The Saga of my First Stroker -- and some restoration...

[josh817]

So I'm bored this summer night... Decided to think of paint jobs...

 

I wanted like a dark blue with 2 silver stripes and a silver "240z" logo on the door but its too much work and may not turn out how I would like it. I was also contemplating a grey car with white-ish grey stripes... Don't want red (unless its very dark), green, orange, or yellow... White and black seems good too. The car is already white so that helps.

 

Take a gander at my rough work in Paint... I would also like the "240z" logo on the hood, or maybe right behind the rear wheel near the side marker.

 

 

Check out that copy and past on the bottom picture. I'm a pro at this Paint thing... XD

[Daeron]

Were you aware that the location of racing stripes was functional? The outside of the driver's side stripe, and the inside of the passenger's side stripe, are supposed to be placed so that when the driver looks at the point where the lines disappear from his view, he is seeing the point on his visual perimeter of the vehicle that corresponds to where the outside edge of his tire is compared to the edge of the road. The line of the stripe describes the line of the car onto the track ahead.

 

I mention that because if you do the first pictured idea, you might want to opt to change that border from the hood edge to the "racing stripe" location, just for functionality and conversation-ability.. "Oh, yah I did that for a good reason.. Come here and watch..."

[josh817]

Well, didn't get done what I wanted to today but thats alright because I had to prep the block and crank and stuff so they don't get all rusty and nasty while I finish some things up... All I need left are bearings, gaskets, and that head gasket. Bearing and gaskets come in a day from O'Rileys and the head gasket should come in within the week since Courtesy Nissan is right here in DFW. This will give me time to port and polish, finish my rods, and have them sent off to the machine shop for pistons and put the head back together. Head looks excellent by the way, wish it didn't have to be taken apart. Machine shop bill was $323 for everything, minus the pistons being pressed on and take apart/rebuilding the head for me. I should be finished at around $400 for all machine work which really pleases me (granted I DID get a discount because I'm the son of the dad who has a shop and has known the man for 20 years). I'm not going to paint the block any other color, I actually like this iron color paint. I'll probably do 1 more coat just to square it away. Since I didn't do rods I managed to prep the block and crank and then everything that had the vat bath I sand blasted and then used the parts washer to scrub any imperfections off. Need to go get spray paint tomorrow before they start to rust. I honestly don't care what color they are, probably silver just to go with the block. Doesn't matter, this isn't a pretty polished motor by any means.

 

Pictures:

 

Six in a row makes it go baby!

 

 

Maybe I'm just picturing it wrong but it seems like the stripes would be wide apart. I do not desire spread out stripes. I desire close together, thick stripes.

Like that. And when I said grey with white-ish silver stripes, I was refering to this car.

[Dragonfly]

Was gone for a few days on vacation but I'm back now. Anyway I would like to say that the block looks great, I like the paint you have choosen. My block is painted in what is called "natural cast iron" which can be seen in the picture I posted earlier in this thread but I do like that lighter color "iron paint" though. Any way even though I have been somewhat nit picky on your build it is looking good and for what I am guessing your age is and the amount of money you are putting into it you are doing a good job and I think you are going to have something to be proud of when you are done.

 

If your dad happens to have measuring tools around you should do at least a partial blue printing of your build while everything is apart and easy to reach... but that is just me trying to put more work on you.

 

Dragonfly

[josh817]

Thanks Dragonfly. :]

 

What sort of measuring tools are we speaking of? He has a lot of stuff that just blows my mind... he also makes stuff, very inventive when he needs a solution to a problem.

 

Good news:

Theres a dyno just down the street from the shop and every last Saturday of the month or something they have $35 for 3 runs which is cheaper than ****. That will be on my list of things to do at the end of summer when I slowly get everything in, MSD, finer tuned carbs, etc.

 

Bad news:

Courtesy Nissan did not have the "Out of stock" sign posted on the site with the head gasket... Instead I was told today (day after my order) that they had a shipment coming in soon... This may in fact be the final blow to me... Waiting for money, and now a head gasket will be the cause of my fall back I suspect. Not to mention I have to get threaded inserts too for solid lifter conversion. I wish I knew what hardware store Big Phil went for his. The video he made about the conversion said he would post it but he never did, rather he forgot. Now I'm going to a place called Time-serts thanks to some guys on here to point me in the right direction.

