Slow going on the wiring as I've changed my mind in a few places and had to rework. Pix when it's presentable.
Meanwhile, I kept looking at these on t-bricks and looking at the Weber books and thinking about tuning and my software-focused brain just couldn't help jumping down the slippery slope of EFI.
After reworking a few times, I think the wiring is (mostly) done. The goal was to get all of the new circuits off the old harness, with relays as appropriate and fuses put where they're accessible but not in the way. Couldn't find a good place on the body to hang the box so I made up a new kick panel out of 1/4" masonite covered with vinyl and anchored the box and bus bars to the kick panel. It sits inside the underdash tray, so I put a combo voltmeter/double USB supply in there for phone charging. The 4 relays are for switched power, fuel selector valve, driving lights, and air horns. 4 fuses feed the relays, 1 for the overdrive relay + solenoid, 2 for accessory power outlets, and 1 spare.
The gauge panel is all done but for the fuel selector and fuel gauge peek switches. Time for carpeting.
OK, I think we have the right vibe.
My car actually came with an identical but non-working Brantz rally computer, when working it'll hang in place of the Jesus handle.
I don't know how I missed this, but I'm sure glad I found it. Beautiful car!
Thanks! It gets a lot of waves and honks on the road, too.
Went for a longish drive on Sunday and finally tested the overdrive. When bought the wire to the OD solenoid was broken, then I yanked all the secondary wiring. A later-style OD relay and pushbutton on the short shifter got done in this new wiring work.
I always wanted an OD box on the beater 242 and it was really cool to finally try one. It definitely makes for a nicer highway drive at 65-70mph and there's plenty of power in this car to climb the long hill nearby even with the 4.10 rear (IIRC OD cars got a 4.30). The OD shifts surprisingly snappily, have to remember to feather the gas and maybe some clutch when switching it.
I believe you're right.
New tires to replace the 11 year old Tiger Paws, which at least were entertaining - get the ice-driving experience any time of year! Went down to 195/65 from 205/60, mostly for steering effort, and chose Vredestein Quatracs for a combination of low treadwear # (400), 3-peaks which I hope will mean good enough on gravel and dirt roads, and also price.
Also got a state inspection. With the year-of-manufacture plates I could have registered as an antique and been 'self inspected', but that can be problematic if LE notices you out and about a lot. So I paid for annual registration which required an inspection sticker. The mechanics had fun with it and for the first time I heard the exhaust outside the car while it was moving. Sounds pretty good.
If Proust was a motorhead he would have written A la Recherche du Temps Perdu about setting the lash on an OHV Volvo motor. Last time I did this was around 1985, yet it was very familiar.
Take a look at the tips of the rockers - each one looks like it was heat-treated, or perhaps welded on. I don't remember this from the old days, any chance the rockers were blueprinted?
Help me figure a blowby problem out?
This car pushes a lot of volume out the breather. Lots. At idle you could fill balloons off the crankcase fitting. Only at WOT does it smoke some from the catch can. Exhaust never smokes AFAIK.. No PCV, as part of the weber conversion it seems to have been changed over to an open system- crankcase and valve cover nipples run to a catch can. All hoses and fittings are clear and flow easily.
Compression:
Cold, dry: 170, 120, 140, 160. Middle 2 are 130, 150 wet.
Hot, dry: 180, 140, 155, 160. Wet: 190, 155, 170, 170 .
Variation aside, even 120psi doesn't seem likely to be blowing so much past the #2 rings, and there's no more improvement from 4ml of oil in #2 than in any of the other cylinders so I'm not convinced it's rings.
To my mind that leaves valves and gasket, and the fact that 2 and 3 are both low has me squinting at the gasket. Car doesn't overheat and I don't see bubbles or oil in the coolant but haven't tested for exhaust.
I'll pull the head tomorrow, but am I barking up the wrong tree?
Can you get your hands on a leakdown tester? It will tell you if it is valves or rings
I'll be going near the local Horrible Freight this morning and will pick one up - more data soon.
Picked up both a leakdown gauge and an exhaust in coolant tester.
No exhaust gas discovered in the radiator while warming up for the leakdown test, but I laughed grimly at the leakdown numbers:
Leakdown (hot, psi)
1: 80/64
2: 80/30
3: 80/45
4: 80/47
All the air is coming through the crankcase. Ring-a-ding-ding!
