Blown 346 cid Stroker 300

[BlownMGB-V8]

Well that was a bit anticlimactic. Cranks OK. but doesn't light off. From my datalog I suspect the injectors aren't firing so I have two tests in mind, aside from the obvious noid light. Look at the fuses closely, particularly the ones powering the injectors, and perhaps squirt some raw fuel into the butterflies. Always something isn't it? But this shouldn't be so bad.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Ever get to feeling that you could be getting a little ahead of yourself? Yeah, I had this sneaking feeling I was overlooking something... Downloaded the tune to the ECM on the simulator, check. Fired up the VCM Scanner, check. Bundled up the laptop, HPT module and cable, went out and connected and verified it works, check. Looked at oil level and adjusted for fast idle, check. Now what'd I forget? That injector fuse is just fine...

Oh yeah, might want to swap the newly programmed ECM into the car in place of the spare I've been using to check the wiring maybe? Kinda doubtful if that one will even start the car. Yeah. That might do it. So here we go again.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

And..., we have ignition. The engine fired up, smoothed out, started picking up speed and I dialed back the throttle stop to 2000 rpm and let it run until the headers started smoking. Sounds pretty good I think. I'll go back out in a bit and get set up to pull a datalog and let it run long enough to warm up a bit and then back off the idle, check the oil pressure, etc. Being a roller cam it won't need that initial break-in run.

In the end after some fairly intensive troubleshooting that mostly turned out to be duplicative the trouble ended up being those ground wires on the coil packs that I overlooked. Honestly, I meant to do that, I even planned out where they would go. Just slipped my mind. Kinda like finishing the battery end of the new alternator sense wire. All done now though. Looks like the old double-key issue is also gone.

Nothing quite succeeds like success as I always say.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Yesterday I pulled the LS style rockers and ordered new pushrods from Smith Bros. With the .020" orifices (smallest they make) it was a special order and I went with the .116" wall tubes, figuring a few bucks more now was better than a lot more later. Should get those in about a week. Prices have gone up though, they will end up costing me somewhere around $380. For a set of pushrods. Ouch. If you figured in shop time I think we might have passed the mystical $20k engine here. I obviously didn't keep track and don't want to know. The way the numbers work out though, it probably does make sense to just buy the right lifters from TA to start with. As I understand it the choices are Johnson and Morel and the Johnsons are premium with much more attention to detail and of course a higher price. Also a fully shrouded lifter which makes no difference until you get into the higher lift. For awhile there axle failures seemed kinda common on Morel and reports of swarf inside them. But the Johnsons are a couple hundred more at about $900. The pushrods otoh are a quick fix by just pulling the valve covers instead of the intake and do the same job, so the Johnsons when building the engine, the pushrods after it's built. I don't think it really makes financial sense to use the comp cams lifters and plan on using the restricted pushrods.

So anyway I noticed some scraping of the pushrods at the guide plates so I pulled those off and rounded the edges of the notches using the 1" belt sander. Those were punched plates and had sharp corners that were digging in. Now they won't. I'm glad I found that now before they could start adding metal to the engine oil. Those plates are needed with the stud type rockers. Their job is to keep the roller tip centered on the valve stem. Without them the rocker can rotate until the tip drops off, the pushrod hits the side of the hole in the head and the valve quits opening. But that means there is constant contact between the pushrod and the guide plate which is less than ideal. One more box ticked for shaft rockers. Admittedly though the stud based adjustment is quite nice, and is practical to do in an idling engine. WAY easier than the pushrod end adjustment. For that reason alone the stud based rocker can be justified.

