My Street Version Port Injection for the '55

[PlainBrownR2]

Hopefully this should clear up the confusion some. We have about 2-3 layers on it so far, and it's a little bit of a blind walkthrough, since I've never done anything this large before.

[PlainBrownR2]

Day 2 on the fiberglass. Repeat the verse, same as the first. Really, it was laying on another layer or layers of fiberglass.



There's something additional though about today. You'll notice that I didn't lay the cloth one right on top of each other, rather, I laid it down at an angle. The technical term for this is biasing. Biasing means that the fibers in each layer are not parallel, but at an angle to each other. This gives strength to the fiberglass once the resin dries.

[Corley]

Don't tell me you laid down a second day's work without sanding down the first days layup? When FG sets up, it forms a waxy top layer, that new glass won't stick to. If you don't remove that, it's almost like having sprayed on a layer of mold release, and the two layers will delaminate over time (not stay together). I'm not a FG man, but that's pretty basic. I sure hope you knocked off the waxy layer and it stays together.

Since you are talking about laying this on the bias, that I assume means you are using FG cloth. Most folks would actually prefer to use FG mat, over cloth, for something that will be painted, as the cloth tends to show it's pattern through more than the mat. Again, I'm not an FG man, and have done very little of it, but I'd have used mat I think, rather than cloth. It's also thicker, so takes less built up layers.

As mentioned previously, since you are making a positive (actual part), and not a negative (a mold), you will be dealing with fuzzy loose fibers sticking up as you try to smooth this out. Maybe you should consider the idea that this is a mold, and do a fine finish on the underside of it, then lay up a positive (the actual part) in a second step. If that is the case, then you might consider making plywood backers and glassing those into the part (plywood on edge, to really support the mold from warpage).


Just one old fart's humble opinions. But, I see you are having fun, and gettin' her done. Good on you!

[PlainBrownR2]

Around the 2nd or 3rd layer is when I break out the sandpaper. It should get a "scuffing" around here to remove the trapped air bubbles underneath. As far mat or cloth, I like the cloth for this application because of it's strength. I've read where cloth, save for stereo speaker enclosures, is not as strong for this application in this instance, because the fibers are loose. I could throw some in there as I have leftover material from a past project, but right now it's not the main component in the hood. What I'll probably do with the surface is sand it smooth, put filler on it, prime it, and paint it. I didn't want to do a negative mold, because that required disassembly of the bracing from underneath, and the hood folds over underneath at the edges, so I wanted to make this as easy and as painless as possible. The underside of the hood is also rather coarse(surface rust, and lots of it), so I saw a future where the topside of my hood was going to look worse than my current fiberglass hood looks now!

Once I get the finished on the topside, then I have intentions of flipping the hood over and spraying Great Stuff expanding foam underneath, and putting fiberglass over that, which will serve as the reinforcement braces underneath.

[PlainBrownR2]

I forgot to add an additional reason as to why I went with a positive mold, rather than a negative mold; the raised lump at the back of the hood. Taking a page from my model train hobby, I applied it here to create a cowl induction scoop that's integrated into the hood. Now, the easy way out would be to cut a hole in a C/K hood and stick the scoop in, but if I wanted to go back, I'd be out one hood as it would now have a hole in it. So, I decided to fulfill a bucket list item, and make a whole new hood out of fiberglass. I wanted carbon fiber, but as I don't nearly have the funds for that, this was the second best option. Anyway, to do that in the easiest way possible, is to cover the top of the hood in something that wouldn't cause the fiberglass to bond with it, get some styrofoam blocks and cardboard, and drape the fiberglass over that. This will be a one time use only mold, and hopefully, if it breaks loose properly, I should have a mold of a C/K hood with a raised portion at the back of the hood.

[PlainBrownR2]

Movin' along into the last layers here. I put some reinforcing ribs under the fiberglass before covering them, so now it has a little more aggressive look to it in the hood. I scuffed the surface with some 80 grit sandpaper, put in some reinforcing ribs, and then put the fiberglass over those.

