BBi Major +

Painted the transaxle and refitted to the engine, I used new O-rings and Locktite 515 sealer, I was very careful to have both components leveled to make sure the oil pump was aligned with the strainer fittings, still the last 10mm the engine stopped moving but before I could figure out what was happening it suddenly dropped smoothly onto the transaxle, I guess it was at the point where the three big O-rings slide into the oil pump.
I decided not to replate the hardware to avoid the risk of hydrogen embrittlement, so I had to get new nylock nuts, even though most of the bolts, nuts and studs are class 8, these nylock nuts are class 10 and I couldn’t find the type locally so I got them from Trut. I suppose the nylock nuts are class 10 to compensate that they are of the narrow type and some threads are lost to the nylon ring.
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Thanks Peter, so it is a production change on the later cars good, I was fearing it might be a “repair” but it looked too nicely made to be something anybody here would accomplish. I managed to “unseize” the bearing and will use chain lube on it as it is now operating smoothly and I really do not want to risk having the pins stuck after hammering them.

 

thank you for noticing, fixed it and installed new nylock nuts and washers.
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I installed the axle flanges on the diff, cleaned the parts with alcohol and used oil resistant rtv silicone on the splines. The manual states 12kgm for these but I searched around here and most of you use 9kgm? to be safe I tightened to 9kgm until I find more info as I know the wsm has errors,
For the side covers the manual spec is 5.5kgm but it lists 10mm bolts here? most 10mm engine studs spec is 5kgm, since it is threaded into aluminum I think I’ll go the safe route and tighten to 5kgm using new wave washers, opinions?

 

Sadly the car doesn’t run yet

 

It is a kill switch, which should be connected to the positive but I connected to the negative because it is easier and perhaps safer to route the cables. I copied the position from someone here on the forum.
Bought the cables on ebay from gaugewireandcable, you can choose color gauge and end terminal size.

The ideal spot would be on the center console but I haven’t come up with the courage to cut the original cable and drill holes in the tunnel and carpeting.

 

I know, it would hurt to cut things up. The switch is a flaming river and instructs to connect to positive, plus it comes with extra posts to ground the alternator to ensure the engine shuts off. Some euro sports and rallies also require positive cut off.

I also bought a Cold Fire engine bay system I have to install.

 

That is one cool setup, is installation within the scope of an auto tech?

 

Slowly progressing:
Had the flywheel resurfaced as it had rust marks, the markings didn’t match the AP clutch setup so I’m guessing the original clutch was replaced because it was stuck, (this car sat unattended for a long time) and they just didn’t machine it then.
Installed the flywheel using the ARP bolts Joe recommended, I asked ARP tech assistance if I should use them with the original plate or not (instructions say use no washers), the reply was to use the plate making sure there is enough clearance for the bolt chamfer, installed the bolts with medium strength threadlocker, arp lubricant under the bolt heads torqued to 70lbs/ft per instructions, the bolts where perfect because they are a little bit longer and the crank threads are deep enough to accommodate them, and they also have the same shoulder size.
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Did the cam degreeing thing, although I have the shims to adjust the gap to 0.5mm I decided to take the mathematical approach others have done and target the lift difference in .5mm minus valve lash. Reason for this is I think it is easier to find the spot this way as opposed to watch the dial start moving away a bit, this small movement can vary on each measurement and is worth a degree or two.
I started by aligning the marks on the cams and fitting the new belts on the pulleys without the pins, then installing the pins in the best fitting holes. Set belt tension per wsm.
I used the degree wheel on the flywheel with magnets, and confirmed Cyl 1 TDC using a piston stop, the flywheel TDC mark was confirmed accurate. I do not advise using the piston stop, it enters the combustion chamber at a very shallow angle and has to be screwed in very far to reach the piston, this allows the stop to be moved easily and is not very accurate.
Now installed the dial on a magnetic base fitted to a metal plate sandwiched on the two cam cover studs between the cams and on one of the center studs thru a hole on the plate, a wider plate would have been even better to allow for holes for all 3 studs but this was ok.
All cams where retarded by a couple of degrees (2 degrees on the lowest and 6 degrees on the highest) this was to be expected as the cams where only set by eye and belt tensioning moves all the cams in the same direction. The pulleys where adjusted to set timing to within 0.5 degrees. (The specs I got from Bendls Boxer major thread: intake opens 12 deg btdc exhaust opens 54 deg bbdc my wsm only has 365 Boxer specs).
When I compare the positions of the cam timing marks they are all within the alignment gap on the cam caps but not all are perfectly centered, as others have commented even a slight variation means a couple of degrees off.
There is bound to be a difference derived from using one method or the other (referring to setting the 0.5mm gap or measured lift) but I personally think it is not too important to have the opening events at exactly 12/54deg because of the short duration of the injected cams, I do however think it is very important to have the same timing set on both banks for a smooth running engine.
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A bit of progress, installed the clutch, it didn’t have much wear because this was probably replaced by the PO, I suspect it was rusted together because the drop gear ring nuts had chisel marks. This is the AP aluminium pressure plate type (not oem?) it was very difficult to remove the studs from the allen nuts because the guys filled these special nuts with red loctite, I also had to replace the guide pins.
I had to tap the allen nuts to remove the loctite, and even after persistent tapping and solvent use these were a very tight fit, instructions state to use loctite on the pins NOT on the studs.

Things I learned:
The guide pins break off super easy, so very careful tightening is required, I used medium strength loctite to be able to remove them without breaking. I later learned here on this forum these are a funny British thread type, this is why my machinist ruined the other pins.
Replacement studs for the pressure plate are superseded and not exactly the same so if replacing be sure to order a set to avoid imbalance.
Flywheel bolts are not reusable and ARP toyota bolts are a perfect fit, ARP tech support recomended to use the safety plate and torque per instructions to 70 lbs/ft

 

according to Fchat member Sowest it is a British Association thread 2BA pitch 0.81 diameter 4.7 TPI 31.4 angle 47.5º, I read this (After the whole mess) in a thread by fchat member qwazipsycho.

 

After reading that a lot of members have found their dizzies to be seized or rusty I decided to replace the bearings and lube the whole thing. I folLowed Fchat member Mikael82 disassembly instructions/advice to do the job, particularly the part of “careful with the bearing extraction as parts are unobtanium” and also making sure to carefuly reinstall all the springs and washers in their previous location. I found my dizzy in very nice condition (the car has low mileage) but the grease had become sticky and I’m happy I did the job.
In the spirit of making someone else's job a bit easier I want to add a few things I would suggest on top of what he posted on his “My 512BB rebuid”:
1.-I extracted the bearing closer to the engine head using a bearing extractor, this avoided any stress on the aluminium housing. Even so it made a loud cracking noise when it began to move, it scared the sh out of me.
2.-After assembly I found the bearings now had a very loose fit in the housings, I detected adhesive remains on the bearing outer races so I will have to disassemble again and use loctite 641 to make sure they stay put. Make sure you have this beforehand. There are other adhesives but 641 is medium strength which could be better if you later have to do the job again.

 

I decided to have someone replicate the upper water tube, it is made of thin steel and it was very rusty. I couldn’t find an original but this is pretty close I think and thicker gauge steel. I wonder why the two water tubes on the engine are steel? The rest of the tubing is aluminum.
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Fast forward (or slow forward) a couple of weeks gone by and the engine is in, but before this I made a couple of things:
-changed the rear alternator bearings, these had water marks so I suppose water entered thru the small hole in the housing and sat there, It was impossible to locally find the bearing with the right internal clearance so I had to buy on ebay and wait. The front bearings I cleaned with brake cleaner and regreased from behind, I didn’t want to risk damaging the shaft as removing these requires violence, the pulley lockwashers were completely flat so I used new ones.
-painted the intake runners and plenums with VHT wrinkle, I used SP148 gray primer then SP205 Gray Wrinkle paint, left to cure for a couple of days and covered with SP995 Nu-Cast aluminum. The finish is not as perfect as I would like but looks better than the old faded and flaking paint, it is difficult to achieve a good wrinkle as it needs to be a very thick coating and the shape of the parts doesn’t help with this, also the Nu-Cast color is brighter than stock.
-the accelerator bell crank and the levers on the butterflys have balljoints that are stacked in the holes, these were very loose to the point I was concerned they might pop out, I welded the balljoints from behind and after trimming the welds and smoothing it out with solder I electroplated the pieces.
-electroplated a bunch of brackets, etc. Didn’t do any of the fasteners though.
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The engine installation was ok but even though I read a bit about this here in the forum, I made some mistakes:
-The long bolts for the front mounts can’t be installed after bolting in the mounts, the bolts are too long and hit the heads, I had to remove the mounts again during the maneuver to fit these in. These should be installed beforehand.
-The rear mounts hit the cold air box brackets (Now I now why these were bent up when I got the car), so leave them out and put them on once the gearbox clears the upper chassis tubing.
-The water hoses should be flush with the tube to make it easier to align the tubing, pushing them in during the procedure was a annoying. So push the to the edge of the tubing and pull them down when aligned.
-The metal oil feed hose had to be loosened again on the engine to allow movement to locate and screw to the tank. So leave the nut loose on the engine and tighten once both ends are aligned and the nuts are fitted on the threads.