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Project Austin street gasser.

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  • Long time since I've been able to address the Austin's new engine and tuning. Been very busy with the new kitchen, but we're down to the end there, and I got a two week break while I wait for the granite counter tops to be built!
    Decided it was time to dive back into the new engine, and determine if I'd screwed something up. In reality the time away from it has been spent worrying about all sorts of scenarios like flat camshafts, or bad valves, etc. I pulled the valve covers on Sunday and put my dial indicator on each rocker to check lift. All were perfect, but popped the filter off and dumped the oil in a pan, just to look for metallic sparkles. It also looked perfect.
    I decided to watch things while I had the valve covers off, so prepared for a messy situation, and fired her up. I noticed right away that there was very little oiling going on at the top end, and checking pressure showed 50 lbs. at idle. I got my tools and while it idled I began loosening rockers until I heard the familiar click, then tightened them down until they were quiet. As I backed each rocker off, the oil began to really flow, and the engine idled better. Once I finished all 16 I had oil flowing freely, and engine rpm was up 300 rpm's! I let it cool and added another 1/4 turn of preload. Reinstalled the valve covers and took it for a spin. Had a minor miss that turned out to be a bad plug, so checked and gapped them all, and replaced the one bad plug. Runs perfect now, and I put quite a few miles on it Sunday with good results! Looks like it's ready for the big weekly cruise on Wed. night at PIR!

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    • Fantastic!
      So this means the lash was set too tight previously?
      There's always something new to learn.

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      • The cam was neutered by the lifters not being able to pump up correctly? Interesting....
        Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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        • I've had more trouble with lifters lately... misery loves company, so thanks for that Val
          Doing it all wrong since 1966

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          • Great build sir. I love this thread from purchase to start up. Especially all the innovations, challenges, and work-arounds. For those who are unsanely rich and farm out all their work, they miss out on the experience of hot-rodding. Yes, the shops are doing awesome work and there are beautiful cars being built so its good for the industry and our hobby. But, its stuff like this that inspires me to want to build another one.

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            • Yes, modern lifters are generally crap. I thought the Crower "cam saver" lifters were the higher quality, since the price would suggest it. But I noticed right off they had the same crappy wire internal clips, so I set valve lash tight, with lots of preload. It turned out I set them too tight, so backing them way off solved the lash issue. My concern now is still preload, as too little will cause the internals to top out against the spring clips and dislodge them at high rpm, which means they'll come apart. Having had this issue with several engines previously, I don't relish pulling the top end apart to replace broken lifters, bent pushrods, etc. I hope I have them set loose enough to work, but tight enough to not come apart. If I was smart, I would have swapped out all the spring clips for circlips when I was assembling the engine.
              I'm just happy it's running well, and hope it needs nothing now for a long time! I actually got some time to do more sanding and body work on the Falcon yesterday. It's great to be away from the remodel, and back to what I really love!

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              • The drive to and from the Wed. night weekly cruise went great! Finally happy with the way the new engine is running! Definitely has more go than the 327 did, although I haven't pushed it over 3500 rpm yet. Seems to have great off idle response and a stab of the throttle feels like a lot more torque. Cruising down the freeway at around 2500 rpm, it responds really well to a little more throttle. Once I've got some more miles on it, and feel it's broken in, I can give it a thrashing to see how it runs out.

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                • This thing has got to be an absolute blast to drive! Enjoy it - here's to no more engine issues.
                  There's always something new to learn.

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                  • Originally posted by milner351 View Post
                    This thing has got to be an absolute blast to drive! Enjoy it - here's to no more engine issues.
                    Thanks! Yes, time to put some miles on it now!

