Kubs

It has taken me a while to get to this point but I am finally starting to put the engine together for my race car. I picked up the block back in February, and have been working a little at a time. I do not have a garage where I live so all of my stuff is stored at my Dad's or Grandpa's shop, and both live about an hour away. I only go to work on the race car on Saturdays so I only get a couple of hours of progress per week. I am to the point where I think I have enough done to warrant some picture posting.

It is a standard C4 2 bolt, one piece seal block bored 0.030" over and decked to 9.015. He also cleaned up all the oil passages and line honed the mains. The crank is just a polished stock crank (its just in an Eagle box) which will be fine for the power level I am aiming for. Rods are forged Scat 6", and ICON flat top forged pistons with 4 valve reliefs.

Here is the block back from the machinist.








The first weekend I spent cleaning the block and painting it. It is painted Chevy Engine Orange. It took about 3 hours just to mask off everything.

















Once painted I started fitting the rings. I used a 0.018" gap on he top ring and 0.022" gap on the bottom.


Here is the ring filer I used


I finished up the last piston today.


Once all the rings were fit I cleaned the cylinder walls once again and installed the Quick Seat. Quick Seat is made by Total Seal and is made to help rings seat quicker and better. My machinist swears by it and he recommended I try it out. It is a powder that you smear on to cylinder walls covered in WD40. Spray the walls with WD40 and then wipe it out with a rag leaving only a small film on the walls. Dip a finger or two into the Quick Seat powder and smear it onto the walls. If the cylinder is clean the powder turns green, but if it is dirty it will turn black.

QUICK SEAT




After the quick seat was installed I cleaned and installed the crank. I used ARP main studs.



The main caps are on and torqued to 70 ft/lbs using assembly lube on the nut side of the threads only.



I also polished and de-burred the oil passage in the main cap.



By the end of the day I only got one piston in, but at least I got one in!



I will continue to update as I make progress, but it will be a couple months before it is complete. I don't get to work on it very often and I dont have all the parts yet, as I buy them as I am able.

froggy47

Lookin nice! Do you have a hp/tq goal?

The Panther

CHJ In Virginia

Good looking build so far. What type of bearings are you using ? keep us updated on the progress.

Kubs

Thanks guys!

I have to meet an 8.3:1 weight to power ratio so I am hoping for around 370HP to the wheels. I did a custom grind cam that should have close to 400 ft/lb of torque (hopefully).

I will have to take a picture of the bearing box next time I am in the garage. My machinist picked them out for me so I don't recall the brand. He did a lot for me other than machine the block. He isn't the one putting the engine together because I have a tight budget and I wanted the experience.

AU N EGL

Love engine **** pics

Canam

What are the specs (power to weight ratio) for TT2? My car ran in ST2 Nasa. The engine was built for an 8.9 lbs/HP ratio. Its a 355ci also. I didn't build the engine but I know a lot about it.
I can post some specs if you are looking for certain parts that jive with your build but it looks like you sure know what you are doing.

Kubs

Thanks for the offer, but I have it all spec'ed out, I just need more money to finish it!

I can go as low as 8.3:1 in TTA because I am using a 275mm width tire which gives me 0.4 back on my power to weight ratio. The class restriction is 8.7:1

Canam

good to have both options. You can build for horsepower or build for reliability and take weight out. My car weighs 2880lbs so my engine provided the HP with just a stock bottom end and mild build.

good luck.

rasrboy

Looking great Mike, cant wait to see you tearing up the track.

ScaryFast

Stop posting pics and get to work!

96CollectorSport

Kubs,

You'll have to watch your hp to wt -are you figuring on running around 3071 lbs?
Take a look at page 33 there are adjusted hp/wt tables like TTS/U. If you weigh under 3100 (3099 and under) you have to add .15, so you would be at 8.45 and have to make less power or add more weight. A C5Z at it's minimum weight of 3118 is at 8.4 or 371 hp.
Are you getting a dyno reclass or are you taking 11 points for weight reduction?
Just curious, don't want you to get it built and find out you overlooked anything.

drivinhard

he will be good, the portable dyno up there shows up 25 hp low

travisnd

Looks great so far. Why are the main studs sticking out at different lengths?

Kubs

Thanks for the heads up, but I am only taking 4 points for weight to be at 3158. I only take -0.05 hit for weight. I will be under powered at 370 to the wheels but I am planning to be a little conservative so I have room for error. I can make 378 MAX to be right on the hairy edge of 8.7:1

The back 5 that are longer are for the OEM windage tray.

jaa1992

Thats my concern, mines a little different cause I start TTC as well, but +7 pts. When I figured up all the 6 pts for this, 4 pts for that, etc. even a 355 would put me in TTA by points, but I'd still be stuck with that 255mm tire, going to a 275 would be +4 and R6 is +10, A6 is +13 and I was in TTS territory on points alone.
So I did the dyno reclass and wound up with a TTB reclass (depending on HP its no *, one * or two *. If I use the two* I have to have enough points for TTA, which just the 275 R6 at +1+10 gets me there, suspension points gets me the rest of the way to be almost maxed in TTA)

Kubs

Thanks Aaron! Me too!

Thanks for the encouragement! What time should I expect you down here to help?

Kubs

I snapped a picture of the bearings I am using. M machinist spec'ed them out. The mains and rods are the same.

Kubs

OK, I hit a bit of a speed bump this weekend. I got the rotating assembly done and went to install the cam and it wouldn't go in. The first journal of the cam would not get past the first bearing in the block. It felt like the bearing was tapered as the cam got really hard to turn the farther in it went. By spinning the cam it left a polished mark in the bearing all around. My machinist seems to think it is a bad bearing set and is going to change them for me at no charge, but he is also going to check the cam to make sure it is true. I will be dropping the block off with him today. Unfortunately I had to remove everything I just put in. Oh well.

Here is a picture of the mark on the bearing.

ScaryFast

Sucks.

But it's always the case...things will go wrong and your $2000 3 month build will take double and double.