Assembly (continued)
The bulk of the goodies I had ordered from PAW arrived august 2000, and the rings and some other back-order stuff arrived in the last week of november. I soon found out the idiots had sent me a Chevy ring set, which could have worked, if they had sent me the RIGHT oversize, which of course they hadn't. By now I was mad. really mad.. so I sent them a fax, complimenting them with their math skills, and telling them I wanted my money back. Luckily they did send me a refund. This still left me without piston-rings... Fortunately I had read on Moparts (and on Moparchat) that Mancini comes highly recommended by a lot of people reading these boards, so I gave them a call... Do you stock 0.020" oversize 318 rings ? I asked. Sure, they said, and 10 DAYS later an airmail package arrived, with the right rings. Go figure: 10 months versus 10 days. So, now, Januari 2001, I can fiiiiiiiiiiinally continue my 318 buildup.
| In the meantime, I had at least managed to put the crank- and camshaft in. Here's some pics..
When dialing in a camshaft, you must first find exact TDC on the #1 cylinder, so I mounted the first piston (without the rings), and took an exact measurement of the depth of the piston in the bore, and took a degree wheel reading. I then turned the crank past TDC, to the exact same piston depth, and read the degree wheel again. Exactly between these two readings is TDC. I had to repeat this a few times, but finally zeroed in on TDC within half a degree or so. Then I put both lifters in, and put a dial-gauge on them. I started turning the crank, until the gauge read 1,27mm (0,050"), and took a degree-wheel reading. I continued turning the crank untill the gauge read 1mm before max lift, and 1mm past max lift. In between these positions is the lobe-center (...on a symmetrical lobe). I continued turning the crank, until the gauge read 1,27mm again. I measured this about 3 times per lifter, to rule out reading errors etc. I did find out that putting the keys in the standard slots, and lining up the dots does NOT suffice. On my Cloyes timing chain+gear set the machining tolerances of the keyways are not accurate enough. I had to use the "retarded" keyways, to get everything lined up according to the cam-card. Now everything is within one degree... |
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