finally got the last of my motor parts back from the machine shop.

heads are now totally rebuilt and ready for action.
new SS valves, new seats, new guides, new HD springs, new retainers and keepers.
new flycut. no more cracks....only had one small one after 160K miles

hard to believe that these heads had 160K miles on them, to look at them now...all nice and shiney...

here you go with some pics.

rebuild of the 2056 will get serious this weekend.

a few pics of my other engine stuff

new KB 96mm flat top pistions, rods balaned and checked, new small end bushings.
Original Mahle cylinders bored and honed to 96mm

and the last pic is what the heads looked like about 2 months ago when I pulled them off the motor.

Look good
BUT please don't use those stock retainers and springs.

I also don't see evidence that the keepers were ground as they seem to be touching each other at both ends of the half moon..

Thats all minor stuff, but it can make a huge difference when going to any camshaft thats not 100% stock.

Be cautius (sp) ... Keith Black pistons arent all their cracked up to be .... they tend to break the top of the piston off ... trust me .. I have more two cylinder air cooled experience then most of you combined ...

doper,
I have used HUNDREDS of sets of the KB pistons and currently have 130K on the set in my TIV daily driver.

I have pushed the KB pistons betond the realm they should ever be effective in and have NEVER had an RPM related failure. In fact we have only seen two piston failures with the KBs, both times the skirt clearance was incorrect and thats what started the inital issue. I make 200+ reliale HP with these pistons all the time and would RATHER USE THEM instead of a JE for 90% of my race engines!

You are a newbie, your title says so... Newbies don't come in sputing off their experience most of the time.


Ummn, a Type 4 isn't a two cylinder- guess what, other experience doesn't pertain to this engine... The guys that think it does cost themselves the most money through stupid mistakes.

But you did choose the correct user name :-)

Now about that dual exhaust...........

C

I have to agree with Jake, junk the stock retainers, keepers etc...if class rules allow it go with HD valve springs or atleast new ones!

Hell, if you don't want to lose your investment you better change those retainers even if the rules DON'T allow it!

Don't you mean duel expansion chambers?

KBs have to be set up differently than other piston setups because of the Hypereutectic aspect. The rings get more heat and expand more so you need increased ring gap. Visit the KB site for a ton more info. If someone lost piston tops, my first thought is 'incorrect setup'.

" .. I have more two cylinder air cooled experience then most of you combined ..."

Oh? How about 47 years, 34 of them professionally ............................ ? And that's just me. The Cap'n

here are a couple of shots of the crank with rods intalled and crank/rods sitting in case half.
Need to take the original cam to the machine shop to have the cam gear removed and indexed for the new cam....I did not notice when disassembling the motor that the cam was rivited to the cam gear, not bolted like the aftermarket Webb cam...
Oh well, at least we are making progress.

and

Ya got me beat! I have only been doing this Aircooled crap for 40 years....


Dan, looks good. Did you have the rods modified with the oil groove?

I can say this....My company sponsored John Force for several years and, as such, I was in his pits for lots of rebuilds. There were weekends that the KB motors were piled up, with cracked blocks, but never saw a piston/cylinder failure (probably were some, just could be there all the time). Oh, I forgot to metion - these were running on nitro methane! Not sure, but it COULD make a little difference. My eyes are still runny & I can't hear squat, but what an experience! What!? What!?

I see what you mean , doper. You are referring to running on only two cylinders vs. four due to failures. This was meant instead of number of actual years and not some other aircooled engine. I am correct in my assumption, no??

Do not let the blow hards get you down. Nobody has the 'right' on here to tell you off and tell you to shut up because you are a nooby. This place is supposed to be informative and a good place to make jokes, assumptions, friends,etc etc. But not everyone does that here. The best thing is to just shrug it off and not worry about it at all. You will find that certain individuals would rather start a pissing match than have fun and kid around and such. But, I see you have already 'seen' this.

Newbie you may be, but by all means, share your experiences with the rest of us who are interested. I find, personally, that there is always something to learn from another -good, the bad, and the ugly...

7000+ other members may want to know -

Looking good Dan. Who did your machining?? If I may ask?? Think you will have it running soon??

Hey Pat, Did JF use KB cast pistons in the top fueler??

Just trying to see the connection , if one, of KB's for a 914 vs. top fuel.....

I know of a couple of builders who have moved away from KB's - All I get from them is 'weird' failures. Whatever that means, they tend to keep secrets to themselves rather than share...

BTW - doper is a cool name --

Those that set a KB piston up like a conventional forged piston will have different failures, generally these are the closed minded "Been doing this for 30 years" crowd.

