Bearmans Engine Rebuild

[Bearman]

Got the wheel alignment so now at least everything points in the same direction.

Went for a short run in it, took it home to show my wife it actually lives and is not a myth!!

Still needs some bedding in. Tomorrow I'm tied up with other things. Wednesday it's booked into Pedders to be raised a tad. Sacrelige and herecy I here you say?? It's just too damn low. I got sick to death of running aground on speed humps, driveways etc. my new sump also hangs slightly lower too so up she comes!!

Wednesday arvo dump the oil and put some fresh stuff in and get the speedo working. Looks like its pulled out at the dash.

Booked in for a dyno on Friday and we're set for Echuca.

[JG65TE]

Good to hear bear. My Speedo gave up last weekend. I am hoping to get enough care points up before echuca to fix it too. Look forward to seeing ya with ya bonnet up now mate.

[Apollo66]

Good to see it's all coming together.

[Tha Jack]

You getting new front and rear springs Craig or just getting the rears re-set?

[Bearman]

Hi Jack. New fronts and re-set rears.

It's a shame to change it because at this ride height it looks good and handles brilliantly but it is just too low.

[xax2]

Mate,
I'm looking forward to seeing it again. It must sound awesome!!!
Glad it will feature in Echuca.
-John

[greenjgs]

Originally Posted by Bearman

Got the wheel alignment so now at least everything points in the same direction.

Went for a short run in it, took it home to show my wife it actually lives and is not a myth!!

Still needs some bedding in. Tomorrow I'm tied up with other things. Wednesday it's booked into Pedders to be raised a tad. Sacrelige and herecy I here you say?? It's just too damn low. I got sick to death of running aground on speed humps, driveways etc. my new sump also hangs slightly lower too so up she comes!!

Wednesday arvo dump the oil and put some fresh stuff in and get the speedo working. Looks like its pulled out at the dash.

Booked in for a dyno on Friday and we're set for Echuca.

Before you pull the dash apart Craig, take the drive out of the gearbox and spin the gear to see if the speedo works, if it does it's the gear end if not it's the cable or speedo. THis will save plenty of work if if you have a direction to head in 1st.

Cheers G

[xax2]

Originally Posted by greenjgs

Before you pull the dash apart Craig, take the drive out of the gearbox and spin the gear to see if the speedo works, if it does it's the gear end if not it's the cable or speedo. THis will save plenty of work if if you have a direction to head in 1st.

Cheers G

Who needs a speedo...the cops will tell you when you're going to fast!!

[greenjgs]

Originally Posted by xax2

Who needs a speedo...the cops will tell you when you're going to fast!!

Ahhhhhhh! Yeh they will!!!!

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by greenjgs

Before you pull the dash apart Craig, take the drive out of the gearbox and spin the gear to see if the speedo works, if it does it's the gear end if not it's the cable or speedo. THis will save plenty of work if if you have a direction to head in 1st.

Cheers G

Already tried that. It's dislodged from the back of the speedo unfortunately. Will most likely use a GPS rather than pull the dash apart this close to Echuca!!

[neptune blue]

So Craig I know the engine isn't tuned yet but you must have some first impressions

[daytona1965]

Neptune,

It's a V8

That's all that matters




Rohan

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by daytona1965

Neptune,

It's a V8

That's all that matters




Rohan

I hear you brother

[Bearman]

Hey Tony. First impressions are:
- It's got a heap more grunt (You would hope so!!)
- No oil leaks (Something of a novelty)
- Pretty lumpy idle but surprisingly not a pig to drive around the streets (Win)

So far so good !!

[Bearman]

Got it back from Pedders complete with country pack!! Actually it doesn't look as 4WD-ish as I'd feared.

Took it for a fang up and over Mt Dandenong, put a bit of load on the motor and give the brakes a good bedding in on the way down.

Back to Stu's factory to dump the running in oil and give it a good drink of Penrite. Took the old filter to Ray to cut open and make sure not too much of the engine has finished up in there!!

Dyno tomorrow!! Then (hopefully) we can relax for the next few days!!!

The engine bay:


The homecoming - first night home after a too long absence:


Holy ground clearance Batman - no more running aground:

[Bearman]

Now at the dyno place. Had a runt of a time getting rid of the rev limiter that was set on the distributor at cam run in.

1st run made 250HP @ 5000rpm at the wheels. Timing pretty retarded and running as rich as buggery.

More to come...

[Bearman]

270hp @5500rpm at the wheels. Took it to 5800rpm but the cam falls away so 5500 is peak power. Nice meaty torque curve too.

Absolutely spot on and exactly what I asked for!!

Pics etc later.

[Phil B]

Originally Posted by Bearman

270hp @5500rpm at the wheels. Took it to 5800rpm but the cam falls away so 5500 is peak power. Nice meaty torque curve too.

Absolutely spot on and exactly what I asked for!!

Pics etc later.

Nice! Sounds like what I'll be after when I come to rebuilding mine, I'll keep this thread for future reference.

[Tha Jack]

Did you get New wheels Craig?
When I fitted the Mickey Thompsons to our coupe it raised the car up. I had no more ground clearance issues even with the lowered springs.

[Bearman]

Hi Jack, yep, new wheels. I felt like a change and bought something else which I have since elected not to use. Then these Challengers came up for next to nothing, 4@15x8 with 2 Maxxis 265/50x15 tyres incredibly cheap. I bought a pair of 15x10 Challengers and a pair of 225/60x15 Bridgestone Potenza tyres for the front to make the set.