I just about have my VCMscanner configured, I was lucky enough to find the most recent (2022) xml file and a math file with the Autometer WB setup and I'll be sorting out the details like sampling rates and such over the next few days. Should be ready to roll by the time the pushrods come in. The initial tune fired up and idled ok if perhaps a little fast on the idle so I may need to block off one side of the PCV vacuum. I have one port on each side using 2L valves but that may be too much. Easy enough to block off one side though. Then charge the AC and go tuning.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Having a real chore configuring VCMscanner due to the User Maths I need for the Graphs, particularly the row axis scaling. I'm not very good at this and have not gotten a lot of help from either the HPT forum or from G. Last time I did it I watched a ton of U-tube videos from GoatRopeGarage and may have to go back to that again.

One thing I think would help would be if I could find a dashboard gage that reads the same as my manifold pressure in the graphs. Ideally it would have a 270 degree sweep and go from -1 to +1 Bar. I sent an email to Nisonger, maybe they can make one for me. It would be nice to have the dash gage read the same as the graph, that would be helpful in doing test drives.

Scott, if you read this, do you know how to add blank lines to the channels list?

Jim

[Scott Costanzo]

Having a real chore configuring VCMscanner due to the User Maths I need for the Graphs, particularly the row axis scaling. I'm not very good at this and have not gotten a lot of help from either the HPT forum or from G. Last time I did it I watched a ton of U-tube videos from GoatRopeGarage and may have to go back to that again.

One thing I think would help would be if I could find a dashboard gage that reads the same as my manifold pressure in the graphs. Ideally it would have a 270 degree sweep and go from -1 to +1 Bar. I sent an email to Nisonger, maybe they can make one for me. It would be nice to have the dash gage read the same as the graph, that would be helpful in doing test drives.

Scott, if you read this, do you know how to add blank lines to the channels list?

Jim

Jim,

I do not. I've never used HP Tuners. That should be an easy search though.

Scott

[BlownMGB-V8]

I figured it out, you go to a blank line and right click/move down. It adds a blank line above it. Kinda weird but it works.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

I think I have the scanner mostly sorted out now, at least the user maths look good, they are used for the Autometer wideband, VE correction factor for dialing in the VE table , and the kPa scaling on the graphs. I fixed the broken links and eliminated unused channels. At least it looked good yesterday. Today I'll see how it does on the benchtop simulator. I may have an interesting day ahead of me but at least it looks like I'm starting to get back to where I was a couple of years ago on this stuff. Well more like 4 years really. Maybe even 6.

Anyway, an interesting thing came up with the simulator. My electric motor driving it is making EMF interference and causing my RPM trace to whack out. I put a brushless drill on it and ran it up with much better results. I suppose it's not that big of a surprise really, I mounted up an open frame AC motor and plugged in a Variac to control it and didn't give it another thought. My sensor leads are short but they are unshielded. So now I get to play with remedying that situation. Maybe I could put a tinfoil hat on it, huh?     Some things I can try right away are twisting the leads to the sensors, making sure the AC wires are separated from those, and maybe put a box over the motor. My motor power wires run through the main panel, that probably doesn't help. I'll need to reconsider that. I guess ideally I'd go to a brushless drive but I built this thing on the cheap entirely with surplus parts and would rather continue that trend. This doesn't seem like the best time for a complete redesign though and for now I do know I can drive it with a cordless drill. I should probably just do that.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

I have an old Makita cordless drill with a bad battery and a questionable charger so I ordered a new battery/charger combo and made up a 3/8" stud to drive the simulator with it. The brushes in the AC motor are definitely the problem as both brushed and brushless battery powered drills work fine. While waiting on the battery I decided to try an old corded drill and that also worked fine although all these drills have a lot of RPM scatter, for example, 1300-2100 rpm in one case. The period of fluctuation is under half a second in the longest instance and in the Ms range otherwise. It may be primarily from the drill's reduction gearing but with an element of EMF in this last case with the corded drill. That's mostly speculation but a cordless should be a little better. It also shows up in spark scatter and to a lesser extent in injector pulsewidth, not too surprisingly. At any rate my charts are doing pretty well at this point but my graphs still need work. They may simply be out of range for some reason, most likely my row axis scaling since that is the common input across all graphs. I also need better control of the speed and may build something for that. Ultimately a brushless motor with a PWM controller may be the answer, maybe even with a circuit to take an input from my audio generator to cycle the speed but that can come later. It shouldn't take much to drive it since it's just a couple spindles with some bearings and a single row timing chain. There probably is a suitable RC motor out there for not too much money.

