Body Ready for Collection

My body and associated bits and pieces is now ready for collection from GD. However, due to other commitments and a pre Christmas run on box vans (apparently due to the likes of Argos etc) I can't get the time and a box van until next Friday (7th December).

I'll consider it an early Christmas present!

Waiting.......

Body is nearly ready ..... just waiting for the miscellaneous metalwork to come back from the powder coaters.

Off My Trolley ?????

Soon be time for the body to arrive so as I had a some garage time this weekend I busied myself with a load of timber and four casters:

So I will be able to work on the body above the chassis and also move either the chassis or the body outside independently.

I could also convert it into a pool table

Or I could go and find a really big hill...............

Catching up

In the excitement of starting the engine I sort of glossed over the fuel supply! I'm still waiting for a special bracket for the pressure regulator - but that didn't stop me!

The first job was to convert the 3/8 copper hard line entering the engine bay to -6 braided steel hose. This was done using a compression style adaptor together with a -6 90 degree hose end:
I had found the ideal location for the pressure regulator and decided rather than run a short length of hose directly to it, to loop round the distributor. This is a better way of doing things as it allows the hose to accommodate any engine movement. Done the other way with a short length of hose, any engine movement could have ended up causing the copper pipe to fatigue.From the pressure regulator it is a short run to the carb via a -6 banjo fitting. With the "dropped pan" air cleaner I have there would appear to be no clearance for the banjo. There are, however, a couple of recesses on the bottom pan which accommodate the banjo fitting:So, nearly a neat job - just need the bracket to finish things off.

Accusump Set Up

In a vain effort to find something useful to do I thought it was time to set the accusump up - however this would include running the engine again....... shame!

The accusump had been pressurised prior to the cam break in run to avoid it taking oil out of the system. The big question is how much oil to add? The accusump will store oil according to the pressure in the oil system at shutdown.

I thought it would be a good idea to calculate the theoretical amount required and compare this against the actual amount added. The main problem I could see is that as the volume of oil stored is dependant upon pressure, this means that the volume will be temperature dependant as oil pressure drops with increasing temperature. So back to some schoolboy Physics/Chemistry and the theory is as follows:So with a 30 psi difference in oil pressure at idle between hot and cold the actual variation in volume stored will only be 0.15 litres (not a great deal with no danger of overfilling). This range of 50-80 should cover the normal operating range of the engine: 80 cold at idle, 50 hot at idle and presumably 80 ish hot at high rpm. However this may need some adjustment once it's on the road.

So the theory says that I should need to add around 1.8 litres of oil, the aim would be to have the desired level when cold. This would mean a theoretical overfilling of 0.15 litres when hot, but oil would be circulating in the engine so would not be high in the sump. The main issue would be not to end up with a low level when the Accusump takes more oil when cold.

So the Accusump was bled down to a 10 psi pre-charge. I then added a litre of oil and started up. The engine oil pressure rose to around 75 psi as did the gauge on the accusump (the accusump was not energised so it would not flow oil back into the system). I ran the engine for a couple of minutes (before it warmed up) to get oil round the system and then shutdown. I waited 30 minutes and then topped up the cold level bit by bit until it was at the original level. I ended up adding somewhere around 1.7 litres.

The engine was restarted and warmed up (with the accusump energised this time). As the oil warmed up the pressure reduced to around 50 psi. The engine was then shut down, left for half an hour and checked again and found to be only marginally over the original level.

Job done and a good excuse to run the engine again...... it's getting addictive!!

During this process I noted that the pressures shown on the accusump gauge were not the same as those on the oil pressure gauge?? I checked the accusump pressures with an air pressure gauge... OK. Checked the earthing of the oil pressure gauge - bit too much ptfe tape causing a poor earth I think. The revised pressures are 75 psi cold at idle and 50-55 hot at idle - even better than before - so I had to work everything out again which is what you see above.

Everytime I have run the engine I have always taken the PCV breather off the rocker cover for a moment and looked inside - it has always been comforting to find floods of oil coming up the pushrods and over the rockers - even at 1500 rpm!

Engine Running

Wasted another 5 litres of petrol today .... well not exactly wasted!!!

The strange burbling noise you can hear on the video is not the exhausts... it is the microphone on the camera distorting!!!

I'm not convinced I am going to be able to pass the noise limit at the SVA test!!!!

Engine Start !!

Time to cut the crap...... decided I could do without my regulator bracket so I finished off the fuel run and all was ready for a start: First time: didn't start??? checked and found I only had 5v not 12v going to the 6AL ignition control - redid the wiring

Second Time: Two turns and fired up!!!! Unbelievable sound

I ran it for 20 minutes between 2000 and 2500 rpm to ensure the cam was broken in, no leaks, no overheating, oil pressure 75-80 psi cold and 50-55 psi hot at 2000 rpm.

All that went wrong was that my camera fell over and didn't capture the moment of first start, I burnt my finger and thumb 'cos I wouldn't let go of the throttle, and eventually it ran out of petrol after playing for a while!!

There's a video below of starting after the cam break in run, but the sound isn't the best as the camera was picking up the noise from my diesel tin top that was powering everything and also the twin cooling fans on the GD wich are pretty loud!.

What a day....... Time for a drink!