Derek's 308 engine rebuild

Thanks Wayne, I couldn't feel any play in the crown wheel and it spins very smoothly so I will just clean up the hubs and put in new seals. The double lip viton seals are 8mm wide vs the original 10mm and given the position of the lip mark on the hub, both lips will be on the seal surface.

 

Will do Wayne. I think these seals have been changed before as there was a lot of white RTV silicone on the splines and a bit of pitting at the ends of the splines, probably from the acetic acid in the silicone. Many have suggested the usual black RTV is not good with synthtic gear oils so I'll pick up a tube of the gear oil silicone.

 

I measured the diff end float (axial play) and both sides were around .017" (.43mm) which is ok (thanks Sean.) I have two double lip seals from my Superformance gasket set but they are nitrile rubber and the outer dust lip is too far out and will ride on the rough curved back of the hub and might pull the main lip open and cause leaks. If you use these seals I suggest cutting off the dust lip. I ordered viton single lip seals locally for $30 each but they are cheaper from Ricambi and others.

I had a hot sunny day yesterday so spent a few hours painting various bits and pieces including the trunk which had been sand blasted and primed with zinc chromate. I used silver barbeque paint which should help a little bit to reflect heat I repacked the trunk with the same rock wool that came out and will use it between the various layers as original but will put a couple of layers of more space age stuff on each side of the fibreglass panel.

I did a test assembly of the starter with head and header (exhaust manifold) in place and luckily there was over 10mm between the manifold and the solenoid. I have some thin polished stainless offcuts so may make a heat shield for good measure. My rods/pistons are ready so I will pick them up tomorrow and start the final assembly. My 2nd synchro is on the way from Europe.

My new adjustable cam pulleys were made with teeth that were 0.6mm too high so I am looking into getting new ones made. I saw the problem in the samples sent and told them plus sent the correct tooth profile but they made the big order with the same teeth! Cutting off 0.6mm in a lathe is easy but the teeth tips need the correct radii. Anyone have a 4-axis CNC setup and some time to radius the tops?
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Those sniffer tubes are all blocked and several blasts with carb cleaner and twisting a wire down the holes produces lots of carbon crap. Any suggestions. I'm thinking a sharpened speedo cable in a drill?

 

It has been great having some help the last 3 days from Matt who reminds me a lot of myself when I was 22 (except that he is smarter, knows more about cars than I did then, and has better hair!)

I picked up some nice forged SSR 17x8" wheels last night and think they will look great (reminds me of Pizzaman's 550 wheels on a 308.) It will mean a big improvement in tire choices and cost. I also like the fit of the 17" wheels in the 308. They are from a BMW so I'll make some adapters.

We played around with some straps (hose clamps) on the bumper shocks as I want to pull the 5mph bumpers in a bit for a more original/Euro look without drilling and destroying them. You have to keep the worm screws outside the body as they will not fit through the holes at the back. The solution was to use one 6" clamp and one 2" clamp. Look in the ducts/HVAC section of your hardware store. I used my trusty home-made valve spring compressor clamp to compress the shock to be 1.75" shorter as suggested by Brian (Thanks.) We ground some shallow flat grooves for the band to sit in the rounded inside end. 8" clamps would work but I couldn't find any locally.
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One of the other things we did yesterday was fitting the Daemar viton diff seals (a bit more of Canada to take with me along with the NTN viton seal can drive bearings.) I didn't take any photos but we followed Birdman's DIY and it all went smoothly-- except me trying to put the seal carrier on with the internal channel pointing up as directed, it wouldn't fit (luckily) and I eventually realised that the gearbox was upside down.

The seal goes into the carrier a bit further than flush with the outside. As Birdman says, flush with the inner edge. I cleaned the sealing surfaces with scotchcbrite, used Permatex Motoseal on the seals, splines and threads, and put some rods through the flange holes to lock the flange when torquing the big bolts. We also rebuilt one drive shaft CV joints but I only had two boots so have ordered a lot more parts including two more boots from Superformance.

 

The seal OD is probably fine but you do have to seal the splines-- either on the splines themselves, or under the washer, preferably both.

 

The front bumper shocks were not as easy because the bolts that mount them to the frame are vertical, not horizontal like the back. This puts the holes in the shocks where the clamp strap would go. I filed the slots off-centre and the straps worked fine. The good thing with this method (apart from being reversable) is that I can adjust the in/out position of the bumper with a screwdriver.

At the back I will use screws instead of rivets for some of the panels so that I can access the shock if needed.

My parts from Superformance arrived fast (as usual) and so did my $200 genuine ZF ...570 synchro. I will compare to the original ...278 ring and post some pics later.
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The last few days have been warm and dry so Matt and I have been pressure washing, soda blasting, prepping and painting everything we can before the forecast rain later this week. Matt's Spitfire and enthusiasm are fun to have around.

We moved all the engine parts from my basement back to the "dead forest" garage that I am borrowing from our kind neighbour. I would not be able to get the assembled engine up the stairs so the final build has started!

Matt did a final clean of the crank while I did the block and first job was final adjustment of the thrust bearings. Instead of using 5 thou one side and standard the other, I am lapping the backs of the 5 thou set on a pane of glass with 600 water paper to get the correct thickness and clearance.

The rods were resized and pistons honed for the pins by John at West Carleton. He had done my 347 block/crank for my tiger and everything was perfect as always.
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Brian, I can't remember if I have the spacers-- I don't recall seeing them. There were some aluminium shims (2-3mm thick) on one side and a square rubber pad on both sides.

THis is the view from the side with 232mm long shocks at the back. I will adjust the length with a screw driver once the car is back together.
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So the ZF ...570 synchro ring is the same as ...278. Fits fine and gives a gap of 1.2mm new (mine was at .55 and the service limit is .40). As Brian had advised, the outside of the ring and the cone are square with the new ring. I think I will buy a few more while stocks last even though I doubt this car will ever need another (I hope I'm wrong and these cars are driven for another 37 years!)

I picked up 5 quarts of Redline MTL and have started reassembling the transmission. Let me know if you need any measurements or photos of how it goes back together.
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Dave, despite some nay-sayers, I think this is a good idea. Ferrari actually put a groove into the other side of the 1st/Reverse shift shaft to solve this problem but for some reason they did not provide relief for the hydraulic/pneumatic lock on this side where it goes into a blind hole. Since mine was apart it is very easy to drill the hole (see pic.) If you want to do it with the transmission side cover in place you have to use a sharp drill, drill slowly and pull the well-greased bit out every few turns to clean the swarf off the bit as you don't want any going into the box. Make sure the car is in first (not reverse.)

I can take some photos of the angle which would work for an in-situ drilling if the picture in the article is not clear.
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Very happy with the look of my rebuilt clutch. Tribco kevlar disk and both surfaces ground for $300. The guy I bought the SSR rims from has the same disk in his M3 (also from Frank at Ottawa Clutch) and is very happy with it.
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I used a gear puller and an appropriately sized socket (pushing only on the sleeve) to pull the old TO bearing off the carrier. I used two pieces of wood either side and a vice to press the new one on. It is the usual 6010RS aftermarket bearing which has been around for a while with no reports I could find of early failure. My original SKF bearing feels smooth and in good shape but I have no idea how old it is so thought a new one would be good insurance. The seal from the bellhousing into the drop gears showed signs of some leaking. Probably worth changing anyway while you are in there.
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My son Alex helped lap and measure, lap and measure... the thrust washers. We set the end float at .005" and made the clutch side washers .003" thicker than the front washers so that the crank wears towards the central position with pressure from the clutch.
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I finally found a smooth oil pan for my early E-type today so spent some time touring the countryside to collect it. Still looking for some SU carbs in case anyone has or knows of some (I have a period Weber 45 setup to trade.)

I had numbered and measured all the ARP rod bolts when they arrived so just did a quick check to ensure they weren't over-stretched when the rods were re-sized. All good. Worth keeping track of as to err is human. I put the Total Seal rings into the pistons and will try to get the long block together tomorrow. I will do a test run with the old head gaskets and playdoh on all the pistons just to do a final clearance check (I only tested one cylinder before.)
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Alex took a picture of me getting started on the reassembly this morning. I find it easier and less risk of forgetting something if I do the tasks on the whole batch rather than doing one complete piston group at a time. I cleaned all the big ends and rod bearings with carb cleaner to remove any oil from the machining or handling. You don't want any oil between the rods and bearings as it can reduce heat transfer and grip. When I press in the shells I slide the bearing back and forth around the rod or cap with my thumbs a little to ensure a good seat and feel for a good fit. If a bit of lint from the cloth or tiny bit of dirt is between them, you will feel the difference.

Once all the big ends and bearings were cleaned and pressed in, I put some assembly lube on all the bearing surfaces and some ARP lube on the threads and nut faces. Then before I put each piston into its hole, I checked the ring gaps to ensure they were oriented as per the Total Seal instructions. I managed to get half the pistons in before we took advantage of some sunshine and headed for the hills.

I found this purple alkaline cleaner good for removing aluminium oxide. It reacts with the oxide and foams while a good scrub with a nylon brush for 5 minutes works the dirt off. You can only leave it on a few minutes as it also eats the metal surface.
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I use assembly lube just in case it's a while before it starts up. Oil would slowly run down into the sump. I'll run some zinc additive in the oil for the first 30 min and then change the oil/filter.