Lilly Engine Latest / couple of questions

[Patrick67BJ8]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

I replace all my lose fitting ball type carb linkage connections with rod ends from Toms Imports. No more slop in my accerator pedal.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Teflon bushings.

the car came with a can and a half of moss paint. I know... rattle cans. But they were there. I did metal prep everything. Bead blasted all I dare. And the painting was done at the least 2 months ago so it has had plenty of time to cure. The paint is the one thing I would change if I were to do over. Rattle cans are just not as good and I have the guns to paint. Looking back it was silly, but once I committed, I stuck with it.

Look back and search threads on this. There is a company that sells qts of good quality paint. Not that moss isn’t.. for a rattle can. I believe the paint is only 60 bucks for a qt. The rattle cans are nice for touch ups though.

You'd have to check with Jim, aka healey blue, to see how it's holding up, but I have had much better results with the Moss aerosols than I did with Bill Hirsch's "correct" engine enamel.

The BH enamel I sprayed__with my Devilbis siphon gun (it was a long time ago)__started to flake off not long after the first few heat cycles. I was already adept at paint prep, though no one is infallible, but I don't think that's where the fault lies. I sprayed a few light coats, allowing standard flash times, but again, not an overabundance of build up.

One of the precautions I took with the engine that Jim installed, was that I used a high-temp__aerosol__primer before applying the Moss paint. I also did the final painting in stages, to allow for more complete coverage (like behind the damper, etc.) and it blended as well as any finish body painting I've ever seen.

One of the things about the appearance of this completed engine that I am particularly proud of__perhaps even overly so__is that the car received an award for Best Restored Engine at its first public showing (a World of Wheels event, so not a sportscar, let alone British focused crowd).

Overall, I have a pretty good impression from of the Moss aerosol, so I'd definitely use it again, and I'm notoriously hard to please :angel:

Again, Jim would be the one to ask about long-term durability...

 

[Deleted member 21878]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Randy
i hope you are correct. i too used a high temp primer so hoping for the best. i also hoped that by painting early it would have plenty of time to harden before i started heating it up. we shall see how it goes. but here's hoping it comes out as good as yours.

Today i wanted to test fit all the alternator parts and then get the engine off the engine stand.

i can see where maybe the kit from Moss might be a little more stable than this kit. it seems the alternator wants to twist with any extra pulling in either direction. i think most people run their fan belt too tight so this may help insure i do not do that. it all lines up well and the belt fit just fine. NAPA XL7435. i did cut a notch in the old coil bracket so it would fit around the alternator plug. then i added 2" in length to it. Looks like it will work fine to hold the coil in the original position.

had some extra time so i thought i would get my plug wires installed in my cap. Got the wires made up from Tom's Import. Good thing i tried this now. i found that i had put the top part of the Diz in backwards and the rotor was 180* off at TDC. good i found that out now.... took it apart and flipped it and now it lines up. Should be good to go.

i was going to put the flywheel on and the clutch so i could get the tran and engine mated up and ready to go in the car. but since i ordered a rear main seal kit, i just put it up on this box so it is easy to work on.

While i am thinking about it.... what color should the fan be? is there a Rustoleum color? i tried to clean it but it just is not coming out. So i want to blast it and then repaint.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

one other question:
i thought i read somewhere that the gap between the two parts of the motor mount should be like 1/22 or something like that. As it sits right now, see pic, it is about 3/16. now i know the oil pan is closer than the rear motor mounts will be once it is in the car, but wondered if should get some shims now and build it down? or wait and let it settle some?

one other thing i did while i had the engine apart. i marked my pulley to each side of TDC. what i estimate is about 10* per mark. i then took a triangle file and cut a groove at each spot. Just a referance when i go to set the timing. the mark on the damper i put just to make sure i put it back in the same position it came off. figured it could hurt.

 

[gonzo]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

DD, I've used "Caterpillar Yellow" and "School Bus Yellow" to spray the fan (Original and Texas) - they're both bright colors. The color on your's is very close. The fan currently installed on mine is the same as your's but I chose to leave it "natural". I liked the polished vanes on the thing and it matches my DWR aluminum generator/alternator pulley/fan combo, also natural.

Consider checking your fan for interference; RPMs of >1500 flattens the vanes and they tend to push outwards by about 1/4 inch. GONZO

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

FWIW, my engine builder was quite impressed with the Moss Healey engine paint. He said he wished he had something as good for all the SBCs he does. Definitely primer first; makes a difference in final color.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

gonzo
thanks for the fan tip. why do you use this fan instead of the Texas cooler fan? it seems no matter which fan i have looked at using, someone has had an issue with it breaking of blades coming off, or something.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Drone Dog--

The fan pictured in your post looks like the type sold by British Car Services (Nock) which is what I have had on my car for about 10 years.

I previously used a Texas Cooler type but found that after a few years of service the fan had taken a set so that the tips of the blades had moved forward of the plane of the hub. In other words, when the fan was placed horizontally on a flat surface with the front side of the fan facing down the blade tips would contact the surface and the center hub was about 1/2" clear of it. I am not an engineer but common sense told me that this change from the original shape was due to the fan's biting the air and that it probably diminished the fan's efficiency.

When I changed over to the Nock fan it gave better cooling and it has not distorted, though it required a bit of grinding to fit over the large hub of the 100's water pump pulley.

 

[blue62]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Thanks for all the tips on the engine paint.
I was just a little concerned about the Moss rattle cans
as they are $20.00 a pop before shipping. Rather expensive for a rattle can of paint.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

I believe the usual specification is: the thickness of a business card. However, since business cards can be printed on whatever stock one selects I suppose the proper DETAILED specification is: the thickness of a regular business card.

Hope that helps....

one other question:
i thought i read somewhere that the gap between the two parts of the motor mount should be like 1/22 or something like that. As it sits right now, see pic, it is about 3/16. now i know the oil pan is closer than the rear motor mounts will be once it is in the car, but wondered if should get some shims now and build it down? or wait and let it settle some?


View attachment 52105

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

The new motor mounts--at least the ones I've bought recently--are pee-poor repops. Set up without shims--which I was not able to locate from the usual suspects--the gap is too large as you describe and, as the engine settles on the lower part of the mount the rubber is placed under shear forces, which can lead to the rubber separating from the backing plate. I closed the gap using a stack of large fender washers; since I didn't know how much settling would occur until the engine was in place--and I wasn't willing to pull/replace the drivetrain just to install these improvised shims--I cut slots in the washers so they would slide past the stud that holds the top part of the mount.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

i have some shims i bought from HF. you can get a case of them for 10 bucks i think and they have a number of thicknesses. they are about the size of a fender washer with a slot cut in them. i do think i will wait until the motor is in. the mounts are original so i have to assume it is just that the full weight they will bear is not on them yet.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

i have some shims i bought from HF...

These?

https://www.harborfreight.com/144-piece-body-shim-assortment-67585.html

 

[Deleted member 21878]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Yup those are the ones.

 

[elrey]

Re: Lilly Engine up-date / couple of questions

Been working on a box of those for some time now, many more uses than just shimming body panels.