After 10 months of work, it's finally done! We installed it this weekend and it runs!

First off, I have to say thanks to Jim Morton & Bill Ball for their generosity, hard work and patience throughout this project. It would have been impossible to do this without them. When I say impossible, I mean impossible in EVERY aspect. Here's an abridged list of the things I lacked to build this motor: any sort of practical knowledge, experience, industry contacts, tools, tools to make tools, a place to work, tow vehicle, trailer . . . you name it, I didn't have it. These guys provided all of the above and more. Basically, the Mortons - Jim, Melissa & Joe, took me in as a fourth member of the family.

All the work took place at Jim's workshop on Wednesday nights (pizza!) and weekends over the last 10 months. Engine parts were sent out to various places in California for work. Bill ferried my crank & cams several hundred miles between machine shops to magnaflux my crank and nitride my cams, just to save a few days of shipping time. Melissa baked cookies to bribe the guys doing the head work at the machine shop. Jim called in favors w/ various vendors to help move the project along. We've spent countless man-hours cleaning, measuring, modifying, assembling, timing and installing. This was an all-out assault.

This motor is as much Jim & Bill's as mine (if not more so). A lot of blood & sweat went into this project (literally) so it's a well deserved reward to see and hear this motor run. It's only going to get sweeter as we tune this thing in, dyno it, and finally track it.

As for the technical details, we tore down the old 88 S4 engine and a 26k mile 91 GT shortblock. We cleaned everything meticulously and then built up this:

91 GT 5.0L pistons & rods
91 GT block & girdle with oiling mods
91 GT crankshaft drilled by Taylor Machine
Rebalanced entire assembly
New main bearings w/ >180º grooved center main
New rod bearings
New piston rings
Ishihara-Johnson crank scraper kit & windage tray
Mike Simard's oil pickup & pan spacers
88 S4 heads shaved 0.020" for increased compression
New gaskets & seals throughout
New valve seats
New lightweight VW INA lifters, tensioner pads & IWIS chains
Elgin Cams 65-6 lobes ground on S3 cams (modified to fit S4 heads)
Ford Motorsport 24lb injectors
Hi Torque lightweight starter
Powdercoated intake and cam covers

Some pics of the journey:














































And after all that, it starts & runs w/ no problems. Check out Bill's videos of the first start:
http://www.vimeo.com/976620

and the first drive.
http://www.vimeo.com/976589

If you want to see the entire gallery of pictures of this build, go to
http://gallery.lasttenth.com/main.php?g2_itemId=55

 

Wow, fantastic work, all of you. So, what are the race plans for this car? Another to join the SCCA gang?

 

Oil Pressure nipple?

 

Congratulations on getting it done. It's been a long hard journey.

 

For now it'll be a open track day/DE car. I would like to gut it, cage it & race it at some point though.

 

Yep.

 

Thanks George. It's nice to have our cars back isn't it?

Common factor? Bill Ball.

 

you should just finish the cage and run with us. You know me, ill tell it to you straight. This SCCA racing is as safe as YOU want it to be and it is a blast. scot is running by himself now, running near 1:41s at laguna and you could probaby be a little faster, even with all the weight in your car.
Ive driven my car to 95 race days and never once thought of anything likely happening that would keep me from driving home. the gear shift thing was an inconvenience, but I still got home! Scot too! always made it home! (and that thing is made from really old stuff!)

Glad to hear about it all being done! cant wait to see how the dyno numbers and tuning go!
Let me know how the first runs go with the new 24lb injectors.

mk

 

hey, elgin forgot an oiling groove on the 85 cam bearing area mod ! at least they match up. min really didnt, but they both were close!

mk

 

The thing is that if I go racing, I don't want to care too intensely about the condition of the car. In Spec Miata, I had no problem w/ someone bump-drafting me or if they put a donut on my door. I enjoyed returning the favor. SM's are like tissue paper. Once you're done w/ one, you can pull another one of the box quite easily. I liked racing aggressively and I wouldn't feel right doing that in this car.

 

Now this is what the 928 community is all about! Congratulations on the work by one and all! Must be truly nice to have such a talented team be able to help. I'm jealous...

Now go enjoy your work!

Constantine

 

Congratulations, Dennis

One more shark out of intensive care and back to daily life. You are very fortunate to live so close to the "shark central" bay area. See you on Saturday @ SITP

 

Congratulations Dennis! It's been a long year, I'm glad the hard part is over...now the fun starts!!!!

See you on Saturday!

Rich

 

So happy to see it Dennis. Sounded pretty narley in the video. With the help you've received from Bill and Jim, I think this one's gonna hang together a lot longer.

I for one would love to see you out there mixing it up with the SCCA group.

 

Dennis
Great to see your 928 is running again......

How does the new engine feel?? I'm sure its quite strong?