[gjc5500]

looks good man. i just wanted to chime in on the clutch thing. a puck clutch is way over hyped(quoted from my manual trans class at uti) the reason for this is that theres less surface. maybe theres a reason that F1 drivers use Non-puck clutches. maybe a multi-disk clutch would be better. just going by what ive learned.

[josh817]

Yah if I had to pull a reason out of my butt right now not knowing anything I think it would be because of the material and the way it drips. Too much surface area may not workout well? I have no idea.

 

Do a search under ebay motors for "280zxt clutch" there is one in there thats like a triangle, very strange looking in my opinion. If they had typical looking clutches for the performance I need then I guess I'd take it. Doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it does its job.

 

Better yet here:

 

Then again who am I to speak. I've already shown my knowledge on clutches in this thread. XD That would be 0.

[josh817]

Alright dudes I just got done talking to a guy who needs some hydraulic parts for a head. I need solid lifters and we were talking about trading some stuff but little do I know about these things, apparently the rocker arms are different from solid to hydraulic. The way the stay on the lifter.

 

Heres my question: Can I use just solid lifters on my head (knowing I will probably need inserts to make them fit) or will I have to get the rocker arms from a solid lifter head too?

 

The solid lifters have that little clip to hold them on. Hydraulics have them too? I can't remember from my head and I'm trying to look at crappy pictures to see... Won't be at the shop until Friday.

[josh817]

Alright so here we go dudes. Just spent Friday-Sunday at my dad's and we went to the shop every day roughly 12 hours each day. Got tons of junk done.

 

The list of things that are done:

-Finished polishing rods

-Sent them to machine shop to be shot peened and have pistons pressed

-Picked up taken apart head from them and it looks great

-Took the head studs from an E88 and put them in my new head so I can match up the ports

-Dropped off the radiator to be flushed and fix all the bent fins

-Dropped off the starter because the teeth on the gear are fargled

-Chopped off the 2 1/2" collector on the header, I'm doing 3" exhaust

-Sent the header on its way to be ceramic coated (guys please, don't rap your pipes. The wrapping will collect moister and hold it right up against the metal... ceramic coating is $150, polishes to look like chrome and keeps its shine all the time, and the difference between no ceramic and ceramic is 1500ºF to 370ºF, just do it.)

-Sand blasted and parts washed all the hardware and they look brand new, really pleased me

-Painted all the stuff that comes off the motor cherry red

-Took apart the other 2 heads (I need the solid lifters from one)

-Organized all my crap so when its time to put things together I know where it is

-Because I'm not replacing the oil pump (chill dudes it worked a month ago it will work now) I checked the clearances and polished the gasket faces. Wasn't going to buy a water pump either but it froze up

-Placed my FINAL orders for parts. bearings, gaskets, water pump, timing chain are all on their way. Thats $211 and then I have to find money to pay for the last machine working ($100), radiator work (probably $75), starter work (they're expensive bastards, $80), ceramic ($150) and then I should be completely finished.

 

Now I am squealing for a couple of extra bucks so I'm going to be selling all my paintball gear and spare parts on ebay. Whatever is left after I finish this motor will go to 2 new tires. My front tires are good but the rear... well we all know how that goes. I want to put on my new wheels so what I'll do is switch the fronts onto the new wheels, send them to the rear, then buy 2 new tires for the front and have them put on the other 2 new wheels. They're slick looking Celica wheels but thats my opinion.