So, more work on the maths today it looks like. I need to get this buttoned up, the GCBCC/Birthday Party is coming up and I still need to straighten up the shop.

Jim

[MGBV8]

You should hear what that cordless drill EMF does to an electric guitar pickup.   

[BlownMGB-V8]

I can only imagine how that came about! Something to do with your cigar box guitar maybe?

I may try the brushless drill again just as a test but I've been running it with my corded drill and that is good enough for now. If I feel like it over the winter I might try a 3 phase RC motor and controller. I do have a very small 12v battery and charger in the simulator.

I think I have the charts and graphs sorted out on VCMscanner now and should be ready to go as soon as my new pushrods get here. They are also an upgrade, thicker wall for the higher rpm and closer to optimal length since I was using a set from the 340 with the stock 300 alloy heads that were a bit longer than necessary. I just hope the .020" orifices x 16 doesn't hurt the oil pressure too much.

While I am waiting it's probably time to tune up the sound system in the car. Some time back I found a nice audio frequency generator on ebay at a good price and bought one. It's the modern version of the old military one. Not a lot of output amplitude, but enough to drive a small speaker and of course you can dial it back from there. Should be able to inject a signal at any point and also test the sliders in the equalizer. So first up, a bench (or desk in this case) test of a spare EQ that I bought by accident. Then out to the lab for the real testing. I know the rear speakers are good, the door speakers should be too but I can compare output and frequency response. Then wiring, then amps, more wiring, and then the EQ and finally the wiring back to the head unit. Might even be a way to input a tone there.

Jim

[MGBV8]

I can only imagine how that came about! Something to do with your cigar box guitar maybe?

Go to 6:45

https://youtu.be/xlvKaP9oqJM?si=lrtIIPFH_j6s7iqV

[BlownMGB-V8]

It's a Theramin!
Yeah, I'm gonna have to do a bit of EMI rendition this winter. For now though I'm pretty done with the emulator. It's best function is to help set up the scanner and I think that's now done. So, back in the corner with it. Though I did use it's battery to check out that surplus EQ. Looks like it has input and amp issues at the very least but it does at least power on. Another winter project.

Meanwhile the ECM is ready to go back in the car. One bit of good news, the brake hoses for the Sammy finally got here, I installed them and added fluid. Just need to bleed the brakes and it'll be roadworthy. Good progress there. Haul off a load of scrap, park the trailer, and I can unload the Bay Car out of the bus. Pretty soon I *really* need to straighten up the shop. But today I want to start testing the MG's sound system. Matthew has a db meter he's going to loan me for that, should be interesting. Pushrods should be here in a few days.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

New pushrods are installed and fit correctly. Have to blow the swarf out of the cheap pcv valves and see if the idle comes down, do a scan and a warm up run then change the oil. With any luck this time the oil pressure will be within reasonable limits. Then charge the AC. After that I can carry on with the sound system and then do a bit of driving I hope.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Unfortunately, while the pushrod trick helped, it didn't help enough.

Oil pressure @2krpm was about 18psi which is unacceptable. Still spewing oil smoke out the exhaust, possibly on both sides now. I pulled the right valve cover and started the engine and it soon overflowed the drainage channels and headed for the floor. It also now has a miss, most likely from fouled plugs as it was running smoothly before.

On the positive side, after cleaning the swarf out of the pcv valves the idle is now under control.

So I ordered the Johnson lifters from TA along with a set of intake gaskets but as they did not have them in stock they have to back order from Johnson with an expected lead time of 2-3 weeks. It sounds like it won't be ready for the Cincy show unless Johnson just happens to have a set on the shelf. I won't be holding my breath. Should be no problem making Townsend though.

