Skoze

Going to book it in for test on the 21st, hopefully get it run in just in time to go to Classic Ford and break something else

Forteh's got it, felt like some sort of MacGyver moment. Anyway, I did a thing yesterday, on my own, in flip flops and shorts. Started out from the front, with manifolds and fan, feeling brave. Rapidly gave up on that as everything was hitting everything else and then found out that the crane was too short to reach where it needed to be. Improved angle of dangle; Boom, instant lows. Still gotta tighten up the bellhousing bolts as I had to leave immediately after this happened, got an inch or so to go in yet and the clutch pedal is still on the floor... Might have to all come out again but fingers crossed it sorts its shit out when it's fully in and i've done a little adjustment.

Decided i'd put the Capri engine in this weekend. Bought a few bits and pieces, calculated the approximate compression ratio (it's about 9.1:1 which is low, but all good for the future...) Put the Reinz gaskets on after checking for valve clearance with the cheapos (a surprising amount, as it turns out) Put the bottom end together "for the last time" Then went to fit the new spigot bearing... Turned out there was actually the outer race of an old one kicking about in there. Grinders, hammers and chisels came out, followed by frustration followed by a cracked crankshaft. Bollocks. So, I then had to re-rebuild it with my original crank after measuring the journals etc; fortunately it was perfectly within tolerance and I had a full new set of standard big ends and mains to replace the +.010s that were in with the reground crank. This full spigot bearing came out really nicely using the bread trick as well; brilliantly bizarre tool but one i'm glad I got to actually use. So now it's just chilling and waiting. Engine is fully together (again), just need to torque up the clutch tomorrow then try and fit it after work. ~2 hours of daylight is definitely enough time for me to fit it on my own, right...? And i've booked an MoT for next saturday. Lol. Learning an awful lot, going to miss having stuff to play with in the evenings.

Ah wicked - i've seen some people waxing lyrical about having to do that, but there's very little info on the pistons i'm using and - again - without taking the bottom end apart there's no way of measuring these things - ballpark figure will be good enough, doesn't need to be down to three decimal places haha. I'll do the oil job and just try my best to seal the pistons, see where we're at. I highly doubt it'll be much over 9.5:1 but you never know... Essex' seem 'happy' up to 11:1 with things getting interesting from 10, but I doubt i'll be in that kind of area! Pretty impressive ratio on the supermoto as well! That's nuts, how long did the engine last? Good point re: spacers, I can't imagine it'd play too much havoc with cam stuff as it's all very old fashioned OHV stuff, can always get 1:6 rockers rather than the standard 1:5 to combat the issue I guess! Plan is to get it up and together, then use a scrapyard Eaton to blow through a Holley without going mental on the boost, but that's all a fair way off yet!

Cheers Just want to measure it for my own knowledge and for future reference, really - from my feeble attempts with a syringe i'm guessing it's going to come in around 9.5:1, but it's good to know exactly where i'm at with it especially as i'd quite like to force some more air into it at some point. The heads are off an old super rod so i'd be surprised if they've not been skimmed a fair bit, similarly the block's had some work so there's a mounting number of unknowns i'd like to pin down!

I need to work out the compression ratio of this engine. As the pistons are in it and i'd really rather not take it apart again, how's best to do it? Obviously I'll need to get hold of some bits and pieces to measure it properly (tried with what I could cobble together and a syringe today, then realised how much a tiny difference changes things...) If I leave the piston in and get it to TDC, would I be right to think that measuring the total volume here (to the top of the block) would effectively include the piston/ deck height measurement and I can then drop that from the formula?

That is an incredible amount of filler!

Now taking bets on whether it's gonna turn over when the valve clearance is set.

Strangely, that's the bit that was under cover... Just got loads of dust/ grime all over it from being sat nose-first in an old barn, rear end (which was pretty exposed) is absolutely fine. Weird.

Cheap shitty metal? In me news, I washed the Capri today. This was after two rounds with a jet wash, got a bit more of the grime off but it seems all those weird patches are f**ked lacquer. Loving life.

Well bored on the train today so phoned my insurance company up for a chat. 2.8, 3.0 or 2.9 24v Ford V6, or a 3.5/ 3.9 Rover V8 swaps, £54 increase no matter what I fancy putting in the Land Rover. Goodbye, cruel world.

Finally timed my cam, this engine can officially suck my testes and get dropped in now.

Playing tunes last night was excellent. I've missed it so much. Worries about not being up to scratch went out the window when I had to tell one of the guys how their own song went

Some places do fail on stupid stuff then immediately pass it to keep their figures and stuff in check, might be more like that?

Finally organised playing some tunes with my pals on wednesday. "Yeah man, let's definitely try Nightsky" Better remember how to do bass pretty rapido.

Yeah man, with a gold centre cap I could see that looking pretty nice...

Seeing a photo of Phil Feeney wallriding an Arcade gets me all excited for summer.

Will find out what the getting time off situation is like when I start on Monday, but definitely stick me down in the reserves... Would love to come.

Big time. As much as I love bird she is shit at moshing.

Sounds pretty unanimous between you guys then! Picked up one of my heads today which had some valve guide worked finished off. With no car though, transport's not easy right now. The guy found it so funny i'd come on my bike that he didn't charge me anything.

Clerkenwell - really cool little ideas-led studio working from Coda music agency's place, so some serious crossovers of interest... Felt properly at home yesterday so really looking forward to starting.

Yeah, thinking about it mechanically it does make perfect sense... So in your books it's literally just fire it up, give it a few minutes to warm up and make sure it's running ok (cue screwdrivers on the carb) then give it some beans and a bit of wincing?

After three months of applications, I've finally got myself some full time design work in the big smoke. Big up myself.

Very interesting to hear that, been pondering the best way to run things in recently and it seems each side of the argument views it with equal passion!

Cheers Foxy, i'll see what I can do! Guy wants me to send them to a different address which could be a good legit way out...