Bugzilla - Mid Engine Madness

[wfo guy]

Just a thought from a really old guy: on normal engines with just a few mods, the valve train is usually the 1st cause of failure. No.2: never trust anybody's work. Learn what it takes to double check everything. Even the best have bad days and make mistakes. It doesn't mean you need to learn to do your own work if it's not possible but you need to know all the clearances necessary for your parts to live. I live in a rural area and had to learn all this because no one had race car exp. I ran a blown alky dragster for 20 years.

[Bugzilla]

In the 100+ Ecotecs I have built, I have never seen this issue. This is the 5th Ecotec I have used this exact valve spring on (which is a custom spring). The others had 2.4L heads on them which are a little bit different. Different enough that they don't have this clearance issues. But yes like you said, I should have triple checked and not assumed they clearanced the head properly. Since my engine is nothing close to a stock motor and is filled with custom parts, that means check every thing again and again and again. I think it took me longer to do all the measuring on the crank, rods, pistons and block then it actually did to build the motor. Too bad I didn't take more time on the head. I do know that all my cam clearances and pre load on the lifters were all good! Just not the parts right under them.

I will see if I can post up a picture tonight of where they were rubbing. Then you guys can see why I didn't catch it earlier.

[Bugzilla]

I have no good news tonight. Looked over the head again tonight to see if there was anything else. Yep there is. First of all here is what I am dealing with.



You can see it is a very tight sqeeze. Since it has already self clearanced there are only a few spots left touching. This I already knew. I somehow managed to get in the right angle to see the bottom of the spring. Well looks like the base never got machined to fit a bigger spring. So the spring is sitting halfway in and halfway out of the spot it is supposed to sit in. Probably has a .100" deep lip. One thing after another with this head...



You might be able to see it in this picture.

[wfo guy]

I see. I'm a little surprised at how porous the casting is. I would have thought with today's technology, that it would be vacuum degassed in pouring.

[Bugzilla]

Ya it is kinda sad. All the 2.2 heads are "foam cast" while all the 2.0 heads are "sand cast". At least thats how i describe it. The 2.0 heads go through a much better casting process and look how they should look. They are also supposed to be stronger

[mc84_zz4]

Well, I'm glad you got to the source of a major issue. There is definitely some binding going on.
In one pic, it even looks like the valve tip looks angled a bit (?)
I would not be surprised to find major galling around the hats and spring bases as they chatter around.

The glass 1/2 full is you had a great time shaking out the large bugs, the car just needs one task done, and it's time to chase some cones.
Killer bug!

[Bugzilla]

Once I get the head taken apart, I am expecting to find more issues, especially where the springs meet the head. The valves I have already deemed as junk. I did the good'ol flashlight test through the intake and exhaust ports. Yep you can see the light between the valve and seat. So that also means that the guides are going to be junk. I just hope it didn't crack the head around the guide. I don't have the correct spring compressor so I can't take it apart at my house. Going to send it out next week to have someone else take it apart. Then we will see what happens from there.

[wfo guy]

I wish you were close to me. I would enjoy helping you on this. We would machine clearance on the heads and have a ball talking about how this is going to end up.

[Bugzilla]

Its only a short drive from you to me... a couple miles. Just let me know when!

So I just happened to find the correct adapter for my valve spring compressor. That means I will be popping some springs off tonight to find more destruction!

[wfo guy]

It's 1250 miles from my drive to the Ontario city limits sign. How are we going to get all my equipment there in the back of a 32 Ford? Spending a winter in Socal sounds fabulous!

[Bugzilla]

That is actually not as far as I thought it would be. Ya our winters are pretty horrible out here. Was around 90° today. Might rain one more time before the end of the year too. Its the winter wind you have to be worried about. Expecting to see another couple semis get blown over pretty soon here. One day last year I saw 4 flipped on there side just on my drive to work. They were still there on my way home...

I have got a few Haas CNCs we could use. I just don't know how to use them. If not, I got an old school manual mill that should do the job. I know how to use it too!

[wfo guy]

Build you a roll over fixture to bolt to the head. Line up with the valve guide and use the mill to clearance the area for the springs. If your table on the mill is long enough, this will be simple. If not, the roll over fixture will need a table to support it on the mill table. It would be nice if you could trust shops to do what they should, but how many shops will the average person go through until they find one that does really good work??????

[Bugzilla]

I got the head all torn apart. Yes, the valve springs were rubbing the head. The valves also seem a bit on the loose side. Some of the springs were wedged in so bad, I had a hard time getting them out with plyers. All the spring bases look good and dont have any indents like I thought they would. All the valves look to be straight and dont have much wear. I will get everything double check just to be safe. Better findings then I thought would happen.

[Bugzilla]

Parts are slowly starting to show up!

New 2.4 block. Honed and ready to go.



Another 2.2L crank



New guides installed in the head. They were trashed!



New valves. Inconel on the exhaust. Nitrite coated on the intake.





I also got the new valve springs in that wont rub anything.... So now I wait for the pistons to show up and then assemble!

[Zoomin]

It's gonna be sweet to see that back on the track - love it!

[Bugzilla]

Well I am still waiting on pistons. JE somehow never placed my order... So nothing has happened to the Bug lately. But I should be getting the pistons in next week. I did see that I never posted up the videos of the last race, so here they are. Better late then never.





Also, since the Bug has been down, I got another project going. I figure I can use this as my tow vehicle for the Bug. Here is when I got it 6 weeks ago beat and all.



After replacing the entire interior, doing a lot to the outside, new wheels and tires, this is what you get. I also converted it from 2wd to 4wd. Still have a little more work to do.



So hopefully my next update shows some Ecotec pistons. Then a Bug up back and running.

[Bugzilla]

It is official. My pistons have left JE and will be here on Wednesday! Now I have to finish pulling out the old engine...

[Godbolt]

That is very good news indeed. Long waits are painful.

[rustomatic]

You do good work with the apexes--the Bug's size must be a benefit there!

[Bugzilla]

Godbolt - it only took 3 months... they somehow lost my order. But they expidited it when I placed the 2nd order so I am happy.

Rustomatic - thanks! The Bug being small, light and quick steering helps nail the apex. For a Bug, it is quite wide though. Track width is 68". Stock Bug is 54". Wheelbase is only 95". Helps the fun factor!