I have been beavering away on my engine lately, just thought I'd post a few piccies up, the xe doesn't get promoted enough on here

Block completely stripped (including core and gallery plugs), acid dipped and bored out 2mm oversize, then painted:

block1

Reground crank assembled with new timing disc, steel flywheel, twin plate clutch and then balanced:

crank1

Crank fitted into block, oil pumped/front cover fitted:

crank in

Forged oversize, high intruder pistons and forged rods assembled prior to fitting:

rods and pistons

pistons and rods fitted:

block and pistons

bottom end

westfield wet sump:

westfield_sump_2

they're not called intruder pistons for nothing:

intruder pistons

valves out of head, head cleaned up:

valves out

double valve springs and titanium caps:

uprated springs and tit. caps

double spring and titanium cap vs standard spring with sintered cap:

spring comparrison

new valve seats to suit double springs and new stem seals fitted:

valve seats and stem seals

valves cleaned up, reground and refitted:

valves in

laminated steel head gasket:

head gasket

head fitted and cams loosely in place:

head on

cam cover stripped and flange cut off, ready for painting:

camcover

a few bits left to do, main thing being timing it up:

cambelt on

still got to fit these:

throttles2

Any questions?

Ned

How's the overdraft? Nice work

Not a question - just a general comment.....

That's one mean lookin' block. Bet that'll make some beans when it's up and running. It'll even have a reverse gear....

Very impressive............After Eights excepted though.....

Mick

[Edited on 22/1/06 by Mix]

overdraft isn't too bad, I've accumlated the bits over the last 2 years, most of which were second hand but brand new from boy racers who didn't know what they were buying.

beans wise, i have known these very cams to make circa 215bhp in a race engine, but that was standard pistons and weber 45's, I'm hoping for more but conservatively/sensibly 210bhp+

As to total cost I'd rather not say as it scares me a little!

Ned.

XEs are Back end was all over the place today Finally got around to taking some pics of my inlet too

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It'll even have a reverse gear....

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Who needs reverse gear!!!

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Superb Ned

Engine building is a very satisfying pastime - particulary when you are building something like that

Cheers

Mark

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Originally posted by ed_crouch
I take it from the vernier pulleys that you've had the block decked too?

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I think you are being VERY conservative on the power there Ned!!

My bog std XE on std cams etc made 176hp at the wheels, just over 200 flywheel (on 48mm throttle bodies which did lose some midrange torque)

Your spec if the head is tidied up nicely should make at least 235hp at the flywheel.........................

Git!!

Best make sure I keep my car really light then!!!

Nsdev, you are probably right, but i hate people who say, oo my car makes 250bhp when in reality it doesn't.

the cams really aren't all that. 220 at a push on a standard engine on 45's with no alternator. my engine is a 2.1, compresion around 11:1 (i have a thick head gasket which brings the compression back down from 11.5ish)

the head has had some work done and it came from a nova that ran nitrous, but i have no idea whether its better or worse than standard. it has been oil/water fixed.
my engine is only running standard valves, could really do with some wasted stems to get the flow up a bit.

i'll have it rolling roaded in the car to get the dta mapped, so will get a rough idea, but again won't treat that as gospel either.

Ned.

.... a refreshing attitude to power!!!

The mild cams certainly won't do any harm. 220 at a push on carbs will alomst certainly become 230 at a push on tb's, as 45's will prob be holding it back at that power on the biggest chokes. nice throttle response though which is worth having on the racer if limited to carbs I guess.

Main bits on the porting front are tidying around the valve seats (usually very good on these anyway but worth checking and a touch of opening up) and thinning down the port dividers to give a nice "razor edge" at the tip of the port divider, all nicely blended again.

Yes the valve stems are a bit heavy duty but I am always worried about heads coming off diy waisted valves, and the aftermarket ones tend to blow the budget a bit!

[Edited on 22/1/06 by NS Dev]

yup, knife edges in the ports and well thumb sized behind the valves. we shall see.

now i'm just worried i need to buy an expensive gearbox!!

could also do with some longer trumpets aswell.

Ned.

Ned, dont forget to do the rocker cover breather mod...

Nice work. I have a similar collection of bits for mine, when I finally get round to doing it!

Stop it Ned, you'll get billy all moist Now he's sold the zx12r engine

I still can't get over what your 45's and linkage etc went for on ebay

You get that xbox game ok in the end btw?

Oh yeah, and the engine looks ok



G

Ned,

Sorry, I didnt explain that U2U very well. Diagram is far better:

If you shorten the block (and hence distance X), the cam pulleys will rotate anticlockwise a little with the crank staying put, and the tensioner will take up the additional slack.

Ive seen one engine in a magazine ages ago where the owner put a vernier on the cam to bring the valve timing back spot on.

Ed.

[Edited on 23/1/06 by ed_crouch]
Rescued attachment Neds engine.jpg

I coff my hat to you Ned, that looks a fine bit of kit. Just need a car for it to go in ! [img][/img]

Ed,

I think you'd need to take a sizeable chunk off to have to fit verniers to compensate for that! the tensioner pulleys takes up the slack as required most of the time. even with standard pulleys it'd have to be decked a considerable amount to put the cam timing out.

Stu,

I have cut most of the plate on the underside of the rockercover out to allow it to breath and not get clogged up so much, is this what you mean? I know there is a different mod for when running dry sumped..

Ned.

[Edited on 23/1/06 by ned]

aye, that's what he means.

When you're dry sumped you can dispense with the external breather pipe on the side altogether and just bung up the holes.

I've just cut out most of my baffle too. Seems to have made a huge difference. Before I coudln't fill it up above the min. mark on the dipstick. But why was there a baffle in the first place?

