Progress once more ..

Hey guys how are you all ? its been a long time since i last updated the blog. Theres been a bit happening in that time .. ive been on contract for a new company, and got relocated to wellington for almost 3 months.

Now that im back, ive been working on the cars and trying to get things happening. My cylinder head for the race car has been welded, and the port/chamber reshaped, and new seat put into it, now awaiting me to lap in the new stainless valves, and reassemble with new valve springs, and take some clearances.

Ive been working on Milo (the brown road car) which is starting to come along nicely ..

It is now sitting on king springs in the front, lowering blocks in the rear, the 1500 a new battery, and autosport bucket seat, and is almost ready for paint.

I have chosen a Fiat metallic red to be two tone with a subaru black, which has an amazing red pearl in it. It looks red in the sunlight, black in the shade. Once i get it sprayed up ill take some pictures !

Anyway, i went and saw a friend Scott McIntosh's 128 today, its the straightest 128 ive ever seen without exception. It has an Uno 1300 in it at the mo, but shortly to recieve an Uno Turbo engine.

Check it out for yourself ..

Team 128

I put together a summary of our cars for your reference

Bumblebee Buzz's Once More

Thursday night (19th of Feb) we got dads car ready for the dyno run in .. just to bed the rings in, and make sure theres no leaks etc etc.

We did roughly 40km on the dyno, and pulled it off quite happy that everything is run in and seated. Engine seems to pull nicely, and has a smooth delivery of power.

The engine is identical to mine, except that it has a touch less compression, and cast pistons instead of forged (they are 87.5mm rather than 88mm).

A gently run through the range saw 97 front wheel hp, without running it to redline, and without having checked timing etc. The engine was running 10.0 Air/Fuel which is quite rich under load, and we didnt have a timing light or any jets available to us, as the exercise was only to run the engine in.

Heres some pics of the car with new wheels, all ready to run.

Engine rebuilding ..

Well .. I'm almost getting sick of the sight of the inside of Fiat SOHC engines .. but alas, here i am putting my race car engine back together.

Block is now dummied up with the two centre pistons in, a new Felpro head gasket which has been re-fire ringed for the 88mm bore, head welded ready for reshaping, and all new valves.

Hopefully i should be ready to assemble the head early next week, and then check piston to valve clearance, and then start the re-assembly proccess.

We will get there soon !

On the flipside, the new brown car (1979 NZ New) nicknamed Milo is now finished .. with an early X19 1500cc standard engine, 128SL intake manifold, 34DMTR carb, and 128SL headers and a 2" free flow exhaust. It goes nicely for a daily driver.

Slow Progress

Im way too slow at updating this damn thing, sorry about that.

Last meeting out was a disaster .. i had previously split a hose, overheated my nice new engine, and blown a head gasket, so being a largely over-bored engine, i have to get head gaskets made.
I only run around 0.036" piston to head clearance on a 0.060" crushed head gasket.

I sent the head gasket out to my gasket maker, and he unfortunately destroyed it in the proccess of enlarging the fire rings, so he used his own material and made me a new gasket.
I measured the gasket, sure enough it was the same uncrushed thickness, but this came back to bite me.

I ran the car for 3 laps out at pukekohe, and as i came past the start/finish line i heard the engine pitch change and quickly killed it .. however, it was too late. I pulled number 4 sparkplug, and the damage was already obvious ..

We pulled the head off once i got home, and sure enough, all the exhaust valves had touched the pistons, the pistons had touched the head, and it had smashed an exhaust valve off and punched it right through the top of a piston.

It turns out that the new head gasket had crushed 0.020" MORE than the gasket i had supplied.
Absolutely gutting !!

I have since pulled the engine out and stripped it .. its hammered the big ends a little because of the pistons touching the head. I should get away with a light hone on number 4, a new piston, checking the conrod for straight, a light crank polish, welding the cylinder head and reshaping, and a new set of valves once again.

Its all a bit disheartening, but i guess thats motorsport. I guess the moral of the story is, if there is something you aren't going to do yourself, check it, double check it, triple check it, then STILL don't trust that the person has done there bit correctly.

Hopefully ill have the old girl running for the end of Feb.

New Project

Well .. exciting things happening with team "Engine Parts 128".

We have purchased a mint NZ new 1979 Fiat 128 Sedan which is almost completely rust free, and very straight.

Over the next year or so we are intending to have it acid dipped to be seem welded, and lightened, with thoughts of lexan windows, flared guards, a front spoiler, and a few extra additions.

I will keep you up to date with this as things happen, but keep an eye out for the white/blue car at the track as i will be still racing it competitively over the next year.

Brake enhancements.

Another big weekend on the car up at Lynchbuilt Performance - involved two early mornings, some cutting, welding, and more of the good stuff.

We started out by grinding the paint off the front panel, and welding a couple of tags on in crucial spots. Then, while tony heated it with a gas torch, i leaned on it with a bar and chain, and we pulled most of the front of the car back into place. With a few test fits of the radiator and bonnet, the front is pretty close to original.

We then cut away all the support for the new bonnet, making it approx half its original weight.

Who needs rigidity in a race car ? its only a cover to stop animals and small children from falling in right ?

After the front was about 90% finished (in need of some finishing bog) we started on brakes ..

fitting in a fully reco'd stainless sleeved Vauxhall Firenza master cylinder, brand new bundy tube, and a wilwood bias valve instead of the factory fiat item.

I also threw the old radiator cooling fan in the bin, and fitted an aftermarket one which is about half the depth to get more space in the engine bay to fit my new electric waterpump.

Theres still a bit more to do to finish it off - will post more pics when its done.