The French block is now back from the machine shop... Soon we will be covering the build of one bad ass flathead...
Not a flathead guy but factory relief ( am I remembering right term? ) between values and piston looks a little tight by values and sharp point left. What shape on head to match that relief? I would be tempted to grin off that corner point. What compression ratio? Maybe I on left field - just wondering.
So... Keith has started to build Brian's motor. Watching him do so is kind of like watching Michael Jordan play basketball or Tom Brady throw a football... He's in his element and makes everything seem so easy... so smooth. Keith has a lot of talent in a lot of different disciplines, but at the end of the day and in my opinion, he's the best in the world at building a flat motor. Starts with the dirty work... Porting the block: And once that's done, everything in the shop is cleaned... and then the parts are laid out: And then assembly of the bottom end begins... First a quick tech tip. When you take the main bearing out of the wrapper, it has a really sharp edge to it. Keith lightly takes that edge off with a hand file so that it doesn't dig into the crank and introduce metal to the bearing: Anyway, crank is first to drop: Then, main caps.
All of my digital stuff is taken with a Sony A7R and a host of vintage Leica glass... The studio lighting in the Rex Rods shop helps too, obviously....
Ok... more on the engine build. This is going down in real time, hence the small brakes between content. Anyway, after the crank was in Keith stabbed the 400 jr. cam: Then, it was time for the pistons... The pistons Keith is using are Ross and they are both light and gorgeous as all hell: As I type, Keith is plugging in the second piston... I was planning on doing this build step by step with a description of each step. However, I soon realized that it would take me forever to set up each shot and write each description. Of course, I love doing shit like that... But it would also slow Keith down big time. That said, next time Keith does a build like this we are thinking about setting aside a full week for it so that we can really document each step of the process... then, make a book or something...
Man, this is really amazing - love seeing the step by step shots, and the light out there is so great for all these detail images. That flathead looks incredible - Keith most definitely captured in his element!
Never understand why builders put cam in after crank. I find much easier to gently feed cam through cam bearings when no crank in the way. Then crank goes in second.
Ryan , maybe you show us how Keith enters the piston with rings In the releived ( or is it spelled reveiled?) block ? I causes trouble with the stepped deck . Thank you
I honestly don't see how the crank could get in the way... Keith tends to make shit look easy, but the cam slid right in... took seconds. Not sure I follow you. The pistons went in conventionally.
OK... Pistons are in. Time for the valve train. Note the little relieves that Keith made in the lifter bores below. This makes adjusting the lifters much easier. The more I cover this, the more I realize that Keith and I need to take a week and really cover a build from the ground up with a step-by-step. Next time Tardel has time in the schedule and a flathead to build, we will do just that.
Hi Ryan , The piston ring compressor doesnt lay flat on the engine block deck, There is a litte gap where the relieve is. The piston ring may slip out there while you install the unit. Might not be a problem with 1/16 relieve and "normal" rings, But with metric rings and a 0.187 inch relieve. So i was wondering if Keith modified the ring compressor. Michael
Gotcha... So this block doesn't have a real deep relief to it. Keith likes compression better than flow... cuz well, the flow on a flathead is fucked anyway. Essentially, he just made sure the ring gap wasn't lined up with the relief and then gave the piston a solid tap to get past the relief. They went in like butter. That said, on blocks with a really aggressive relief he makes a ring compressor to fill the relief space to make it easier.
It just looks great how Keith gets the flatty together. Nice little hint about relieves that Keith made in the lifter bores. He probably learnt that from a very experienced guy who did lots of motors BTW this is exactly the way Bishop/Tardel describe it in their new book.
Have to admit; I have the cheap engine stand that only bolts on bellhousing so cam goes in horizontal - he able to do it vertically with gravity holding it straight. Even with long bolt in end of cam, easier with no crank in the way.
While waiting on parts for the motor, Keith decided to tackle the firewall. It's in rough shape... Through the years, a number of wholes have been drilled, roughly filled, bondo'ed, etc... You can kind of see that in this pic I posted earlier: Anyway, it would have been nice to cut it out and do a new firewall for sure... but the budget and timing didn't work out for that kind of thing. Instead, we created some templates and called FPM metals to have them cut some engine turned panels for us. They turned out killer. Note: protective plastic is still on the panels obviously... As I type, Keith is currently out in the shop creating a piece to hide the 90's where the top and bottom of the firewall come together... Updates on that soon. Ohhh... And Keith found a killer little gas filler to replace the Cobra'eske unit the car used to feature. Check it out:
Progress on that little strip to hide the 90s... And a sneak peak of just how gorgeous this flathead is gonna be...
The reliefs at the tops of the tappet bores are necessary whenever a cam is installed with an 'aggressive' grind. The heels of the lobes are ground down a 'goodly amount', which places the adjustment bolt on the tappet considerably lower in the bore. I recall my panic the first 'wild' Weber F-1 cam I installed in my roadster, 1956. I ground and heated and shaped a 7/16" Proto open end, and it still didn't fit worth a shit. I knew better on my next 5 or 6 'L' blocks that the 5/32" hole you drill in the side of the tappet bore isn't the final op! That Navarro equipment is drop dead gorgeous.
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