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Lucifer's Hammer Part 5

Posted: Dec 20, 2006 8:16 PM
by Ken H.
Lucifer's Hammer Series Index: Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6Part 7Part 8Part 9Part 10Part 11Part 12Part 13Part 14Photos

Second-to-last day of Fall. We now have a Class 3 Blizzard cooked up. I said, "Scroo this. I'm going home for the day." So I-25 and I-70 are shut down and the back roads to my place are ausgefuked. I've got three fingers of scotch mixed into the coffee and the wife has a standing rib ready to go into the oven. "Stick it, boss; I've got a dollar cigar." Say the last with a WC Fields accent. :banana:

The motor has gone off to Missouri with Paul. I am chasing parts and looking for answers. I reread that. It just. sounds. wrong.

9/24/04 My next task is to find the parentage on the crank. It wasn't made by Moldex, so the next call is to SCAT. I convey the numbers on the crank . See doggunracing.com/mye28/LucifersHammer. Page 1, Image 4. SCAT confirms it's one of theirs. Sold to EB on 9 March, 1995. ??!! :shock: They have minimal information other than a work order specified a 95 mm throw, knife-edge counterweights, cross-drilled. Brian at SCAT indicates he will try to get a copy of the original work order and invoice. SCAT changed computer systems in 2000, and the old paper records have gone off-site. As matters worked out, we never did get the documents. So what else is new?

What's interesting about the manufacture date on the crank is is precedes my conversation with EB by over eight years. So why was I told the crank would be about four months being made up, and why wasn't I told it was a 95 mm throw, when I had specified 94 mm? Draw your own conclusions. Choose your own examples.

Paul is going to get the crank into Campbell Crankshafts in KC this coming week. They will be doing the following:
1. Rotation between centers to check for any warpage, roundness and diameter variances on each journal.
2. X-raying for possible flaws.
3. Metallurgical analysis for alloy; Rockwell test for hardness. SCAT told me they used vacuum-degassed 4340 in billet cranks such as this one, and nitrided the finished product.
4. Dynamic balancing to within .1 gram. Weight shaving, if needed, will be taken off over surface areas to avoid point drilling which can create potential weak points.
5. Measurement of the throw displacement; should be exactly 120 degrees.

Thus far, the cylinder bores are showing small amounts (<.0005") out of round , with similar amounts of taper top-to-bottom. #4 cylinder is offset from the crank centerline by around .001". Cylinders show small amounts of variance from true vertical--.0005 to .001". Main cap alignments appear good, so the weird torqueing apparently didn't do any harm.

So the block will get set up on a Winona Van Norman block machine and everything gets taken to being spot-on to the theoretical center lines. Paul wants this to be a tool room grade job and insists on knowing that things are accurate from the get-go. He thinks the amounts that will get taken out will be very, very small, but we will know exactly where we are.
The original freeze plugs and oil gallery plugs are coming out and the block is going to get the crap paint off of it and get hot tanked. So we will start with a clean piece of work.

Desired PPG paint color #16677 light blue info mailed to Paul for exterior painting when the time comes. He will obtain locally. I receive the first dose of pimping about the color. "The Fag Block!!" :lol:

The intake plenum with the ///M tricolor striping is going to get worked over and the powdercoating is going to take a beating. There are going to be a number of fittings installed--MAT, MAP, an oil drain plug. The plenum in the NA engine was run at atmospheric pressure or nearly so. With the turbo it will run under pressure, so we will need to see if it has any possible flaws. Checking boots and fittings as well. Probably not any reason for concern, but another detail to be attended to.

Looking at the clutch-to-flywheel attachments. We're going to install a number of dowels in the flywheel to locate the clutch pressure plate and take up a majority of the shear stresses. The bolt holes in the flywheel will get redrilled for installation of Timesert sleeves, sized to accept an 8 mm 12,9 bolt for the pressure plate attachment. We are building this thing to handle 800 ft-lbs which is probably overkill, but it beats the alternative. "800 ft-lbs? HA!" :roll: "You wait, pal . . ."

9/25/04 Paul has the crank out. Journal measurements look OK, but we'll know a lot more this coming week or so. Corners on the machined surfaces--crank nose, flywheel flange need cleanup chamfering. This isn't a defect, just a step that should have been done in manufacture.

Paul is concerned about the bearing issues. The crank has different journal measurements than a stock BMW, so he is going to check with the Benz store and see if the numbers on EB's March 2004 statement make sense; he will also see what he can find out about sizing thru the Honda dealer as well. My guess is we'll end up using Benz shells, but they will have to be lathe trimmed to assure proper axial fit. I advised Paul that while SCAT confirmed they made the crank, we may not be able to get any additional information. "It's as if we got the motor at a garage sale and what you see is what you get. For all intents and purposes, EB dropped off the face of the earth." Paul takes it in stride. . .The man is nothing if not supremely self-confident. Not arrogant, just sure of himself. My blood pressure has dropped about fifteen points since he stepped in.

Fitment of the front valve timing cover to the block deck is about .002" to .004" out of true, up on one side, down on the other. May be due to alignment with all bolts not snugged up, but may also need to be milled even before assembly.
Paul's thinking is that all mating surfaces should line up to where they could be run without Hylomar or a gasket. "The additional preparation isn't that big of a deal in the scheme of things. I want this motor to stay clean." I like it.

9/27/04 The downpipe flex bellows has been ordered from pacesetterexhausts.com. Paul is nonplussed. The issue is the flex section has a woven stainless exterior sleeve which tends to accumulate oil, grime and crud. No functional problem, but looks grubby over time and is difficult to clean.

9/28/04 Close scrutiny on the main and rod bottom end bearings. Paul thinks they are a stock item used in the Benz 300D diesels. Perfectly good; the issue was/is getting the correct sizing for the mains. Paul trying to get ahold of Mark to get the Carillo worksheet updated and include one of the bearing shells when the order goes out to Carillo this week.
Crank is up at Campbell Crankshafts; no news, which is probably good news.
Flywheel exercises coming this week or early next.
First real discussion on the fuel pump situation. Paul isn't sure if the in-tank transfer pump is capable of handling the flow requirements. If that's the case, we need to find a way to keep the main pump fed at higher operating pressures and flows. It seems pretty certain that the stock 8mm ID fuel lines won't be sufficient. This means having a look at the fuel pressure regulator and return lines as well. Mark mentioned going to a 1/2" ID line to replace the present setup. Rebuilding the fuel system wasn't in the original plan, but I guess we're going to discover what it's all about.

To the reader: Further on, there will be a lengthy, boring and technical section on fuel system sizing :zzz: Turbo bigots and gonnabes, take notes. ;) Duke has seen this as part of our PM conversations related to his M535iT. :cry:

10/1/04 Flywheel-to-pressure plate fitup. This looks like it's going to be OK, tho' Paul may have to dress the pressure plate contact area on the lathe where the steel friction plate may touch the aluminum on the flywheel. Not a problem with the parts out in the open on a bench, but this needs to be a drop-in with the parts in the car. I'm anticipating clutch replacements, given the potential power.

Discussion regarding the oil feed into the turbo--most likely sourcing from the blocking plate covering the old oil filter head location on the block. doggunracing.com/mye28/LucifersHammer Page 4, images 93 and 94. Getting everything worked out for the remote filter location may get difficult, as we have to get the motor back into the car then see what we've got to work with. Jumping ahead a bit, the solution proved to be as follows:
Remove the stock air filter box.
Fabricate a billet mounting plate to accept the oil filter head
Install the billet with the oil filter on the "floor" where the air cleaner lived. Open up a hole in the "floor" to accept the filter canister.
Run feed lines from the filter to the oil cooler and to the billet blocking plate on the block proper. doggunracing.com/mye28/LucifersHammer Page 2, image #45; Page 5, images #114, 122.

