1984 SVO Project - track car

[odmarco]

Had a couple of hours over the weekend to work on the car and pull the engine. Amazing how easy it is to pull the itty bitty engine as compared to V8's that I'm used to.

Also located a roller ranger cam and a 3G alternator over the weekend as a few of the small upgrades.

hope to start tearing into the engine next weekend.

[Bob Holmes]

Roller Ranger cam is a turd compared to a stock SVO. Its a truck cam. Only thing it has going for it is the rollers.

But, up to you. Lots of folks do it.

[odmarco]

Over the weekend with help from John we were able to pull the head apart and look at the internals of the engine. Cross hatching is still visible in the cylinder walls which i hear is typical for SVO blocks. The bearings were somewhat worn, but nothing too bad so just going to do crank & rod bearing change. Car would smoke at startup, found that it had the typical valve guide seals that were not working, replaced them last night with:
Intake: E7ZZ-6571-B
Exhaust: E7ZZ-6571-A


This weekend while at a newly opened yard i found a volvo intercooler for $20; its larger than the ecoboost ones i have seen so will probably stick with this one. New bearings should be here today; with a bit of luck i'll have the engine back together by the weekend.



Cleaned up the valve cover; going to paint it.


Test fitting the Volvo intercooler:

[milner351]

Will KMJ let you exchange the aluminum radiator for a smaller one so you can use that giant volvo intercooler?

[odmarco]

Not sure yet; just about to order the small one. Was going to put the first one on CList to see if anyone wanted a universal fit fox mustang radiator for $150.

[odmarco]

Pulled the mains last night and replaced the main bearings and the rod bearings. Took a quick shot of what they looked like, after 95,000 miles the front bearings were pretty worn. Will take a picture of the bearings themselves later. Helps explain why i was only getting about 10psi per 1000rpm. Crank is back in; going to plastigauge tonight to check clearances.

New smaller radiator also came in. If anyone in the local Michigan area is looking for a radiator I'm selling the 28" one that is too wide for the front mount intercooler.

[Beagle]

It's funny to see one like that with the pistons still in the block - something you can't do with a V-banked engine.

[milner351]

Beags - we've done it! In fact we did just that on the 302 in Marco's wagon! Push all the pistons to the top of the bores, and with two guys - you can R&R the crank with out pulling the heads!

[Bob Holmes]

I'm sure you are aware of the issues with the aux shaft/dizzy gear. You don't want in excess of 10 psi / 1000 rpm. I'd use the updated M127 pump, not the M86 varieties, and you should certainly shy away from the high pressure/high volume pumps. The M127 is a bolt in, but you'll need to modify the pickup.

Carefully inspect your gear teeth before you reinstall. If they are thinning out, they you are on the road to disaster. There are some stocks of NOS aux shafts, you'll have to inquire on SVOCOP.com. When it comes to dizzy gears, I'm not thrilled with the quality of the aftermarket stuff, but I've cryo'd some and am waiting to see if they hold up.

The oil pump drive system is the Achilles heel of these engines.

I hope you are going to run an accusump.

[odmarco]

Nope, not aware of the issues w/ the dist/aux shaft. Just planning on keeping stock parts for now.

[odmarco]

Just checked the clearances, all good and within spec w/ the new bearings. Installed the head. Waiting on a few seals from the parts store to install the oil pan; hope to have them tomorrow.

New radiator will be a tight fit, but should fit ok w/ the front mount intercooler.

[langleylad]

That is going to be a tight fit ! put the hoses on the intercooler and test fit again .

[odmarco]

Had a major thrash session today. Finished assembling the engine, checked oil pressure by running the aux shaft w/ a drill - plenty of oil pressure! Dropped the engine back in the car. Installed new flywheel and clutch assembly and installed transmission from the bottom.




Steering rag joint was my second stock part, upgraded to the rubber one this time.





Since the stock trans mounts and crossmember mounts were as stiff as new marshmallows, I upgraded to polyurethane.


Test fit the radiator with the intercooler hoses, will need to mount radiator about 1" away from IC to have everything fit.




Also test fit the new brake ducting that I'm going to run; removed the Marchal fog lamps and the offset duct fits very well.

[langleylad]

I don't think I've ever installed an engine with the hood still in place . Good work .

[Beagle]

you can lean a Fox hood straight up I was thrilled to find out.