Hal's Engine: Wheee!

[tristessa]

Just got back from a test run .. I think there's still a bubble to "burp" out of the cooling system, temps went to 230*F and popped off the reservoir cap. Ran well; not quite as rev-happy as it was before but more torque in the lower RPM ranges, which is exactly what I was going for when I advanced the cam timing.

Gonna let it cool and see if I can get more air out. Need to change the oil again or run it longer, there's a hint of "mayonnaise" on the dipstick. Billowing white coolant/water vapor clouds from the muffler seem to have gone away...

[tristessa]

Burped the bubble that I figured had to be there -- it went from Sitting All Day Stone Cold up to 230*F-And-Popping-The-1.5-Bar-Pressure-Cap way *way* too fast for it to be much else. Added another 3 quarts, took a longer drive (cruised past Sluggo's house to have a destination) and it didn't get much over 170*F. Definitely need to deal with the valve adjustment ASAP. Intellectually I know what the noise is and that it's Not A Huge Deal, but my instincts keep screaming "ROD KNOCK! ROD KNOCK! PULL OVER NOW!!!"

The drive feels more .. Bus-like .. with the adjusted torque curve, less GTI/Scirocco/Cabriolet zippy. It still gets up and moves quite nicely, but I don't have to wind it out as far to get the motor to pull. And if you understand what that means .. you might be a gearhead.

[Xelmon]

Ahh yes, that pull... I know what you speaketh of, yet my Civic has none of it.

[hambone]

Glad you got it figgured out and didn't have to replace the motor.

[tristessa]

Glad you got it figgured out and didn't have to replace the motor.

Might've been cheaper if I had -- I'm in this $80 for the head and another $65 for the gaskets bolts bits oil etc. Contrast that with the $150 engines (2 or 3 of 'em) on Craigslist within the last couple weeks...

[hambone]

Yeah but they are unknowns. You know this engine. It's your dog.

[tristessa]

As an update for anyone that hasn't read the Lucky Lab thread recently... I guess that noise was a rod knock, and it caught up with me a few weeks ago, when the noise got louder and the oil pressure went away. Out came the engine, off came the head, reassembled with a '96 ABA 2.0L shortblock that I had in the carport. I "built" a head gasket from two stock ABA multi-layer-steel gaskets -- one each of the upper & lower sealing layers but double-stacked the thicker middle layer and put it back together with Permatex Copper-Cote spray. I know it sounds sketchy, but plenty of people are running 8-12PSI turbo boost levels with "stacked" head gaskets and ARP head studs .. so I should be fine running no boost and stock head bolts. Teh purpose of stacking gaskets like that is to lower the compression to a relatively sane 9.0:1 compression ratio -- bolting a earlier counterflow head to an ABA block with a single gasket gives 10-10.5:1 compression, the previous engine was 8.5:1. This lets me use regular pump gas without knock sensing ignition, it's the same distributor as before with an adapter from Techtonics Tuning -- the ABA distributor hole & drive gear is larger than the 1.8L is/was. Made my own blockoff plate for one breather hole on the block (TT wanted $70, mine cost $5 in materials and 20 minutes), popped a 40MM freeze plug in the other one.

Put it all back together, drove to work Monday .. the oil pressure dropped to 0 when I stopped to turn off the main road, and the now-functional idiot lite came on. Turned it off, coasted to a parking spot, couldn't find anything wrong. Restarted the engine, oil pressure was there, cruised to the end of the block .. and the oil pressure dropped to 0 and the lite came on. Called AAA for a tow around 11, took teh rest of the day off work. Dropped the oil pan, found a tiny bit of crud on the oil pan pickup and silvery chunks & swirlies in the oil pan. Checked the rod & main bearings, mains were OK but rods were shot .. #3 and #4 had a bit of copper showing through the bearing material. Crank journals looked good & smooth, so I slapped in new rod bearings & buttoned it back up by 7PM on Monday evening. Seems to be fixed, I've run it around 40-50 miles at this point and fully-warm idle oil pressure sits steady at 20PSI.

More power, smoother engine (better rod ratio, longer stroke (92.8mm vs 86.4mm), longer rods). Quieter due to some mounting revisions .. like putting all the engine weight on the hydraulic mounts of my cradle and deleting the factory mount that ties to the bellhousing ears on the late Bay. Also quieter due to the transaxle swap, took out my noisy leaky tired original 5-rib and put in another 5-rib picked up from Kirk aka 71vistacruiser. So quiet it's almost spooky, cruising 40MPH in 3rd and the wind noise off my mirror with the window rolled down is louder than the engine. I also installed a charcoal canister setup which should take care of the gasoline stench after a fillup .. or driving on a hot day. Canister itself came from a Subaru Loyale EA82 because it looked like it'd be easy to adapt to my situation .. and it was.

New badge on the back, advertising the displacement:

[Xelmon]

Ah, so at the end of the day you have about the same amount of power, with an engine that is worked slightly less.
Pretty cool setup!

[hambone]

Glad it's alive!

[tristessa]

Minor update:

I love this engine. Checked the oil this afternoon because I realized I hadn't done so in months .. and it's at essentially the same level it was when I filled it back in August. I *still* need to get shims to adjust the valve lash on #3 and I *still* need to upgrade the throttle cable to with the bike deraileur cable & housing I bought for the purpose months and months ago, but .. meh. When it's in the mid 30's outside I have a hard time motivating myself to crawl around under the Bus unless I have to. Call me weird...

[ruckman101]

No weirder than I.


neal

[Xelmon]

I had to futz around with my guides in my drivers side window today, it popped outta the front guide...
Plus it wasn't that cold ya pussy! :P

[tristessa]

Were you working in the shade? Were you crawling around on the driveway?

I'll do it if I have to. Since I didn't have to...

[ruckman101]

That is just so weird.


neal

[tristessa]

I don't know why I've been so nervous about taking the Bus to DEQ for the biannual emissions test that's required of 1975-and-newer vehicles in the Portland area .. passed with flying colors and no issues. Got a weird look from the tester when the radiator fan cycled on, and overheard comments to another tester about "this VW is running too clean!"

Code: Select all

            HC (PPM)     CO(%)
Standards    300         2.5
1st Test      21         0.1173