8000 rpm 3.2 engine?

[911hillclimber]

I will be doing the Midland Hillclimb Championship again, my 29th year!
won my Class last year, and the forth time we have done this.
I hope to repeat this in 2022, but, as ever, others have other ideas!

Fist race is at Prescott in mid April.

the plugs are expensive iridium plugs with a tight gap to suit the ignition system.

 

[Motorhead]

Coming along nicely Graham. Some neat electrical work there … looks very professional! I presume that the only way to check it out properly is to actually run the engine when it’s installed in the chassis?

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Afraid so Jeff.
I hope to pre-set the Clewett timing advance for a safe start position and get it running on all '12', for it to rev, have oil pressure and hold it's temperature at home.
This should be in the next 10 days.
If that all goes to plan, the car will go to the BHP rolling road for the timing to be set as close to optimum as possible.
Fortunately, there is a lot of data to what the values could be, so safe and quick to get very close.
Can check on the rollers for usual figures and at what revs.

That will be a nerve wracking day for sure.

No running in, no nice smoothing of the rings and bearing, just harry-flatters from the start!

What can possibly go wrong?

Thank you for the kind words everyone, still a long way to go.

 

[Motorhead]

Ah! I assume that means you’re planning to run the engine at low speed on its stand then Graham? That’ll be interesting!

Yes, you mentioned previously that there was no running-in period on the roller dyno. A heart-stopping moment indeed. ??

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Not on the stand Jeff.
the engine will be fully installed in the car and bravery tablet #1 taken to turn it over.
if all ok, then I will try it again to get it running.
if all ok, it will go to the rolling road to have the first running to get the juices flowing.
if all ok, the engine will be tuned, timing only as the carbs should be fine having been balanced on the same rollers 12 months/40 miles ago.

A lot of if's there.....

 

[Motorhead]

Ha, ha! Yes of course … silly me! I had visions of you chasing the engine around your workshop on the stand! ??

It makes sense to install the engine in the chassis and plumb it in to all the services and then start it up. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and we look forward to hearing about a positive outcome. As usual, keep us posted on progress.

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Bet everyone is almost as sick of this engine wiring as I am.

BUT, now done, or at least the spark lead side is. Gave up trying to stop 12 leads from touching each other. I'm working on the 'dream' that with everything being new the spark will want to jump the plug and not to the engine. Time will tell.

First, bought a £37 crimping tool off ebay. It is utterly fantastic, and worth every penny. Could not do all this without it. The £4 green plastic crimping tool is best left as 'Not fit for Purpose'

Guessed the lead lengths I needed at 15 meters, and ended up with 2 meters over, could come in handy.

Lots and lots of hours have gone into this whole sparky affair and we are not done yet!
Plug clips to be done on the lower covers tomorrow, cam lube on the lobs and fit the covers for the last time. They didn't leak before, but crossing my fingers for this time.

I can then fit the ex manifolds and prep things for fitting the engine into the chassis before finishing off where to mount the control unit which might be trickier than it sounds.

 

[Motorhead]

A lot of wires there Graham … looks a bit like a W12! ??

Impressive crimping tool. You wouldn’t want to get your fingers too close to those jaws!

Are you planning to mount the control unit on the engine or on the chassis? Either way I guess that the vibration levels will be high, although I suppose that the unit is sufficiently robust for it not to be a problem having been developed for racing?

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Inside Jeff, as inside as you can get in an open race car that is...
Unit is solid state and quite weather tight, but hope to shroud it in some way so excess rain will drain away.

 

[vitesse]

Some car manufacturers seem to fit an extra insulating sleeve over plug cables where they can't avoid them touching each other or parts of the engine-OE leads on 924S's have them.

 

[911hillclimber]

Indeed, I've been tidying-up some of the snakes nest by the coils today, and have untangled some to smooth the passage out, but many are touching.
I still think the parts are all new, so I expect the volts to get to the plugs rather than to the engine.
Time will tell.
This is a very tight installation. If I have to re-do the lot it is a pain but not a disaster.

Started to work out the multi wire loom to the control unit.....

 

[911hillclimber]

ajor outage of the internet today and the PC probs yesterday, waiting for the 3rd issue to arrive on the computer front...
Let's see how far this post goes!

Friday, and the day in the garage to fit the engine and box back in and start linking up the essential connections.
Going to leave the smaller stuff until the engine runs in case it has to come out again and goes in the skip.

Cleaned the engine 'bay', got all the bits together, nut n bolts and prepped the clutch.

Checked the electrics again, 3rd time, and hoisted the engine off the stand after fitting the custom exhaust manifolds, tricky to make and 2 bolts very tricky to fit.

Pleasingly, all the clips and brackets for the wires all missed the chassis getting this fat engine into the skinny slot, the bay looks so big until the 3.2 is hovering above.
Touch at a time saw the engine in and the front cross member into place and all lightly buttoned-up. You do the bolts up tight when the box is attached and mounted.

The fresh clutch popped on and the box with it's WEVO shift gate fitted was cleaned externally and slipped into place just as it should. These jobs are sooo much easier using these tools.

The new ignition system sort of blends into the old look of the car, the dry sump is in.

Next will be the electrics of the control unit and getting that to be powered by the current dashboard which may be a challenge.

With that all done it is time to check the settings of the controller, pull the top 6 plugs out and churn the engine over to get oil everywhere.

And then...add fuel, and pray.

 

[MoC2S]

And may the very best of luck be with you !

I hereby award you the order of the five spanners []

[s5]

cheers, Maurice

 

[Motorhead]

Well done Graham … it’s beginning to look like a car again! Just the final (and biggest!) hurdle to overcome now after all that hard work.

??it all turns out well.

Jeff

 

[AndrewT]

I will be doing the Midland Hillclimb Championship again, my 29th year!
won my Class last year, and the forth time we have done this.
I hope to repeat this in 2022, but, as ever, others have other ideas!

Fist race is at Prescott in mid April.

Will you be entering all rounds, which I think are as I’ve listed below? I’d like to get along to spectate at one if I can fit it in with my own Gurston season.
23/24 April - Prescott
7/8 May - Shelsley Walsh
14/15 May - Loton Park
4/5 June - Shelsley Walsh
11/12 June - Loton Park
24 July - Prescott
13/14 August - Shelsley Walsh
3/4 September - Prescott
24/25 September - Loton Park

 

[911hillclimber]

We plan to do many this year, but i hit 70 also early in 2022, so missing June Shels and June Loton to try to forget my age!

 

[AndrewT]

If I can get to any of your events it’ll most likely be Prescott as that’s closest, but then again I’ve never been to Loton Park or Shelsley Walsh ??. Have your entry fees risen much this year? At Gurston it now works out at about £32 per run! I too hit 70 this year, which also happens to be my speed across the finish at Gurston ??.

 

[911hillclimber]

Costs are rising so fast over recent years I can't remember, but a Championship weekend will be 5 runs and good as £200 entry, so £40 for 31 seconds at Shelsley!

New seat belts required for this year, so that's another £300 just spent, Championship entry about £80, MSuk race licence was £150 and we haven't even put petrol in it yet!

This Club motorsport remember and the costs are getting silly.
Done it for 31 years, so I must be silly too!

 

[AndrewT]

That makes Gurston so much better value (for me), I’ll get about 42.5 seconds for my £32!

 

[Motorhead]

Costs are rising so fast over recent years I can't remember, but a Championship weekend will be 5 runs and good as £200 entry, so £40 for 31 seconds at Shelsley!

It could/should(?) be even worse value for money now on a £/second basis with your engine upgrade Graham! ??

Jeff