Thursday, July 9, 2015

The desire to Dyno

Click-bait photo time!

Not mine but everyone in Reno has witnessed this spectacle at least once.

We last left off when I was attempting to get my engine to the dyno.  Well, there were a few check boxes I needed checked first.

1.  The water pump has to be driven by the crank somehow.
2.  I need to provide my ignition setup.

Let's go into these two in detail.

The Quest for Water

Normally, my current engine has two v-belts that are attached to the crank pulley;  
  • a 52" belt that drives the water pump AND the power steering pump 
  • a shorter one that drivers the alternator.
Pictured: NOT my old engine - this is way too clean!
As you can see, the power steering pump is on the far right, the alternator is the far left of the picture.  The top is the water pump and the thing that drives it all is the pulley attached to the actual crank of the engine at the far bottom.

GOAL: 
Make that top pulley spin for the dyno!  
Also, do this in a day or two because time is limited!

Cool, just attached all the accessories (power steering, alternator) like pictured above right?
Nawp.  Power steering pump will burn out on the dyno being ran dry like that.

And with limited time - I could not find some sort of pulley/idler solution.  So that means I have to find a belt that fits the alternator, water pump and crank.


So make something that is this:


Go to this:

Solution:
Using string, I measured an approximate circumference for all the pulleys which is 42".   Napa has a belt like this in stock.   Boom!  But wait!

PROBLEM:
The bracket/bolts I have for the alternator are too short to reach the waterpump's pulley.  The alternator needs to stick out forward about another solid inch. ...

SOLUTION:
A box of 100 washers and bigger bolts.  When in doubt, EXTEND IT OUT!!!


Boom.  We will just add a few couple dozen washers here and here and here.....




Tada!!!

Give it some spark!

The dyno will also need the ignition box I use, which is a standard Motorcraft Duraspark II ignition module. I yoinked the box and my custom made harness I have for it and at this time, remembered to check the gap of my sparkplugs as well; .045.  Which fortunately, all the plugs were pre-gapped at this spec.

The engine is now ready to go to the dyno!

The Transporter

 But how?

Listen, I'm just going to leave you with some pictures.   You guys can figure out how it happened. Yes, I am very well aware of how this is not the optimal way of doing things but this is one of my personality flaws (and apparently I share them with my friends) - just get it there.



Tada!!!!!!!!

Also - heads up everyone - don't do this.  An engine stand is just that - a stand, not a transport container.  I warned you!

DYNO TIME!!!


Pictured: My awesome headers that were specially made for this build and the LTD.


Let's break it in, right?

Engine starts, temp is good, oil PSI is good....put it under load and OIL PRESSURE DISAPPEARS.

Did I screw up the torquing of the main caps?  Did the cam get smoked???  The oil pickup tube crack?  Oil pickup clearance issue?   UGH!!

The oil filter was cut open to reveal nothing suspicious.  Which means the cam is fine.  Phew....but what?

MISTAKES I MADE THAT WERE MADE APPARENT VERY QUICKLY:

I didn't tighten down the rocker arm locker nuts tight enough.  Literally your "IS IT PLUGGED IN" type of issue.    This caused two rocker arms to shake loose enough to let the push rods get kicked out and one of the lifters ejected!  Which means the oil galley to that lifter was free to pump all its oil back into the block....

Fortunately, that explains the oil pressure loss.   
Also, bonus luck; nothing was damaged, at all.  Everything was placed back into it's correct spot (BY THE WAY, I MANAGED TO MIX UP THE EXHAUST AND INTAKE PUSH RODS ON THE DRIVER SIDE BANK SOMEHOW AGAIN - RAD). One more thing was noticed - the super cool plate I put in to block off the heat exchange passage?  Not only caused a gap but was causing too much tension on the aluminum intake which could cause damage.  So that was rightfully tossed.

Finally, everything is put back together.  Pushrods put in the right place and rocker arms tight and solid.

IT'S ALIVE!!!



Compression test looked great, timing great, ZERO leaks and the oil pressure remains at a solid 50-60 PSI.  Break-in period goes without issue!!!! 

DYNO TIME


Click for full size versions or skip below:




RESULTS:
  • 524 lbft of Torque @3500
  • 436 HP @5000
Important side note:
I'm out of typing steam due to a fierce headache but I do want to finish this post by saying that this would not have been possible without the help of good friends and family.   Whether it was a helping hand, advice, (A FRIGGIN TRIP TO THE DYNO BY AN ENGINE EXPERT) or just the company, it all directly attributed to the final build of this engine.   Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

Next stop, the BEAST!

Until then!

P.S.
Engine Nerd stuff: For those curious, here is my timing and cam info: (click for bigger)