 

 

 

Now time for another the trick **** moment, for cheap people. I wasn't going to buy a fancy new harmonic balancer but the old one looked alright... Only a little bit of break down from the little rubber piece in the center. Guys, if you are having timing problems or some rattling up front be sure to check that damper. When the rubber corrodes the inner ring will start to slowly rotate within the outer ring. Well on both l24 and l28 dampers the inner ring has holes drilled to balance. If the inner ring rotates, then you're throwing your motor off balance. Z garage discusses this problem. But even worse for some people (especially the racers) if you check your timing daily before your sessions or whatever, and the inner ring has moved you're timing will be off, that is, if you use the notches on the damper. Kas Kastner, vintage Triumph racer and team owner of the 80's prototype Nissan wrote in his book about this problem. With the TR6 racing and RPM's into the 7800's he wrote how one of his team members noticed the car was 300rpm's lower and lack of power. They rechecked the timing and noticed that it was 7º off due to the little rubber piece not holding. And don't go thinking it was some old damper, these dudes were racing SCCA in the 70's and winning so they were the type that rebuilds after every race, and tunes the motor every morning of the event. Those dampers were new and still had that problem. So his solution was to drill a 1/8" hole from the outer ring, through the rubber, and into the inner ring, do it in the groove for the belt so its not visible. Now every time you time your motor, have a 1/8" rod and slide it into that hole. It should slide freely in and out of the hole. If it doesn't then that inner ring has moved on you and you now know what to watch out for. Kastner, years and years of racing under his belt for Triumph teams. Dad uses his books to unlock all the secrets to building a hot racing motor. Dad's a clever one like Kastner and I think there was an event going on a couple years ago where he helped some dude prevent heat problems with some tricks. Apparently Kastner liked this and now Dad is in one of his books or something. Weird how that works.

 

Enough talking, time for pictures.

 

Lovely red color. Block will stay silver, everything else red.

E88 with studs and solid lifters I snagged

New head

Blue marker was for x-ray crack testing I think. Save 2 valves for when I start porting this week.

Using a drill press with 1/8" bit on the damper. Oil that bit so you don't break it. :/

Clutch came in while I was gone. Looks good, surprisingly same color red too. Lets see how it performs.

The new wheels. Came with the car when I bought it so might as well right? They're nice and light too.

And check it out. Grampa's old helmet. More like a baseball helmet. Dinky piece of equipment...

 

Alright well thats all for this weekend. Hitting the shop 2 or 3 times this week so I can port and polish. I realized that I need more pictures of a sliced head to show where water is. The ones I posted were from the side but water isn't just above and below the port, its also on the sides so I need a top down view of the port. I'll do some searching.

 

After this I basically just bolt everything together and check clearances. very exciting!

[josh817]

I have neglected you guys in updates. Been working my butt off but something tells me I'm going to be just 1 day late and I don't like that at all. :[

 

Anyways I've hit the major part of the project, the head. I have been waiting on the intake gasket for a while now. Placed an order with Vicky Brit since Dad had some stuff to get too. Hit the over $1000 mark so we got free shipping. While I was waiting though I had a rough time finding bearings. Prices ranged from $30 to some ridiculous $150 for a set of rod bearings. I couldn't believe that out of all the places I looked, some had mains and were out of rods, some had rods and were out of mains, and the waiting list was like 6 weeks. Nearly **** my pants but O'Rileys had $30 rod bearings and we ordered some mains from my dad's friend who owns a shop and his orders come in next day. They were $30 but mark up is probably $60... I hope... I can't double the price just from mark up...

 

So my last visit we had main bearings, put the crank in and checked clearances with Plastigauge, everything was good so we bolted her in. We were surprised to see how tight they had the clearances though because when we went to turn the crank and it was a bit stiff compared to other motors. Dad was like o_O something isn't right but we triple checked everything and it was fine. I guess Nissan just some tight spec motors, winning motors. ! The days before hand I had spent the night with Dad to get 3 day weekends in at the shop. Since I didn't have my gaskets I started cleaning up the ports, filled in the injector notches with JB Weld and ATTEMPTED to do some work in the bowls of the ports but my god those things are a pain in the butt. I think I may half ass on the bowls just so I don't ruin anything on the head. In fact... I may just do them by hand with very fine sand paper which you use to polish stuff with. I received my order from Courtesy Nissan and the head gasket looks good. Where I'm going with all of this is that I unshrouded the valves and polished the chambers to an extent by hand. I'm not very confident with what I'm doing, especially on an aluminum head. I didn't like the air tools because they have a tendency to bounce around and last thing I need is to resurface the head and dent th chambers. Also by unshrouding the valves it lowers the compression and I REALLY wanted to stay at 10:1 but I'm probably looking at 9.5:1 seeing how much material was taken off to unshroud. By using fine sand paper and doing the work by hand I was hoping to minimize anymore material taking off. Took a while and its not perfect by eye, but as long as its smooth to the touch I'm fine, and it is very smooth to the touch. :]