So what we learned is that the Buick is too sensitive to oil flow leakage to make the pushrod orifices a viable means of controlling oil to the top end/ It MUST be done at the lifters.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Finally, the lifters are here. Came in a Crower box so maybe not really Johnson lifters? IDK. Ima usem anyway. Singularly unmotivated today though, doubling up an my mid-day treat of a Hershey bar and half a Pepsi, maybe that will help. I drained the antifreeze yesterday and unhooked the fuel line, I should be able to make a little more progress but for sure the car won't be ready for a road trip by next week. Ima stick with my philosophy to do a little each day until it's done. Got all the stereo bits in finally but need to make it all work together. Even odds what I'll do next.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Aren't drugs a wonderful thing? A little caffeine, a little chocolate, and lo and behold I ended up with the intake over on the work table yesterday, just like magic. Not that is was the easiest thing, after all that included the blower, scoop, FPR and valve covers but today that means cleaning gaskets, swapping lifters, checking pushrods for length and checking the cam centering before it starts going back together. I also want to re-route the pcv valve hose connection and one at least of the knock sensor locations. May get that all done today, may not.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Old lifters are out, new lifters are in, got lucky on the pushrod length so nothing new required there. No way those SBC roller lifters were going to work. They are cross drilled at the oiling port so in the Buick no matter which way they go in it intersects the oil galley. The Buick lifters (which are Crower btw) include a slip that specifically says to be sure that doesn't happen. In other words, position the oil port (which is on one side only) so that it never meets the oil galley, and warns what will happen if it does. Would have been nice to have that warning on the CC (Morel) lifters but on a SBC that couldn't happen anyway I think since the oil galley is centered on the lifter bores. Kind of an expensive and time consuming way to learn a simple lesson but so it goes.

Fiddly stuff today I expect. Set valve lash, check the cam indexing, compute DCR, move the knock sensors, redo the pcv valves. Think about how I'm going to reinstall the intake and blower. I really shouldn't be lifting that manually.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Engine is back together except for the PCV valve, more on that in a bit. I double checked the cam indexing and it's 4 degrees retarded which seems to be a pretty common setup with performance cams and should suit this build. For those of us confused by cam cards, me included, it was pretty simple to put a dial indicator on the pushrod end of the #1 intake lifter and stop when it read .050" of lift, then check where the timing mark on the damper was relative to the scale on the timing cover. I had cut that mark in the damper myself so I knew it was showing zero accurately. That point on my cam card shows -1 and my mark was 5 degrees after zero, therefore, -4 just where it was supposed to be. I'll be honest, I didn't check the rest of the points. This is more than a lot do, just lining up the dots. It should be fine.

And another thought on oil leakage and restricted pushrods. If this had been a hydraulic cam those could have worked, or at least they would have worked better than they did here. The reason is that solids run clearance where hydraulics run zero backlash. With 12 to 15 thou clearance at the valve, most of the time there is a gap between the lifter and the pushrod of close to .010" and oil will definitely spray out there under pressure. 16 of those means a lot of leakage so it's no wonder the restricted pushrods didn't help the oil pressure that much. On a different engine, hyd lifters, they might be fine but not with solids.

Now the PCV. I had plumbed two GM type units, one to each valve cover, just to see what the result would be and have made a few observations. You have to pay attention to the direction they are plumbed in of course and an arrow on the body may not be an absolute guide, or even knowing how they were installed in the original application. Many things get confused here. The main consideration is that the valve inside chokes off the flow when you blow into one end, and that is the end that connects to the crankcase. Ideally the valve will be positioned vertically for best sealing when it closes and it will be normally open, requiring significant flow to close. Unless it is spring loaded this will mean the piston in the valve has to be lifted by airflow and seal against the top. In this condition there will be a small metered flow usually. With this knowledge you can position the valve properly.

