Yesterday's daily today - the J69 version

[Jonny69]

According to some 105Speed forum users, these ones came out the factory with a bad bottom end knock

[Jonny69]

Soem moar goodieZ. Pics courtesy of eBay.

I already have a set of steel rocker posts for the 1700 engine which I was going to use, but these popped up on eBay and I figured it would save some hassle later if I wanted to keep both engines built:



Same goes for this offset-dowelled duplex cam timing gear. I already have a vernier one for the other engine, but a second one will mean I don't have to strip down one engine to build and run the other:



Neither were particularly cheap, but not too expensive either. I do need to keep reminding myself that Ford tuning bits are now heavily OMG XFLOW NOT L BLOCK taxed, so can't be picked up for peanuts like they used to be. It's a bit annoying because I had a second vernier timing gear but I flogged it on when I had a clear-out of crossflow stuff. In hindsight I'd have got rid of all the chod and kept the harder to find tuning bits, because they don't really take up much space but they can be notoriously difficult to find again at a sensible price.

I picked up a set of NOS cam followers for a good price which, again, I got lucky with, because they can be hard to find if you don't want to shell out $$$ for new ones. The only worry is if the pad on the bottom is wide enough to suit the bigger grind cams but that's easy enough to check. I still haven't settled on a cam yet. I really want to go the oldschool grind route with low lift and loads of overlap, but my head keeps telling me that a modern grind will make more power with more driveability and much better fuel economy. I'm sticking with the standard bottom end and the head isn't that wild, so I doubt I'll be able to make use of a full race grind. Kent's A6 which is an old Cosworth grind looks attractive though.

[Jonny69]

No progress on the rebuild yet, but it looks like the current engine might not be as dead as I thought...

The MOT is due at the end of next week. I'm getting it done with the current engine in place so I don't get stuck without an MOT and it means my first drive on the new engine doesn't have to be a combined run-in and MOT test. The car has been standing for about 4 weeks, so I checked over a few things yesterday evening, namely: tyres, oil, water, air filter, breathers etc.

Two things I spotted: 1) the block breather pipe I'd fashioned up into the air filter was split and was spewing fumes into the engine bay; 2) the mesh air filter was completely snotted up with oily gunge from the breather. Once I'd fixed the split and taken the air filter out, it ran perfectly and, as if by magic, there were no fumes again. I'll see by tonight if the fuel consumption is back to normal, but I suspect the blocked air filter was affecting it and causing the idling problems.

I've got a couple of days to run it into work to check there aren't any problems (I don't think there are) and it's MOT day on Monday. I might just keep this engine in for the 27th, which is an old Ford night at the Chelsea Cruise. My car is a genuine South London car and I think it would be right to put some effort in to get it there.

OLD CARS

[Jonny69]

Mundane update for those still reading: the fuel consumption seems to be back to normal and it's idling fine. Happy days!

[Jonny69]

As of 5pm on Sunday my engine was partially in here...



...and partially in here:


(that's my shed floor)

I had a bit of confusion yesterday checking the engine codes. My engine number reads 109E-xxxx which relates to the Consul Classic and I thought it might have been a 1340cc engine. The Kent engines all share the same bore, so the 1340 is longer stroke 1198 engine, but it's not all good news because it's got a hollow crank. As a result it's not very strong and wouldn't stand up to my planned build. Further confusion was that the head reads 113E-xxxx which is a Cortina number - I figured it might have been a 1340 with the 1198 Cortina head for a bit of extra compression. The internet wasn't giving me much useful infoZ, but it looked like the three smaller engines might share the same block. I had a quick measure after work to make sure and calculated the volume as 1200cc, so that's good news!

[Seth]

So, it is a 1200 then? With the stronger crank? Best button it back together then with the go faster goodies ASAP!

[Jonny69]

Yes and yes. So on initial inspection there's a bit of a step at the top of bore 1, which probably means I'll need a rebore and pistons. I'm not sure how much you can get away with just a heavy hone. I haven't drained the sump yet, so I haven't been at the crank, but it's had a terrible big end knock for some time, so the pictures should be exciting*.

[Jonny69]

I've been struggling to find someone local who can carry out the rebore and crank grind and who I'm happy to trust to lighten and balance the bottom end, so I've settled with an engine builder up in Suffolk who races his own Anglia. Slater's dad, in fact, if you know Slater from early RR days. I'd love to do it myself but I have to admit that I just don't have the time to do it on top of my other DIY commitments, so I'll send it up on a pallet fairly soon and I just have to assemble it all and do the fiddly bits I like doing like timing in the cam etc.

I pulled the sump off for a quick inspection before I strapped it to the pallet. I only checked number 4 big end, but it looks to my eye to be in remarkable condition for an engine with such a bad death rattle:



The bearing is worn but I've seen worse:



The middle main cap is a slightly different story. 3 bearing bottom end, so any waggle in the crank takes itself out on the bearing and it takes a hammering. Right into the copper:



And the corresponding mess on the crank:



There was also about 1mm end float on the crank (edit: in fact you can see it at the bottom of the crank journal in the picture above), which is way excessive and may have been the source of the knocking when I started the engine. Not sure, but I'm hoping a new pair of thrust washers will take that out and I'll bring it up with the engine builder. So that's where I'm up to and it's currently sitting on a pallet. Hopefully I'll get it picked up at some point this week.

[Vulgalour]

Educational. At least it is for me.

[Jonny69]

The engine is still at the builder. It's becoming a bit of an iterative build due to availability of parts and Burton doing their usual thing of either taking an age or sending out the wrong bits.

Speedy Spares were fast though and I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves. Don't forget to take a good deep sniff just at the right point...







*GLEE*







NOS pistons with rings, gudgeon pins and blast-from-the-past Seeger circlips at a bargainacious price from Speedy's. God knows where they still find this stuff and, yep, it smelled EXACTLY like you thought it did when I opened it

The only issue is they're the split skirt type (look at the back of the piston in the pic and you'll see the vertical split machined in the skirt) and they've got a 4th ring at the bottom of the skirt. This makes them ideal for a 100% reliable lazy engine because the piston is deep and held steady, but no good for what I want to do with the engine. Too heavy, too much friction and way too top-heavy. The oil control rings are also machined all the way through the piston on two sides which I guess helps lubrication and oil consumption, but for me this is a weak point where the piston will fly apart at high revs.

So the quandry I was left in is a new set of remanufactured cast pistons will set me back about £350 - not cheap. If I'm going to have to spend that much, forged pistons aren't that much more expensive at about £500 and then there's a halfway-house option of Lotus twin cam pistons which are cast, but higher quality and lighter. And I managed to snap up a set of NOS Hepolite Lotus ones on eBay for not too much more than a set of new remanufactured cast pistons.



I think the block deck height needs taking down slightly and it'll need to go to a +0.060 thou bore, but other than that they fit and they're perfect for screaming revs. I was going to use a slightly milder cam because I had planned to use standard cast pistons, but now I've taken some stress off the crank I might as well go the whole hog and use the mad cam I've had my eye on