5th May 2008. Back in business!!.
6 months after ordering them I finally received the new Accralite pistons. To be fair to Avonbar they really did not have much choice
as the manufacturers were the ones messing us about.. Anyways I rebuilt the engine and installed the newly re-machined head, things went fine, it started first turn and I was happy at last.. Well for a little while anyway.
Once I got to drive it a mysterious misfire occured when it got hot. I eliminated all I could on the Ignition side and as the O2 sensor did not show a lean condition when it happened eliminated fuelling, that left the new valve guides.
Time to break out the electronic stethoscope I made in the boring days of winter and There it was.. It was quite easy to hear the extra valve noise caused by sticking valves when the missing occurred. Another givaway was the vacuum guage swinging wildly during the misfire. I talked to the Machine shop and he had given 1.5 thou clearances on the new valve guides,
too tight especially for a turbo.. Off with the head-- I'm getting real good at this now!! I had him give 2 thou inlet 3 thou exhaust and all is well. I then started on the needle profile and it seems this will take me quite a while, check the tech tips for the results.
The new 2.95 Diff is a wonderful addition for a road car, highly recommended. It makes the car much nicer to live with on the Interstate/Motorway, gives a usable third gear and even though in theory some accelleration will most likely be lost I dont care.. I'm not so sure anyway, I couldnt hardly use first gear before because of wheelspin and now I can pull 60mph in 2nd I'm sure that the all important
(for the traffic light GP) 0-60 is not much different, Once the engine is broken in and I have a decent needle I'll find out and report on the results. The cooling mods are working out fine, even though its not too hot yet I can already say that its a lot better.
