engine lightening

[shredicus]

Super cool that you managed to do this with an eta!

[squidrope]

We have 6 races on the same motor and had our best finish ever in October at NHMS. 4th place (8 seconds from 3rd) out of 100 cars. We were the top finishing e30 (6 e30's entered) and the only one running an ETA. The motor has given us zero problems and we are now in the process of supercharging it with a mazda millenia S.C.

[squidrope]

Our first race with the new modified "E" motor went great. Very smooth and much more power than the previous motor. "I" e30's didn't walk away from us on the straights anymore. We stayed with them/passed them and had more torque than they did exiting the turns. She didn't burn any oil but seeped a little from the RMS when parked. We had a few over revs (missed shifts, unintentional down shifts) that did no damage in the 20ish hours of racing and practice. The fuel economy was incredible, as we burned only 3.7 gallons/hour at race speeds.
Couldn't be happier with my first attempt at modifying a motor and placing 30th out of 121 cars in this race. Would've finished top 20 if we hadn't thrown a belt Next race I'm thinking of some sort of ram air set up and a more aggressive race strategy.

[squidrope]

Took Beulah out for her first trashing today as we've been having some clutch issues. Happy to report we seem to have resolved clutch problems. Happier to report the engine has a ton of torque. I found myself short shifting as the mods we've made seem to improve lower rpm's the most.

Dyno will have to wait until after this weekends race. :thumbsup:

[squidrope]

Got the car registered and inspected a couple of days ago. I've got about 5 hours on the motor. It is very smooth and revs easily (also sounds quieter?). Definitely more power and revs quicker according to my ass dyno. The head bolts will be turned 90 degrees per spec and lashing the valves tonight. Clutch is slipping when I get on it so will look into that as well. Overall we're very happy and glad to get to break in the motor before our first race in a week. Will update how the engine performs when thrashed. Wish us luck.

[squidrope]

After many weeks of 1 step forward 2 back. I'm happy to say that we fired one of the modified engines today. Slight valve train ticking at start up but that went away quickly. The engine is very smooth and seems quieter and revs quicker than the stock motor. Didn't do anything but take it for a quick drive around the block. Will update when we get to push it a bit.

[squidrope]

Arrrggghhh still working and hope to fire race engine this weekend. Engines in but have lots of little details to get wrapped up Saturday morning

[squidrope]

Everything is taking longer than expected. Forgot about having to fit the crank scraper. Hoping that both lower ends should be done tomorrow.

Highly recommend Yothers Teflon crank scrapers. Great quality and service. Fairly easy to install. Pics on facebook page (Squidrope Racing)

Teflon crank scrapers are the balls.
Installation hints. (keep metal chips outside of the engine and leave enough material to be worn away by the crank)
1)Install CS(without Teflon) and oil pan with oil pan bolts.
2)Drill and ream 2 holes (12"+ apart) I used 3/16" dowels.
3)Remove oil pan and CS
4)de-burr holes and press dowels into block.
5)Ream CS holes .002" oversize
6)drill OP holes 1/16" oversize
7)place CS (without Teflon) onto dowels (no bolts)
8)slowly spin motor and look for any metal to metal contact between CS and crank assembly
9)Dremel or bend CS as needed to allow crank to spin freely
10)tighten CS to block with oil pan bolts
11)rotate crank to be sure no metal-metal contact
12)place Teflon onto CS at 1 end only
13)Cut leading edge of Teflon with tin snips to allow slight interference fit with the leading edge of the counterweights. Cut sharp wedge shaped pieces off of teflons *leading edge only* The Teflon cut out will be tapered on both sides. Do not cut the entire depth of the pocket. Leave radius' so the Teflon won't crack.
14)Rinse and repeat working your way in from both ends.
15)You should have an interference fit between the crank and CS but the crank should be able to spin without catching the edge of the Teflon.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Disclaimer-I'm not an expert just a DIY guy. If you screw up or things go bad, it's on you. Always contact a professional before attempting this foolishness.

[squidrope]

glad I came back into this thread. Not glad that there are no pictures! This is definitely a cool approach. Looking forward to seeing the effects once the engines running.

Will post videos on youtube when we first fire the engine.

[squidrope]

glad I came back into this thread. Not glad that there are no pictures! This is definitely a cool approach. Looking forward to seeing the effects once the engines running.

facebook has lots of pictures... Sorry I'm learning engine stuff and don't have time to figure out how to post pics here. Facebook Squidrope Racing

Thanks for your interest!

[wworm]

glad I came back into this thread. Not glad that there are no pictures! This is definitely a cool approach. Looking forward to seeing the effects once the engines running.

[squidrope]

The 2 engine's lower ends are being assembled this weekend. The 3 heads are 90% done, just need to shorten and install exhaust and intake studs. Hopefully we'll have the engines and car running this month. Can't wait to see how the motors run.

[squidrope]

I'm finally done with the lower end work. Rods have been lightened, polished, balanced/matched, magnafluxed and shot peened. Wrist pins have been lightened. Piston skirts are radiused, and pistons have been cleaned up and walnut blasted. Rod set assembly weights have been weight matched. Each rod assembly for the 2 engines vary by 16 grams. The rods and pistons varied from set to set. Rod sets varied by 3 grams/rod. and piston sets varied by 13 grams per piston.
The ARP rod bolts are 3 grams lighter than stock bolts. That's 6 more grams of weight off the assemblies. After weight matching and all the other fun stuff each assembly weighs approximately 110g less than stock. 110g x 6 assemblies is 660g weight loss. Plus the crank will need to be lightened to maintain its balance.
Very glad to be done with the lower ends, and pleased with the results so far. Now I can focus on the heads/intake/exhaust.

[squidrope]

Got a bit sidetracked with the head work. But since I've been removing metal I guess it still qualifies as "engine lightening" Intake and exhaust ports on all 3 heads have been machined and polished (intakes getting remachined due to overly aggressive polishing). As I type this, the heads intake/manifold surface is having an o-ring groove machined so that the manifold and head will be metal to metal (no gasket) and the ports can be matched to the manifold. Pics on our facebook page "Squidrope Racing"

[squidrope]

We've been working on our heads as well. The valve guides have been replaced in our 3 heads with longer guides. This is to allow enough material to machine the ports and guides smooth. Basically eliminating the casting "bump" and valve guide unevenness near the valve stems.
Word of warning, be sure to measure the O.D. of the valve guides before you order custom replacements... It seems that BMW had some casting issues and had to adjust the hole size. One of my heads guides measured the "correct" dimension of .514". Two of the heads guides measured .521".
The intake ports are oval shaped and I'm opening them up by .025"/side. The transition radius by the valve seat is also being re-cut, blended and smoothed.
Exhaust ports are round and will have the valve seat transition area re-cut, blended and smoothed. There is a bump that must be left intact or you will thin the wall thickness too much by the spark plug channel. A 10 degree taper was cut to open up the exhaust diameter to 1.5" which is about what my flea bay headers measure. Next year I plan on building headers to better match up with the exhaust ports, but opened them up now while I had the heads set up in the CNC.