Its been a long winter, but finally completed this engine. Took some pictures but most were blurry(Carribean beach sand in zoom lense). We got hit with another storm this weekend, but i managed to get this baby back in last night.

2...........

3.........

1911.... is that 96 mm pistons on a 1.8? it looks like you have a 1.7 engine mount bar....

but very nice!

1.7L case 96mm pistons and cylinders ,2.0L heads w/big valves .

Thank you.....

Your tin look real nice.

so you are running a tail shift?
Tells us about the cam... compression ratio and any balancing.
Please let us know your impressions of the motor when it is in the car.

Thanks Joe... i pulled the motor for a blown head gasket(cylinder gasket). I have had the car for 4 years ,thought it was stock 1.7L till i tore it down.. Surprise ...Big Bore 96mm..

Ok, so what did you put back into it for parts? just top end?
Did you measure the cam for lift? or do you know what it is.

Just the top end yes, found receipts from PO for engine rebuild in 1999. Cam was listed as stock part # with a +2 on the sheet. I did new o-rings and gaskets, replaced the heads. Complete clean and painted all engine tin. Rebuilt the Webers and starter. It's in now as of last night. Will replace exhaust and distributor later on. I want to install a Mallory distributor.

rethinking my earlier question/observation, it doesn't matter is the base motor is 1.7 or 1.8 as they have the same stroke...... 66mm.... i was wondering how you got 1911 on a 1.7 (basically just answered my own question)

maybe the +2 on the cam sheet is the cam gear spec?

the 1.7 heads have little cylinder holes

so size does matter?

Only because 1.7 heads will only fit 1.7 cylinders. Not a performance issue, just a physical inoperability issue. 1.7 heads can be flycut to work with the larger cylinders.

Nice work! How was the fan housing finished? Paint? Media blast?

Oh yeah, now give Andy his camera back!

The original heads were 1.7L that had been cut for 96mm cylinders(104mm opening). I took the heads to a machine shop for new valves ,guides and to fix a helicoil that had pulled out. The machine shop had a set of 2.0L heads all done,guy had never returned to pick them up,i measured all openings and determined they would work just fine.I only had to pay the bill for the original machining cost(stole them basically).
The blower housing was cleaned , wired brushed by hand and sprayed with hi-temp aluminum paint. Engine tin was cleaned , sanded Por-15ed,wet sanded and finished with low-gloss hi-temp engine enamel.

.....

I have a 1911, but my kit came with 1.8 heads!

Check this out - I have the clone motor. This was done from the ground up with a new cam and 96mm P&C's. Not entirely clear on the wiring and the dizzy advance - would like to eventually go to the Mallory but not in the budget currently. Also trying to fix up my throttle cable. If you have any clearer pics would love to see them. Also let me know how the firing up goes - looks like you are one step ahead of me! Good luck!

you still have your 1.7 air cleaner support on the engine. what are your plans for that? remove or some other function?

I just set it on trying to figure out a set-up for my carb throttle. Anybody have one?

Your crossbar looks like it pulls from the back of the engine. I use a bracket that mounts to the blower housing and the cable pulls towards the front. I will take a pic when it is back on. Looks good ...

Thanks! I can switch the linkage around to have it pull from either side. Looking forward to seeing the pic!

Simple bracket and cable ...

Very nice job!

Thank you......
I am wondering what is the best grease to use in the shift linkage,????
I cleaned and checked all the linkage and bushings, all looks good . Waiting to re-assemble it , but want to re-grease the pivots, bushings and contact points.

Update...............
First time out last night. WOW
Fired right up and idle was perfect, pulled hard in all gears.
Just a bit of fine tuning when the temperature is a little warmer out.
Thanks for all the comments...

What is the latest update? I fired my clone engine up for teh first time this weekend and it sounds great. Would be curious what you've learned and what "lessons learned" you might share with somebody a month behind you?

How much HP do you think you are getting? Is it a lot different than what you had before?

Actually, flycutting will not help mate a 1.7 head to a non standard big bore cylinder, unless said cylinder is a 1.7 bored out to 96, in which case you are not asking for, but begging for a blown engine. Flycutting is the method of increasing ones compression and/or correcting chamber volume for equalities. However boring/cutting (as is common lingo) the head will open the bore to accept a non standard outer diameter cylinder size.

longarm came over and took me for my annual 'get inspired' drive. Let me tell you that engine is set up beautifully. Purrs like a kitten, starts pulling at 2k and just doesn't quit! No idea what the actual horsepower is but it sure is a lot more than stock