Engine upgrade - part #4 - block assembly

The block is back from the workshop, clean as a silver plate, and finally I could start to assemble the engine. Torques are taken from the Ford Duratec assembly manual unless other sources are mentioned.

ARP studs and main bearings

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• Main bearings, greased with assembly lube
• Crankshaft
• ARP main bolts (60 lb/ft in = 89 Nm in three equal steps with ARP lube. Source: ARP)
• Rear oil seal (9.8 Nm)

Cover plate

• Crank oil breather cover plate (9.8 Nm with Loctite 5910 sealant)

Measuring ring gap. The cylinders are honed by the shop.

• Checking piston ring gap using feeler gauges. Upper compression rings needed some adjustment - I gapped them so the 0.40mm feeler just could get between with some resistance. (upper 0.25-0.51mm, lower 0.50-0.63mm. Source: Cosworth)

Carrillo recommends the following method for tighten con-rod bolts: "In order to check bolt stretch, simply fixture one rod, leaving the cap portion free from clamping load. Measure both bolt lengths loose, then progressively tighten the bolt until the measured increase in length correlates with the figures below. Use the indicated torque reading to tighten all the connecting rods in final assembly." Specified stretch is 0.130-0.160mm, max 54 Nm. Source: Carrillo.

Very simple home made bolt stretch gauge

Well, even if my stretch gauge was a bit primitive I was pretty sure I didn't reach the min-stretch value using 54 Nm of torque, even if I tighted them serveral times. After consulting Carrillo I got the response "The 40 ft lbs (=54 Nm) is the number we use to make sure that people who do not check stretch do not over torque the fasteners. If you have to go above the 40 ft lbs this is ok to do to reach the proper stretch."

I used the anti-seize lube supplied with the rods.

Pistons in place, from below

Pistons in place, from above

Then some trouble...

When I was about to mount the dry sump, it got apparent that something was wrong. The new ARP studs where a bit too long, and interfering with the bolts fasting the sump's windage plates.

The sump with windage plate and its black bolts. 

ARP stud against bolt

OEM bolt compared to ARP 

Cosworth say they use OEM bolt on their 280 crate engines, but in their catalogue they have the option to upgrade to ARP bolts. When looking at pictures on the dry sump, they looks a bit different than mine so I maybe I have an early version of the sump?

Some people I asked said the OEM main bolts could be reused. Other said never, ever, reuse TTY bolts. One or two of my old OEM bolts looked a bit stretched, and was a few tenths of mm longer than the others so I didn't dare reusing it.

I consulted ARP technical support who said that it was ok to remove some material from the studs if they're too long. They also said never to mix different materials, the washer included.

So it took the studs out from the engine again, and cut about 3 mm with a angle grinder. Much easier than I thought it would be, they cut right off. Unfortunately that was not enough as I also had to grind the windage plate bolts in the sump making their profile a bit lower. (and harder to remove in the future).

And finally I could mount the dry sump. I used Loctite 5910 sealant.

• Oil pump chain + spockets + tensioner. New uprated friction washers on the main shaft sprocket.
• Water pump + thermostat
• Oil cooler and filter holder

Next part: Engine upgrade part #5 - Head


All parts:
Engine upgrade part #1 - intro
Engine upgrade part #2 - disassemble
Engine upgrade part #3 - parts
Engine upgrade part #4 - block assembly
Engine upgrade part #5 - head
Engine upgrade part #6 - putting it together
Engine upgrade part #7 - electrical and fuel
Engine upgrade part #8 - first start
Engine upgrade part #9 - final results

Engine upgrade - part #3 - parts

Now the larger parts of the engine are nicely packed into plastic bags for travel to the local engine workshop for a head port and cleaning.

Unfortunately I have been set on hold here because they're currently closed for Christmas holidays. Meanwhile more planning, more ordered parts and doing more research. I also took the opportunity to clean some hard to reach parts in the engine bay, as well as doing other normal winter maintenance stuff.

Rod bolt cap

So far there have been surprisingly little documentation on the Cosworth parts I've received. It feels like it have been necessary to drag out the information I needed. My questions might have been of the newbie kind, but I can't believe that Cosworth can't tell me what torque or stretch to use for the con rod bolts, or point me in the right direction of where to find that information. But after reading on the bolt caps it didn't take long to figure out where the rods came from :-) - Carrillo - who had very good documentation on their website. But why couldn't Cosworth tell me that?

Quite the opposite has Steve at SBD Motorsport been. I don't know if I even asked a question, he provided me with all information I needed right away, and then even more details I didn't know I needed. On their website they have lots of instruction sheets and drawings. I like!

Roller barrel porn

Burton Power have also been fast to reply on emails and have good reading in their catalogue and on their website. Their prices are good too!

Parts list
I've received some of the parts, some are still pending delivery.

Pocketed pistons. Big pockets on the inlet side.

Cosworth parts

• Forged piston set 13:1
• Forged con rod set 2.3 
• HD Con rod bearing set
• HD Valve spring set
• Camshaft 250/280hk (Inlet: lift 12.5mm duration@0.050" 258, Exhaust: lift 11.3mm duration 244)
• Fuel rail & injectors (310g min/431cc)
• Barrel throttle bodies (45mm bore)
• Barrel throttle filter kit (100mm trumpets)
• Cam friction washer

Ford std parts

Unpackaging parts from Burton

• Head gasket
• Exhaust gasket
• Front pulley bolt
• Crank sprocket friction washer
• Cam bolts
• Flywheel bolts
• Valve seals
• Cam follower buckets, various sizes

ARP bolts

• Mains stud kit
• Head stud kit

Electrical (from SBD Motorsport)

• MBE 9A4 ECU
• Duratec loom
• Bosh water temp sensor
• Air temp extension loom
• CAN mapping kit
• Misc connectors + wire

Misc

• Weber alpha adjustable fuel regulator
• Loctite 5910 sealant
• NGK spark plugs
• Oil filter
• Engine assembly lube
• Oil catch tank (still unordered, ebay?)
• PCV valve cover plate (found on ebay)

Tools

• Timing disc
• Dial gauge + stand
• Engine stand
• Micrometer
• Digital torque wrench
• Thread taps

Next part: Engine upgrade part #4 - block assembly


All parts:
Engine upgrade part #1 - intro
Engine upgrade part #2 - disassemble
Engine upgrade part #3 - parts
Engine upgrade part #4 - block assembly
Engine upgrade part #5 - head
Engine upgrade part #6 - putting it together
Engine upgrade part #7 - electrical and fuel
Engine upgrade part #8 - first start
Engine upgrade part #9 - final results