Darth Hemi Reloaded: Engine Build and Tune

[MattRobertson]

I know folks have been expecting some sort of post on the arrival of my motor, followed by the teardown, rebuild and report of all the above. The timeframe originally discussed has come and gone, and the situation has changed a little, so I figured rather than saying nothing or cluttering things up elsewhere I would start this thread, which will fit into my overall Darth Hemi Reloaded thread group eventually, anyway.

The motor is now scheduled to arrive within the next few days. As always Murphy stuck his nose into things and we had a delay; not the least of which was a shipping quote of $1100 to send the motor from Frank Racing in Texas back to SVS R&D in California. That was NOT going to happen and before it got sorted out the holiday hit.

LXF member Mexi, who has helped on this before, made arrangements to ship the motor at a reasonable price and it was picked up and put on the truck Monday. Advertised ship time is 5 days but actual ship time of 2-3 is not unusual. Crossing my fingers its sooner rather than later.

Also the motor was shipped assembled but sans head gaskets, which we do not have yet and which are under construction. Most of the reason for this was a sense of urgency I have instilled into the project as its build time has lengthened -- and yes I know its a first-time build for a motor of this kind, with custom-fabbed pistons and a host of other firsts. I know that some have the goal of seeing every nut and bolt inspected with a microscope, and questioned under hot lights. But I have goals myself and we will do without testing whether the heads were tightened down right in favor of gaining a few days to work while the gaskets get sorted out.

I had some specific goals with respect to time given some track events I wanted to participate in, but I have cancelled all of them in favor of lifting the remaining time constraints and focusing on getting the final stage of this project done right.

So with any luck the motor will arrive very shortly, I'll be able to get some pics to go along with that fact and work can commence.

Stay tuned...

[383HEMI]

Good Luck Man. I know I was buggin Stu every 5 min as my stroker was being built. I understand your excitement. Hope everything pans out and that motor lives to your expectations.

PH

[Trojan]

Its all good Matt, it'll come together in the next couple weeks for ya, Ya Cam and I bailed out on L.S this time. We wanted to run with you and CV as well, but we'll hook that up later. Hang in there bud Im sure it will all be worth it!

[MattRobertson]

So we've moved forward. A little. On Friday the motor arrived. So my plan was to go to SVS in Sacramento on Monday and swing by San Jose to pick up my new wheels. Two birds, one stone. But the wheels are not done yet, so Monday is not going to be Picture Day.

Bob will continue to work on the motor disassembly in the meantime. Here are a couple low res pics he snapped.









We'll do better than that once I get up there. There should be some pieces to get good closeups on. BTW Steve upgraded the heads beyond their original FRI S&S quality level. New valves (Ferrea), springs and retainers.

[InferAl]

I can't wait to see the numbers it produces. I'll be tuned in to this station for sure

[Flanman]

FYI- When had Obiwan's engine shipped to me from Cali to Illinois, I went thru ABF. You can set it up online at ABF.com. They specialize in less than full truckload shipments. It cost me about $540, about $200 of which was for them to pick it up at Obi's with a power liftgate. So I could have had it shipped for a little over $300 if it could have been delivered to their terminal. Sorry for the hijack, but I thought with all of the engines being built and shipped, this was good information.

[RobAGD]

Ah it is getting close Matt... cane you taste it ?

lol

-R

[MattRobertson]

Sorry for the hijack, but I thought with all of the engines being built and shipped, this was good information.

No you're right. Thats a good subject to cover here. My shipment out from Sacramento to Texas ran a little over $300 - from shop to shop. Coming back, again shop-to-shop,it was about $350, and forum member Mexi shipped it thru his company. I'm not the first guy he has helped with a motor shipment and it worked out great.

[Leadfootluke]

Oh, very cool.

This one of the builds I have been making an effort to follow.

Cant wait for pics and thoughts.

[MattRobertson]

The motor tear-down begins tomorrow at 10 am at SVS in Sacramento CA. I will be there, with camera, to watch the whole thing most likely. If you are in the Sack area feel free to stop by. Expect pics perhaps as soon as tomorrow night. This visit should give me pics to start some of the other sub threads in this build as well.

[MomsR/T]

any reports?

[MattRobertson]

any reports?

Not yet. We only got part way yesterday, and today the work continued... to a point. The guy doing the teardown went home this morning... sick.

Bob will finish the measurements himself and hopes to have a full report for me tomorrow. Once I get that I'll post it up.

Sorry for the delay guys!

[gremlinsteve]

that piston design is similar to the one that stu uses. the chamber profile is the same, but the rest of the piston is differant. the cp piston that he uses is a nice one. i use diamond racing.

steve

[MattRobertson]

OK its been awhile since I went up to SVS and observed most of the tear-down of the motor, which was completed a couple of days afterwards. Personal and work demands have been kicking my ass (and in fact still are) and so I have not had a chance to post up on the results.

So here I am, on Sunday morning with a little bit of free time before I have to go tackle some chores.

The short version: The motor was in good shape. Not perfect, but nothing like what you all saw with CoolVanilla's build. I'm not happy that there were ANY problems, but I'll let Steve or Lee comment further. As you can imagine I have discussed things with them and overall I am satisfied with what is effectively a beta motor build, given that parts were fabricated and fitted to this motor for the very first time to make it happen.

And with that Beta comment, let me also say that I am not paying full retail here. A lot of times when you are the pioneer you get a break on the price, but you also get a dose of uncertainty to go with it. As folks who have been around awhile know, I have been down this road before and this situation is no exception.

So with all that said, what was wrong with it? Two things:

Ring end gap Top Second oil rails
1 .022" .023 .023
2 .026 .029 .024
3 .023 .024 .023
4 .025 .025 .023
5 .020 .023 .024
6 .022 .024 .023
7 .021 .026 .023
8 .025 .027 .024

Those gaps don't make anyone happy, Steve included. New rings are on the way.

Next was a gap in communication between Steve and myself. Steve thought he told me that the Manley I-beam rods -- which are horrifically expensive and well-known to be overkill -- wouldn't fit and instead he substituted Eagle featherlight rods, which are rated at 700 hp and 7000 rpm's. They're also about 100 grams each lighter than the Manleys.

Unfortunately, the first I learned of this was when the windage tray came off and I was staring at H-beam rods. No I wasn't even a little happy to find that one out the hard way but Steve and I have discussed it and its not the end of the world. Now, ordinarily if you, Joe Customer, write a check to cover the cost of those rods and then find out they didn't go into the motor, you're going to be out for blood. The fact that this is a beta build and things were still being learned during assembly -- and again I'm getting a price break ... well that changes the dynamic quite a bit.

Next, some (not all) of the slugs of Mallory that were put in to balance the crankshaft weren't welded in. Or at least they don't appear to be. We're having that looked at by a crank guy, as thats very puzzling.

There is one more thing regarding bearing clearance that is a difference of opinion between engine builders and not something delivered out of spec -- Bob thinks they should be loosened up and I am going with his recommendation.

It should run fine within spec but we're being extra cautious.

I don't have specific info handy right this minute, but when I do I will modify this post accordingly. Should be Monday.


EDIT: Steve posted up the specifics a few posts down

[USCG Charger]