The flow isn't much but it can totally screw up your idle if it isn't right. For instance, my dual setup made my engine idle at about 1200 rpm with the throttle blades fully closed. Too much airflow. So one only should do fine, just as Detroit intended.

In my case, I still want flow through both valvecovers because my fresh air vent is at the fuel pump location. So I've ordered some plumbing bits which should be here today. A 3/8" hose will connect a T to both valve covers and turn the line vertical where it meets the valve, then a 1/2" line comes off the other end to go up and across the intake plenum where it meets a hose barb screwed into the intake riser behind the throttle plates and air filter. It would be tempting here to lay the valve on it's side and usually that will work but it isn't best practice. Fortunately I don't have to do that but with a conventional intake some trickery may be required and this is why a significant number of manufacturers used either a pipe thread or a rubber grommet to place the valve directly on or even in the top of the valve cover, as was a common practice with the larger displacement Olds V8 engines.

So, I need to re-introduce the antifreeze, plumb the pcv, and tidy up the radio install and the car should be ready to drive. I hope to do a test fire tomorrow and then finish up after Townsend. That leaves me with charging the AC system, and then all the local shakedown, tuning, testing, oil changes and such that go with getting a fresh engine and other significant modifications ready for use.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

I went for a bit of a drive today, just around the block. something like 3 miles or so and stopped to fill the tank. It'll definitely be premium for this one and it looks like I'll be backing off on the ignition advance a bit as well but the tune is actually very close as far as I could tell. I wasn't able to run a datalog, I think the cable I used is probably only good as a charge cable but that can wait for later. The gages looked good, oil pressure was fine sitting about 60 at a fast idle around 1300, WB looked good, etc. By the time I got back the exhaust was looking pretty clear so the rings seem to be seating in well. More blower noises without the bypass valve but I don't see that as bad especially. The engine feels eager.

It did drip some oil and I don't like that. I'll have to look into it. The new exhaust sounded good, the gearing feels good, The brakes need bedded in. And the car needs a wash.

It's not ready for the trip to Townsend however so the Alfa gets the nod tomorrow morning.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Yesterdays datalog showed that I need to do much work on my scanner setup. I sort of expected that. The good news is that the revised advance map worked very well and I did not have any evidence of ping at any time. However I also did not get any indication of my knock sensors functioning either so between that and my wideband not working right it greatly reduces the tuning I can do.

On the plus side though, cold start up was immediate (I need to do some tuning of the hot start and cold off-idle) and I was able to get into the boost enough to see that I'll be getting a solid 5 psi which was the target. You may well ask why 5 psi and the answer to that is the static 10.5:1 CR (8.3 dynamic). The boost is intended to improve breathing on the top end, which it will do by approximately 30% going from a port flow of around 200 (based on Dan's flow tests of a similar head) to about 260. This could also be achieved by porting at a similar cost but honestly, I just like blowers. The higher CR is expected to help with fuel economy and overall driveability. Without the bypass valve it does make more growly blower noises but I sorta like that anyway. Overall throttle response was immediate except for cold off-idle.

The new exhaust out the back is good, haven't had it on the freeway yet but so far it has a very nice sound. Quite possibly better than before.

Had to swap the stronger lift cylinders back on to the bonnet, the less strong but faster ones just weren't up to the job. Still have to wire up the end connectors on those. And there's still the stereo to finish sorting out. I've left the console in loose position for that. Next step is to apply a tracer from my signal generator to the inputs on the balancer circuits between the radio and the equalizer and see what I get for sound. That should work to balance the levels and then I can see if I can get the radio to work. After that it's bluetooth stuff with my phone and sort out whatever is causing problems, which I fully expect. I'm going to futz about with it for awhile before I charge the AC I think. I want to get the idle speed down a bit first, which means spending some quality time with my datalogs and such but shouldn't be a problem I wouldn't think.

At this point it's more a flow-of-consciousness kind of thing for what gets done when. I probably need to just burn a big bowl and let things take their natural course.

Jim