Rich in Wisconsin Engine Progress

Jake, as usual, you're probably correct. The cost factor is probably going to be a wash. I had given my guy here the green light to proceed, then rethought the numbers and by the time I got back to his shop a few days later he had already started the fabrication so the decision had been already made for me. Please don't misunderstand again. I know you make the best and back it up with your unrelenting research and plain old-fashioned work ethic. As Jack notes, you get what you pay for...I understand and live by that mode of thinking. The term geographically undesireable also plays into the equation. If some day I am fortunate to own one of your engines, I'm certainly sure that I would be proud to say I have a Jake Raby engine in my car...and who wouldn't. Until that time I think I will be satisfied with my current decision processes. You have obviously taken note of my project and I would hope you could concur that what you see here is a quality job by a class-guy up here in the northwoods. All the best.

Mango, I'll be happy to get you some measurements. It's a Beck as I'm sure you have surmised by now. Unfortunately it's also at my mechanics shop 20 miles away so until I get over there you'll have to be patient...unless Carey is eavesdropping and can throw out some numbers by memory. Specifically, what dimensions do you want? Oh, and once again, your car is absolutely gorgeous despite all those wires hanging out all over the place...or is that done already? With any luck, I may have it in my garage by the weekend.

Mike, thanks for the kind words and encouraging comments. Where can this 914 of yours be seen? Got photos stashed away somewhere?

Yeah Rich.... I will post some pics in the classified section on this site for kicks.

Mike

A disappointing set back on the Speedster front. Stopped by the shop today to find the engine removed from the car again. He started it up last night, sounded great. Today he was running it up again when he heard a "dink"...soon after he found an oil leak. One of the "heavy duty" case bolt nuts stripped out. A major tear down is in the process to install all new case studs. Delivery by Sat. Looks slim. DANG! His supplier claims he over-torqued it...he says he's been doing the same thing for ten years. Regardless, all that nice installation is for naught. He's obviously ticked. I'm trying not to let it bother me, somewhat glad it happened now and not 2 days after I got it home.

BUMMER! At least you are able to maintain a healthy attitude. It will all be worth it when completed and you're cruising down the road, top down, wind in your face and everybody passing by green with envy. FULL SPEED AHEAD, Rich!

Hey Rich.... Here are some pics of my 914 for sale.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=113504&st=0&gopid=1495144&#entry1495144

Mike

An astounding amount of work to correct a defective nut, here's the little bastard looking all innocent-like back in February.

Thanks Jim, I am trying to be positive.
Mike, nice work and the color is great. Odd to see the engine in that state of cooling, mine hasn't looked so nice since the attached! Looks like we've both come a long way.

Rich:

We've heard of several bad case studs on here in the past couple of years. I don't think it was necessarily your builder's fault........

Rich-I would inspect the case bolt/nut in question very carefully for the cause of failure; then suspect/inspect them all!. Suggest an e-mail/phone call to Jake Raby. You can get new hardware through him (I think) or through LN Engineering. I think the mfr is ARP ultimately-they understand the forces induced when things heat-up and stretch, causing changes to "loads". (Also, no excuse for the engine builder to have "passed" this on; you can actually FEEL when thread engagement is incorrect. His tools should be calibrated also.) A good thing that it WAS caught in the end.

I'm positive it was not my builder's fault. He is very thorough and has the tools for the job. A fluke of metallurgy I believe is the problem.

Have him inspect all hardware in this bolt pattern/application. My .02 cents.

He was in the process of replacing all studs when I arrived yesterday, I'm sure he has the same suspicions. Any clues as to how one does a search for this topic on this site? I plan on stopping by the shop late today to see his progress. I know he's not loving this exercise because he has become extremely busy lately and this is just setting him back further.

Those appear to be aftermarket ARP through bolts in the picture..These typically do not cause a problem at all, I use them on my engines frequently.
"A major tear down is in the process to install all new case studs. Delivery by Sat. Looks slim. DANG!"
You can't rush success, but you can damn sure rush failure. Throw the clock and the calendar away.

"His supplier claims he over-torqued it..."
I'd concur with that.. These units are extreme duty, they are 220,000 PSI bolts and they don't need crazy torque- they need the torque the manufacturer calls for (that just happens to be a result of my development- I used the first set of those)

"he says he's been doing the same thing for ten years.

With those bolts? What that tells me is the fact that he's probably been doing the wrong thing for ten years, he must have good luck.
Contrary to popular belief by most of my peers in this industry, doing the same thing over and over again does not make something right. The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes.

"Regardless, all that nice installation is for naught. He's obviously ticked. I'm trying not to let it bother me, somewhat glad it happened now and not 2 days after I got it home
Glad to see its coming together."
Don't rush him.. Doing so will create a less than favorable situation.

Looking at the first picture I do not see any thread protrusion through the nuts in those photos. With threads that do not protrude the fastening load is exerted on a very small window of the threads and that alone can cause this issue, no matter what the torque value is.

Do you have better pictures? There should be no less than 3 threads protruding from the nuts on both sides of the engine, it appears that these were installed with too much thread protrusion on one side and very little on the other. This would account for the issue as one thread let go and the fastener shot off with a bit of force.