[PlainBrownR2]

A brief update, and I gotta bring this up to the front after a few months. Originally this started out by seeing how I can mount my completed fiberglass hood on the car. That switched over to seeing if it would be able to start in the single digit temperatures. The situation then went to working over the cold start cranking pulsewidth enrichment, and afterstart enrichment values, so it would be able to do that. But, like any vehicle of this age, that was something of a bit of struggle, compounding that with an aftermarket fuel injection system that wasn't exactly built for the car. I did manage to get the car running, but we learned some things about this fuel injection system, and the chemical nature of gasoline when it gets this cold.

Normally, gasoline gives off a vapor. The vapor is where you get your kaboom from. Now above 30-40 degrees, this isn't an issue, especially with this vehicle. A few cranks, and away the car goes. But, when it gets below 30 degrees, the gas wants to stay in a liquid state. That means that there needs quite a bit more of it going into the combustion chamber, and while the vehicle is cranking, the gas itself is not relying so much on vapor for combustion, but pure motion. It has to be puddling at the back of the intake valve, pulled down into the combustion chamber, and thrown all over the place before it will light, and the air fuel mixture has to be right, or you're just gonna be flooding the engine. If you're like me the past couple of days, you might do that anyway, because we have E-10, and we all know how well that lights in a low combustion engine, which was not very well. To add to that, your battery, ignition, and starting system need to able to keep pace, so, the battery needs to be full, the ignition needs to be good and healthy, the plugs need to be clean, and the starter needs to be spinning the engine as fast as it can. I had trouble with the last three over the last three days, because the cold weather drained the battery a bit, thickened the oil in the car, and made the starter's life a little harder. That resulted in bringing out the big charger, and bringing the battery back up to snuff. Once I did that, it had little issue in starting the car.

Anyway, about the fuel itself. I had said that when it became colder, there needs to be more fuel going into the combustion chamber. Well, I also had to increase the Cranking Pulsewidth and Afterstart Enrichment rather considerably, based on what I had read elsewhere. The Cranking Pulsewidth is the time the injector is open(measured in milliseconds), and gas is sprayed into the intake runner. The Afterstart Enrichment, is the percentage of fuel, that's provide above what is programmed onto the VE map, or regular fuel map. I'd liken it to the amount needed to get it over the "hump" before it goes into its warmup mode, and it's also a very brief period, like a few seconds worth. Anyway, I'll glean information from the Brand X forums who use the same MS1e ECU as I do, and from what I had gathered, the best thing to do was to max out the Cranking Pulsewidth and Afterstart Enrichment values below 30F. The "fatter" you could get them, the better off you might be, so that's what I did. I had also read that since the MS1 ECU's were the first generation of these programmable ECU's from these guys, that they had some limitations in the cold start area, because the Cranking Pulsewidth and Afterstart Enrichment parameters were too narrow. It's like owning a TV with the volume that's turned all the way up, but you can only get a muffle from the speakers, because that's as high as the TV can go, if that makes any sense. The MSII had those parameters greatly improved upon, but that's a whole other ECU. Anyway, the solution for the MS1 ECU's was to maximize all of the cold start values, and that should alleviate some of the cranking issues. Once I changed the cold start values, recharged the battery, and cleaned the spark plugs, it seemed to run all right!

A video of my highlights over the past couple of days:




Oh, and I'm still working on getting a hood thrown back over that hole over the engine bay. For now, some cardboard, plywood sheets, and a couple of weights are standing in their place!

[PlainBrownR2]

It's been awhile, but I guess I should bring everyone up to speed..........



You're probably wondering why the 289 is out of its place, and partially torn down. Well, it's being torn down. But before I get to that, I have to go back a few months. A few months ago, I think it was around March, we had that really bad cold snap. I thought it was a good time to go out there, and fill in the rest of the warmup enrichment settings, in the places that the fuel injection rarely sees during the warmer months. It was a good idea at the time. But after running it a little bit, a squeak developed in the bowels of the engine. I shut the car off, thought it could be throwout bearing, because it's been in there since the car was assembled, and ran it a few more times, while messing with the clutch pedal. There was no change, so I left the car a few days, came out again, started the car, and the squeak came back.

Well, I guess I'll have to pull the transmission back, and see if the throwout bearing is bad, which is what I did. I couldn't tell, but around the same time, I decided an oil change was needed. Change the oil, and the squeak disappears. About a minute later, the squeak goes to a thump. Now whatever was in there has really bitten the dust. So I pull the oil pan, and check the connecting rods. Well shoot, the next to last set have some extensive play in them. So, the connecting rod caps come off, and I find that one set of bearings are all but scored, and the other are all but missing.


I then put the oil pan back on, let the car sit a month or two, and come back to it when it was warmer, and there's less snow on the ground. A few months later, the procedure was executed. The engine came out, the bolts and parts were sorted, and everything was stored in the car itself. When I stuck the engine on the engine stand and flipped it over, I could see the damage to the journal, so this is a regrind candidate. Along about the same time, which was at the time of the May meet in South Bend, I picked up a replacement NOS 289 crankshaft. I had a replacement set of standard 289 main and connecting rod bearings for it, so everything is there to put it all back together. However, before that could happen, whatever was in the engine, had to be flushed or rodded out, which is what happened today. That's where it got interesting, because everything on the bottom of the engine was clean, so where did the other set of bearings go? I popped the valley cover off, and I think I got an idea. A 1/4 inch thick layer of sludge, lead, and whatever else was sitting in the floor of the valley. To get it out wasn't difficult though, a few washes of gasoline, some picking and scraping, and I could see the floor of the valley floor again. Everything else that goes back on the engine will be done in the same matter, where it will be rinsed out, wiped down, dried, oiled, and cleaned, before going back on the engine.


Oh, also, on a separate note, those two connecting rods with the bad or missing bearings.....they won't be seeing another 289 again. The oiling orifices are plugged full of bearing, the wristpins were stiff, and whatever happened up there, had either seized or welded. Those two pistons had to come out, and have replacement connecting rods put in. Everything on those two pistons were also cleaned, polished, and oiled, and after reassembly, they work far better than they did before!

[PlainBrownR2]

An update on the 289, and I'll try to make it brief.............

Over the course of the past month or two, it has been torn down and had a minor rebuild to it. It has received an NOS 289 crankshaft, NOS main and connecting rod bearings, and a replaced piston to fix one that was compressing down on the rings(ie, it was distorted from a foreign object in the face). The rebuild was pretty routine, with some parts getting redone or improved upon over the last time that I was in the engine. The crank was installed, and the main and connecting rod bearings were Plastigaged, of which everything was in spec. Whatever was called for a torque spec was also, torque spec'd........





Once finished, the crank gear was reinstalled, along with the hub, pulley assembly, and timing cover. To get the crank gear and hub on required heating them up with a propane torch, and then sliding them over the keyway. From there, I used a homemade pusher tool(a cut off pipe) to push it on using the big crank bolt. Nothing was damaged, and the crank bolt even torqued to spec once done..........



The crank was also shimmed, and dial indicated to spec via the methods of the shop manual.........



The timing gear was reinstalled, along with the timing cover, which received new gaskets. The oil pan was refurbished and installed, also new gaskets..........



I chose to reuse the oil pump that came with the oil pan, which came out of the 259. This one is the articulating version, and goes with the oil pan........



I redid the EDIS crank sensor bracket. Originally it was mounted in 3-4 different places. With this version, I made up a pair of studs that hang from the bottom of the timing cover, and are adjustable with nuts, so I could move the plate and crank sensor in and out. The crank sensor has a smaller set of studs, and are able to slide around in notches on the plate, so I was able to adjust it, lock it down, and seal everything up with RTV so it doesn't move. It'd have to seriously get whacked with something before it will moved, as everything is tight...............



While the heads were off, I did a mild port and polish on the heads, which was something that I was unable to do with the first set of heads that I had on the engine. Once completed, they were put back on the block with some new headgaskets...........






I also decided to try using studs for the water pump manifold, as I regularly will have the manifold on and off the engine, and it gives me some new places to hang stuff from the manifold if need be. The water pump manifold also received new gaskets.........................


At this point, I could set the valve lash, reinstall the valve covers, put in the dipstick, put in new VR1 oil and a filter, and prime the engine with a drill and flat bladed screw driver. The engine, with the new bearings, can register as high as 55 pounds with the drill going full tilt, so it seems to be healthy. The valve covers were also modified, where the breathers for the crankcase evacuation setup, were moved and permanently to the other part of the valve cover, so I could use the breathers and oil fill caps again...........





At this point, currently all the big bits are on. The bellhousing needs a new throwout bearing, and it, and the tranny need to be reattached. The throwout bearing has been in the car since it left the assembly line. It's pretty loose when it's spun, until it finds a burr in the race, at which it will slightly hang up. I think after 60 years, it's time for a replacement, of which I bought at the South Bend meet in May...........





The transmission is a standard T86E-1A with a R10B-1M OD....and a Foxcraft shifter bracket that hangs from the rear of the case. It's original color was also an Olive Green that I had repainted black when it went back in the car the first time.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Perseverance!

[Buzzard]

Very interesting.
A good friend in Arizona (where I winter & play with my Clipper) has done many Fuel Injection conversions (due to the heat wreaking havoc on fuel systems) from Howell Engine Developments Inc. From what I have seen and I've driven many of them, it seems to be a viable alternative to traditional carburetion. No more percolation, poor starting, heat soaking etc. If I was to be picky, the only preference I have is a lower idle speed, but perhaps there is an adjustment for that.
Check them out.

[PlainBrownR2]

Perseverance!

Yep! That and the nagging feeling that I couldn't leave it in the broken state that it was. All that money, effort, and time(did I mention money?), only to have it end up like this. It's not a fun job, but if I wanted to drive it again, it had to be done. Hopefully, it will still be operating once I get it put back together.

Very interesting.
A good friend in Arizona (where I winter & play with my Clipper) has done many Fuel Injection conversions (due to the heat wreaking havoc on fuel systems) from Howell Engine Developments Inc. From what I have seen and I've driven many of them, it seems to be a viable alternative to traditional carburetion. No more percolation, poor starting, heat soaking etc. If I was to be picky, the only preference I have is a lower idle speed, but perhaps there is an adjustment for that.
Check them out.

Cool! Like I said in the earlier posts, this one here is something of an ongoing experiment. If one isn't picky about originality, and wants something other than the Edelbrock carb, this can be a contemporary upgrade. I know that the carbs we have aren't getting any newer, as many of them are aluminum and approaching 60 years of age. Couple that with the complaints of E-10 with the gas, and this might be something that somebody might want to do. Anyway, I've had the Holley TBI system on the '64 Commander, so I wanted to move up to building a port injection unit for the '55, and be able to put in whatever fuel and ignition settings that I wanted. The port injection one was a little harder to do, because it required modifying the intake manifold for it, and it wasn't a drop in replacement like the Holley was. I'd say it was successful, up until the big part that's not supposed to go broke in the engine, went broke on the engine. Well, not broke, but something damaged two sets of bearings and a crankshaft journal on an otherwise well running 289. Anyway, along with the Holley, Megasquirt, and Howell Engine Developments units, we also have the Hamilton Fuel Injection, and Atomic EFI units, so this is good, we have quite a few options available!

[PlainBrownR2]

One of the the things that I wanted to do on the engine before it went back in was the freeze plugs. I have no knowledge on the cooling system of the engine, so they came out and will be replaced with ones from NAPA. Let's just say that it was as bad as I had thought..........



