We have great progress on the Lotus race engine build but not without near potential catastrophe. We also show today how we work out compression ratio and do some heavy modding to some Rover V8 pistons
On the standard Twincam head bolts there are two washers that have the flats on them to miss the cams as you have found out. That was standard from the factory from the 60s. One issue with reducing the washer size is that it's a know problem that the original Lotus heads go soft and then the head bolts recess into the casting. I would want the support washers to be as large as possible.
The ally of the head only softens if the head overheats, get the cooling system working properly and reliably and you won't have any problems. The BDA engine has the same issues (ask me how I know..)
As Stan Laurel once said to Oliver Hardy "Why get married, just find a woman you don't like and buy her a house". You say don't assume anything, yet you are quite happy to rebore a block without getting the pistons first so you can physically check their size to make sure you get the right piston to bore clearance.
As i'm sure your aware Lotus twincams have two washers with flats on them, knowing how soft Lotus heads are personally i'd want the washers as large as possible. Something else to check is the valve clearances...... We have had Lotus twincam heads that have been set up perfectly on the bench but when the head was torqued down would do odd things to the valve clearances. We thought it was just a one off but i've seen it on multiple Twincam heads now so we set them after the head is fitted and torqued correctly.
Agreed, I've left a very similar comment about the valve clearances on another video about this engine. It's amazing how much a cylinder head can distort when it is torqued down.
Lotus Twin cam engines 1963-75 came out of the factory sprayed entirely in battleship grey with a black wrinkle ( or crackle) cam cover stove finished in black or in red for SE engines then reverted to black on all the big valve engines Elans and Europas with polished fins '71-75.
Don't do it mate! I drove to my wedding in a '69 Aston Martin DBS V8, the same as James Bond drove to his wedding (though his was a '68 straight six). Unfortunately, my wife didn't get shot. I've never forgiven Blofeld!
When measuring the bowl/compression chamber, get yourself a 250ml burette. Another option is a graduated pipette. Much more accurate and consistent results. That 2mL syringe technique is like you're 'rubbing sticks together for fire over there'. Always look forward to your videos. Don't make me 'cross the pond' to show you a proper method!
It's time to voice something I've been contemplating for a while. It's quite obvious that the company name comes from the induction roar of an accelerating engine and then the sound of the over run on closing he throttle, cheers
We had issues with the land rover V8 petrol engines, the cylinder liners move with piston movement. Weve jad a few shops rebud the engines, Ive even done a rebuild myself from the crank and crank bearings up without issue.. tbey also had headgasket issues and I dont recommend using the Land Rover headgaskets. All the other gaskets are fine. Just the headgaskets weve seen leak coolant and oil to the outside of the engine. the rocket shaft bolt holts need to be clean of oil and the headbokts are supposed to be lubricated with oil, and torques to 15, 30ft/lbs then 90° then another 90°
I would've said putting a flat on the washers that need it is a better idea than fitting smaller washers! Also, I built a 4.7 Ford V8 for myself (in the UK) and I even went as far as to contact the refinery to see what the actual octane of the fuel is in my area- turns out 95 Octane is usually at least 97-98 (95 is the legal minimum). I went with 10.5:1 cr and it doesn't knock, but higher than that is pushing your luck- and why run 11.3 when it's in a flippin' Landie anyway? I wondered why you took 60 thou off the skirt bottom too- unless it's a clearance issue with the crank? Great videos btw- thanks for making them!
You need to get yourself a proper Rottler hone machine mate, they really leave the rest of the market in the dark ages. And you really need to be able to check your surface finishes in RvK approaching and exceeding 50 for these 1mm and now 0.7mm piston rings people are making great power with .. With all these successful LandRover repairs, you might get appointed official repairer to the Royal Family lol
Personally Lee I think 11.4/1 CR is a bit on the high side even for S/U petrol unless the engine is properly dynoed and setup for it, so might be a good idea to let the customer know, something else you could do is to install a slightly cooler running thermostat to give a wider margin before det sets in, good luck 'Sausage' HTR Ltd
The golden rule is to never bore a block until you physically have the pistons. This is particularly important where clearance sizes vary between manufacturers.
You cant fit the Lotus head on with the studs in place as the cam chain guides which sticks up at an angle fouls the head as its slid down into place. The customer will have to go slow around right hand corners with the standard pickup to avoid oil pressure loss also
The Rover CR seems scary high, I think the early P6s were about 10.5::1 and a problem when 5 star fuel was discontinued. If it does not pink it should gain some power though. Good Luck with your wedding and best wishes.
If you need luck your marriage is off to a bad start. What you need is faith in Your decisions that allowed you to get to this point. I do congratulate you for stepping up and embarking on a new life's adventure. Best to both of You.
In most countries (including all of Europe, Australia and New Zealand) the "headline" octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON, but in the United States and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), Road Octane Number (RdON), Pump Octane Number (PON), or (R+M)/2. Because of the 10 point difference noted above, this means that the octane in the United States will be about 4 to 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 91-95 (regular). How is UK "headline octane" displayed?
