the lvferraripilot engine rebuild thread

Hey no worries. Our late model dirt track engines would be broken-in the same way and were 'refreshed' once through the season. Very often the crank came out, bearings were measured and if they checked out would go right back in. This engine won at Eldora and ran a great remainder of the season. Trouble free.

 

Just as I suspected! 109.25mm (4.3inch) is exactly what Ferrea sent me and is calling a 308 2v intake valve. I ordered and used Si 308 2v intake valves which are a correct length of 110.25mm. Thanks Paul


Let it be known here. Do NOT order Ferrea 2v intake valves. They are wrong for a 308, but correct for a Boxer.

 

Heads are bolted to the engine. Spent about 30 minutes messing with the 1-4 bank of cams. I am amazed these engine run as well as they do with such rediculous lobe centers from the factory. Exhausts are at 91 and intakes are 96.

 

I will have more pics today. Promise.

Question for anyone who would like to key in:

I set the cams up at 110 degree lobe centers, but I am now second guessing myself and am thinking of moving to 108. The extra few degrees of overlap and couple degree boost in dynamic cpr ratio strikes me as a good thing. I have the hang of how to do this now so it won't take long. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery (or any gallery).

 

Crinkle painted black cam covers are my thing, so that's what I did. I like it.

Once the cams are dialed in, engine will be mated with the transaxle which has since been buttoned up and is of course super surgical clean.

As a side note for those using Verrel's quad seals. Verrel sends two quad seals and two o rings which swedge between the quad seal and are essentially meant to take up any further play between the shaft and o ring. Well, my particular area where the quad seal fits must have been made on the second Tuesday of the month because the o ring Verrel supplied just did not fit. The steel ring which is pushed into the aluminum housing the shaft seals must have been pushed in a little further on my particular block then that of others. I used a smaller diameter o ring found at Ace hardware for $.74 each and all was right in the jungle.
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I have many cam seals. All of which have yet to be installed. The seals you see are old nasty seals.

Cams reset to: 106 intake 108 exhaust for a 107 LSA

With any luck the engine will be mated to gearbox tomorrow!

 

No worries guys, was using the old belts to dial in the cams. Will install new belts, tensioner bearings, seals etc all this evening. Didn't want to install and remove the new belts many times.

Verell, I do not recall the size of the o ring I used. Matter of fact, I don't think I even looked. I went through the Ace hardware metric o rings box and just snagged a bunch of them that looked about right and eyeballed what looked right and fit into the quad seal groove correctly.


Air injection fittings were plugged on one side, just haven't done the side the photo is on. Will probably zap them off tonight.

 

Intake manifolds and carbs bolted up last night. I can see the light!

A word for those removing their intake manifolds. The gaskets become really stuck and the coolant generally corrodes the aluminum of the actual manifold, so when you go to remove/scrape the old gaskets with a razor or the like, understand there is going to be some pitting in the aluminum that only looks like the gasket is not completely removed and the surface is not flat. Using a straight metal ruler helps in determining there is a flat surface and you are good to go. Also, from what I can tell the factory used no gasket sealer on these things for these particular gaskets.

 

Had a busy weekend. Managed to bolt up the following: intake manifolds and carbs (set linkages to a nuetral position ready for tuning), valve covers, bolted engine to transaxle, sandwhich plate, oil filter housing, flywheel. She is about ready to go. Will post a pic this afternoon.

 

wow that is amazingly stuck. these things can run really well but boy what lies beneath in an old engine can be downright scary.

 

loktite 518 for case halves. Hondabond pretty much everywhere else.

Carb jetting starting point is 140 mains F24 tubes 55 idles. Should be adequate.
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forward is my favorite direction. I am debating dropping the thing in by myself as I managed to pull the engine on my own with zero issues. I figure if I take my time and ease it in the same way I pulled it that things should go smoothly.

 

bell housing, drop gears, starter, alternator, sump vent, etc all installed. water pump and housing is the only item I am waiting on. when pulling the water pump studs in a further attempt to remove the very stuck housing, one of them snapped off. Have to drill that stupid thing out now. Shouldn't take long. Just annoying.