I'll take a set of KB over a set of JEs any day. drive 23K miles on one oil change and see how little oil the KBs consume over that peiod and you'll be hooked as well.. At 100K my engine only had 5% leak down across the board- thats what a KB can do when PROPERLY set up.

FYI- The engine in my 912E was the FIRST engine we ever set up with KBs, that was 130+K ago. It's hard to argue with direct results and data acquired from field testing.

Yup... regardless, we be newbie friendly here.

OK, if that is all settled....back to some motor stuff.

a little more headway being made

some pics of a little more assembly and unfortunately some very dull old sheet metal

and

and

and last

Me likes the tuna can and Vans footwear perhaps?

everyone likes my shoes...

Now that you have the fan housing on, don't foget the front seal before installing the fan.

I still have to get the front and rear seals....so I haven't forgotten.

Orange ya glad you painted that corrosion prone fan housing?

I would have painted the case Phoenix Red if it would stick

Actually the shroud was supposed to be hammered silver but there was a miscommunication with the painter and he went wild with the orange. Now that I am getting it assembled I kind of like it....it is certainly different than everyone else's.

It really doesn't matter since it is what is inside the motor that counts.

next installment...

new matched to 9550 cam lifters, pushrod tubes (with new viton seals), and stub pipes (with new copper gaskets) all installed....
Also installed brand new in the bag....CHT sensor.

the push rod tubes were put into place using a small strap wrench. Twist and push into place with out marring up those anodized new tubes

now we are ready for the valve train...possibly tomorrow afternoon

Youre going to have to bring a mirror to AX events to show off all that pretty orange paint and the gold pushrod tubes.

and then I can jack it up and remove one of the rear wheels

Looks great!

Dan - it's looking great! Let me know when you are going to fire it up.

T

Thanks Chris and Trevor.

Should be wrapping up the build in the next week or so.

Then into the chassis which has had the engine compartment stripped, any bad metal patched and repaired and painted to match.

another update.

intake plenum on along with the majority of the engine tin.

still need some more new parts,
Oil pressure sender, injector "O" rings, new plug wires, new Bosch Blue coil, intake boots, throttle body gasket, and a few other assorted goodies.

a little bit more head way...

injectors installed with new "O" rings and repainted retainers, intake runners on with new boots, throttle body, cold start valve, blue coil and air cleaner for effect.

you may need sun glasses

and

and

last for today

The Flyin' Pumpkin!!!

That's looking great Dan. Makes me wish I had taken more time with mine. sure is a lotta oraaaaange. The "Flyin' Pumpkin"...I like it

-- you're not gonna DRIVE that thing, are you?! It's TOO pretty !

: : D & R : :


-mike
(p.s. but seriously, your work looks really great, I'm envious. Please keep us posted.)

I love painted engines...

fuel line done except line that goes to chassis, vac and vent hoses complete expcept decel valve and MPS since they mount to chassis.
Rear main seal installed, flywheel torqued, Front main (pulley) seal installed, fan torqued, alternator installed and belt tensioned, dizzy installed and static timing set, plugs and plug wires installed....
just need to get it mated to tranny, along with clutch and PP and we will be ready to stab it in.

few more progress pics

a few detail shots.

you will notice the polished stainless patch panels I made from thin guage stainless....attached with aluminum rivets, don't need any needed cooling air leaking thru the old heater openings

and some close up shots of some of the other details

Dan, I see you left out the air control flaps. Did you install the flap so it directs air into the oil cooler? If you did show us a pic.

Geoff,
yes a I deleted the flap mechanism and the thermostat....
I did reinstall the flap on the passenger side and then riveted it into place to always direct air over the stock oil cooler....
Of course the driver side now directs air over the cylinders at all times now...so if we have some real cold weather in the late winter, early spring the car will be a bit cold blooded but I can deal with that....
I wanted to eliminate another possible breakage issue...and my motor building mentor suggested that modification for any stockish type4 914 track car motor.
I did not take a specific photo of the flap in place before I placed the engine tin...but the stock flap is connecting to the fan shroud in the stock location and then riveted in the down position to always direct air to the cooler.

motor is in and cranks over

couldn't get the fuel pump to run....hummmmph

so we recheck everything we had done, all the relays, fuses etc....no power to pump....

found two cut wires.....body shop had cut the wires to the fuel pump

reconnect the wires that the body shop cut and presto.....the fuel pump runs...

ran out of time today so tomorrow we fire it up....hopefully...

everything else is done, just a few minor items and ?

put on your sun glasses for these pics