Ongoing Progress

The new engine parts are slowing arriving. The NEW roller rocker arms arrived today and they are MUCH superior to the ones we had. The NEW roller solid lifters are scheduled to arrive tomorrow (and if they do what we think they will, that should be a major step forward).

 

I didn't realize it, but when you order high performance head gaskets, they only come one to a package, rather then a set. So when the package arrived the other day and only one was in the parts box, I panicked. I called Jeg's and she said I got the very last one they had and that some more were to scheduled to arrive yesterday.

 

One head is back on the engine and the other is waiting the second head gasket. 

 

The push rod set is also back ordered and I only need two of the 12 (but will put all new ones in and keep the others for spares).

 

Today I sent an e-mail to Jeg's asking if they could give me a status on the backorder. About a 1/2 hour later the phone rang and Holley from Jeg's said she was about to leave for the day, but thought we should talk before she went home. She said she wasn't really sure when those parts would actually be coming in from the two factories, but she said the first thing she would do for us is call the factories and ask them to DROP SHIP them directly to us (avoiding the hop to the Jeg's warehouse). The parts are available at the factories and can be ship immediately to us. No extra cost to us and we should have them semi quickly.

 

I thought that was EXCELLENT customer in and I didn't even have to suggest it. Holley said, I know your panicking and we are here to help you. COOOOL.

 

Today I cleaned the fresh water tank in the motorhome and started loading gear (life jacket, drivers suit, helmets, lifting slings, etc.). Yesterday I had the motorhome propane tank filled. Getting closer and closer. YIPPEE!!! And I mailed in our registration for the race. So I guess we better go!!!!!!!

 

Today's engine surgery has been cancelled. Last night I feel I found another solution to the solid roller lifter clearance issue. I was doing a google search last night and I found that Crane Cams sells a solid roller lifter that has higher retainers for certain V6 blocks (ours). They have been ordered and should be here Friday. The retainers are higher and should provide more then enough clearance between the block and retainers.

 

The heads are back from the machine shop and I can start installing them (except one head gasket arrived today and I need two, it is now back ordered and should be here the first of next week (dang).

 

The Zoomies will be done by tomorrow.

 

All the necessary engine parts and corrections are on track for resolution (new push rods, new roller rocker arms, new solid roller lifters and 6 new intake valves).

 

We raised lot's of whoa big boy from numerous sources when I mentioned we were going to try to machine the block with the engine still assembled. LOL

 

The total correction for our engine opportunity has been diagnosed by Dr Scott Purcell and his expert machinist. Surgery is scheduled for 9:00 am tomorrow. Re-assembly will be when the rest of the parts get here and the machine work is complete. Maybe if we are lucky another test firing next week or the next one.

 

We are junking the self aligning roller rocker arms and procuring ALL new ones that do not self align. I installed valve guides for the push rods and when you do that you don't need self aligning roller rocker arms. I thought I was doubling up on safety, but turns out I caused a problem.

 

So they are on order and will be here later this week.

 

The heads are out being modified to lift the intake valves .020" to allow more clearance for the roller rocker arms.

 

The headers are out being ceramic coated to get around the flaking high temp paint that didn't like the 500 degrees the headers were when we ran the motor.

 

Tomorrow, Scott and I will grinding .050" of the top of the lifter galley to make MORE clearance for the Roller lifter retainers. The retainers are banging against the top of the lifter galley (circle in the photo). This is a double problem because it doesn't allow the roller lifter to stay in constant contact with the camshaft (bangs the heck out of the lifter and retainer).

 

The attached photos are at the top of the motor where we have to get down inside the valley and grind the tops down, The blue roller rocker arms are being replaced (all 12, not just the two blue ones). The last photo is the roller lifter with the retainers, you can see it is sitting FLAT on the lifter galley, that is the area were we will be grinding to get more clearance and the retainer will NOT be touching anything.

 

Clean up all our debris and then get ready to put the motor back together. We will re-assemble without the intake manifold on, adjust all the valves and then turn the motor over to make sure all our clearances are what we want.

 

After all this, the engine should be good to go again for another test firing and continued break in.

 

The current version of the N-22 PowerPoint presentation has been posted on the vintage site. Pretty cool to show off the old girl.

 

If you have PowerPoint, just hit the here button, then it will down load and GO. If you don't have PowerPoint, you can download a FREE PowerPoint slideshow viewer and it will work great and not load the whole PowerPoint software.