10/4/04 Paul is getting some skin into the project :D He's had a look at the head, and is generally pleased with what we've got.
1. The head surface is true, with no distortion.
2. The combustion chambers are just about perfectly uniform, at 45.5 cc; piston dished are 26.0 cc. doggunracing.com/mye28/LucifersHammer Page 1, images #1, 2,3,5,6.
3.Intake tracts are 118.8 cc, with ~.1 cc variation. Exhausts are 132.0 cc, with one, number not specified as being about .8 cc less. The larger exhaust port volume relative to the intakes is consistent with the S38 being more of a "horsepower" motor, as different from a "torque" motor.
4. Valves and guides. Valves are new--38.5 mm intakes, 32.5 mm exhausts. These for the S38B38 ///M motor. The exhaust guides are new; the intakes appear to be the original ones. The latter show little wear, but were supposed to have been replaced when whoever did the head work for EB was working on the head.
5. The valve springs are the originals. Heights are uniform within a couple of thousandths; compression pressures consistent within a pound. So replacement is a "maybe," given the fact they have seen 130,000 miles. But we have a set of new Motorsport springs ready to go.
6. Valve seats were opened up for the larger valves. The seats appear to have been done with multiple single-angle cutters, not a multi-angle SERDI setup. Intake seats look somewhat wide for a pure performance motor, but the added width will offer some additional longevity as they will be less prone to "pound out." Bowls and throat angles should be OK for a turbo application.
7. The exhaust ports have been opened up about 1.5 mm, so flow into the headers should see minimal restriction.

Overall, not too bad; it could have been ugly. Paul wants to go through things and do some additional work. This means stripping out the coating on the head, and doing some (very little) metal removal on the tracts, mostly smoothing out radii on bends, unshrouding the valves and playing with the grind angles on the ports. The valves themselves will get some delicate work on the back cuts on the valve heads to improve flow along the face perimeters. That being done, everything seeing exhaust gas will get re(?)-ceramic coated. With all the rework done, the head will go on the flow bench and we will see what kind of air this bad boy will move.

Rings continue to be a worry. Paul checked with the guys at JE; no info on the current chrome ring set. JE used sizing numbers EB had forwarded to them. So we are on a search for what potential alternatives we may have for rings given the bore diameter. We have basically three alternatives: use the existing chrome rings, have a custom ring pack ground, or find a ring pack that will work in the 94.36 mm (3.715") bore.
Paul rejects #1 out of hand--very likely to give us difficulties in break-in and obtaining a good seal. #2, while feasible, may get very expensive and delivery could stretch out who knows how long. #3 doesn't leave a whole lot of options. But, somehow, we catch a break. In going through the Total Seal catalog, we find a 3.718" ring pack. It is made, of all things, for a '66 Pontiac 326 motor. Calls get made. Yes, we have those in stock. Yes, they are ductile nodular cast iron. Top ring is torsional twist; #2 is a full-circle scraper design. Lower ring is gapless. Yes, we can moly coat them for you. Mayb delay shipping for a week or so, but not a problem. From what you describe, your oil scraper ring is just fine, so no need to order those.
We may yet have a motor. :ohyeah:

10/8/04 Crank is looking better than we had hoped. No bearing eccentricities (largest ovality is ~.0002"), runs true to it's geometric centerline, journal measurements are uniform within .0002", with vitrually nil taper across any one journal. Throw dimensions are within .002" or less. Campbell is busy with other stuff, so balancing may be a week or so out. They will also be balancing the flywheel and harmonic balancer assemblies as well.
Flywheel has been cleaned up, Timeserts installed for the 8 mm pressure plate bolts. Nasty finding: the holes originally in the flywheel were drilled and tapped for SAE fasteners; the QuarterMaster pressure plate attachment bolts are metric . . . and EB didn't catch this?? So the Timesert reinforcement does a couple of things. It corrects the fixation discrepancy along with providing a steel-to-steel attachment. Paul thinks the threaded aluminum wouldn't have lasted long, given the loadings from the Extreme-V clutch components.
All the necessary paperwork, bearing shell plus one piston has gone off to Carillo, along with the proceeds from the sale of my left kidney, :bawl: so we are now waiting on a confirmation and an estimated delivery date. Betting favors the week after the Second Coming. :zzz:
Some minor exterior aluminum parts have gone out for media blasting and test powdercoating. Paul is working with a new supplier and wants to see the quality of the work before committing the entire lot.

