damper. A change in compression and power output dictates the need for a better damper. These dampers are self tuning over a wide vibration range. It's taken some work to get it to fit. The other intended mods I'm going to do is convert the block to hydraulic lifters and increase the output of the oil pump slightly....watch this space.

I've also had to pull the RH guard off as the clear coat has started to peel off due to a stone chip on the eye brow.
Anyway it's some progress and I hope to be getting through some other work needed that hasn't been right.

Good to see you back here mate.

I wonder… &*#@ 302 lifters, Trend hollow pushrods, and roller rocker oiling?

(my wonderings far exceed my machining ability, but dead curious).

cheers,
Harv

Hi Harv,
It's good to be back.
Sadly yes, &*#@ lifters. Will be using trend push rods and adjusters.
No roller rockers for this one, I can't justify the need or cost. I've already been involved in setting up rollers for a crossflow and its a complex problem with the pushrod angles interfering with the roller rocker tie bars. Needing a billet cam has its own issues as well.
The only real obstacle with the hydraulic set up is drilling the oil gallery from the lifter bore on the correct angle and height to intercept the main oil gallery whilst ensuring correct oil feed to the lifter for the cam lift vs the lifter groove width is maintained.
This means I'll have to manufacture an insert that sits in the lifter bore that can guide the drill bit whilst the block is set on the machine at the correct angle. Fun times ahead.

Good to see you back mate the old ute didnt miss a beat after we left your joint (palace) before the nationals until we got home about 6500 km later

EH rubs on lock in both our cars and I recall it being an issue in my previous EH sump red motored car. Not by much. I hope your solution works Craig. I suppose you’ve tried shimming up the mounts. I am looking at lowering the body onto the crossmember by a few mm to bring the steering gear down relative to the engine.


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