 

Just to get an idea on where I am for port sizes I used my exhaust valve and slid it in the port. I doesn't quite slide in but a little bit more work and it could. The valve is 1.38". If any of you guys have a Sunbelt head or Rebello head, whoever actually, and they feel like seeing how big the redius is on the intakes, that would be lovely. As I progress I will get different cut valves. What I do is stick a LED light in the chamber and it shines through the port. Set the valve on the opening and you can see the minute contact places. Then you go back and open them up. Keep the port circular and even.

 

Pictures:

The LED thing I was talking about. Kind of hard to see.

Looking into the port. I don't have any drill bits that can fit well in those areas so I'm having to work with what I have.

The JB Weld. Its cleaned up now though.

You can also see the studs I put in.

Chamber work.

Finished chamber.

Again, hard to see... I didn't want the flash to shine back though.

Found a picture of my daddy from a long time ago. Never thought he had one.

 

I have until the end of this week to make it happen! Lets hope for the best!

[Quin]

Updates?

[josh817]

Sent the head back to the machine shop to put back together. Took the solids from my E88, and the Timeserts inserts so that they will fit in. The past 2 days I did my porting and it was nerve racking since its my first time and Dad doesn't know this head any better than I do. I don't have it with me now but I opened up the intake a couple of millimeters. I basically followed the picture I posted and made the opening of the port 1.565" from the original 1.35"... I was slightly smaller than 1.565" though because I thought that I would have to do much more sanding when it came to polish them out and I left 1mm of free space to work with. Being aluminum and that you really aren't gouging the head, it polished out quicker than I thought. 1.565" = 39.75mm or something like that so I'm sitting at around 38-39mm intake openings.

 

Now I stopped eating away when I reach the valve stem area. That picture shows it necks down and then you have the bowl. I kind of broke the rules by keeping the whole port uniform but I feel that to go from big to small in a nice slope is easier and takes less time rather than me trying to eat up the bowls and around the stem, probably ruining them too. I used a bit that looked like an inversed mace if you can picture it... Cylindrical bit and instead of having spikes it have little holes in it. Intended for wood but I didn't know that until Dad was like ".... hey if it works then thats great I guess." We do have some of the spiral looking bits but those things jump around ALOT and you wind up gouging. They also clog up with the soft aluminum and you have to go over to the wire wheel many times. The bit I used did clog up about 2 times per port but it cleaned up nicely in the wire wheel, unlike the others. It also didn't break somehow like the little ball point bit we had. Dad was baffled when it broke down the center of the ball because A: its a $30 bit B: Its going up against aluminum.

 

The exhaust was slightly different. I feel like I half-ass'd on it a little because I know exhaust will be forced out so the setup may not be the same as the intake. Then again I could be completely wrong, I don't know. I talked with some of the Z guys here that port but I know I'm not going to get any great information and for good reason, its like company secrets. If you noticed in the cut away pictures, they only show the water which is on the top and bottom of the port, but there is water running along the sides. This would mean you need the port to be sliced from left to right rather than top to bottom. I asked Monsterz who had posted pictures of sliced heads in the "How to fix cylinder #5 overheating" and he said he would go get some when he went to work but I have a feeling either he forgot, he didn't feel like sending them, he never went to work. XD However he did say that the walls were a uniform thickness in general. I used this, along with begging and praying, that I didn't hit water on the exhaust, or the intakes... I WAS going to match the intakes to the gasket but I saw that there really wasn't much to take off and I was thinking "I'll be damned if I do this in one day and have a motor that doesn't make any power." Dad kept insisting to just match and polish, and I'm not one to go against his word but I knew he said this because if I struck water then I'll be on the brink of crying like a little girl. When I started to match them up with the scribe I saw how addicting it is to keep taking more and more off but I had to set my limits and at least follow the picture.