Oh, fantastic engine Ned. I think I have piston envy!

The baffle was there originally because the breather was linked into the inlet manifold and therefore needed plenty of packing in it to prevent oil being drawn out.

When it is just vented to the atmosphere oil gets blown out.

Yeh, a couple of thou wouldnt make any difference, but if the engines had a mil or so off the head and block faces over its life, it can start to be significant.

Anyways, that is going to be one fast car!

Supercharge it. Go on!

Ed.
P.S. Although the CR might be a tad high for that...

[Edited on 23/1/06 by ed_crouch]

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Originally posted by NS Dev
The baffle was there originally because the breather was linked into the inlet manifold and therefore needed plenty of packing in it to prevent oil being drawn out.

When it is just vented to the atmosphere oil gets blown out.

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nowt to do with rwd, purely the vacuum on the breather box.

Not really sure of the logic behind it but we had big probs on the old rwd mid engined nova until somebody told us about the mod.

Before cutting the baffle away we lost 2 ltrs per event. After cutting no losses at all.

The baffle mod:

An modified breather *can* cause problems in the standard car as well. Got nowt to do with vacuums, or anything like that. Give it a serious dose of right hand lock, together with a serious dose of power, and just watch the smoke behind!

When installed in a RWD car, the problem occurs under hard acceleration, rather than hard right hand cornering. The shallow sump that is often installed makes matters worse. Of course, the problem tends to be worse when it is fitted North/South, as it is usually in a car that is going to be driven/will accelerate faster than a standard tintop anyway!

Basically, it is sump oil that is forced to the flywheel end of the block getting thrown / breathed out via the pipe by the dipstick. Modifying the plate allows the oil to re-enter the engine, rather than get channeled out of the breather on the rocker cover. Xflow motors can suffer a similar problem...

Ned,

What cam is it you have? Are you using solid lifters or hydraulic?

Chris
(with a std XE)

chris,

I know nothing about the cam other than the power it has made and that it is a kent profile.

It is a hydraulic profile, i'll probably rev it to 7.5 or 7750, not decided yet. the bottom end will easily take upto 8.5 or 9k on the standard crank but the lifters will have pumped up and bent the valves long before then..

Ned.

That's why i was asking...

Well you've certainly got what IWANT. I've just phoned about an engine tonight from a m reg calibra 2.0 16v. That should be a redtop right?
As an asides the BIL hotrod has solid lifters and when the cams were fitted by the engine builders they were fine for a few meetings and then disaster(sp) a collet came out of the valve spring and you know the rest
Anyway kent are supposed to have said that for solid lifters you need the different buckets or something (can't quite remember) and they should have stated that solid lifters were to be used when the cams were ordered. 7500 to 8100 revs are the higher figures I've seen on the tacho tell tale Although weve now got it geared much better and running in the power /torque band most of the time

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I've just phoned about an engine tonight from a m reg calibra 2.0 16v. That should be a redtop right?

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our race engine of a similar spec on a different hydraulic profile runs to 7750 and we have seen as much as 8.2k on downshift. Dave Walker wrote in ppc that as much as 8500 could be used for short periods of time such as in a hillclimb or sprint car, but i'd never be that brave!

Ned.

quote:

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Originally posted by Stu16v
The baffle mod:

An modified breather *can* cause problems in the standard car as well. Got nowt to do with vacuums, or anything like that. Give it a serious dose of right hand lock, together with a serious dose of power, and just watch the smoke behind!

When installed in a RWD car, the problem occurs under hard acceleration, rather than hard right hand cornering. The shallow sump that is often installed makes matters worse. Of course, the problem tends to be worse when it is fitted North/South, as it is usually in a car that is going to be driven/will accelerate faster than a standard tintop anyway!

Basically, it is sump oil that is forced to the flywheel end of the block getting thrown / breathed out via the pipe by the dipstick. Modifying the plate allows the oil to re-enter the engine, rather than get channeled out of the breather on the rocker cover. Xflow motors can suffer a similar problem...

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quote:

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Originally posted by ned
our race engine of a similar spec on a different hydraulic profile runs to 7750 and we have seen as much as 8.2k on downshift. Dave Walker wrote in ppc that as much as 8500 could be used for short periods of time such as in a hillclimb or sprint car, but i'd never be that brave!

Ned.

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My friends race engine has a big valve fully ported head waiting to go on and he's choosing another hydraulic profile cam, but doesn't want to go to solids as he doesn't want to raise the rpm level as all his hewland gears and circuit data would become useless!

I have dealt with mark baines before, I have his verniers, flywheel and rods in my engine...

Ned.

Is that a steel flywheel Ned (I guess so) if so how much if you don't mind me asking?

think it was about £80 Nat..

2.6kg or so + ring gear!

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/IMG_1445.jpg

[Edited on 24/1/06 by ned]

mmmmmmmmmm tasty!!!

Can't quite stretch to the full race clutch setup but I am thinking about a lighter flywheel and std clutch, and I don't like machining std flywheels!

if you think that ones nice, a friend had one custom made with a smaller ring gear and 5.5" clutch with a jap startermotor with different gearing. it would start 2-3 times off the tiny redtop battery it ran off between charges (no alternator!)

it weighed nothing and revved like crazy

maybe i'll get a piccie at the weekend

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It may not be. Simple to tell - if the spark plug cover is 'L' shaped, it is a redtop. If it is straight, it is an Ecotec.

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the ecotec block is the same (or near enough) but the pistons are definately different, the rods and crank may be same/similar to the late xe with the heavier crank. best to start off with an early xe in most cases. (engine code 20xe as opposed to c20xe if you can)
most ecotecs will require a cat, some early ones may not, not 100% on this.

Ned.