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                    • 6 years later, and time to make a change on my Austin's seats!
                      Got a email notice earlier this week from Pick N Pull stating all bucket seats are on sale this weekend for $15 each! And Tool Kit members got the sale starting Friday! So figured I'd go look since I haven't been happy with my Jeep Smithy seats in the Austin for some time now. They're fixed, so no folding back, and padding is not much good. The only good thing I could say is they look period.
                      So off to P&P this morning, and grabbed a yard cart there to haul them out. First row I went down was Honda, and at the back I found a pair of CRV buckets with manual adjustment, in black leather. They looked good, but who wants to buy the first seats you see? So I wander off up and down rows to see if I can find any other black leather or vinyl seats, manual or electric. And of course I'm limited in space to a 22" wide seat to fit into my cramped quarters.
                      After an hour of running up and down rows, I give up and go back to the first seats I saw and pull them out. Super easy to remove, and I soon had them both on the cart. Both seats have adjustable backs, but driver's seat also has adjustable base for both angle of the base, plus height of the base. Just a great seat.
                      Of course they both have headrests that I'll need to pull off, and they have a center armrest that folds down, which might need to be unbolted, as it might make them too wide. I'll figure that out once I've got the old seats out.
                      I may need to modify my existing bases to lower them, or maybe remove existing bases and make new ones for the CRV seats. But once I've got the new seats in it should be a lot more comfortable on longer drives.

                      Not much of a picture, so I'll need to take a before and after as I go forward.



                      Last summer at the drags.

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                      • Sounds like a great score! Yes, please post pics as you go.

                        Dan

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                        • Will do Dan. I'm going to be glad to have an adjustable setback, and more padding. Just need to find the cleaners I bought at Tandy years ago when I cleaned my Suburban seats, and dressed them.

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                          • With warm, dry weather, I drug the new seats out of the storage, and began the cleaning. I'm guessing from the color of the cleaner and rags, this might be the first cleaning they'd gotten since 2006 when the CRV was new! I used some upholstery cleaner, and a scotchbrite pad on the worst, and then just towels and cleaner afterwards. The foam cleaner turned brown when it hit the surface, and the rags were not much use after a couple swipes. But they cleaned up nicely after some elbow grease.





                            I removed the armrest off both seats to get them narrower, and better looking. Then used the armrest pivot plate as a template to make up two cover plates to hide the holes left in the leather under the armrest pivots.



                            I'll spray these plates and the two bolts satin black to blend in with the seats later. I have some black leather dye leftover from Tandy Leather that I bought to do the backseat in my Falcon, and will dye these seats black, and spray the plastic parts black with paint, or vinyl spray dye.
                            I'll dye the headrests, but wont use them. Just store them in case they might be used later by somebody.

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                            • Gorgeous, clear 50 degree day today, so rolled the Austin out and pulled the front seats out. Then got one of the new seats to test fit. Discovered that they're high enough that my old risers wont be needed at all. And it looks like little or no riser is needed on them. I will weld a couple pieces of 3/4" thick strut across front and back, but only because I'd like to use at least two of the existing holes so I don't need to drill eight new holes in the floors.
                              I cut all 4 mounting points off the new seats, so the feet are all equal height for my flat floor. The 3/4" strut will return most of that, but don't need anything higher, or head room and seeing out the windshield would become an issue. I've got about 5"-6" above me now, but since I sit almost in the backseat, I have to use a traffic prism to see the traffic lights when I'm close to them.
                              I also discovered my measurements were not taking into account the window cranks in the backseat, or the trans tunnel! There's zero clearance between the tunnel and the seat adjusters, and zero clearance between the seat backs and the window cranks for the back windows. So if I want those windows open it will mean opening the doors first, cranking the window down, and then leaving the cranks pointed back at that point to clear the seats!
                              I knew they'd be tight, but the extra couple inches wider than the Jeep seats creates big issues I'll have to live with. If I situate the 3/4 strut off towards the outside of the car, it will gain me maybe 1/2" towards the center, and that will help a little. Darn car is really cramped inside!

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                              • Got the strut welded to the seats today, and painted up. Also got the seats dyed and the sealer put on to protect the newly dyed leather. Just sitting in the car for now, and only need to bolt them to the floor when I get a chance.





                                And Ed Iskenderian's signature on the dash when he was in it back in 2012.

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