 

Alot of the times I freaked out and just about took a huge dump in my pants because my head had some big casting seems and they are filled with little air bubbles. Basically every time you grind away the surface of the bubble it looks like a small hole for you're best friend, water. I am still worried about one after I finished polishing. I am telling myself it isn't water for 2 reason 1: there isn't water near the stem 2: I took my dental scribe and poked at it but the scribe didn't go in it, also if I had struck water the surrounding area would be soft and thin, and it wasn't. Lastly, I never took my bit down that far so it shouldn't be ground away any. I guess we'll see tomorrow when we get it back.

 

Ok so I wondered off from the exhaust ports but to keep it simple, because I did. I looked at the picture and asked myself, how do I know that this isn't a picture of the smaller ports, because #3-4 exhaust are bigger. If I started opening them all up, the bigger exhaust ports may have less material and I would think otherwise. So basically I matched the other exhaust ports to the big ones. They're about 2mm smaller in width because I didn't feel comfortable with that much of an increase. I did however lower the floors on all the ports. The picture shows to did into the valve stem area but I chose the opposite and dug into the floor.

 

Pictures coming tomorrow.

 

The plan:

Friday - receive all parts, build a motor

Saturday - Dad is having a party at the shop and its dyno day so they will go do that and I will watch... :[ Can't really get anything done because guests will be all over the shop

Sunday - get Dad to truck the motor over, put it in and get her started up!

 

Everything is fine until Sunday. First off, I need to find an exhaust shop which will weld my pipes back on. I need to go in the same day so it may be hard to do. Secondly, Dad took 2 weeks to finally get his butt to the house and help me haul the motor off. Its going to be a Sunday so it shouldn't be like the other days but knowing my step mom, she's probably going to bitch about not spending enough time or something like that... Thirdly, a day to tune and work out bugs may not be enough. I would love to be optimistic but it is looking tight. I don't even know if my headers will be finished, he said they would be, we'll see.

[Quin]

Good luck man! Remember when you're breaking it in to vary the RPMS a lot, the way I do it is a good bit different than what most people here would recommend but I'll share if you wanna know it.

[Daeron]

Good luck man! Remember when you're breaking it in to vary the RPMS a lot, the way I do it is a good bit different than what most people here would recommend but I'll share if you wanna know it.

 

Are you a member of the "break it in by running it like a dog" school of thought that seems to be catching on???

 

If so, please PM me your experiences, I am interested in this concept and want to hear all I can hear about it, from as many people.. I have yet to hear a horror story about it, but frankly i haven't heard that much about it at ALL yet..

[Quin]

Not quite running it like a dog, but putting serious load on the engine vs babying it forever. I've used it with two 302s, both with perfect compression, an LT1 (SBC), although that didn't turn out so well (ended up with a BHG, completely unrelated) and I plan on using it in my Supra in the immediate future (unless I decide to part it out).

 

Thought I'd add something, this sort of break in was done for the first 20 miles or so, after that it was driven how the guys normally drive it (so, basically the same as the break in )

[josh817]

Well I'm going to baby it for 500-1000 miles. 5 fill-ups at the gas station. Keep it under 5k. During that time I can wait a while and collect more money for MSD and then a narrow band for better tuning of carbs. Right now I think we'll just set it rich and let it go for break in.

