1993 Litton Corse I - Strato's Replica

There has not been much in the way of posting due to the PB debacle - and not wanting to rush to do eveything with Flickr to find that falls on it's face in a few months. Many thanks to HoTWire for the interim efforts to sort out the PB issue.

I have not been sitting on my hands at all - I have continued with the G21 chassis and I am today looking at the sump mods required to clear the windage tray on the V8 for the G27.

Back in April had to decide - Welder or Wheels - Well W Won picking them up Tuesday not Weds... Woo Hoo now Back to Welding Windage.

Doing a dry test assemble of the G27 "power unit" this morning to do the final checks before the final assembly and sealing up until the car is ready for it.

The engine is a little bit special for a Rover V8 - small journal cross bolted 4.5 (not 4.6) - First off it was fitting the ARP head studs.

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Pistons have valve cutouts for the high lift 248M cam and the block faces have been decked for the pistions to be just proud of the block face. Pistons are Omega and the rods are spot peened - they have also all been matched for weight and balanced end to end.

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The rocker gear is also pretty rare being steel adjustable rockers that sit on 7/8" shafts (a limited number of these were manufactured for homologation purposes - the standard shafts are 3/4" with alloy non adjustable rockers. The rocker posts are also steel on this set up known as the Group A racing rockers.

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The adjustable rockers are a requirement when using the solid lifters that I will be using in this engine.

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Benefit with the solid lifters is that you can run more aggressive profiles and higher rpm - this engine is safe to 7500rpm which is nothing for modern engines but for this ancient tech it's pretty racy.

Dressed with the rest of the induction parts and thats my view - the bonnet sits just above the oil filler caps

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I have found an issue doing this dry build that I need to resolve. We have fitted the wrong type of crossbolt here that is preventing the cover from sitting correctly that is preventing the bolts lining up.

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Pretty happy with that but lots of work to do.

I think I will have to import a pair of Offenhauser 215 cover for it though as I love the Rover when it has a bit more of a retro look - DJE did some nice covers for them at one stage as well but I have never seen a pair come up for sale and the Offy covers are similarly rare over here.

Would probably go that way if the cover I wanted was only a Ford or Chevy part but as they are avaialable for the Buick I will just keep an eye out or order from Summit etc. but it's way down the list of priorities at present - just a "would like to have"

Couple of days off at the moment but no Strato's work to speak of as the weather is a bit damp.

Things have been progressing with the G21, currently waiting on a delivery of material so I can progress with fabricating the front wishbones.
G21 jobs ticked off the list - Torque reaction arm for the MX5 diff complete with chassis mount - drilled mounts for subframe - Steering rack mounts - Sprayed everything in cold galv - Calculated the coilover requirements. Once it's a rolling chassis work on this project can slow considerably and maybe we can get one of the others rolling.

A counterbore has been ordered so that I can sink the bolt that's in the way on the V8 a bit further into the block to miss the front cover.

Busy day ahead tomorrow.

- well I may well be taking the grinder to the counterbore - does that count

When the thread was started I had not anticipated so many diversions but it happens. Best way to look at it is that every car is having almost everything done to it as they are all ground up nut and bolt strip and rebuilds.

Considering your results so far, I'm sure you'll work it out in short order.

First quick blasts on alloy without the pedal in "Easy AC" mode. As the alloy heats up you need get a move as the weld pool starts moving pretty quickly (Bit daft starting out with quite thin material) Figured I would try and weld with just basic settings before using the pedal and all the clever pulse and frequency and special button touch torch modes.



As I now have Puresheild as well as Argosheild I am going to order up an alloy welding kit of liner and wire as I have two torches for "Lil Yella" on is a short 2.5m I figured it worth a try.

Because I find MIG relatively easy to use to produce some good results I am feeling that I am progressing better with welding Aluminium with the TIG than I am Steel, which is supposed to be easy. I suspect however that I am as poor with both but far more pleased when I manage to get 3 Alloy beads out of 50 looking half decent !
I fired up the foot pedal for a play today and that makes things so much more controlable. The concern now is the rate at which I am getting through a £50 bottle of gas!

Long old road to go with this and I suspect that those fuel tanks will be a way off. Maybe start another thread with input from other MIG TIG users.

Ali conducts heat a lot quicker than steel does so I think the foot pedal would be key especially if you're doing long runs; the whole work piece is hot so you can back off the amps.

I'm only a hobbyist welder too with AC TIG in my arsenal but I'm no pro that's for sure.

I've only started following this thread and its great. Good fabrication skills.