 

Two of the three movies can be accessed from the last page (it says YouTube URL's)

 

http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/bolams_express.html

 

If you pretend your a camel and poke you nose under the tent on the vintage site you can see lots of history that is being preserved all over the nation and even the world. Lots of interesting (for most of us) hydroplane history out on this superb site.

 

Some of you have seen some of this, I'm just trying to make sure anyone who might be interest is keep informed. If at any time you wish to be less informed, just let me know.

 

Del Corey, Kathy, Scott Purcell, Scott's employee Jerry and I did the first engine test today. THANK YOU GUYS. That is/was special to have the necessary help.

 

NOW, do you want the good news or the bad news............. we did the engine test today, over all it went pretty good except the guy who did the sanding of the deck, installed the fuel pump, cut the threads of the water in fittings and did the wiring, should update his resume.... ME!!!!!!!

 

Now to explain the above. I sanded for 17 hours and I thought the deck was a flat as a bread board, after the clear was put down, it shows that it isn't perfect. Then we first tested the water in to see if we had any water leaks in the motor - it didn't but it did have two leaks before the water even got into the engine. FIXED that, the put some fuel in and found that the same above mentioned guy installed the fuel pump backwards, FIXED that and then found a small fuel leak at the carburetor - FIXED that.

 

Finally got to the point where we could fire the engine - except the same above mentioned guy didn't wire the wire that goes between the distributor and coil. FIXED that and it was time to LIGHT the candles up. It sounded great....... STRONG. We ran the motor for around 5 minutes.

 

Did some minor adjustments and fired it up again for another 3 minutes, but heard some in-correct noise. We decided to check the valves and jets and spark plugs. We found we were running a little LEAN, so I changed the jets up two sizes and we were adjusting the valves when Scott discovered a problem with TWO rocker arms (the same guy that did all of the above adjusted two rocker arms incorrectly (2 of 12) and it did some damage to the end of the two rocker arms (I will need to install two new ones now when I put the engine back together).

 

Everything has now STOPPED. I will now have to remove the two cylinder heads, take them back to my machinist and have six of the 12 valves replaced with longer valve stems (.020 longer). Then re-install the heads and then Scott is coming over to the house to help me adjust the valves correctly.

 

It is a minor setback and I should have the motor torn down by tomorrow and get both heads up to the machinist for work. Scott says we will be at Moses Lake heck or high water... We might be down for about a week or week and a half. I still have to order new gaskets.

 

The attached pictures are from today and the YouTube video is from today (Harold you mentioned you might put a 1981 picture out on the website, beside a 2009 picture, will one of these work, or do you want the center cowl on also).

 

If you want to watch the YouTube video it might take a little while to load, but I think it is worth it. Turn the volume UP and the smoke you see it the paint on the headers burning. I will making a change there also. They will be going off to the powder coater and they will be ceramic coated....

 

Oh, by the way, the bad noise you hear at the VERY end of the video is the flywheel hitting the motor mount. We have now fixed that opportunity also....

 

Pre-race bugs - one by one being worked out.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__WsX6vA4U

 

Here you go, pre LIGHTING pictures. I installed the shim between the starter motor and engine block. Boy oh boy was that fun to do with the engine in the boat, but STUBURN Bob got it.... LOL

 

The trailer was put up on the tilt and the fuel loaded (20 gallons of Renegade Racing 110 octane fuel and 20 gallons of premium Chevron 92 octane).

 

Scott Purcell thinks we may want to run 3/4 Renegade and 1/4 premium. And maybe pure Renegade during the break in. We well run the engine about 20 min (hopefully), get the heat up and break in the camshaft, cylinder walls and rings and bearings.

 

When it cools down, re-torque the head bolts and call her READY for battle @ Moses Lake.... YIPPEE

 

Two years and a lot of help from Many, Many friends and family. THANK YOU to all. She doesn't look to bad for 28 yrs old.

 

Okay folks. Wednesday @ 1:00 pm will be LIGHT UP day. We will be taking the boat over to Hayden Auto Repair so that Scott Purcell and I can do the prep work (check for water leaks, check for fuel leaks, check fuel pressure). If those things are good, then we will light it up for twenty minutes (hopefully).

 

Today I have to put a shim in the starter motor to get more clearance and to let the bendix drive retract.

 

Put the boat up on a tilt and load the tools, fuel and then sit impatiently around for Wednesday to arrive.

 

If I'm successful, we will be taking a video of the test and I will attempt to post it on YouTube.