 

Today was ok, but more so of a huge disapointment. My plan was to build a motor. HAH! yah right, too busy babysitting the step brother. He's of the age where he's a little snot and doesn't understand the fundamentals of no money no food. With my step mom as some hotel hostess manager lady she doesn't rake in much money. With Dad unemployed, now self employed at his shop, working $45 an hour and makes like $10 from a $200 part for mark up, he doesn't do well either. So right now things are tight. The thought of a baby sitter hasn't struck their mind, mainly my step moms because she wants to baby him forever and ever... until they realize he isn't social at all and when little boys come up all curious and wanting to play, he sits there looking at the ground because he thinks he's like the only 4 year old in this world or something. When he does play he doesn't play nicely. As I am ranting on here, I am also ranting to my buddy. 3 points to make clear here:

1. This kid is spiteful. When we were trying to lift up a transmission, Dad is under a car benching this big hunk of crap and he's over here yanking and pulling on it, then he takes the dykes and tries to snip the radio wires. I'm saying no, Dad is shouting and when we get in his face he sits there, closes his eyes and smiles like yah whatever. We were baffled, what the hell is this, he's smiling at us like its a game, more like he knows its not a game and that its wrong but he doesn't care. I just don't know what to say. At the shop he likes to wonder off so we have this rule, tell us where you're going and its ok. Problem is, he never tells us. When Dad was out I got in his face and made it clear that he would tell me if he was going anywhere. Next thing I know I see him slowly walking out so I ask nicely where he was going. I get no answer but he knows I was talking to him because he looks at me, turns around and keeps walking. So I start going his way and he goes running off. No, I'm not going to chase a little **** through a parking lot, rather I'll watch him fall and scrape himself and then maybe he will think again. Then today I'm talking to Dad about the motor and he walks up with a block of wood and starts beating on it. Now I don't care if he beats his own toys, neither does Dad. If you're pissed, go tear you're own stuff up but when you start tearing other peoples stuff up, I have a problem. Especially if its $2000 worth of toys, $2000 which I have never had ever before. I was ready to go smack down on him. So angry.

2. He never learns. I will see Dad just smack his butt with his big hand and he'll cry, he'll get slapped for disrespectful things too, but he keeps doing them over and over again. He was talking with me because I have become more of a friend and like a go to sort of person than a son now that I'm getting older I guess and he is telling me he hates doing it but he won't let him take charge. He said it took Courtney (older sister) and I 1 slap to realize disrespect isn't allowed. From then on out we got the crazy eye from him and knew it was no more. He gives the crazy eye to Willie, and he gives it right back. Maybe he just thinks everything is a game but I don't see how that is a valid statement when getting yelled at and spanked isn't such a fun game.

3. I really think he is just there to make people angry and test them. I know little kids test their luck. The sort of thing where you say no, you look away but keep them in the corner of your eye and you see them slowly reaching over, watching you to see if they can get it. Yah, thats Willie, and yes he has done that several times. Numerous occasions I think gee its getting a little too quiet, I sneak in the office from the back and I see him reaching up for something. I'll say something like oh really and he immediatly reverts to the "I wasn't doing anything" line, even though I never asked what he was doing. Ok so thats typical but matched up with everything else he's done I swear he is going to grow up a mischievious dude. I'm worried about 3 more things though...

1... My step mom is very mellow, this is her first baby because the other didn't make it. Dad said don't piss in her cherios about it when she was pregnant, and I didn't but she is rightfully so very nice to him. When she sees Dad yelling and stuff she does nothing and its to the point where Dad is the punisher, and Willie will run to Mommy because Daddy will get him. Thats just wrong, wtf is that. I think she's even gotten to the point of making him think he's Bipolar because I saw a "How to deal with Bipolar Disorder" book on his bookshelf and I'm thinking are you kidding me. He's not bipolar, you're child is just crazy and its not easy for Dad because he was just getting use to me being 17, my sister being 21, and no more baby patience anymore. Now you throw in a baby and you have to go back down to its ok if something spills on the carpet and stuff, you're just a child. Now I have people making my dad think he's got a disorder because they don't know how to parent efficiently. I wouldn't say wrong because then everyone has their own way of doing things and this becomes a Dr. Phil moment.

2... With the way things are going, and he is a mischievous child, well thats just wonderful. Now we have someone out to go ruin the Barnard name. I'm a believer of generations to come and a name which holds true, no body insulting the family. He isn't helping with his disrespect, and dishonesty. He lies a lot and laughs about it too. Doesn't look good.

