998 Turbo Build - Slow Progress
Turbo Mini Forums

Just getting the wheels rolling on the turbo build, con rods have been balanced, I need to buy pistons and get the block rebored, crank reground. Then I can start the assembly of the short engine. Then the gearbox will be heading to guessworks for an overhaul. Then just bolt the lot together and slap on the turbo bits.

There'll be pictures of the shiney stuff as it comes in don't worry

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Well I had a go at balancing my spare set of 'Rods end over end. The big ends were all fairly close but the small ends were all quite far out? Decided to just go for it as they're my spare set, here are some pictures of the worst one:



The rough grinding marks will be smoothed out but you can see how much has come off.

Pistons arrived today; CalverST +040 998, they look good and after a conversation with Keith he's pretty sure they'll be up to the job.




I'll be making up some PTFE buttons a la will h, just because I can now I can use the lathes at work.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221068358005?ssP...984.m1423.l2649

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Block has been bored +0.040 to match the pistons and the rings gapped. Slightly bigger than recommended (12-15thou, recommended was 10thou) but Mr Calver said that is nothing to worry about.


Almost finished cleaning up the rods:



And sort out a crankshaft, the one I have has some pitting on a lobe and some odd machining on the couterbalances? Aren't they supposed to be convex rather than concave?

Edited by Mike-998 on 23rd Oct, 2013.

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Wow those photos are crap.. Hopefully you can see the marks on the journal

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Strange crankshaft!!!

Pedro Silva

http://miniciados.blogspot.pt/

well work invested in some Alodine coating tanks. It's a yellowy coating for aluminum and I volunteered my inlet manifold as a test piece:


Looks pretty good and should give a bit of protection. Considering taking some other bits in like the intercooler.

In other news just waiting on funds to get bearings then can start building the engine I should have started with in the first place!

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Bearings arrived from minispares, but knobhead here ordered +10 bearings rather than standard, so can't do any trial builds yet.

Got a good crank to use instead of my old one and managed to get an idea of the crank endfloat with the old bearings, was 0.0007 thou, so need to take a bit out of the bearings. What's the best way of doing it? Surface table and some fine sandpaper?




Pistons also assembled onto rods, just hope they are as good as they look.




Plan now is to do a trial build to make sure everything is ok, measure everything for the CR calcs, get the block and head painted at work, then start the build. Spec now is:
998 Block bored +0.040
CalverST Pistons
Standard 998 Crank
Balanced 998 Rods
MG Metro Cam
Verier Timing Gears
Guessworks Gearbox
Minispares 4-Pin Diff
RTS Clutch - 2x 998 Springs (once I've got my head around how it goes together)
Benross modified 12G295 Head
9.0-1 CR (?)
1.3 Rockers
Mirage Manifold and T2 turbo (planning between 10 and 15 psi)

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The original block I had planned for this turns out to have a ring of corrosion around one of the bores, nothing major the machine shop assured my but I've picked up another to be safe, which has been blasted and will be heading to the machine shop this week:


The gearbox has been with GuessWorks who is working his magic, but I've had the case off him to get it alodined as well:





Been working my way through cleaning the rest of the engine as well, slow going but hopefully I'll be able to start building soon.


Also got a lock up to get the car out the rain as it's getting into a bad state. Ten year old sunroof seals aren't very good at being seals anymore...

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Holy shite a gold gearbox...

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

That gearbox looks awesome, dare I ask what it cost?

We have the chemical baths at work so didn't cost a thing. It's normally used to coat aircraft aluminum crankcases

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Why not get the metal parts zinq plated and yellow passivated to match.. :)

Dazed and Confused....

Now you spoiled the surprise

All the nuts, bolts and steel fittings are going to be plated, The alloy rocker cover and clutch housing will be alodined like the 'box, and the block and head will be etch primed then plated gloss black by the paint shop at work - quite handy working for an engine overhaul company

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Oops..

Dazed and Confused....

Turns out the replacement block has a blow hole in no.2 so is going to have to be linered.

Also been thinking about cams, I already have an MG Metro cam lined up but after having a read through some topics on here it seems Paul S recommends the Kent MD 274. There is also the Piper BP 270 cam that seems to have similar figures to the 274.

Does anyone have any experience as to what these cams are like to drive in 998 engines?

In other news;
the servo has gone, loads of space now
sub frame is out but appears to have suffered damage, either from an accident or being jacked incorrectl, probably not the latter..
The mess of an engine bay is ready for a tidy up

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Nice work on the build!
I'm working on a very similar build and it's nice to see your progress.

Particularly curious about the Alodine treatment on these. I really like the look. Do you know much about the process? Being that it is purely chemical, I'm pretty sure it is a good option for us DIY-ers as a surface treatment. Any benefit besides looking cool?

Thanks,

Not a great deal I'm afraid, the process uses 4 baths, an acid etch, water rinse, alodine chemical, water rinse. As far as I understand it it penetrates a few microns into the surface of the aluminium to prevent it from oxidising. It's also a great base for paint. The only downside to the process is that it doesn't penetrate very well if the surface isn't spotless. The acid etch helps but the only way to get a finish like the one on the gearbox is to blast or polish the surface.

Much easier than Anodizing although not as good a barrier.

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In ref to your cams if your looking for a wide lca calver also does the re13t a graham Russell design.

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Well done for keeping at this project mate! Looks like you've had some real nightmare set backs that would have put a lot of people off!

Keep at it buddy

Edited by Custard on 12th Feb, 2014.

Dave the Cake

wow thats bling

Any pictures of your connecting rod balancing fixture or is that another perk from work?

When balancing or removing weight from a rod you should remove material along the length rather than across. As doing it across can create stress points.

Box looks great though!

I see what you mean, do you think it will be an issue if the rough marks have been dressed down?

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I've not done it before myself so couldn't say. Just read it in the yellow bible!

I'm pretty sure it'll be okay, all of the high points have been taken down with some paper and emery cloth.

One way to find out I guess..

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