I'm pretty sure the car sat a lot for the last 5 or so years and was babies when it was driven. These are such robust engines that I want to believe it's a case of glazed cylinder walls and rings. Might try a snake oil solution before tearing things down...
First, the tried and true approach.
Jag anklagar dig, herr huvudpackning!
I see a smoking gun, er gasket! Odd failure mode that.
It does seem a little strange. Assuming my cheap machinist's t is straight, the head is flat across the failure area and in the same areas between the other cylinders. There might be a tiny dip across the block there but I didn't clean it well before measuring.
Head bolts all seemed to give up about the same torque on removal but I don't think that means anything.
I cc'd #1 and #4 with alcohol (50-51cc, 10-11:1 compression with the 0.027" gasket and pistons 0.030" down, says the calculator) and the exhaust valves leaked a tiny bit.
The bores are lovely, with a barely-detectable ridge - not too surprising, the 180kmile B20 I rebuilt as a callow youth was similar. I suspect the bottom end is fine and figure on disassemble, clean, lap, reassemble with a new head gasket and try compression and leakdown tests again.
Soak some serious penetrating oil onto the ring lands while the head is off. I have seen a few stuck rings in perfect bores from storage.
Will do!
Last week or so has been de-coking the head, dental hygenist style, and starting to lap the valves.
It's nice work because not only does something get done, there's also time to listen to music and to think. About those Jenvey ITBs up there, for instance. They look like DCOEs but one of the differences is that they have bosses for vacuum fittings, which will be useful for EFI. But ya know, I says to myself, a good vacuum signal would also be useful for the 123 ignition, get some part-throttle advance action going and maybe improve driveability. But the DCOE doesn't have any vacuum fittings.
"Self," I says, "there's nothing wrong with that intake manifold that a few holes wouldn't fix."
EDIT: Nothing wrong with the holes but there was less space available in the middle than I thought around the #2 and #3 header pipes. A few new fittings from McMaster coming...
Meanwhile, a PSA from our sponsor, the National Shipwright's Disease Foundation:
You or someone you love may have Shipwright's Disease. SD afflicts millions of people around the globe. It's a real disease - you can tell from the name. Like color blindness, SD mostly affects men, but many women suffer as well. SD is rarely recognized before it's too late, but if you start thinking or hearing yourself say "fix that while you're in there" or "might as well", you should seek professional help. If you hear "Jeez, aren't you done with that yet?", "But we need the dining room for Thanksgiving", or "OMFG not again, it was supposed to be a simple repair", your life is in danger.
There is no cure for SD, but the National Shipwright's Disease Foundation is working hard to get the lab ready. We moved the lab tables and had to adjust the plumbing. Once the walls were opened up it was a good time to rewire. Bob thinks the electrical service isn't up to snuff, so it might take a while.
The mail brought a part that I was looking foward to so I took a few minutes at lunch to fit it.
You know what else will be useful for EFI? That's right, a GM coolant temp sensor. Factory FI heads have a temp sensor boss in the thermostat well, but this one doesn't and besides, using the factory-fit sensor with aftermarket EFI would at least take some calibrating. However, all B20 (and I think B18) heads have a convenient hole in the thermostat well that I think is used for the warmup regulator on FI cars but covered with a plate on the rest. I made a crappy replacement for the cover plate from aluminum last night with a 3/8NPT hole, to be ready to test fit the new sensor, but the new sensor is as large as the opening in the head itself and it wouldn't screw in.
So why not just tap the opening itself? It was larger than the 9/16" that the interwebs says is required to tap 3/8 NPT, but since there's at least 1/2" of cast iron there I figured it was worth a try. Tapping cast iron is so satisfying, and once done I was able to torque the sensor down well so here's hoping it doesn't leak.
Edit: it turns out the opening in non-FI heads is for an oil cooler. Who knew?
Hmmm, odd head gasket failure. Yes. Odd.
Let's make sure we're clamping the ever-loving E36 M3 out of the new gasket, shall we?
Some improvement. With everything back together and the engine warmed up we see that #2 is now at least no worse than #3 and #4: 180-155-160-160.
Back to driving it like I hate it to see if the rings can become better acquainted with the bores after a few days of PB Blaster spa treatments.
Good compression, terrible leakdown as expected from the crankcase pressure: 80/68, 80/30, 80/46, 80/50 (psi in/psi out on the Horrible Fright tester).
Machine shop located, now time for another not-since-1985 job...
Truly, one's children are a comfort in old age.
You'll need to log in to post.
