steven74

Partially machined stroker rod journals.

Good news. There is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. After buying my 1986 951 4 years ago as a rough runner with no documentation , I decided to replace the water pump and timing accessories. As many know, while you're in there got the better of me and after a while the engine was out of the car, initially only to reseal and check the clutch.
However, after removing the head, I found the head was worn and the cylinders had excessive clearance outside max spec. What to do but follow the rabbit hole in to the realm of the stroker. After a few machine shops, I finally decided on Faermann racing engines in Houston. They came well recommended and seemed interested in the project. In fact, they were able to recognize the block immediately when dropping it off. I came to the right place.
I explained what I wanted to do and provided all he parts per Shawn's website and thread and we got to work. Well, things happen and the machine work was delayed for a few months. However, another customer brought in a 3.0l based block for the stroker treatment so the machine shop decided to do both engines at the same time. I stopped by on the way home from work today and found some real progress has been made. Crank machined and about to be polished and hope to have the rest of the machine work done mid week.
More to come....

V2Rocket

awesome to see your work in progress when you visit...

if you don't mind would you share the cost this shop is asking to grind the crank and sleeve the block?

steven74

Yes. It was certainly nice to see some forward progress. He had already sleeved the 3 liter block of the other owner this morning and was planning to sleeve mine today or tomorrow hopefully.
I was originally quoted a price of $900 for the crank work, remove factory head studs and sleeve block and then deck and install replacement ARP studs. This also included resizing the small pin end of the Mitsubishi rods to accept the Chevrolet piston pin. Since then, I also asked him to fly cut the pistons to make it non interference for an additional expense. I also brought him the block already fully disassembled and cleaned as it was at another machine shop before this so no additional charge for cleaning.
He did not want to open the windage ports on my block when I showed him and compared to the factory ports on the 3 liter block. I may attempt this on my own.

NCLA951

Why didn’t he want to do windage ports?

steven74

He said it looked involved and would be cost prohibitive. I think I will try on my own once I receive the block back.

odonnell

Is my old block being put to good use?

V2Rocket

900 for the crank work AND the sleeving

where do i sign, lol

steven74

I disassembled it and had it ultrasonically cleaned at Rennsport in Sealy but went ahead with my original short block because I had already had the crank magnafluxed and your block and my block’s cylinders had almost exactly the same tolerances within a few thousands. I need to put it back together again once I am sure the machine work is satisfactory. My garage looks like a bomb went off inside. I am learning new contortionist moves just to get a tool nowadays. Actually today I am prepping my backyard for a storage shed to make room in the garage to work in.

Braymond

No kidding. That’s a great price. Maybe a group buy is in order here. I’m sure your shop would appreciate the additional business.

steven74

I hope to pick it up by Wednesday and will have a final bill by then. I can update on the final price at that time. So far, the machine work is standard fare except the crank grinding.

geno

Steven, I was at Dennis's shop while he was turning your crankshaft. I brought him some cash to go ahead and put all new main bearings and pay for my sleeves.
saw the whole thing myself. Was exactly as expected but still neat to watch.
I haven't figured out if they get excited or annoyed with my "...no sh**??, can I go see?" attitude but they've never told me No.

My 3L got bored, sleeved, balanced, decked, offset ground and is coming in at $1300,
He added on the bronze pin bushings too for $100.
he's just a super reasonable nice honest guy.
Takes his time on things, but at least you know what you're getting, just a matter of when.

geno

The shop/ Dennis definitely is.

steven74

The shop called and said it was ready to pick up on this coming Saturday. He said it looks good but the deck clearance came out to 0.070 in the hole according to their calculations. Per Shawn's website, his build was decked 0.020 inch and had a deck clearance afterwards of 0.012 in in the hole. I gave all the specs and instructions per the website and now this critical spec is outside normal tolerances.
Are there options for a thinner head gasket or additional decking to be done to bring this into spec. Should I pick up the engine and assemble at home to verify measurements? I work on cars for a living but don't deal with many custom builds so this is a bit frustrating to say the least. BTW, my head is an SFR stage 1 n/a head with oring option so I am leaning towards a factory wide fire gasket.

V2Rocket

assuming the same head cc, bore, stroke and pistons, your motor will now have higher CR than shawn's did, since you are 0.050" closer to the block surface than he was.
so you would want a thicker gasket to try to make it equal...but run thru the numbers and see what your computed CR will be at 0.070" down.

steven74

I called Tim at Speedforce Racing today and asked him about his cylinder head machining. I have an o-ringed n/a head of his I was using. He said it should still be a normal sized combustion chamber of about 58cc. My thought was if the head was decked, this would compensate for the lower piston depth.
He also mentioned that he experienced a similar calculation difference when using a 2.5 l crank versus a 3.0 liter crank of about 0.070 inch variance. I am planning to go to the shop on Saturday morning to see firsthand but my thought was maybe they used the wrong crank when calculating the depth. Another member is having his 3.0 engine done at the same place and I wonder if they simply used the wrong crank in the wrong block? I guess I won’t know for sure until I see it in person. Any other thoughts on this?