"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
02/26/2014 at 15:59 • Filed to: Spit6 Alfa
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"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
02/26/2014 at 15:59 • Filed to: Spit6 Alfa | 4
| 6 |
Went and retrieved the balanced pistons and rods from the workshop they were at. One was a good deal lighter than the rest of them so it's definitely been worthwhile.
You can see just how much has been taken off some of them. I wonder how high it'll rev with all of this balancing. It's only a 4-bearing cast crank, so it won't be stellar, but a stock TR6 has a 6k redline so it should be a little better than that :)
Also, the Alfa's front suspension has been crashing horribly for the past few months. I've finally had a decent enough amount of time off work to pull it apart and not really have to worry about throwing it all back together in a day.
I narrowed it down to a shot bush on the lower wishbone, so out that came with a good amount of persuasion :)
Old and busted vs new hotness:
Just look how much play there was. No wonder the front end felt loose :S
And after another bout of 'persuasion', it found its new home. But oh noes, what's that in the upper left corner...
While undoing the anti-roll bar drop link I tapped the underseal on the wheelarch and heard the telltale crunch of rusty metal underneath paint. A little scraping unearthed this:
I reckon where I'd been mucking about with the drop-link when I swapped in the GTA ARBs I must have damaged the rustproofing. That was about 2 years ago now, so about enough time for a fist-sized hole to develop. Old metal cut out, area wire-brushed, new plate fabricated and welded in place :)
Not the prettiest welds, but they'll certainly hold. Next was a coat of phosphoric acid to convert the remaining rust into powdered iron and a bit of undercoat. At this point, it was getting a bit too cold to continue as the topcoat doesn't work properly below about 10 degrees c. Tomorrow it will get two layers of topcoat and some underseal gunk. Fingers crossed that should be sufficient :)
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
02/26/2014 at 16:16 |
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Three bushes and a ball-joint all on/in one piece? Makes for an easy replacement, but unless they've all gone out on schedule, makes for a daffy over-replacement/a lot of scrapping - particularly for a bad ball.
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BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
02/26/2014 at 16:35 |
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True, but these are noted wear points on these cars. Plus, it's such a faff getting the thing out it seems like a false economy to just replace one bush when another one could go in 10k miles.
Same goes for the anti-roll bar actually. You have to drop the subframe to get it out so they usually recommend replacing the whole thing as a unit.
I voted for a GTA one and polybushes though. Much better :)
You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
02/26/2014 at 16:41 |
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Pistons! Will have to check these out better tomorrow when I'm not on my phone.
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BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/26/2014 at 17:05 |
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Pistons are purdy.
I had the option of forged pistons and conrods, but they're not really necessary with the spec of engine I'm building.
If I went the whole hog and got a forged crank I'd get them too and rev to 8k :)
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You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
02/27/2014 at 13:50 |
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Amazing how much different more modern conrods and pistons are, even for pretty pedestrian stuff. At my previous job I had the chance to tour a Metaldyne connecting rod plant. They are powder metal forged and balanced to within a couple grams without needing balancing pads on them.
Piston skirts have gotten so much shorter too, not to mention everything else they have done to remove weight. Pistons are also balanced to a few grams, and most don't have balance pads any more either.
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BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/27/2014 at 17:18 |
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I'd love a set of forged pistons and rods, but they're well beyond my budget at the moment. Maybe next time I rebuild it :)