Engine P2

Following on from engine P1 where some of the castings and sump was removed.
I had spent a least a couple of days trying different methods to remove the crank pulley but didn't have the tools to hand to stop the crank turning until I had a thought of bolting the crank into place at the flywheel end. This worked well and I quickly had the bolt off the end of the pulley.

Using my pulley puller I set it up on the crank the best I could as its a little bulky for the job and a bit cheap too. A problem quickly arose from this puller which caused me some trouble, as this pulley is rubber dampened I found that I managed to pull off just the outer ring of the pulley which was held to the rest of the pulley with rubber, I decided to cut the rubber and just get that part off.

With the outer ring of the pulley off I then set about removing the inner part, this was a little easier as I could get the claws of the puller around the pulley, I also placed a small cut through the ring to allow it to deform as it was stretching the rubber like the outer ring had already done, this helped a lot.

My main success came I added a pre-load to the pulley puller and left the blow torch hanging for about 5 minutes, suddenly the pulley jumped 5mm which was excellent to see

With the pulley now off I felt relieved as was about to pack up when I decided to carry on and strip the block down. This was a fairly easy task too (unlike the pulley). I set about removing the oil pump and cam timing chain, and cover. As I did it I turned the crank to be assured that all the cam timing was correct, glad to say it all aligned as I thought it would have been, always good to check though.

I then set about removing all the bolts from the lower end of the engine, this all came out very easy with no problems, the bolts came out and I was able to lift out the lower casting with the bearings in place, I did see some very light scoring on the bearings, I do plan for new bearings so this isn't a problem but they look good enough to go back even though they are not.

The next job was to remove the bolts from the con rods and to take the crank out, everything came undone and lifted out with out any issues, I then placed the crank on the bearings of the lower casting to ensure it was not damaged

 Lastly I removed the oil sprayers from just below the cylinder bores and went to remove the pistons, not sure why I did this next part but it was stupid, in excitement I grabbed the con rod and pulled piston 1 out of the cylinder, as soon as the piston rings had passed the bore I realised the piston wont come out that was and it was now stuck. A little while of shouting etc passed and I had managed to compress the rings and push the piston out the right way. Feel a idiot for doing that and not sure why I did... Any way the engine is now stripped ready for cleaning and modifications

Until next time, thank you for reading

Digitising the blower P1

With the snow falling outside and my car frozen I chose to spend some time in the office, I though it would be nice to start working out the brackets for the supercharger. The way I do this is to place the blower in a place on the desk then using the digitizer I own scan it into the CAD system. This provides me with a full CAD model which when I have time I can scan the engine and virtually work out all the brackets saving me time and money. Once the designs have been made they will be sent out for machining. I will be producing stress calculations on the parts to ensure that once the brackets are made I know they are good enough for the job and applied forces, it will also help me reduce the mass of the brackets making them lighter.

New bumper and bonnet

With a large choice of bumpers available off the shelf I decided that I wanted something different. I decided I wanted a rear euro look bumper. This had to be smooth but still have some shape, with help from orrange performance I acquired a set of GP style rear lip and arches and fitted it to a cooper bumper, the plan is to remove the chrome strip and fill this to a smooth finish.

First I cut the chrome section out of the bumper

With the section removed I set about fitting the side arch

I then set about fitting the lower lip and the other arch, I am really pleased with the look and can't wait to see the centre part filled

With the bumper at this stage I had a look at my new grp bonnet sourced from orrange performance, this bonnet is over half the weight of a metal bonnet so will help when it comes to the track (I hope). The bonnet is a really good fit and placing it there really excited me thinking that the car is slowly moving forwards

Time to tidy the pillars

Over the next few weeks I am planning to get the car ready for the roll cage and then onto the roof skin and be done with the roof chop fabrication.

Starting with the A pillar I worked the metal to a ready to paint finish, as a lot of work had already been done there finishing it was simple. The most time consuming part today was spent with the B pillar and C pillar.
The B pillar turned out really well and I am very pleased though it took me most of the day to get an excellent finish and now just needs a quick polish prior to any filler and primer.

If I can get all the welds and pillars to this standard the car will not need as much bodywork prior to paint. Lucky for me that all the panels which I am welding actually go behind glass or plastic so its not too important, but I will know about it so its got to be good! Of course the roof skin is going to need some major work to get it perfect - roll on Christmas holiday and 2011..

I picked the coldest weekend to remove the petrol tank

With temperatures of -7.5 I set off to the unit know it was going to be a chilling experience especially as my overalls where at the unit and I would get changed into them there...

Well I had the heater on and decided that I was going to need to move the car so set about attaching some castors to a pallet which I intended to put the car on so I was able to roll it around. Before I could put the car down I needed to remove the fuel tank and anything else from the bottom of the car, firstly I removed the remaining heat shields, then the gear stick and linkages, then I quickly popped the hand break cables out.

I then moved on to the fuel tank, I carefully started to remove the fuel lines and as soon as I could smell petrol it was time for the gas heater to go off. It took 3 hours to warm the unit and was cold within a few minutes, however I continued to remove the tank which felt quite full. after removing the connected pipes I carefully dropped the tank down and decanted the 5L of fuel for the lawn mower. With the tank out I left it outside so I was able to put the heater back on and enjoy the warmth it provided.

After the tank was out I put the car onto the pallet and was surprised how well the car moved around, the home made trolley cost me £15 rather than the £190 for a normal car creeper.

With another cold weekend approaching I intend to spend it welding providing there is too much snow to get there, being in the UK people can't drive if there is more than 1" of snow...