JohnCh

The pivot pin for the tensioner arm went in this morning. Between putting the pin in a deep freeze overnight and heating up that section of the head with a propane torch, it didn't take too many taps with a hammer to drive it in place. Once that was done, the remainder of the timing assembly was installed, along with the water pump and thermostat housing. However, as @Croc predicted, I didn't have time to dial in the cams. Hopefully that happens next weekend. -John

The votes are in, and the decision made. If you factor in the fact that 96 people visited this topic, but only 15 chose to vote, that means the overwhelmingly favorite response of the group was the hidden option: I don't even care enough about this to vote. Since there is no downside at this point, I'll keep it up. At a minimum, it's probably a nice thing for first-time visitors. If you don't like the changes, the simple workaround is to update your favorites to point to your preferred Activity Stream rather than the home page. If you aren't familiar with Activity Feeds or how to use them, see this help topic. John

I didn't realize you were bringing someone with you. Thanks for the heads up! -John

Finally picking this back up after some unavoidable issues meant the head didn't arrive until 10 days ago. Last weekend after installing the ARP head studs, dropping the head gasket and head into place, then coating the washers and nuts in ARPs lube, I began placing those last two items onto the studs in preparation for the torque sequence. That's when I discovered there were 10 studs, 10 washers, but just 9 nuts. I didn't count the nuts before opening the bag so I can't confirm I was shorted, but I did it all in one area of the bench and searched everywhere afterwards. Either it is shacking up with all my missing socks or it never made the trip. Regardless, a replacement was ordered and arrived Friday. Head and cams in place and torqued: Below is the factory VVT front cam cap setup. Unlike the non VVT engines, which use separate caps for each cam, this uses a one-piece cap for both and has provision on the intake side for a solenoid that drops into the downward facing port on the right. The Raceline VVT delete replaces the factory solenoid with a machined part with journals that maintain oil to flow to the intake cam journal. Because I purchased a new, bare head, the pivot pin for the timing chain tensioner arm needs to be installed, but that turns out to be a very tight fit. Before trying to configure some type of press, it's getting an overnight soak in the freezer with attempt number two happening in the morning. One of the interesting things about the 2.5L engine is it doesn't use a lower guide for the oil pump chain but does use a larger tensioner. The first picture below is from the CSR 260 engine assembly manual. Although Cosworth doesn't use that guide with their dry sump, you can see the two bolt holes for mounting it circled in red. The second photo is my engine and as you can see, there are no holes. If I have time tomorrow, I'll time the cams and button up the engine. -John

I went with heated seats too. I figure they are good for those days when I'm torn between wearing a light jacket and risk being too warm or wearing just a shirt and wishing I had worn the jacket. -John

The Thackeray washers fatigue from vibration and eventually break, so given the price, it's a good idea to replace them while you have the carbs off. One thing to consider: Thackerays on the bottom and rubber grommets on the top. The Thackeray failure rate is much higher on the top studs, but the rubber grommets fail over time from fuel leakage. This arrangement, recommended by Dave Bean, optimizes for both. -John

Given it sat outside for 15 years and even had a "tree" growing through the bonnet, the car looks in remarkably good shape. Any signs yet that rodents attacked the wiring? -John

That first paragraph is from their Octane Booster instructions and the fl oz options match that product, not the ZDDP. Really poor editing on their part to mix the two. -John

Thanks Bill and Tom. I'm using part of the native Invision functionality, so keeping it won't add maintenance overhead. The work to enable it is done and the effort to turn it off will only take a few minutes. I did a double take when I first saw her photo. Unfortunately, non-se7en photos will continue to show up unless we make an edict they are not allowed in public galleries, which seems like overkill. Perhaps the best option to minimize those is to encourage public shaming when they show up -John

As mentioned in this thread announcing test changes to the forum home page, it's time to vote. Do we keep those changes or revert back to the plainer home page? I'll keep the poll open for a week to enhance the drama. -John