I wouldn't be able to run 295/50x15 without scraping.

Fairly generic wheel for coupes but old skool goodness. Got a bit sick of the Simmons and they were a $^&*&^ to keep clean!!

[Bearman]

Very happy with the dyno outcome. It was actually 271hp @5,084rpm. Max torque 334.2FtLb @ 4,282rpm.

Running so much better and so much nicer to drive.

HUGE thanks to Dion at Leading Car Care Centre - Dyno Mite Performance in Footscray for getting me in at short notice. Excellent service for a very reasonable cost. Well worth the drive for me. I'd go back in a heartbeat and if anyone needs a dyno he's the man.

Big thanks also to Ray at Windford Engineering for building me such a sweet little engine and for the referral to Dion.

I was never chasing big horsepower. All I wanted was a good street engine that would give me plenty of fun and not be a pig to drive. Good times ahead, beginning with Echuca!!

Now some pics:

[cs123]

Great result. You must be happy.

Beautiful looking coupe too!!

[neptune blue]

And just like that its done Simple right Craig !

[Bearman]

Simple Tony, nothing to it!!!

Will sleep well tonight.

[Bearman]

Just reflecting on our successful trip to Echuca. The car now drives as good as it looks. It was a bit grumpy traversing the suburban streets loaded to the gunnels with our weekend essentials and 120L of BP's finest. Once out of town the coupe was much happier. The longer the trip went the better it felt.

The drive to Bendigo on Saturday took in some back roads. The motor has a real sweet spot around 3000rpm. Put the foot down and you get a real crackle through the exhaust. All good stuff!!

From Melbourne to Echuca, Echuca to Bendigo and return, and then back to Rochester used 90L which seemed pretty reasonable to me. To put that into perspective, with the first HTA and the old clapped out 302 I had to refill it at Kilmore on the return trip home.

Anyway, a kitchen reno to concentrate on now and brownie points to be repaid so the next outing may not be until the Sandown Historics in November.

Big thanks to everyone who helped and encouraged along the way. Didn't have a hope in hell without Stu. The biggest thanks to my wife for supporting this madness.

A couple of pics, all dressed for the party!! (just excuse the dirty shoes)

[Bearman]

Just thought I'd update this with a general report on the coupe. It has run really well apart from what I thought were electrical gremlins setting in. It was proving really hard to start, tending to flood and backfire and run not as cleanly as usual. Once going was OK but still not right.

I was thinking at first a bad batch of fuel. Then I was suspect of the electricals and wondered if my dizzy was failing. Turns out the culprit was a loose plug on the back of the alternator which meant the alternator was only charging on and off. This came to a head when we were stranded at the Yarrawonga Golf Club. Luckily Tas and Tom from the club found the culprit and I was able to be jump started. Problem solved.

I was able to nail Stu down to an available day to head to his factory and run the coupe up on the hoist (so much easier with a hoist) to give it the once over for leaks, rattles, loose bolts etc and work through a list of jobs:

Petrol Sender - The one I had (from a high profile GT place) was garbage. Leaked and never worked properly. I took my original one (which worked perfectly) to the GT Shop in Epping where they modified a new one (3/8" line) with my old electricals. This went back in so now I have a fuel gauge that works and is accurate. Great work from the GT Shop, thanks guys!!

Oil Change and check for leaks - Done. No leaks at all relating to the recent work done. Found my diff has an oil leak from the pinion seal so I'll have to get that seen to.

Exhaust leak - Discovered this one while under the car. The RH extractors are supplied in 2 pieces and have a slip join on installation. I didn't hear any leaks but the telltale staining was there. The car wasn't going when Performance Exhausts did the install so they had no way of testing for leaks. Took it back there today where they fixed it up for me gratis. Thanks guys!!

Speedo cable - Got that back in but not before Stu had to tie himself up in a pretzel to be able to reach it and pop itself back in. (He's smaller and more flexible than me!!).

Heat shield rattle - The home made steering box heat shield was hitting against the extractors. Was able to secure the bottom of the shield so no more rattle.

Fit sump guard - I had a factory sump guard lying around which I always intended to fit. It was pretty bent and warped but we got it bolted up OK. The winged sump is slightly wider than the guard but no biggie. Good to have it on.

We had a good day and got everything done. Its great to now have a working speedo again and a fuel gauge working properly. A gutsfull of nice fresh Penrite and its good to cruise!!

Some pics:

[Bearman]

Had the coupe out this morning to get the exhaust leak seen to and have the front wheels rebalanced as the weights had become loose.

Its running really nicely now and certainly doesn't like sitting around for extended periods!!

The to do list has now shortened a bit, my main imperative is to have the diff leak fixed. I am keen to get some AC installed for the summer but the finances may not allow.Aside from that all's well.

Now, for some gratuitous pics, because I can!!!

[neptune blue]

You should give the underside a clean and a blast of black paint paint Craig seeing you have access to a a hoist !

[Phil B]

I'm pretty sure that the front of my sump guard sits above the frame that it's bolted to. Just thinking that it might fit better that way, unless you had to drop it to clear your sump.

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by Phil B

I'm pretty sure that the front of my sump guard sits above the frame that it's bolted to. Just thinking that it might fit better that way, unless you had to drop it to clear your sump.

It isn't a fantastic fit but yeah, the sump clearance was an issue so we had to get a bit inventive with mounting at the front. Also the guard was pretty distorted as well. It's purely functional and a bit of peace of mind.