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R32rennsport's Amazon Thread

Just a little update. This is my current solution for adapting the throttle cables to the DCOE's utilizing the stock accelerator pedal. The coil relocation cup made for a convenient bracket mount location. Just a simple cable clamp and a radiused pinch washer. I'll add cable stops for security once I figure out final lengths. Cables run up and out parallel to the speedometer cable.

 
So what did you do for the choke cable on the dcoe's?

I deleted the choke circuits. I live in central California where the ambient temp rarely is under 70 degrees and even a cold morning might be in the high 50's/low 60's. Never really saw a need for them on the last 5 classics I've owned, especially on this engine with a non cross flow head there should be plenty of heat to keep things happy.
 
Making a few more steps this past weekend. For you DCOE wizards please ad some input over in the performance and mod forum, I've posted my full specs over there. Got the baseplate cut out as well as final sorting of the linkage, man does the gas pedal feel amazing!!! Also sorted out my mechanical timing (forgot to install the distributor drive gear when I was building the engine). Mechanically I'm just about ready for fire in the hole, electrically I still have to sort out the charging, ignition and starter wiring. I don't have any experience with the 123 distributor so I may just break in with my old Bosch unit with the Petronix.



 
Oil changes are going to be a mother... Definitely going to look into doing a remote oil filter/cooler. In retrospec I wish I had fronted the money for a nice ceramic coated 4-2-1 header. I know I'm going to regret this installation in the future. I give the welds less then a year before they crack, quality on this header was less then ideal.

 
Fabricated an adjustable support rod and brackets last night that attach to the engine mount bracket and run through cylinders 1 and 2 primary tubes up to the air filter base plate. Today I'll fabricate a backing plate to sandwich the upper bracket and base plate that will tie into the inner carb air horn studs for rigidity as the barb base plate is fairly thin aluminum. Similar to the VCS unit but with the added ability to adjust length as needed. The support assembly is isolated by means of split rubber bushings.

 
Well it's been a pretty rough past week for me. On Friday the transmission in my wife's Tahoe grenaded at 199K so I spend my Saturday morning pulling that out, luckily it's 2WD. My local rebuilder had it turned around in 48 hours so I spent Tuesday night installing it and all is well less my bank account.

On top of that I spent my labor day weekend getting the Volvo engine ready for break in on Monday. I was getting pretty excited until... As I started to do the initial coolant fill I noticed as I was finishing and getting ready to add the oil that I was getting a small puddle on the ground. At first I thought that it was coming from the water pump area and running back. The closer I looked I saw coolant seeping from all around the head gasket. Obviously, I found this pretty unusual even for my first engine build. So I checked the torque on the cylinder head just to make sure and all seemed well there. Pulled the plugs, sure enough, coolant puddling on top of all the pistons, pulled the oil pan drain plug, out came a quart of coolant. UGH. So I drained the radiator and attempted to drain the block but the previous gorilla tightened that so much that the head exploded so I vacuumed out the rest from the thermostat tube.

Long story short after asking advice from friends and online a friend theorized I was getting a false torque reading at the head bolts because they had bottomed out. Sure enough the aftermarket ARP bolts were 2mm longer then the stock head bolts on an already cut down low compression head. So apart came the engine, I dried up everything, and oiled everything back up. Just waiting on an ARP stud conversion from Planetman. I'm going to reuse the head gasket because it was never compressed and after much thought I'm going to avoid an MLS gasket for the time being as my block surface isn't really up to MLS standards. To be continued later this week...
 
I never saw how big of a bore you went with... I have a 92mm .036 cometic if you feel like you need it.

Thanks for the offer. I ended up rolling the dice and reusing my gasket as it was never cinched down, just soaked in some coolant. I cleaned it up and gave it a copper coat. I'll find out tonight or tomorrow when I refill the system if I lost that bet or not :rofl: With the ARP stud kit I could safely add more torque so I feel like I have a fighting change. I decided to not go MLS gasket because the block side had enough imperfections that I felt a non coated gasket would be kinda risky.
 
Welp boys... ITS ALIVE!!!

I haven't posted progress this week because I'm busting my butt for the VCOA national meet next Saturday. Car is still less interior, which is the plan for this week. The good news though is it runs and it runs well. A huge shout out to CAMERON LOVRE, he helped walk me through a few of the finer points over the weekend, always willing to help out an enthusiast on his days off, a real stand up guy in our community!

Break in went fairly well, ended up doing two 10 minute run in sessions. Started to get a little warm on the first run from coolant burping and it was running a little lean, lots of popping. Topped up coolant and fixed a blocked idle circuit, some minor mixture and timing adjustments and it purrs at idle and barks at WOT, very happy with no leaks! Baseline settings as of now are 12 degrees advance at idle, 38mm chokes, 150 mains, 200 airs, 60 idles, valve lash set to .016 per camshaft manufacturer recommendations.





 
Um, video?!

I'll take a better one and post it soon. The one from the first run yesterday had the carbs popping and lots of background noise as I was running cooling fans in a fairly confined space. When I cleaned it up the second time I forgot to film.

Don't worry, lot's of content will be coming in the next week.
 
Congrats! It's a big milestone and I'm glad you're using the VCOA meet as a deadline to have a show worthy car.

Keep the updates coming!
 
Congrats! It's a big milestone and I'm glad you're using the VCOA meet as a deadline to have a show worthy car.

Keep the updates coming!

Thanks Matt! I'm trying my best. The only unfortunate detail that wont be done is the interior, my upholstery guy isn't available until next month and I missed my appointment last week because of the head gasket debacle. Mechanically its good to go pending my first road test tomorrow!

Here's the music...

https://youtu.be/btL9mVxaVIg
 
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