My Engine Is Out And In The Process Of Being Tweaked

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright...I finally got all of my parts and it is officially in the machine shop as of yesterday. I took it to Mike Renike at Valley Auto Parts. I have heard really good things about him from good friends...prices are decent.....and he will have it back to me within two weeks! (quickest one I talked to) I think I am just going to have him short block it for me. For the $250 for him to do it...it is worth it for me not to have to mess with it.

 

[PayCheck]

I think I am just going to have him short block it for me. For the $250 for him to do it...it is worth it for me not to have to mess with it.

Smart move - get the guys who do it for a living to put the bottom end together. That's the way I did it, except went with Eagle 11111 rotating assemblies for my twins

I also went with the Crane 139021, Weiand Team G and Dominators - hope to get ~625 and a good top end.

Good luck, and post some pics when the pistons are in, so we can see the tops!

 

[Gimme Fuel]

I will do that.....IF all goes as planned it should be a work of art when it is done. I will be lucky to get 600 hp.....that is about the max of my current intake and fuel injection system. If I went to the Holley Commander stand-alone fuel injection system and intake, I could be around 700-750 HP....but not enough funds for that just yet. I am also building the motor to handle a supercharger. That would really perk up things in the future without changing intake manifolds.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright......motor is ready pick up from the machine shop as a completed shortblock with heads. Everthing went to internal balance as well. This project is oficially waaayy over budget...but what project of this caliber doesn't...haha. I need to scrape up some extra cash to finish this puppy if I am going to have it on the water for the KCQ fest on the 20th (not looking good even if I had the cash...but all I can do is try). I hope to get it squirted with Merc Racing blue paint this weekend then throw the cam, rockers, intake and valve covers on next week and start bolting up the boxes of other crap that need to go back on....oh yea, and send out the computer to be re-calibrated.

I hope to get my motor mounts put back in in the next day or two. I laid all of the fiberglass last weekend and I just need to do some finish work and bolt the mounts back on.

I am keeping my fingers crossed....wish me luck. By the way, I am trying to do this all while in the midst of re-painting a house and moving, buying a used truck to to replace my ending lease truck, and returining the lease truck back to stock.....I have my days cut out for me that is for sure. Pictures to come soon.

 

[81 enchanter]

sounds like my life....always rushing around. good luck!!

 

[Mr. Buss]

dont sweat it, your gonna be ready before me anyway.. i was lookin to have the senator done for the 4th, but it aint lookin good right now.

if you need a hand lem'me know.

 

[hotdaddy27]

Good luck man!

Don't get overwhelmed.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

I always remember the famous WILDMAN quote "Ya can't cut corners when ya wanna be COOL!!" I think that that should be a commandment somewhere....the "Ten Checkmate Commandments" maybe? Someone should start a list...haha!

Buss...don't sweat the Senator either......it will all come together. After bundles of money and aggrevation.....it will all come together, grasshopper.

On a different note, I think I just scored a sweet pioneer double din touchscreen cd/dvd player to put in the boat though. That will be sweet.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright....things are finally starting to come together and I have PICS!!! The block and accessories are prepped and going to be painted tonight. The block is assembled with the exception of I need longer pushrods.....damn Dart heads.

Here are the pics









Stay tuned...more to come!

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright......the paint was squirted on last night buy my buddy who is a custom painter. It turned out great. It looks a little dark in the light (could be because it was sprayed over black too) but I will really get to see what it looks like in the sun today (if it comes out that is). I used the formula for Imron paint I got off of OSO and had them convert it to Diamont paint. It looks great especially with the 3 coats of clear. Here are some early pics!.

My camera was acting funny, I had to add my finger to get the right lighting.

 

[81 enchanter]

looking good, by the time its togother it might finally be summer here!! haha

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Well, I have good news, I can oick the block back up from the machine shop tomorrow and finish assembly. He had to hone my balancer to fit the crank and measure for pushrods. Come to find out I had a defective roller rocker in my set so I had to order a new one of those too.....just my luck, a rocker with no hole for a stud. Go figure. Still planning on a friday night or saturday morning install.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright.....at 3:30 am on Saturday, I was almost ready to fire up this franken-motor when I discovered my distributor gear was wrong....bummer....yet another delay and no boating for the 4th. Come to find out, mercuiser used a distributor originally designed for a v6 in these motors so it is an odd shaft size. After some investigating with Bob at Marine Kinetics, I will have a temporary bronze gear here Wednesday to use until he finished getting set up to manufacture his own hardened steel gears for these cams.

Anyways, this is how she turned out in the boat.

 

[fireguy]

Incredible, I am really looking forward to checking up on your progress as I would like to do a similar project on my '96 502 powered 253 Convincor.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Alright...its in....it runs.....and it needs to come back apart. For some reason my intake must not have sealed up and I now have a crankcase full of milky oil. Of course I noticed this when it started to come out of the dip stick. Looks like I get to pull the intake back off tonight....yeah.

 

[happy]

That sucks....for some help getting that crap out.. I get my distributor tool and diesel fuel spin the oil pump and mix the diesel in helps clean all that crap out of there. Btw, did you have to shave your intake with those heads? You have a shot of the back end of the engine with the intake on?

 

[Old Navy]

If that is a Gen V block, with Dart heads, make sure you have the right head gaskets. I don't remember the Fel-pro part number but Tyler Crockett sold me some for my boat and there were no problems like you are having. Also the Gen V head bolts need sealer on the ones that go into the water jacket.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

Old Navy.....that is a Gen VI block. I think the problem arrises when you use a stock Mercruiser intake with different heads. I used the thread sealant on the head bolts and I know the head gaskets are not the issue. I can see where the leak is occuring as soon as I remove the intake. During this agravating project, I have heard of two other people that have had this problem when re-using the stock intake. The angles are slightly different. Both had the intake milled and cured the problem. My intake had to be milled because Arizona Speed and Marine exchanged my intake for one they had already modified......which was a re-welded saltwater intake and they didn't mill it....they just used a grinder on it. Those surfaces were waaay off and I had to have 28 thousandths taken off of each side just to make the thing flat again. If there is a possible way to get screwed...I tend to find it. So after making the intake flat again thinking that was the problem, it slowed the leak but did not stop it. I now get to take my intake off for the third time and have it machined again, flush the motor with deisel, chande oil and filter, and re-assemble.

On a side note, If anyone needs help with one of these fuelie engines, I am getting really good at taking them apart and putting them together and where every wire, bracket, and hose goes....haha

 

[Vandalizer]

Keep up the good work... you'll be floggin the river in no time!