• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Ain't outta the woods yet...got her cranked

Share this page

G

Guest

Guest
Guest
Offline
Well, I finally got my engine cranked after a big-time upgrade in head work and cam to complement the complete package. I ran it for 20 minutes at speed and shut her down. I have to say that all did not go that well. At 2000 rpm she sounded ok, but idle was a bit rough. I have the GP2 cam and I assume that because of this there will be something of a lope at idle, am I correct in this assumption? The plugs looked good. (Had a coolant leak behind the new aluminum water pump housing. Switched to a thinner gasket and more torque on the three housing bolts. Seems to have slowed or stopped.) Retorqued the head and in the process of resetting the lash on my roller rockers. I did all this by my lonesome. My guru-helper was out of town. Doing the initial startup alone is not easy. Definately running hotter (temperature) than stock. Fan cycled well. Gotta go back to the drawing board to figure things out before I continue on. My big issue is: was the crank dialed in correctly? Where is Kas Kastner when you need him. (No, he is not my guru-helper, I wish!) Hope to give a full and sucessful update when the bugs are worked out. Wish me luck.....

Bill
 
Hey Bill,

Lots to de-bug as run time increases. The rough idle & hotter running temps might be linked to an ignition timing setting. Since you said the idle was rough it could be to retarded. Overly advanced will cause hotter running but the idle should have been better. I would start off with 6-8 deg of initial timing & a total of 31-34 deg.
I think you said you brought the comp up into the 9's, in which case the new radiator should handle that easily. If it persists check for air bubles. Some have drilled a whole & installed a tiny bleed valve in the crown of the thermastat housing.
From your description & attention to detail I'm sure this motor will run great. One of the hardest parts is just getting it to run, your past that now.
 
Bill,
When you get the bugs worked out you owe it to the rest of us to make a cross country tour so we can all see and hear your hot rod.
 
Back
Top