The Stoneleigh Affair

[peterw]

All the bits are starting to arrive to rebuild the top end, just waiting for the heads to come back from Skimming and a few other bits from polishing. Even thinking of putting the carbs on the Mantle piece, but I'm not allowed to spot light them !!!

[garry h]

Whats wrong with the glass cabinet 

[Moleman]

Nice to see it coming back together peter.     I was like that with the new engine. I didn't want too get any dirt on it. 
Now that it's in though I'd rather have it dirty & flying around the track than clean & not being used. 
How long do you think it will be back on the road?

We could have a club trophy cabinet somewhere like the f1 teams only ours will be engine & body parts.  I can donate 3 pistons & a Anti roll bar to it already. 

['Mendip Wurzel']

So you did purchase those new SU carbs.... definitely a good move and they look luvely

[Lucky Ed]

It's going to be a big cabinet if I start donating bits

[Bulldog Bri]

I like shiny stuff on an engine, I'd be out polishing it after every trip (nearly )

Good to see that it's all coming back together Pete. The rebuild shouldn't take to long Should it?

[peterw]

I think it's going to be a couple of weeks yet, lead time on the manifold and rocker cover polishing was 2 weeks

[Iancider]

Peter,

Good to hear it going well so far - I am a willing pair of hands if you need me.

Regards
Ian

[Pilgrim Anna]

Glad its going well. Looking lovely and shiny!

[peterw]

Getting there.....

[Bulldog Bri]

They look nice

[Moleman]

Nice job Peter where did you get them done in the end?

[peterw]

Brights

[Dixie]

Have you had anything else done to the heads? I am just in mid build for a RV8 4.6.  I had the heads skimmed to 26.5cc so as to get C/R to 10.1,  Got double springs, shortened bulleted guides, but kept the STD valves because this is a road car and wont rev above 5000 RPM.  Block was decked 20 thou and new +20 Pistons with eye brows. Using a Stump Puller cam, so should pull well.

[Moleman]

Brights

I said they were good mate. 

Hope yours works out ok too Mark. 

[Hairy Santa]

Have you had anything else done to the heads? I am just in mid build for a RV8 4.6.  I had the heads skimmed to 26.5cc so as to get C/R to 10.1,  Got double springs, shortened bulleted guides, but kept the STD valves because this is a road car and wont rev above 5000 RPM.  Block was decked 20 thou and new +20 Pistons with eye brows. Using a Stump Puller cam, so should pull well.

Great looking engine

['The Gaffer']

Very nice indeed

[peterw]

No, That's all at the moment. As always there is a budget and what with the cost of polishing a few items while I'm at it, the cam upgrade etc will have to wait 'till winter. Unfortunately this was an unplanned rebuild!!!

[Pilgrim Anna]

They are looking great!!! Very clean and tidy

[peterw]

Rocker covers back from polishing 

[Moleman]

Blimey I would be able to see my face in there. Not sure that's a good thing.    Very nice Peter 

[Iancider]

Good idea Peter,

Make it a runner first.... then a sprinter. 

Ian

[Bulldog Bri]

That's gonna be some engine when finished, are you thinking of getting it on the rolling road after to see what it's putting out?

[peterw]

A new aid to drying, and Valerie lives again

[Iancider]

Hope she sounds as good as she looks too...

['The Gaffer']

Sweet

[Bulldog Bri]

Shame you didn't make it to Stoneleigh but look what you've got now. Looks great

[peterw]

O.K. Got her running reasonably well so far but after replacing the rocker gear for new as the old ones were knackered, have now lost a lot of the oil pressure, obviously a big blockage in the old rocker shafts which upped the oil pressure. Looking on various forums and ruling out instant oil pump failure, gonna up the oil weight to 20/50 from 10/40 which a lot of people recommend, then look at oil pressure relief valve. I know the RV8 is a low pressure, high volume system but there is low and there is LOW
Oh great slide show Crash Test

['Mendip Wurzel']

Peter

As I am sure you know the oil pressure is low on an RV8.... like you say, high volume and low pressure.
With a warm engine on tick-over maybe 15 to 20psi. I have always used a 20w-50 oil as that seems to be what is recommended.... I've done quite a lot of research on RV8 oils and in my opinion of the best is Silkolene Comp4 20w-50 fully synthetic.