According to time stamp, @Croc and I posted that same question within a minute of each other. Scary... -John

Very cool! Not sure which is more impressive: the drone's tracking ability or your restraint to drive a 620R below 35mph on an empty country road. How far away can the drone continue tracking the car and what happens if you exceed that range because of a momentary lapse in restraint? Does it maintain that last position and wait for the car to return? -John

I hate intermittent electrical issues. I had something similar on my car a few years ago. After proactively replacing a lot of stuff, the eventual fix was a new engine loom. Not as drastic as it sounds given I hacked together the original out of the Ford loom that came with my engine and the replacement was professionally made. Easy things to check: First, any commonality to when this occurs? Engine hot? Engine cold? After engine fan kicks on? etc. When the engine is running normally, start shaking parts of the engine loom to see if that triggers the condition. You're trying to expose a broken wire or connector for a sensor, fuel injector, or ignition. Disconnect the sensors, ignition coil, and injector plugs then check the pins for corrosion or if one pin is further down the connector than the others, indicating it is not fully seating with its mating pin on the other connector. (note: if shaking the various wires results in bad kitty mode, check the pin seating depth as that could be the cause.) Clean all your engine grounding points with some very fine sandpaper. Murphy's Law fully applies to intermittent electrical issues. It might not be one thing that is egregiously bad, but rather several little things that in aggregate create the problem. Hence the reason I needed to replace my loom. If all that checks out, then I'd move on to the bad sensor/coil pack theory. I'm sure other (and better) advice is incoming. -John

I've been told by a shop that has tuned a lot of Duratecs on the dyno over the years that max power correlates to AFR in the 12.5:1 - 13.3:1 range and to shoot for 13:1. I agree with Graham that those numbers are not ideal at full throttle but not likely dangerous on a stock 420 engine, particularly given they richen up at high rpm. BTW that torque curve is really, really flat! -John

Longest solo was ~750 miles (Portola Valley, CA to Centralia, WA) after buying my original Westfield. The plan was to make it another 90 miles to reach home, but I discovered the headlights were dead and it was getting dark. Longest with a passenger was ~640 miles (Lafayette, CA to Vancouver, WA) on the way back from USA2005. Would have tried the remaining 180 miles to home, but it started raining pretty heavily when we reached Portland. I can only recall getting stuck 3 times in over 20 years of se7en driving: Alternator pulley on the crossflow self-destructed while on my morning commute, which stopped the water pump from pumping. It's the only time I've ever had a car overheat in 40F degree weather while driving 70mph. Shortly after returning from USA2005 the alternator bracket broke. Throttle cable broke while in stop and go traffic. It fell down, shorting against the alternator's 12V+ connection while part of it was still touching the oil impregnated air filter. For those wondering, that combination does turn the air filter into a flaming torch. -John

Some additional tools I throw in my tool roll when touring: Self-fusing silicone tape. Good for hose leaks or as electrical tape. Duct tape Pocket multimeter Wire strippers/crimpers and a few spare crimps and splices ECU comm cable for laptop -John

Finish 2.4L Duratec Build my incoming Caterham Sell the 420R engine and all the other kit parts I don't need Register Caterham Sell Westfield (although I may delay this until 2023) Blat, blat, blat! -John

40 amps is pretty common in these cars. I've had a Denso 40 amp fitted since 2004. With halogen headlights and big SPAL fan both running when idling, the volts drop a bit, but not enough to cause issues. The volt gauge returns to normal levels as soon as the revs rise. In addition to having the alternator checked, it's always a good idea to clean the major grounding points. -John

I tell people factory-built cars are available in other countries, but the only way to get one legally in the US is in component form. I try to avoid the term kit car since many people still associate that term with the old VW-based kits which then leads to the question "So it's a Beetle?" As for queries on price, my default response is "more than my wife thinks." That usually stops the conversation, particularly when she is standing next to me. -John

That's a nice feature. