Jeff's winter 2012 20v engine build by burdickjp

3 minute(s) of a 25 minute read

I ordered up some Clevite rod bearings, as they're a bit thinner than the thinnest OEM bearings, which allows me to widen my rod bearing clearances a bit.

So I measured them up, and came out with 0.046mm clearances all around. Fantastic. I then plastigauged to check, and came out even across the board.

Installing rods is best done using the bolt stretch method.

Here's a good looking bottom end.

3-20-2013

Thank you very much! I appreciate the kind words. You have to pay attention to the little things or something as silly as piston-to-valve clearance could wreck your day. I'd feel like a dunce if my engine popped before it even made it off the dyno.

I went up to Apex Auto Machine near Chicago to talk about a cylinder head I'd dropped off there a few years ago to have the chambers welded up, because it tends to be something I suck at, and can require fun things, like welding in ovens. They did the welding work on the head, and talked me into finishing it up. There's some good to that, and some bad. Good is a fresh head. Bad is someone else had their paws in the ports ( not Apex ) and we'll have to see how it goes. They should be cutting seats to my specs. I'll be doing final assembly. I think that head is going on this bottom end, with Ferrea valves and PonCams. That should round out this build nicely.

2-17-2014

I've been putting effort into this thing: