Cali conversion in split bus using CSP parts

[mark-s]

So the engine has been in for a while now, and I've spent a lot of time (and money!) getting the jetting sorted, and I think I'm nearly there. I had it on a rolling road but that was a complete waste of money, I think they weren't familiar with the engine and/or carbs and weren't prepared to do the research.

I got a zeitronix ZT-2 wideband to help me dial the jettng in myself. This has been a lengthy process, partly because a couple of things caused me to chase my tail for quite a while - the first was the 123Ignition distributor. This was just not working with the motor, and I tried to fix it with the jetting but it really needed a vacuum advance to help on progression. I eventually admitted the 123 was an expensive mistake and got a pertronix, immediately much better.

The second issue I had was the idle jets that came with the carbs. With the stock 50 idles it was way rich, switching to 47 made it undriveably lean, and 49 was a bit better but still lean. After swapping them out several times and trying different things, I finally realised that the 50s must have been reamed to a larger size. I tried 52 and things instantly started looking better. Still slightly rich, but I have (real) 50s to try next. There's a wideband thread on the samba where john from ac.net repeatedly tells people not to assume jets are labelled correctly. He's right.

The mains started at 115 and lean, so I've gradually been increasing them until I'm now on 135 and still a tad lean, 140s next!

[mark-s]

Resurrecting this thread for an update, 7 years later!

The engine went in and was great, it delivered plenty of power, and easily kept up with modern traffic which is exactly what I wanted.

A couple of things became apparent:
- It was loud! I put this down to a combination to the Vintage Speed exhaust - which is not even the high flow one btw - and I think the fan is turning at a higher rpm with the CSP pulley.
- The engine ran too cool. I installed a oil temp gauge and it never got to operating temperature.

I used the van for a while like that but then fell out of love with it a bit, I think I realized how much other work needs doing on the van, just got a bit disheartened.

Fast forward to this year, and while at the garage for the annual MOT test, it decided to spin #3 main bearing.

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This happened while turning it over to start, and is the only damage I can find. Oil is free from metal particles and everything else looks good.

As the parts are low mileage, I thought that getting it rebuilt would be straight-forward, but it's proving difficult. Paul who originally built the engine isn't doing it anymore, and I've been quoted £3600 for a rebuild at a place that would take a day to drive there and back.

I've decided to do the rebuild myself. Obviously this is risky but there are so many resources here and elsewhere, I'm reasonably confident I can do it.

First job: replacement case.

PXL_20240615_082345779.jpg

[Bruce.m]

Shame about the bearing spin. Any clues on the cause? Perhaps moisture in the oil (low temps), leading to a rust spot on the crank?

[Bruce.m]

Reichspeed machined a case for my brother which I’m assembling. Nice tight tolerance on the main bearings. So maybe worth asking them for a price?

Looking back up the posts, you extended the fan shroud for a type4 cooler? If you were running a thermostat & it was still too cold, you could try switching to a type1 cooler but that seems counterintuitive (perhaps right for a beetle / ghia, but not a bus)

[mark-s]

Shame about the bearing spin. Any clues on the cause? Perhaps moisture in the oil (low temps), leading to a rust spot on the crank?

Not sure yet, I haven't been able to get the bearing off yet because the timing gear needs to come off first, hopefully doing that today or tomorrow. What you say sounds plausible though, good call.

[mark-s]

Finally got round to measuring the case, these are the figures:

PXL_20240714_152234784.jpg

It looks like 1-3 have been align bored, and 4 is standard. Is that normal? Surely that means you'd have to buy 2 sets of bearings.

If it had been bored to +0.5, I'd expect the measurements to be 70.50, but they're all under. Is that a problem? Is there too much out-of-round?

[Piledriver]

The bores tend to collapse a bit side to side over time, add that measurement... center of the case/cylinder seats do same, which is why they typically need decked.

Used to be getting two sets of mains was cheap and no big deal, don't cut what doesnt need cut.

[mark-s]

So I had my micrometer set up wrong, which meant the bore gauge was wrong, everything was 0.5mm out. I'll freely admit that I'm a novice with these tools.

So after giving it another try, these are my measurements. I'm hoping these look pretty good and I don't need an align bore. The diagram showing what A and B refer to is on my previous post, C is the horizontal dimension.

PXL_20240718_202256032.jpg

[Bruce.m]

The original spec is 70.00-70.02 with a wear limit 70.03

[mark-s]

Yeah, I noticed that in the Tom Wilson book. I'm obviously doing something wrong

[Bruce.m]

If you are using telescopic gauges rather than a dial gauge, the former take a bit of practice. Also you need to check your micrometer against the “standard” it came with to allow for any offset due to temp / calibration. Easy to tighten down the micrometer enough to compress the bore gauge slightly. Also need to get the sweeping motion of the bore gauge right to get an accurate diameter & tool needs be smooth enough to hold that reading accurately.

[mark-s]

Thanks so much for the advice, that's triggered a massive lighbulb moment for me!

Your description is exactly what I'm doing and I have a bore gauge. I decided to document the whole process and in doing so , I think I realised what I've done wrong.

The bore gauge is needle is sweeping DOWN to 70mm setting, so until it reaches zero the reading is > 70mm. I've been thinking that when the needle is reading 0.02mm away from 70mm, I needed to subtract that value from 70mm, but in fact I need to ADD it.

I think the needle traveling clockwise confused my brain.