It was pretty easy to find out the washers were touching. Cause you couldn't turn the cam! Im a bit with the others, big washers with a flat like the other builder had done. But I'm sure yours will be fine.
Love the channel Lee 👍 I find it interesting you talk in both imperial and metric. Im an engineer and can use both but 95% talk in mm and microns. Is it because your machines are mainly in imperial or is it because the data on the old stuff is in imperial? I find myself converting to metric in my head or on paper when in this situation. Keep up the good work. Matt
Be very careful, the later 4.0 and 4.6 Rover RV8 engines were totally re-engineered and not a lot is inter-changeable with the earlier units. The 4.0 litre engine was actually a 3.9! The 4.2 unit was always a bit of an odd ball..
How you are going to set the cam timing on the Lotus ? hopefully not just by the punched dots ? .I would want to know the camshaft timing degrees ,then set up with a degree disc on the crank and a DTI on the follower timed @ MOP - the proper way .
You cannot compare directly US and EU grade petrol as they are calculated differently, which results in the US fuel having a lower designated octane rating. Modern engines i.e. anything with electronic fuel injection can handle higher compression ratios because the ignition is moderated with knock sensors. I agree that yout customer should use superunleaded not just because it has a higher octane rating but because it is likely to have better detergents and additives. Also, large parts of the Country have superunleaded without any ethanol added (check out the fuel suppliers websites) despite being designated E5 (5% Ethanol). Ethanol is dire for engines, particularly classic ones as it is hydroscopic and can cause corrosion, eats any brass in the system and goes off quicker in the tank. I use superunleaded in our Skoda (VW) 1.5TFSi engine and get around 7-10% better fuel consumption so that there is no cost penalty. I presume that you will recommend that the engine be rolling road tuned to account for the higher compression ratio. The static compression ratio , which you have measured is not the critical one. The dynamic compression ratio is the proper one to consider, which will account for the valve timing of the engine. The dynamic compression ratio, which affects the detonation in the engine is much lower than the static compression ratio and changes with valve timing
When i painted alloy etc on an engine ..reason was that the alloy degrades quite quickly on British salted roads, i blasted it then i etched primed it and then painted it with alloy wheel paint. ...that was the gearbox and everything but the head ..the head gets very hot around the exhaust ports so paint would come off there .so left it as blasted finish. all i can say if you paint the head take the chance with the above, it will look a lot better with the shine and lustre of the alloy wheel silver ...a matt silver finish gets dirty and is impossible to clean and looks cheap from the start. and will not last. Having said that i don't actually know it is matt silver ..it just looks like that on the videos -- apologies if it's not. Have a happy marriage day - i do enjoy your videos .
@@metalworker007 I second that, it takes some serious engine paint to stay on in the plug valley and around the exhaust manifold on a Lotus Twincam. I vapour blast mine now and leave it like that but then my Elan is a bit of a fair weather car.
You're making life difficult for yourself with that syringe not to mention the lack of accuracy. Get a proper burette, they're not expensive. My brother once measured his bowls with a squeezy fish, as you can imagine it was several CC's off reality
That brings back memories, Of what we did back in the 1980's. Fitting Holden 173 pistons to a Rover 3.5Lt V8 and Leyland P76 4.4Lt V8's. We had to pin bore the Holden 173 pistons and use Rover gudgeon pins
@@derekhobbs1102 Not really but they could import a few and keep them in stock. MUCH cheaper than the Rover stuff and if they do a few it solves a supply issue for those parts. 8-))
i see you had some piston rings but have you got the right ring for friday good luck and all the best a thing to remember never go to bed on a argument and if your partner is in the wrong apologize and that will go a long way we have been married for 51 years and still together .thanks for the video but what landrover is the lotus engine going in
14 x 2ml syringes?? You got too much time on your hands mate FGS! £2.50 to buy a 50ml syringe, save yourself hours. You can tell you're from Barnstable. #Tight Lol!
Just as well you didn't just bolt it down and start it up, the compression on that V8 would have it a bit more power wouldn't it? congratulations on getting married I hope yous have a long and fruitful life together and bring happiness to you all (you and your loved ones) all the best
1mm is a bit thin for a compressed head gasket? Lee, buy yourself a good pipette, you do enough of these to justify it. The way you cc now induces error and spillage. And really....you bore a block before you have the pistons in hand because someone "has them in stock"!! You never machine anything until you have the bits in hand, and I am sure you know this.
Correct, same as most of the engines these guys build. It is annoying, but most people in the trade here in Australia also refer to Camshaft covers (or 'engine top cover' as some manufacturers call them) as rocker covers. I noticed also the sprockets called pulleys in the video.
American Octane is not the same as European Octane. You can't compare the two figures. American 91 Octane is the same as European 95. European octane is RON - American is PON which is the average of RON and MON.
