Working since August 3-4 days a week putting stuff together. Turns out to be a nightmare as i have not taken it apart. So part of the stuff was fixed, while other things looked as if ready to be put together but were not.

I.E. Halfshafts were looking great until i found out that the splines were not working on 3 out of 4.

Working the splines which best fit until i could hammer them on with medium taps with a rubber mallet.

All marked with our about 50 years old "Arkograf"

Now it's lunch time...
...after lunch fitting them together, then onto the transaxle gearbox and maybe test fit the rear axle.

Gearbox sitting on an engine cart, waiting to be mated to the chassis.

 

Very nice... a little jealous, wish I could do this to do blazer! Lol

 

My Blazer is sitting in the garage waiting for the engine to be completed. First the Alfa Romeo has to be finished before I can start a new project.

And because it's sooo much fun. After opening up the Alfa Romeo engine below and pulling a rod and main bearing cap - It now lies disassembled in two large boxes waiting for a quick inventory and parts order. Then I have to figure if the crank has to be ground or not. Hope to get answers tonight.

Turned out that the "engine builder with a reputation" wasn't so great after all. Freaking nightmare of engine building. The higher lift cam has destroyed the valve stem seals. Pushed them over the guides. All internals scratched and scored. Engine must have been started without priming as all bearing shells show signs of scuffing and have debris embedded.

And a lot of other findings on this engine has led me to rebuild it completely. Fortunately it's an I4. Cost will be reasonable.

 

Are we talking about the engine for the alfa or the blazer!? Either way, that is not a happy result by far!!

 

Engine of the Alfa

Now I'm building "TWO" engines. The Alfa goes first as the car has to come off the lift in the garage. Parts are ordered waiting for delivery next week. Machinist work should be minimal. Nice thing on the Alfa Romeo I4 engines is that it is a sleeved engine. Measurements of the block turned out to be OEM. So 4 new sleeves with pistons should do. Head is o.k. minimal work to the valve guides required. Rods are good. Only thing is the crankshaft needs grinding .010 and nitriding. Will take some 3 weeks to have the engine back together.

When I have downloaded the pics from my phone I should put them in here to show people why a rebuilt engine needs priming with oil before a first start.

 

Atleast it wasn't a total write off.

I wouldve lost my hat. Did they compensate for their screw up?

 

This project car was a friends. He startet building it in 2012, that's also when he had the engine being made by a guy in Sicily, known for fast Alfa Romeo engines. The engine came back in short time and was sitting in the stock at the garage since 2012. In 2013 he went for a three months holiday with his girlfriend but in that time died from a stroke at age 32.
The project was simply stored at the garage and in 2015 I took it over to finish it. Since then I've been building. Body & Paint finished last year. Corona now allowed for completion.

Since, they guy who built the engine has simply vanished. Still to be seen at races, where he races his own Alfa Romeo GTA. Not much one can do. The price for the project was a laugh, so, kinda no financial damage for me. Still pi..es me off. Instead of doing first trials now, I'm left with another engine to be built.

But IMHO the worst thing is that the engine has been completely redone. Because of lack of atttention in some small details and because they ran the engine without priming it first, it has been destroyed in the first 5 minutes of running.

I guess that's my life's story. Fix all the stuff others can't, won't or are not able to fix properly.

 

Darn, thats a story.... well atleast this way, you know your work will be good to go once your done!

 

Finding out that so many people which call themselves specialists and take your money, actually deliver crap work, has had a bit of an impact on motivation. In addition work did pick up a little bit. So less time for the projects. Nevertheless slow progress on all fronts. Working on some side tasks as well. Block, crank and sleeves are at a machine shop which should have it ready by the end of the May. In the meantime working on the messed up head. Found more issues.

A friend gave me a pair of original Alfa Romeo cams. After straightening them we found the head to have a lens shape between the deck and the bore of the camshafts. So first work was to file down 0.2 mm (0.008") on the middle cap, then use a boring rod to make a new bore to spec. Now they turn freely.

Valve guides were set too high, which aggravated the binding problem with the valve stem seals. (Actually all that was left of them were plastic and metal splinters.)
Have cut the guides back 3.5 mm but now also need to cut the reduced diameter for the new valve stem sealing caps to appropriate depth.
In addition, the guides are way too tight.

Yesterday I had assembled and modified two tools at the machine shop I usually work with.
Readied all the stuff and in an hour I'll be leaving for the shop to hone the guides first for a 9.000 mm pilot.
With that pilot I'll then cut the guides down for the new sealing caps. Once that is done, hone the guides to spec.

This 15'000 Euro engine from "the renown specialist" would have failed catastrophically for sure. Vave guides on intake have less than 0.01 mm clearance. (0.0004")
Pics will follow.

 

Head on the honing bank. This will be hand-honing.

The Alfa Romeo is a DOHC engine. Guides are recessed in the cylindrical bores.



Honing the guides

Cup set in the bore. This is the reason why its very difficult to work down there. Still easier than boring the guides out and making new guides.

The whole assembly that goes into the head.

Head with cams and caps. Caps just put on to show how it looks once assembled.