The two on both sides that go toward the rear of the engine were packed pretty good when the freeze plugs came out, so all of them came out and got a visit from a stiff piece of wire and the garden hose. I ran the hose through each of them until the brown stopped coming out. Hopefully that will restore some of the cooling capacity in the block.........



I didn't need the raincoat or goggles as it's still on the engine stand, but it was still a messy, dirty, and grungy job though.

[PlainBrownR2]

The engine has now been flushed out, and the freeze plugs were replaced with new ones from NAPA. It was funny, because they come in packages of 5, which these engines use 6, so I ended up with two packages of 10. All I could think of was the old hotdog and hotdog bun situation. The expansion plugs were also $55 total for investing in that small copper mine, but well worth it, as they are able to take up to 300 psi before popping out. All of them went in as they should, except for the last one. They all were able to be tapped in, and then the acorn nut could be tightened up. I was going off of some installation instructions based on a website from an individual with an MGA, and he said that the torque specifications were around 12-13 ft/lbs before the copper flared out, so that's what I went with. The last one was a bit of a trick, because the landing or backing on the port by the oil filter has eroded away, and either the port was a few thousandths oversize, or the expansion plug was a few thousandths under size. Anyway, I gave that one a coating of JB weld, put the expansion plug in the hole, and without moving the expansion plug, tightened it up in the port until it would come out, and then I torqued it to its torque spec. I left it to cure overnight, and now hopefully, all of them are now sealed......





After that, it was on to the throwout bearing, bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and transmission. The throwout bearing was replaced with one that I picked up from Ted Harbit earlier this year at the May meet in South Bend. The one in the car, had been in there since the car rolled off the assembly line, and it had a burr in the race where it would catch when it was spun. Anyway, after 60 years, it had to be swapped out........



This is the remains of the old throwout bearing..........




I guess now that I had to put this all back together, the engine had to come off the engine stand, so off it came.....



The flywheel is good, the pilot bearing is NOS(part of the NOS crankshaft), pressure plate is good, and the clutch is relatively new, as it was replaced the first time the engine went in the car. That came from the late Don Gay's collection of Lowpoint, IL..........



Now came the fun part, getting everything realigned and put back together again. I spent a better part of the afternoon on this, before realizing that I could do it by pulling off the bellhousing, loosening up the clutch and pressure plate, putting the transmission shaft into the assembly, getting everything to auto align with the shaft, tightening up the pressure plate, pulling the transmission back out, putting on the bellhousing, and then putting the transmission back on. Everything went so much easier after that!!



I guess after putting the starter and lower dust shield back on, it has to all go back in the car again after this ............................

[PlainBrownR2]

This will be another one of those posts where I'll try to make it as brief as possible. To cut to the chase, the engine is back in and operating again. Once everything was done with what I needed to do, I hooked it to the hoist, and put it back in the car. That took at least two days, because it required pulling the starter back out, removing the passenger side exhaust manifold assembly, and ultimately, making a slot in the passenger fender so the exhaust manifold would drop in. There was 1100 lbs worth of cast iron swinging around, and no matter how small of the object in the engine bay, it was going to find it, and get hung up on it. There was also a whole lot of grunting, shoving, racheting, and moving engine and vehicle around, so that it would go where it should go.



Once it was in, most of it was all downhill from there. The exhaust manifolds were hooked back up, the electricals were put back in, and the plumbing was replumbed. The stock oil gauge was retired in favor of a standalone Sunpro gauge that we had, which provides actual digits, instead of hash marks. It still has a ways to go, as the driveline is still loose, the shifter is still out, the panels are off, and well, you get the idea. But one of the important milestones was reached today, as there was enough put together to start the car and break in the new parts. I put VR-1 in, ran it for 10-15 minutes, or until it reached operating temperature, shut the car off, changed the filter and the oil, and put new VR-1 one in.

This is a link to the movie of the break in after the oil change. At 1500 rpm, the oil pressure is running around 50 lbs, so it seems were off to a good start. The throttle response is also pretty snappy, as just cracking the throttle had it around 3000 rpm.