I'm not sure what rocker assembly you used but there are some really cheap assemblies availably on ebay that are a very loose fit which will loose oil pressure.... I actually purchase one of these cheap assemblies and live to regret it 

You can also buy a stronger spring for the oil pump which will raise the pressure 

Cold    40-50 psi at 2400 rpm
Warm 27-35 psi at 2400 rpm
Warm 15-20 psi when idling

[peterw]

Rocker assemblies came from Rimmer Bros so should be O.K. It's a lot better  with 20/50 but still occasionally get oil light on when hot on tick over. Have upped tickover to 800 rpm which keeps it off. Do you have an oil cooler on yours ? When I rebuilt the engine not that long ago the oil pump tollerences were within spec. I think it will be O.K. at the moment but may need looking at further. How about going to a 10/60 oil

['Mendip Wurzel']

Rimmer Bros stuff is very good quality in my opinion, but not cheap.
No I don't have an oil cooler....

Only my opinion again but it looks like you have the vacuum advance connected to the distributor, presumably set to approx 6 deg BTC... I tend to not connect the vacuum advance and go for approx 14 deg BTC giving a full advance of approx 36 deg, makes it go faster.

[peterw]

O.K. Took her out for a good run today and I have found the underlying cause of the gasket and hose blowing. After pushing her up Cheddar gorge ( not literally) and after about 90 mins driving the temp gauge went down to 40 c, exactly the same as a month ago. After stopping and farting around a bit discovered that the water pump controller was resetting itself every 3 seconds thereby killing the water pump and rad fan, total overheat. That's the second Davies Craig controller to pack up on me just after warrenty ran out. Not again , gonna work my own solution out. And don't say a switch on the dash !!!

[Iancider]

Peter I was intrigued that you had gone down this route and looked this up.

It looks to me that Davies Craig have spotted the problem so it might be worth registering a complaint.  There are two models of controller - the variable speed and the "digital which just switches the pump on and off as it passes the upper and lower threshold and they say there is a new version due June 2014 so therefore I think they know there is a problem

For EWP's: the updated Digital Controller (Part 8020) will manage the operation of the EWP® by varying the speed of the EWP® in response to the temperature of the engine and manage control of your electric engine fan. The push-button Controller offers 5 target temperatures, 75c, 80c, 85c, 90c & 95c and will now operate the engine's Electric Fan automatically once the engine has reached +3c above the target temperature. A significant benefit too is the Controller allows the EWP® to run on after ignition shutdown to reduce heat soak. Whilst the Digital Controller can be used with our EBP, it will not vary the speed of the pump in response to temperature but rather simply turn the EBP on and off at your set temperature. For a far more economical & appropriate solution, we would recommend our Thermal Switch range.
*Note: This controller (part no 8020) is suitable for only negatively earthed systems.

For Thermatic Fans: Davies, Craig offer two types of Thermal Switch
•Mechanical (Part 0400, 0401& 0404) which senses the coolant temperature after it passes through the engine block prior to entering the radiator.
• Electronic *COMING SOON* We will soon be releasing a new Davies Craig designed Electronic Switch which will replace discontinued part number 0402, Due Early June 2014

Web address is http://www.daviescraig.com.au/Controllers___Switches-list.aspx

If you have a digital controller it sounds like it is functioning correctly but the temperature threshold may be wrong OR the pump is working but the fan switch isn't.  If it is a variable speed controller - the expensive one then it is not working properly and should merely change its peeed not turn on and off.  If you need assitance I have enought kit to test it.

Regards
Ian

[peterw]

O.K. Looks like I've sorted the controller out, repaired the first one that blew up on me. Unfortunately this afternoon had a valve seat drop out and hit against No2 piston, so it's all apart again and now looking for some replacement heads.

[Moleman]

Sorry to hear that mate. 

[Lucky Ed]

Sorry to hear your bad news - hope you get sorted soon

[Pilgrim Anna]

The joys of kitcars. Think I will stick with my Bulldog for a long time, at least if anything goes wrong Bri can fix it!

[peterw]

Does Bri' want to fix mine as well ? It never rains it pours

[Bulldog Bri]

Love to help mate but max'ed out with other things to do still

[CC Cyclone]

This is meant to be useful rather than speculation or opinion and won't be popular, but from experience I would find any way of using a mechanical water pump over the Davies Craig. On two different installations I ended up with going through no less than 6 water pumps and three controllers, all replaced under warranty. The originals had the mechanical control which was useless, and the later ones used the digital control, which again, the ones I had were not fit for purpose. I lost an engine to an overheat and was left stranded many times.

It wasn't just the controllers, the bearings in the pumps ceased aswell causing the impeller shaft to overheat. On one occasion this happened 300 miles into a new pump and the thing burnt out part of the wiring loom, on another the bearings went causing a water leak. One pump i rejected straight out of the box due to the impeller grinding on the inner case. I could never get the thing to provide consistant flow causing pockets of local overheating followed by immense flow rates to try and compensate. The system was terrible.

It turns out it wasn't just me either unfortunately, the more i looked into it, the more people I found with similar problems.