Unlike a Type 1, this engine does not have studs, it uses a through bolt.

Thank you Jake for chiming in here. Attached is the best I can do for a photo. A thread or two is a possibility. P.S. The other "perimeter" bolts above these were temporary at the time.

A return visit to the shop this afternoon found the engine with stock case bolts installed and a good portion of the engine back together, but still on the floor. Back to saying another week or so.

That's a much better picture and confirms a bit of what I assumed.. The nut should not have popped off if those pictures are how the engine went together.

Why didnt he just replace one through bolt and nut. It can be done without engine disassembly...

I am sure he has his reasons..

Hey, it's June 22nd, about 4:15pm. Guess where I'm going in a few minutes? That's right, the engine is running and I'm going to hear it for the first time. Not bring it home, mind you, just go listen to it run...don't want to rush this process. But I should know tonight when I can get it back home. My guess, Friday or Saturday...it's raining anyways.

Woooooo Hooooooo!! Another day closer to hitting the road. Hang in there Rich.

Here's proof...it's alive!!!!!!!
Should be in my driveway Friday, Saturday at the latest!
The Tangerine exhaust sounds way better in person. Way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JePiHb05DnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeDqJEhKl_Y

It's ALIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!

Congrats, Rich.

Music to my ears! ( Be sure to tighten that fan belt )

Now I just have to wait out the Wisconsin DMV, but at least it'll be in my garage, and be able to drive it around my small, secluded subdivision roads, giving neighbors rides. I found out the day it was trailered to the shop for the engine install, one of my neighbors owned a'58 cab way back when. He wants a ride bad.

Yes, Alan, I thought it looked a little loose.

Timing is a wee bit retarded at idle.. You'll pick up a ton of down low driveability by bumping that up a bit. Sounds about like 8* at idle.

Fan belt is loose...

You'll be needing a "real" breather box thats at least 3X bigger volume wise than the one thats fitted..

:-)

Glad to see its almost done!

Thanks for the advice, Jake. I do believe he's got more tuning to do. Weather here has not been conducive for driving. It's only been run up for about 30 minutes. He wants to get it out on the road for 20 miles or so, maybe new jets. Bigger breather box, eh?

This may be getting boring for you seasoned vets, but here's a few more photos of the end results so far. I'm guessing that once I'm driving it I won't find myself pecking away on the keyboard here as much.

Never gets old. This is Speedster porn. To quote the comedian Ron White "if you've seen one woman naked, you want to see them all."

Certainly not bad..

He didn't happen to use hydraulic lifters, did he??

Any size TIV is nice in a conversion like this.

Nope, no hydraulic lifters here.

Congrats, Rich--it must be super-exciting to get to this stage.

You may already have it, but there is a piece of black rubber that surrounds the engine opening---you can get one from Kirk at Vintage or from Cary at Beck. I used some rubber cement (3-M green can) to keep mine in place.

Good color of red too!

Drive that puppy down to Ashville for the Sept 9-10-11 ervent! We're arriving the 8th.

Jack, the rubber membrane that comes with a Beck and maybe other kits that is intended as an engine sealer was what i was trying to avoid. I designed the aluminum skirting to create a cleaner more elegant (in my opinion) solution. Hopefully this will illustrate for you what I did. The "D" shaped weather stripping was sliced at the top and fit into the existing fiber glass lip of the engine bay hole. When the engine is installed, the strip mates up to the lip.

Good news/bad news...just got my title today in the mail with an attached note. My special (Hobbyist) plates will arrive (as previously predicted by WI DMV) in 4-6 weeks. The title may allow me to get insurance, so I need to start pricing that out. With insurance, I may just drive and try to feel impervious to a stop if I slap on some old "collector" plates from a past car I had (they need no annual stickers)...fool some people into believing it's not "one of them replicas". Maybe I shouldn't get to open about this...perhaps this site is scanned regularly by the police due to all you crazies out there! Or maybe some cop will just want to take a look at a "real" Speedster...sounds real Catch 22-ish to me.

Rich--I like your solution and understand why you went that route. I had always thought of that rubber surround as protection for the paint at the edges, klutz that I am.

Good job!

For all those keeping score of how many times I have said I would have the Speedster home by today at the latest; check off a few more days on the scoreboard. Stopped by the shop this morning and actually had my first ride (and I was just the passenger at that). There are some issues that definitely need to be addressed so back to waiting and hoping. While out on our little sorting mission (which was fun in itself) I did hear my first "NICE CAR! comment from a passerby. From what I understand from you other owners, this will become a common occurrence...what can I say?

You will not be able to stop anywhere (including a red light) without someone honking or giving you a thumbs up, or asking questions or...

I've gone to our local Cars & Coffee the last several Saturdays, and amidst the Shelbys and Ferraris, etc., I get at least as many comments and questions. Not that here's anything wrong with that :-)

Hey, Lane. Nice car! What kinda car is that? It's a beauty! Is it a real one?

Attention I get. Unfortunately, it never seems to be the ladies. In my neck of the woods, the African American guys really love it. I think it's the connection with Eddie Murphy from the "48 Hours" movies.

HAHAHAHA!!! Yes Tom. I have been asked the same question a few times
"Dahhhhmm..... Isn't that Eddie Murphy car?"