V-12 Engine into 308 Build, over on Grassroots

I follow this thread every day. Excited to see what is next. This is not what I like to see. So sorry to see the problems. However however whatever you take to keep such a positive attitude... please share!!!! I'd be balled up in a corner. I'm impressed with the skill, knowledge and tenacity you have in doing this build. Its the kind of stuff I'd love to do, but I know I don't have the knowledge, skill, or temperament to even contemplate. All the best going forward.

 

The valves and all the valve train are Kibble White and mostly all NLA. Ferrea has similar valves so likely that is what I'll use.

The why does a head fall off at 1500ish rpm? Did the screwy timing damage the plug and the ceramic fell off and help the valve open? I had just cleaned them so maybe? Or something else got in there? I don't know.....but now I can weld the port and return oil leaks.

 

+1

 

Well that sucks (NLA)..
KW is good stuff, so that's wild.
I like superformance, since they specialize in Euro vehicles they've got an extensive catalog of "little" valves. Many a custom used a longer then needed stem and we just had the machine shop cut to length and add new keeper grooves. You could give them a shout, talk to Willy.
Teardown will be more informative... Man that's a bummer.

 

Yeah, these were blanks that I cut to grooved. KW used to have an amazing selection for custom builds but it looks like they've dropped it all. Ferrea has a close replacement, a bit pricier but the right sizes, very similar profiles so should be fine. I used their exhaust valves when I damaged a couple on assembly last year (?).

Why though........as you say, maybe I'll see something on the tear-down.

 

Oh, as weird as it sounds when I started grilling the mfg on the rpm ranges our engines were going to spin to, they couldn't guarantee that the valves would survive long term. Odd i thought, but then again running the numbers for the forces involved it gets interesting above 8k, esp when going for 11k+ . Superformance though has a decent selection of race valves for motorcycle that will see those speeds so that's why I went in that direction. Valve stem was smaller but that's not a deal breaker for all the custom work on those builds.
Valve train harmonics with spring rates, spring design, ramp rate etc.. I built many a spread sheet to track all that. It's what drove the 11k+ valve train to a custom beehive spring and lots of Ti.

I gotta say, winding that engine out on the Dyno to 10k was beyond pucker factor 11.. God what a stressful week that testing was!

 

Supertech... No idea what it kept getting auto corrected to superformance...

 

Well here's a set forward, I have a piston. I don't recall exactly why I have it, the skirts scuffed a but so it probably measure undersize so I replaced it before I realized the3 bores were going to be oversize and I needed to coat the pistons and this one will certainly coat to fit just fine.
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So bloody close..

 

They all said I was daft to try this!

 

I started pulling the engine and if I'm being honest describing the effort as 1/2 hearted would be an exaggeration. But I drained the coolant, decided to flush it so on reassembly its antifreeze free and ready for head gasket sealer...then I realized I need to get the water out of the block and fought 1 of the drain plugs out. It will be out Friday or Saturday I guess and hopefully head off Sunday.

About that time amazon brought me the MAP sensor I wanted to see...its small and nice. In theory I could probably put 1 on each port but they would block my access to the manifold bolts. I'll look at that a bit more when the engine is on the bench but right now I'm thinking use a short hose and hide them under the air box when all the hoses are now.
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The aluminum tube i ordered for the bumper mount came...but I didn't order what I thought I ordered exactly. This is 3mm wall, I thought it was 1.5mm. Also the grommets I bought give a smaller ID than I was thinking o a different tubing might be better. I would have liked to wrap this up so before pulling e3verything apart but I don't want to wait for more bits so I'll pack it up for now.

 

Could you remote mount the MAP sensors then run a vacuum line to each one? This way you would just have a little vacuum line running to each one and you could still get to the bolts.

I bet it’s less than half hearted, I would feel the same. My uncle use to say “it will feel good when it quits hurting”

 

Yes, that is kind of what I was on about with the pic of the sensor over the fuel rail....like a 4 or 5 in hose to move the sensor over the fuel rail but still hidden under the airbox. Right now I use pretty long hoses and have the sensor board over the fuel tank and that is ok, the hoses are kind of mess is all. I was looking at switching to a smaller OD hose while its apart to neaten it up a bit, then got thinking about these newer style MAP sensors and just ding away with the multiMAP board.

I like having all 12 readings but 4 is probably enough to have a good MAP reading so that is an option too and if I lock up the TBs then bank to bank is all I'd ever care about....or I can play a bit more with the meter I built, it seemed to kind of work but I think it was leaking. I was reading just under 1kPa and I thought it should be a bit higher. I build it sit into the taper on the stancks, but they really aren't sealed in anyway to the TBs so I probably use an o-ring that seals to the TB.

 

Today there was still water on the floor from draining the block yesterday....I squeegeed it and moved on the picking up because I have bits of all sorts of things everywhere let form the get it done push plus it was honestly a mess before and that has to do with me being easily distracted from work I don't enjoy...oh look at all these spark plugs is various stages of fouled.
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The NGK set I've been using was looking pretty worn out so they went in the trash but I have another NGK set (or 11 = 1 smashed from the last failure) that look pretty new so I ordered a 12th and cleaned the 11. I also have 2 full sets of autolites, fouled. In the V8 blower engine I really like autolites which is probably why I bought these for the V12. They look hotter than the NGKs and I'm not sure how I feel about that which is likely why they are sitting, I honestly don't recall.
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I did drain the oil before coming in. Then Standing there waiting I took a closer look at the muffler....man I did a poor job building that, its off a full inch right to left so one more thing on the list.
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