shwah
06-04-2007, 09:49 AM
Well we dropped the new motor in the car over the weekend.
A big thanks to AMT Racing Engines in St. Louis for top notch machine work. A huge thanks to Chuck Mathis for assembling the motor and spending the weekend with me in his shop dropping it in the car. The biggest thanks to 247-Parts.com for helping with many of the hard parts.
The old motor ran OK, for what it was - a street motor with about 60k very hard miles on it. It was actually a VW crate motor circa 1991. I added a header, matched the ports and tuned the fuel/ignition for optimum power. This gave me enough poop to keep up with a competitor on the straight, IF I had a perfect draft. Otherwise I could watch everyone drive away and try to catch them in the turns. This was a great way to force me to get more out of the chassis and driver, but it was starting to get old.
The motor runs butter smooth, and drives great - like a really nice street motor, which of course is all that a good IT motor really is. We took it out and did 6 or 8 2nd-3rd-4th gear pulls on the 'test track' in rural Illinois to put some pressure on the rings and get a jump start on break in. The old motor was strapped in the back, and we had 3 people on board, so we were able to put a nice load on the motor.
It is amazing what it really costs to build a full out IT motor (granted I didn't go to the least expensive machine shop, rather the best I could find). We are not allowed to do much, but to do it right requires a lot of machining - balance, deck, head surface, valve job - it all adds up, as does good hardware. It did not help that my donor motor had been overheated BAD at some point, and had suffered surface rust on many internal components due to condensation during season changes in the garage - it would not even let me cheap out and go with .020 pistons, .040 is what it needed to clean up the bores. It sure does run smoother than ANY VW motor I have ever had, inlcuding the 2.0t in my 4dr GTI. Don't underestimate the value of a fully balanced motor.
Next weekend we have time scheduled on a dynapac to verify fueling, timing and fuel type that give the best results. I have been toying with the idea of mixed GT100/BP93 (from a rural location w/o emissions addatives), straight GT100, or just straight up leaded 110. If the car wants enough timing to warrant it, I will go with the 110, if not I would like to go with the mix to save some $$, but am pretty worried about whether the pump gas would mess up a pee test.
Anyhow - the next event is a double at Road America, so we will have plenty of opportunity to lean on the motor and get it fully broken in. I just hope that I can catch the draft off of rabbidMk1 and hang with his 2 liter :eclipsee_steering:
A big thanks to AMT Racing Engines in St. Louis for top notch machine work. A huge thanks to Chuck Mathis for assembling the motor and spending the weekend with me in his shop dropping it in the car. The biggest thanks to 247-Parts.com for helping with many of the hard parts.
The old motor ran OK, for what it was - a street motor with about 60k very hard miles on it. It was actually a VW crate motor circa 1991. I added a header, matched the ports and tuned the fuel/ignition for optimum power. This gave me enough poop to keep up with a competitor on the straight, IF I had a perfect draft. Otherwise I could watch everyone drive away and try to catch them in the turns. This was a great way to force me to get more out of the chassis and driver, but it was starting to get old.
The motor runs butter smooth, and drives great - like a really nice street motor, which of course is all that a good IT motor really is. We took it out and did 6 or 8 2nd-3rd-4th gear pulls on the 'test track' in rural Illinois to put some pressure on the rings and get a jump start on break in. The old motor was strapped in the back, and we had 3 people on board, so we were able to put a nice load on the motor.
It is amazing what it really costs to build a full out IT motor (granted I didn't go to the least expensive machine shop, rather the best I could find). We are not allowed to do much, but to do it right requires a lot of machining - balance, deck, head surface, valve job - it all adds up, as does good hardware. It did not help that my donor motor had been overheated BAD at some point, and had suffered surface rust on many internal components due to condensation during season changes in the garage - it would not even let me cheap out and go with .020 pistons, .040 is what it needed to clean up the bores. It sure does run smoother than ANY VW motor I have ever had, inlcuding the 2.0t in my 4dr GTI. Don't underestimate the value of a fully balanced motor.
Next weekend we have time scheduled on a dynapac to verify fueling, timing and fuel type that give the best results. I have been toying with the idea of mixed GT100/BP93 (from a rural location w/o emissions addatives), straight GT100, or just straight up leaded 110. If the car wants enough timing to warrant it, I will go with the 110, if not I would like to go with the mix to save some $$, but am pretty worried about whether the pump gas would mess up a pee test.
Anyhow - the next event is a double at Road America, so we will have plenty of opportunity to lean on the motor and get it fully broken in. I just hope that I can catch the draft off of rabbidMk1 and hang with his 2 liter :eclipsee_steering: