Next piece of the puzzle

[bearman]

Dvw, you have taken such care in building this power plant and glad to see that you are still moving forward. Some setbacks but nothing you can't control. I'll continue to get my brain feed from watching you. Thanks

 

[padam]

he good, the bad, the dumb. I trusted the person who ordered my pistons. Bad move.

I've never ordered anything that trick. So is there a spec for this on pistons, such as valve size?

 

[Hemirunner]

The Cometic head gaskets arrived. Perfect size 4.350" bore on my 4.530" block . Installed the pan studs with some blue locktite. Checked the head gaskets on the block to make sure they didn't intrude into the bore. ]

At 4.350 they’d be intruding plenty. I’m assuming that’s a typo?

As for stretch on a blind hole, CAT developed that process using ultrasound on specially equipped Tools, bolts and studs. Probably not financially translatable to our world, but also not impossible.

Sorry to hear about the pistons and pushrods. Very frustrating when you’re in the home stretch and you have to start over. Tearing it down is definitely the way. After have used piston pin buttons, I’ll never use spirolocks again. Just food for thought.

 

[MarPar]

 

[6PKRTSE]

Yes, best thing to do is take it all apart and machine the valve pockets on the Bridgeport like you have decided.

 

[dvw]

They were supposed to be cut for a 2.25" intake. Looks like they were cut for a 2.19" . And yes the gaskets are 4.550" for 4.530" bore. Fortunately I installed all the Spirolox with the ends right next to the access notch. Pulled the #2 intake valve and made a center point for the notch radius. So no both left and right pistons have a center point for the notch layout. Leaving for Indy swap meet this afternoon so I'll pull it down Saturday.
Doug

 

[Fran Blacker]

 

[MarPar]

 

[dvw]

Just got back from vacation down south. Crank scraper is here. Picking up the pistons tomorrow. Car itself is coming back into the shop before the motor reassembly starts. Talked to Eric at Afco. Front shocks going in for revalve this week. Pulling the axle shafts to get started on the 5/8" stud drill and tap.
Doug

 

[dvw]

Shocks are shipped. Axles at the machine shop. Sanded the sharp edges left from the valve pocket machining. Cleaned everything up. Reinstalled the rods to the pistons enjoying all 32 Spirolox. Rings reinstalled. Pistons and rods back in the block. Torque and check rod bolt stretch tomorrow.
Doug

 

[malex]

Fantastic workmanship as always, will be great to have it back together. Those Spirolox are stubborn little buggers. They always draw blood when I’m working with them.
Doug were you previously running on 1/2 studs ?

 

[Hemirunner]

Shocks are shipped. Axles at the machine shop. Sanded the sharp edges left from the valve pocket machining. Cleaned everything up. Reinstalled the rods to the pistons enjoying all 32 Spirolox. Rings reinstalled. Pistons and rods back in the block. Torque and check rod bolt stretch tomorrow.
Doug

After using pin buttons, I’ll never order those pesky spirolox on custom pistons again.

 

[dvw]

I actually have Spirolox done pretty well. Its had 1/2" studs since new. After doing some paint touch-up over the winter I got to thinking about it. It would be a shame to break a wheel off and wreck it. Though I can say it's never had an issue with nuts coming loose or bending studs. Though my sons turbo car with stock steel wheels bent 1/2" studs. Would've done it a while ago. Just a little tougher to do with the old Americans. The spacers need to be trimmed to 1.125" diameter to clear the wheel.
Doug

 

[padam]

Shocks are shipped. Axles at the machine shop. Sanded the sharp edges left from the valve pocket machining. Cleaned everything up. Reinstalled the rods to the pistons enjoying all 32 Spirolox. Rings reinstalled. Pistons and rods back in the block. Torque and check rod bolt stretch tomorrow.
Doug
View attachment 1263645
View attachment 1263644
View attachment 1263646

Very nice setup. That's the right way to do it.

 

[Gunner1]

How many grams did the cutting bigger valves drop? Most likely not enough to hurt the balance that much.

 

[dvw]

Didn't bother to measure the weight. You would be amazed how much weight you can take off a piston and not create any issue. Got the rod bolts stretched today. There is no real torque spec. The electronic torque wrench reads the achieved torque while completing the 60 angle. The reading varied so i had my doubts about zeroing in on the required torque. Turns ot (82lb/ft) to get the required stretch. Others had suggested this method. So I tried it. It appeared to me to be even more accurate than the 40lb/ft +60 degree method. Then spent a good amount of time fitting the crank scraper. File, grind , clean, fit. Then repeat more than a few times. The end result is a very close fitting assy.
Doug

 

[Hemirunner]

View attachment 1264094 Didn't bother to measure the weight. You would be amazed how much weight you can take off a piston and not create any issue. Got the rod bolts stretched today. There is no real torque spec. The electronic torque wrench reads the achieved torque while completing the 60 angle. The reading varied so i had my doubts about zeroing in on the required torque. Turns ot (82lb/ft) to get the required stretch. Others had suggested this method. So I tried it. It appeared to me to be even more accurate than the 40lb/ft +60 degree method. Then spent a good amount of time fitting the crank scraper. File, grind , clean, fit. Then repeat more than a few times. The end result is a very close fitting assy.
Doug

View attachment 1264092
View attachment 1264093
View attachment 1264094

Clearanced a lot of those. Did a few with teflon blades that were nearly zero clearance. I wish I would’ve done some before and after dyno testing.

 

[malex]

I actually have Spirolox done pretty well. Its had 1/2" studs since new. After doing some paint touch-up over the winter I got to thinking about it. It would be a shame to break a wheel off and wreck it. Though I can say it's never had an issue with nuts coming loose or bending studs. Though my sons turbo car with stock steel wheels bent 1/2" studs. Would've done it a while ago. Just a little tougher to do with the old Americans. The spacers need to be trimmed to 1.125" diameter to clear the wheel.
Doug

—-
Once a guy gets the hang of the spirolox they go ok, although I never got the hang of them, always messy when I work with them. I ended up with bent studs a couple years back. They were 1/2” studs and I don’t know the brand of them. I replaced them with 1/2” ARP studs and increased the torque to 120 fl lbs, been good since. There could be some 5/8” studs going in over here at some point but it’s not on the to do list yet. Looking forward to hearing how the new build works out over there.

 

[dvw]

Heads are on. Figured out the pushrod fix. Milling the deck and heads during the repair caused the pushrods not to fit. They've always been to long. Previously the T&D rocker stand has been shimmed ( pic #2) with 16ga (.060"). It looks like 14ga (.075") will raise the stand enough to work. Granted the pivot is .075" higher than the desired spot for midlife. But it's worked for years so I'm not going to sweat it.
Doug

 

[Endangered Species]

I actually have Spirolox done pretty well. Its had 1/2" studs since new. After doing some paint touch-up over the winter I got to thinking about it. It would be a shame to break a wheel off and wreck it. Though I can say it's never had an issue with nuts coming loose or bending studs. Though my sons turbo car with stock steel wheels bent 1/2" studs. Would've done it a while ago. Just a little tougher to do with the old Americans. The spacers need to be trimmed to 1.125" diameter to clear the wheel.
Doug

Drag Race Solutions makes a 12pt 5/8 lug nut.
https://dragracesolutions.com/billet-12-point-lug-nuts that may work well with the Torque Thrust rims.