3... Dad is 49, Willie is 4. Last thing in the world we need is a strong teenage Willie running around being an idiot. By the time he is 16 Dad will be 61. I will be damned if he has the confidence to stand up to my father. I don't have the confidence and when I was hitting puberty and thought going on a rage was fine, he quickly cleared my head of nonsense. Rules were set in place, if you lift an arm, leg, foot, whatever to him or mom, I will be on the floor, and I will pay for my own dental bills. Take it however you want, but you won't do it. Also, you get one mess up, 2nd time you get kicked out, if you're such a big man, go out and live on your own. Honestly speaking, I think at 61 he will still be able to enforce the law of the land, but if he isn't I'm telling myself, age 29 then, I will become the punisher. I see him as an outsider and I have a feeling he does too. It appears the because of the way Willie is, and how he is somehow worse than my sister and I put together when we were little, Dad isn't so proud of him. Isn't much to be proud of yet but I remember he would always take me to events and be happy I was with him as long I wasn't doing anything bad. So really, as a son, if he somehow makes his way up to a level of defying Dad, he will have to think again because now you have me to deal with. I wouldn't do anything unless if it was dire though. I'm not the parent and I don't lay my hands on him but I do get in his face if he starts getting snappy at me but if he's a teenager and should know better, well thats a different story.

 

 

Ok so if you actaully read through all of that then good for you, this is the end of my rant and incase you haven't figured out yet, I didn't get jack**** done today. Put pistons in and thats about it... I was pissed because of Willie, and because Dad leaves at 7. He left after we sorted out things with gaskets. I ordered this set and I'm missing the right gasket for the timing cover. So I'm making my own here all pissed off at the world, Willie is getting in my face, and Dad is fixing to leave so I'm freaking out even more. He leaves and I go on to put some more gaskets in. It would be fine but thats too bad it isn't because some of the gaskets don't fit at all. You can tell they are meant for that piece but the holes are like off half way and I'm cursing at myself thinking... you know... out of all the things I bought I have only had the crank, pistons, head, and machine shop do it right. Everybody else has messed up. Everybody. I can't believe how I make a task for myself and it just falls apart because people can't do business. Some of it was fine, its hard to keep up with everything, but other cases it was like... you never told me my stuff would be sent back if I didn't pay for it up front... you told me to purposely wait until they came in so we can make sure its all there... <== O'Riley's. Just baffles the hell out of me.

 

The one good thing that happened today was I got my head back and get this... last payment was $35. I asked how much he wanted for pressing the rod, taking apart and putting back together/cleaning the head and he was like mmmm how does $35 sound to you? >_> Yah dude here! My total machine shop bill for this motor is $358. Is that not crazy or what?! When I left the shop I called up Dad. His phone is messing up and it cuts out so I just made it more of a statement than a conversation. Said I know you are having a party at the shop tomorrow but I left everything out because I can't get anything done, I don't trust myself without you looking over my shoulder so I'll be in at 8AM tomorrow. He said something but it was really messed up from the signal, but judging from his voice and mine, he knew I wasn't happy.

 

So thats the plan... Put on the head and the chain tensioners, time it, and we're ready to haul it off. If I don't make it happen tomorrow then I'm out of the game and my goal is a failure. It was worth the run though...

 

Pictures tomorrow.

[Quin]

Setbacks happen bud, just something to keep in mind. Better late than never, after all! Especially if it's just one day, on a fairly large project like this.

 

I'd make sure you weren't letting it run too rich, as that can be bad too. You seem like a smart kid, you might want to at least do some reading on the so-called Motoman break in method. You can find some quick reading on it here: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

I've had good results with it, friends have had good results with it, and it's been recommended to me by several builders with WAY more experience than either of us have.

 

Try offering your little brother a reward if he's good. Ya know, something like "Hey, I'll take you out to ice cream if you behave today" or whatever. Works like a charm for my niece, and she's a little hellion herself.