10/18/04 Mark confirms the rod order went into the queue at Carillo 10/6. Bad news is the order probably won't be finished until around the week of November 22. This is right on the 7 weeks Scott at Carillo originally estimated back in August. Paul shrugs. Gives him time to focus on other stuff. Like the turbo.

In doing the mockup, it seems that the turbine housing has an interference problem with the intake plenum. No contact, but very nearly so. We need to open up an area 4+ inches long by 2+ inches high to provide some measure of clearance. This means major surgery on the plenum casting, removing the powdercoating with some kind of EPA-banned liquid carcinogen, then TIG welding in a formed aluminum filler plate. Pisses me off, as Korman charged a whole bunch for the tricolor coating on the valve cover and the plenum. Paul is going to check with his powdercoater (who did jes' fine on the test pieces) about the cost and feasability of redoing the job.
We are also doing some investigating of the industrial coating shops--Swaintech, Calico, HPC, PolyDyn--regarding ceramic coating on the head and pieces exposed to exhaust gases. All are cost-competitive, but there are differences in the materials used and their durability. Lots of assurances, but not a lot of user references.
More on the mockup. Clearances for the snail are also very tight--almost touching the block, so more work on getting the compressor outlet properly oriented for the lines feeding into the IC, and still leaving room to work with the silcone hoses and wiggins clamps.
Update on the head. Coating stripped. Metal work done, required very little work. Somewhat time-consuming as the work in the tracts is done by hand with emeryb and not with a die grinder. Flow numbers ought to be pretty good. Paul is having a look at the valve springs as to height, compression, etc. before making any decisions about replacement. Guides replaced. Exhaust guides re-reamed and lapped, as the clearances to the stems were a bit too snug for Paul's taste.
No word yet from Total Seal on delivery date on the rings.
We have sent a stock head bolt to ARP for their analysis as regards stretch and dimensions. We want to consider using studs rather than bolts for the head. ARP offers a stud set for the M30, but No Such Animal for the S38. ARP's tech people are telling us they can make up a set of studs if they know dimensions, torque, etc. but it would be a one-off toolroom job. 14 bolts. On the order of 2 grand. Most of the cost is in the engineering analysis, but still . . . :shock:
Main cap bolts they have and are being sent.
Nothing new on the head gasket situation. The stock gasket's fire rings protrude into the cylinder .020" to .030", so finding another gasket with proper bore sizing is the issue. The gasket for the S38B38 is sized for a 95 mm bore. If we want to get something with a cutting ring, SCE makes such an animal, but will need an S38B38 gasket for a pattern. Gasket Works can cut a solid copper gasket; same need for a pattern. Costs from both sources are comparable to getting a gasket from BMW, but we need something definite about delivery times. Both shops are being vague on the latter point.

I cut the chapter off here as it was getting way too long and I am getting tired of typing. Stay tuned . . the latter is a suggestion for you guys messing with MS systems. :laugh: :laugh:

Posted: Dec 21, 2006 12:38 PM
by a
A guy on the FSJ site I hang at is drumming up people to subscribe to to a run of stroked crankshafts to build a stroker AMC 360 to ~400 cid using the crank and off the shelf SBC innards. Interesting read, but the specs for the various permutations made my head hurt. Your write up is much more enjoyable to read. One thing I find fascinating is that both threads mention using Honda bearing shells. And you sourcing rings from a 326 poncho :banana: