kevin
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3.7 24v Build in 116 GTV

Post by kevin »

Project 3.7 24v started sometime last year but got sidelined due to budget race car which still requires a fair bit of time inbetween races for maintenance. Working only on weekends its finally finished and in my dads car. Reason for this I figured it would be way to strong with the budget race car set up(prop breakages etc) and also I traded my dads AP brakes and his time to help with racing in return for the motor.
The motor started life as 164 3.0 24v and then was stripped to be bored out to receive 100mm rosso pistons. I knew these forged pistons required larged clearancse which meant possible more wear and noise at start up but this was my only ‘cheap’ option as getting one off pistons made was way to expensive and I figured this engine will only see max 10000 km any way.
The block boring and sub assembly was done by Dawie(with new GTA crank,rods) but before this was to be done I had to remove all the studs from the block.
This simple job turned bad as three of the studs were seized and then snapped upon removal. I had to drill these out and put inserts in which sounds simple. However the inserts(25mm) I first used failed at 60nm( I can just hear Barry saying ,’ I told you so’ but been stubborn I had to see for myself). Next plan was to thread the stud hole from the top and install a 60mm insert which now works. This took two months. Pics to follow.
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Post by kevin »

close up of new insert.
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Post by kevin »

Next step was to do the heads which I stripped down totally including the hydraulic lifters. The lifters had to be stripped in order to collapse them(get oil out) as the cams profile was seriously high which required shims on top of the valves. The clearnces could only be cross checked upon assembly of cams(obviously). It was amazing to see how the tiny hydraulic lifter springs had worn on the edges.
Thanks to Barry on sharing tips off separating the lifter assembly ie hold the follower in your hand and wack on a piece of wood until all the pieces fall out. Have to use your hand to absorb shock. After the fourth one my hand already was turning blue. By the twenty fourth one both hands were black and blue.. After this I swore the next engine would just have the valves lengthened to suit high profile cams providing the seats remained constant which I have now just done(166 motor another project). Few pics of the hydraulics lifter assembly.
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Post by kevin »

another pic removing hydraulic 'pistons'
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Post by kevin »

Note the wear on the top of the tiny springs. I found these filings in the follower.
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Post by kevin »

Heads are all on and now all the conversion work starts ie oil pump, sump, water pump etc. Barry shared an ingenius method on the oil pump gear assembly preventing the brass gear from monving out of position(far better then a nyloc nut on top off the shaft). Cant show this as that’s his intellectual property. Thanks Barry.
Pic of the shim
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Post by kevin »

After shims are in , you must be able to be able to press the follower down a fraction to insure its not 'tight' so the hydraulic liftrers can still work as normal.
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Post by kevin »

A larger plennum was made out of two plennums shown on another link.
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Post by kevin »

The cam covers were machined and oil filler cap relocated so it does not touch brake booster. With the cap in its new position the oil does tend to leak out if the cap is not 100% tight as its directly above a cam lobe which 'flicks' oil up.
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Post by kevin »

Another pic showing Barry's fixed tensioner. What a pleasure it is to chainge belts(twenty mins) and re tension them.
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Post by kevin »

Also seen before is prop cage .
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Post by kevin »

The engine is now in the car but had problems using gta injectors with the 164 fuel rail(sprays fuel every where except in port). I assumed this would work but the GTA injectors have clips in different positions and a deeper rail so I will temporary put the 164 injectors back to start up engine which I need Barrys' brain to fine tune his haltech installation.
Pics will follow of engine in bay. I hope this beast will be atleast half as fast as Fernandos car. So Fernando if you see a seventy two year old grey haired man in a GTV chasing you, it will be my pops.
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Post by Fernando »

Kevin I will be on the look out... :lol: Just hope that I have your dad's zest when I get to his age.

By the way nice work,I always enjoy reading these types of threads.
"Racing is life,everything before and after is just waiting."- Steve Mqueen
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Post by kevin »

Oh, by the way Fernando, dont stop suddenly if you see him as iI have his brake set up on the race car. He will get them back soon after next race. He still has the standards on.
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Post by kevin »

Thank goodness this 3.7 build is a hobby as I would be out of business. I got the car to run pretty darn well using the haltech system after a few snags. The motor was extremely strong but after 300km it developed a water leak into pot number two. Even though compression check showed all was perfect you could take out the spark plug and watch the water shoot out(great water injection). Took heads off as I suspected where the problem was. The cooper rings that bite into the the head on pot two were particular close to the water jacket due to slight corrosion thus not sealing properly. If I had more experience I probably would have welded up the water jackets slightly to have more 'meat' for the rings to bite into.
So once again got a real pro who specialise this to heat up head on the areas very slightly not to distort to much(with cams in) and fill with weld.
After that i have had the heads skimmed again very slightly just to clean the weld. Out come is superb. Will post pics later of the finished head.
The joys of conversions !!
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