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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper

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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper

I picked up the remaining parts from the machine shop last weekend, the crank has been balanced and polished, and it turns out the rods when torqued to 40ftlbs with the ARP rod bolts were still within factory clearances, so I did not need the .002" over OD rod bearings.

I got sick of waiting to not be on crutches anymore to do more work, so I got ahead of some longer lead items.

I needed to confirm that the PAC -0.050" valve locks were going to give me an install height that was 1.800" or a little less, and I need to still measure my pushrods so I can order a custom set along with new lifters.

First I cleaned the block with some unscented dish soap and water and blew it free of any minor debris from the hot tanking process. I then coated the motor internal surfaces in WD40.



Time to install the cam. I wiped it clean and then coated the journals in assembly lube, and the lobes with a Comp Cams valvetrain assembly paste. I thought I would be able to use the paste on the whole motor, but doing a little research it seems it is just for valvetrain. I installed the thrust plate as well.







My old lifters were at my apartment so I was unable to go further with measuring the pushrod lengths, so I assembled one of the valves with the PAC springs, locks, and retainers. The valve tips and face have been ground, the valve seats were given a valve job, and the valves were lapped to their seats.









The install height came out perfect, when measuring from the top of the seat to the underside of the retainer it came out to 1.800" exactly. Therefore it is a little less than 1.800" as the calipers have to be slightly angled to make the measurement since it is a beehive spring. If I retained the stock spring seat retainer thing (which did fit, but were unnecessary with these stronger stiffer springs) then the install height would have been closer to 1.750" which is what the locks advertise. But I will be fine without the additional seat and open pressure as the valvetrain on the 3900 is lighter than on the LS that these springs are intended for. I went ahead and ordered the remaining locks and retainers from Summit along with an Optima Red Top battery. The retainers are in stock but the locks have some lead time so I wanted them ordered ASAP.

Next steps include installing a stock valve spring, retainer, and lock on the second valve for the cylinder, installing two of my old lifters, installing an old head gasket with some painters tape on the head and block surfaces, and measuring the pushrod lengths. I will also install the crank and Plastigauge it to confirm that none of the clearances are too tight or loose, and I will probably Plastigauge the rod ends too just to verify the machine shop's readings.

I need to send out my torque wrenches for calibration as well and get a degree wheel (bought). I may only need to send out my 0-75ftlbs torque wrench as the highest torques are in the 50ftlbs range. They are all finished with an angular displacement. The 3400 camshaft sprocket bolt needs 103ftlbs of torque, but I am not too worried about my larger torque wrench being far enough off to cause any issues.

And here is a pic of the LS piston in the 3900, once the crank is installed I can 3D print a thin bearing to make it bolt up and I can measure where everything ends up with a stock LS1 rod. There is confusion as to the lengths of the 3900 rods, the manual says 5.9", but others have measured otherwise. This will give me an additional data point.



I ordered a tapered 99mm ring compressor as well as I realized while writing this post that I had not procured one yet. It is unfortunate because my brother has the same one in 99.5mm size, and we tried it and it was, well, half a millimeter too big.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 05-06-2021).]

Eastwoods Machine in CT.



Getting everything prepped for measuring the pushrod lengths.





















Measured the pushrod lengths.





The LA's Finest Degreaser makes parts super clean, but I was having issues with it oxidizing after. This stuff is phosphoric acid and I read it is good at dissolving oxidation.



It did a good job, I think it should be paint ready, but it looks a little dark. Might just be what it looks like when the acid etches the surface.



I did some more CAD on the headers too, I wanted to figure out what I was doing for header collectors.







Here it all is assembled. Looks like the headers are a little too long, I want to see what it will look like in the car.



To cut the tubing to make the collector I made this 3D printed guide to guide the cuts to the tubing probably on a band saw.





Pushrods are on order, wrench was sent out to CDI for calibration, and I am waiting on a bunch of parts.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 05-08-2021).]

My friend had a pretty sweet 944, it was all rebuilt, long tube headers, rolling on Toyo Proxes. He smelled gas the other day and pulled over.





And suddenly I decided I was no longer going to keep my rubber fuel lines. No one needs to hear about more Fieros catching on fire.

I needed a fuel pressure regulator as the stock fuel rail only has a single line in and I needed to route a return. I bought this Aeromotive unit, it is adjustable 30-70 PSI, 1:1 rising rate if I ever want boost, comes with a liquid filled pressure gauge, and three -6an fittings. It is a very reliable and stable unit, and I do not want to take chances with the fuel system.

I bought this 3/8" aluminum fuel line that will run from the tank to the regulator, since the Aeromotive unit has the same size inlet, outlet and return lines, I figured it would be fine to run 3/8 line for the feed and the return line. I can always add in a restrictor to the feed line if the fuel pressure creeps.

I bought some nylon braided fuel hose as well as some right angle fittings to go from the regulator outlet to the fuel rail. The fuel rail will get a -6an male compression fitting. I want to flip the fuel rail so the inlet is on the front of the motor, that will keep the fuel system short and compact and away from the exhaust, but whether I do or not will depend on difficulties with securing the rail to the LIM.

I will put a bead into the aluminum line where it will be coupled with short rubber hose sections and hose clamps to the fuel sender outlets on the tank, and then the fuel feed line will have this compression fitting to mate it to this K&N fuel filter, the fuel filter can flow up to 18gpm so it should have no problem dealing with any possible future mods that require more fuel, it also has a SS mesh screen filter element so it can be pulled out and cleaned with nothing to replace. I know it is pricey for a fuel filter but it will never need to be replaced and is made in the U S of A. There is another compression fitting to aluminum line on the other end of the filter, and then a compression fitting to the regulator inlet.

On the return side of things I will have the same female compression fitting above or below the fuel filter, and then this male compression fitting to aluminum line to another female compression fitting to the regulator return outlet. This way if I need to drop the tank I can undo the aluminum lines at the fuel filter and drop the tank without long cumbersome lines attached.

Let me know what you think, in the past I have welded some AN fittings to stock stainless lines and run off the shelf built hoses, but this is my first time doing custom AN lines. Pretty positive my scheme will work well, but open to input.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 05-10-2021).]

quote Originally posted by La fiera: That happened to me at the track bach when I had the 2.8L V6. It was the second one I shreded, too much RPMs for the stock balancer. Since you are putting all this time and effort on this engine invest in one of these! The ones for the SBC has the same snout size as the stock and it fits perfectly. I had to grind the timing cover a bit to clear it but let me tell you; If you asked me that if there is ONE part that I can say made a night and day difference, this is it! Engine revved smoother and I was able to rev it higher, no vibrations, nothing. Wish you the best mate!

on a 2.8, this is easy enough, on a later FWD engine, with the FWD timing cover, it gets a little harder, as the balancer is also the crank pulley. one for a gen II SBC may work, if they're even offered. measurements would need to be taken to make sure everything fits as required, and I would also contact someone at ATI prior to purchasing and asking about using it on a 60V6 prior to purchasing, as I'm sure there's a ton of engineering tied up in a balancer beyond basic fitment.

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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper