Finally got some time to continue the install post.
Day 5 - Thursday 23 July:
On Wednesday evening we decided to pressure test the hard and soft lines that go to the front coolers. They were installed 3+ years ago and had bounced around for 4,000 miles. Ralfy had replicated my pressure test rig since my original was in storage. We hooked things up with a cap on one hard line and shop air to the other at 90 psi and a valve to close things in over night. Thursday morning the gauge showed some pressure loss, but we could not detect a leak. Running short on time, we decided to hope the leak would not be large. Two days later after running the car for 2.5 hours on the way to the 356 Group NW Bull Session we had zero leaks from the cooler loop, so we figure that our Teflon tape job on the pressure test rig must not have been good.
- Pressure test gauge for testing the front cooler loop.
On Thursday I finished up work on the oil lines ends that could be installed before the motor goes in the car. After Gregory fixed the one fitting so it would work with the Wilhoit anti backflow valve I then installed the new Behr thermostat purchased from Peter Hoffman at Classic parts. Four years ago at the LA Lit meet I purchased an oil filter console, lines and the thermostat from a 72 911S for $600 to get the thermostat as a cheaper alternative to the then $1600 real thing. Now with a real four cam, I decided I should go with the real thermostat. The stronger Dollar meant the real thing was more like $1100, and in the mean time with the skyrocketing values of early 911s the complete 72S oil filter, lines and thermostat is probably worth 3 to 4 times that. So the 911 part will probably get sold.
- oil line parts and thermostat from Classic Parts
Before installing the motor in the car we did some measurements on the clutch and pressure plate to determine if the combination of the Carrera flywheel which had been machined to a non stock depth, with a late 356 200 mm pressure plate and disc would work with the recommended late 356 B throwout bearing. Measurements said it would and we later found it did. I had a new C/SC throw out bearing on had just in case. After determining that the clutch would work we were ready to install the motor in the car. Gregory's mid rise lift made the task almost a breeze. But then we encountered a problem - motor offered up with upper bolts installed but the upper bolts were too short
Turns out the flange on the Carrera engine case is thicker than the pushrod and each of the upper motor bolts is 10mm longer. Gregory to the rescue - he pulled two bolts of the right length from his parts stock. By the end of the day we had the motor in the car and the clutch adjusted.
- Motor in the car
Day 6 - Friday 24 July:
Today was the make or break day. I got the rest of the oil lines made up and connected with no problem. In the mean time Ralfy started to install the exhaust system, with the short header pipes going on first. The first obstacle was a loose exhaust stud which Ralfy fixed in a somewhat inelegant way, but it worked.
- Used Sport Exhaust 1, otherwise known as a peashooter (I think) purchased from Jacques
We then offered up the exhaust and immediately hit a snag. The stock street lower valve covers are too tall and interfered with the exhaust. Jacques must have seen this coming and decided to be my guardian angel - when Ralfy and I visited him at his shop in March we also took a tour of several of his suppliers. At one shop there was a large cart full of raw castings for lower GT valve covers. Jacques asked me if I wanted a pair and I took him up - his price was very reasonable. Problem was the lower valve covers were raw - they needed to be surfaced, have the holes drilled and then the nut seating surface faced.
Gregory to the rescue again. Doesn't everyone have an industrial drill press and a CNC mill in their shop? Between me, Ralfy and Gregory we got the new valve covers surfaced, holes marked and drilled and nut faces surfaced, but the time all this was done it was about 2 pm. The next problem was that we needed shorter studs in the heads to install the GT valve covers. Gregory to the rescue again with a nice stud puller and 8 studs of about the right length. Another hour to get the studs changed out and the valve covers installed. Then we tried to fit the exhaust again, only to discover that some of the lower sheet metal was in the way. So there were some .... modifications.... made
. Finally just before dinner we got the exhaust installed. We also made up the exhaust support strut, which was relatively easy to do. But it was not Friday evening and the motor had not run. But we thought we were close.....Little did we know.
- Exhaust support strut. Springs are 4 cam inner valve springs per the parts manual. Thick dished washers keep things centered.
After dinner we had to modify the position of the lever arm on the throttle cross bar that hooks to the rod going thru the shroud down to the bell crank on the transmission that. The motor had been in 904-006 and an RS 60 so the cross bar was set up for mid engine use, not a street car. Another hour gone. The we found some fuel leaks and had to work on our fuel lines and banjos.
So then we finally begin trying to start the car about 7pm Friday evening. And it will not start. We finally determined we had power to the coils and the distributors, but were not getting spark. After quite some time (about 2 hours) we finally found the problem. Jacques had fitted the distributors with a custom Pertronix set up for Stanley's use in the 904. The pertronix has a plus and minus wire coming out of the distributor. We had some nice double bullet connectors from YnZ and decided to use them...... without inspecting them closely enough. Turns out they are meant to be used in a Y configuration ..... so when we hooked things up and applied power we immediately shorted out both Pertronix modules - hence no spark. Ralfy and I thought we were dead in the water.
- Pertronix module in the distributor
- Turns out Jacques made his own custom installation. Took me and a very helpful Bill Hoge at pertronix a week to determine what the original modules were. All good now and I have 4 new modules (at $73 each) - 2 for the motor and 2 spare.
Meanwhile Gregory had left the room and a couple of minutes later he returns with two 4 cam distributors (with points) - his spare set for the Elva. Gregory has my undying gratitude! So we installed them and finally at about 10pm Friday night the motor started
! And boy was it LOUD!! Peashooter in a small garage. Fortunately I had purchased a supertrap that had a 2.5 inch pipe opening into a 4 inch pipe. Gregory cut off the 2.5 inch pipe where the flare met the 4 inch, made some slots, flattened it into an oval and low and behold it matched the exhaust tail pipe. A large industrial hose clamp secured it and the noise was actually less than the seabring exhaust on the pushrod motor.
But our trials were still not over. The fuel pressure was too high and one carb had a float level problem - leading to gas peeing into the 1-2 cylinder side. Ralfy did his best and the motor ran well a high rpm, but idle was a problem due to the way rich mixture. Finally at about midnight we went to bed, at least knowing the car would run. 5:30am was going to come early! So 5:30 comes and there was one last problem. The engine lid would not close
! The inner structure of the A engine lid hit the throttle cross bar. Gregory to the rescue again. The solution was some long M6 bolts and spacer tubes to space the latch on the lid down enough to latch with the lid open about an inch. I should have done my homework. A carreras with an engine lid like mine had the throttle cross bar in front of the shroud with a different throttle linkage than the Carrera IIs. And the Carrera II twin grill engine lid does not have the same inner structure. Something else learned.
The next morning we headed out in convoy with Gregory and Marianne in their 1960 roadster (in which Gregory had packed a large bag of tools). Fortunately the car ran very well and we had no problems, other than the idle problems due to the carbs. We made it to the Bull Session and had a great time!
- Heading into the Bull Session.
Next post will give some driving impressions and also talk about follow on work to the not so faux cam. Thanks for following along!