[josh817]

I'll read up on that! Do you think this motor is as beefy as your V8's though? We try offering him stuff, but in the end he always gets it. Its a strange story. He will get yelled at, but like a dog, you can't yell at them all day long otherwise they forget what they did wrong in the first place. So he gets it good with the yelling and what not for about 5 minutes, and then after that it just starts over again because Dad allows himself to cool off. So when he says "no milk for bed time!" either Willie will throw such a fit that its just like you better give it to him or no one sleeps tonight or he does 1 good thing and gets his milk. Seems almost like he knows he can be a brat the whole day, as long as he is nice 10 minutes before bed time or whatever, he will get it.

 

Oh well though, not my child, not my problem. There is a reason why there is the word STEP in step brother. Dad always says your brother but I make sure there is a gap there because no I won't go to his wedding, no I won't give him money if he may need it to pick himself back up, and no I don't live with him and play with him. My sister is my sibling, not him. I'm a grinch aren't I. >_>

[Daeron]

I hope you don't mind advice, but I come from a large family, that has been family friends with several other large familes (and have had good close personal friends from every stripe of family, too...) so I wind up having lots of advice for situations like this.

 

You yourself did paint the portrait of the family, withe the middle aged father who will be in his 60s when the apparently somewhat precocious son is in his teens; it is an awkward situation to say the least.. but think about what this poor kid has to deal with, AND the fact that he, at four years of age, has far less mental programming and experience with which to judge right and wrong. (btw, it seemed from your post that this child IS your father's son, right? sorry to be pedantic, just double checking)

 

He needs a buddy dude.I don't want to put a huge burden on your shoulders, but like it or not you ARE in the big brother position, and it would probably make life alot easier in your household if you kinda took a little bit of that role on... BUT (this is the fun part) you get to do that at YOUR discretion. If he earned it, he gets it. Eventually he will be basketball playing age, baseball, riding bicycles.. trust me, there are HUNDREDS of things that are SO much more fun to do with "the big brother whos really a grownup (or almost)" and when that privilege is granted rarely, it is held that much more appreciated.

 

And man, no, it isn't easy for those of us who had baby brothers of full blood, who we love dearly. The four men on this planet I've wanted to throttle more heartily than anyone else, are the same four men whose backs I want against mine when the excrement hits the air-conditioning, But trust me, there are things boiling over in my head about each of them as i sit here and try to put myself in your shoes.. and I also know they've got dirt on ME.

 

This kid WILL eventually get some sort of dirt on you man.. even if it is nothing more than knowing you and your weaknesses... if he is THAT crafty, do you want him on your BAD side??

 

Show him how to put lugnuts on wheels.. and use an impact gun he cant hold by himself, turn the air down way low, and let him hit the trigger against a deadheaded lugnut. To a four year old, thats cooler than using a machinegun. You can have this guy wrapped around your little finger in NO time, and the accomplishment in that is threefold:

 

1. Willie is less of a bother to you (a chore, but not the aggravating THORN)

2. Life is better for Dad, and by extension, for you, stepmom, big sister, and yes, even little Willie.

3. YOU get to be the one to throw your stepmoms book about Bipolar disorder in the trash.

 

 

And regardless of ALL of the above... just remember Willie in the future, any time you get together with a woman yourself, and plan accordingly for pete's sake. For YOUR sake.

[woldson]

Not like you asked but I would like to say:

 

I've been very inpressed with your build. You have handled critizium respectfully and humblaly. You have set goals and met most on time.

You've realized your strenths and questioned your weakness.

You have better attributtes then most adults that I know.

You seem like a fine man and I hope your build finishes with out much upset:)!

 

Take pity upon that child, he will approch life with a much heavier burden then you. A burden which was thusted upon him, not one of his own making.

You are not directly responsible for this burden, however, how you live your life may give that little fellow some hope. Do not give up on the dicipline and maby add a little compassion. Remember, he did not choose his parents or the way he was going to be rasied.

He will also give you great insight to what happens when you rasie children inproperly. When you have children IT IS ABOUT THEM NOT YOU!

Having children is the greatest responsiblity and most rewarding project you will ever endevor on in you life!

 

 

This advice is in relation to my belief that 99% of children are fine, yet 100% of rotten parents all think that they have the 1% of the bad children.