My New Engine Build

[Ninka]

Well it's been a while since I posted anything substantial, so for those of you who know me, and have followed my past technical adventures, you will know I'm a bit of a nutter for mechanical finesse, and in the quest for a VERY strong engine, with a stock level of mechanical 'noise' I.e. no rattely noises at all, I am just in the process of completing my latest engine project for my '02 BA XR6T (the one with the ZF 6 speed).

I thought I would share what I have been doing, for those of you interested in the technical aspects of the engine building process.

New engine is built with the following modifications over stock BA:

Head machined and vacuum checked

BF Cams

Titanium Valve Spring Retainers

Harder Valve Springs

Stainless single groove race Exhaust Valves

Heavy Duty Cam Chain

Hardened Cam Chain Gears

Heavy Duty Chain Tensioner

Modified Oil Pump with Billet Gears and larger passages

Engine Block checked for wall thickness and tunnel straightness, machined and bored to proprietary tolerances

Crank checked and oil passages radiused

Cosworth Forged Pistons

Heavy Duty Billet Con Rods (998kw rated)

Race Bearings

Heavy Main Bearing Brace

Crome Moly Heavy Duty Flexplate and ARP bolts

I am building engine myself, but all performance parts have been supplied by Atomic, so thanks to Brad for his help with getting this together.

I hope to get the time over the next few weeks to change the engine over with my current unit, which last we dynoed it, ran 363 rwkw, and hasn't missed a beat, but the Mahle pistons are not 100% quiet at the tolerances I used for that engine, so here's hoping the next one does the trick......

[senna_T]

All those that want to learn something, watch this thread...

Good to see you posting again Ninka

[Buf-Phoon]

Good onya Alan , the beast is getting beastier.

If the ZF conversion thread is anything to go by , watch this thread as P@@ says

[MurdoK]

Hey Alan I'd wish you luck, but after after speaking to you a few times and seeing your car at a few cruises I dont think you'll need it.

Cant wait to see the new incarnation of your BA

[Ninka]

Thanks Guys :sungum:

The process started by stripping back a good BA N/A head I had from an engine I bought some years ago, I then had gasket surface and seats machined, and all valves vacuum checked with the new single groove exhaust valves.

The bare N/A head is identical to the Turbo heads, except that the exhaust valves are different (higher heat tolerance), so these needed to be replaced. I looked at the option of replacing with Ford standard Turbo valves, but ended up choosing a proprietary swirl polished single groove valve, as the single groove design 'clamps' the valve stem, stopping the valve rotating quite as much as the looser multi-groove units used stock. This helps a little with noise, but importantly, at higher revs, reduces valve wear, as the exhaust valve is moving more or less straight up and down, with virtually no rotation when it meets the seat.

Following the preparation, I checked the valve guides and other components, fitted new valve stem seals, Atomic valve springs, hydraulic lifters and rocker arms - Head done.....

Edited 17/10/11 10:30 AM by Ninka

[Ninka]

Oh, I forgot, I also fitted Atomic Titanium valve spring retainers, just to keep the weight of moving parts down a bit Can be seen in pic DSC_1620.

Also finally got my picture library cleaned out, so a few pics attached.

[Shyfrd]

topic: watched.

I look forward to this build progress and how it turns out. good luck with it all, cant wait to see it all together!

[Dillz]

Talk about breathing life into the old girl, definitely keeping an eye on this.

[Ralph Wiggum]

having seen the engine first hand i can say,perfection as always,wouldnt expect any less Allan

how much poost are you going too run through this one.........

[Ninka]

Not sure on the poost Luke, all depends........

Oil pump was modified, with billet gears, and re-working of oil relief passages, to allow the pump to bleed oil more quickly on overpressure, preventing pressure spikes on high rpm, and with that, hopefully avoiding valve lift, and other unintentional consequences. Oil pump was then ready to be fitted.

Well next step was the fitting up of the block, pistons and crank.

There I first started by carefully measuring each bore, and recording the size against the tiny differences between each of the pistons, so I got an optimised, and as near to 100% equal tolerance across all 6 cylinders, which I was very happy to have achieved, as near as I think possible. Piston ring gaps were then made to the tolerances I have used on my current engine, and again taking great care that they were all equal.

Crankshaft was then checked, and oil passages radiused to clear the nasty sharp edges which are there from factory, after which everything was cleaned carefully, and assembly could begin.

First the crankshaft was fitted and checked for thrust clearance, then the 6 pistons were pushed into the cylinders, and small end bearings fitted, paying particular attention to the custom drilled oil passage in one of the shells (as supplied by Atomic) to allow the pressurised oil feed to the gudgeon through the centre of the conrod. This was followed by careful torquing of the ARP bolts on the small end bearing caps, ensuring proper lubrication using moly grease supplied with the bolts.

After finishing all the little ends, the main cap bolts have to be removed again, to allow the heavier Atomic girdle to be fitted (cannot be done earlier, as bolts for con rods would then be inaccessible, and unable to be torqued) girdle was then fitted, and main cap bolts greased, and torqued to specified torque.

Oil pump was then fitted.

After this it was just a matter of bolting it all together, and fitting the hardened cam drive gear on the crank, heavy duty cam chain and tensioner, and then throwing on all the covers and sump, which all went pretty well without incident. Prior to fitting, I 'prettied up' the front cover, with a high gloss silver aluminium paint, and re-painted the valve cover in the nice 'T' RED.

A few more photos on the assembly of block/pistons attached.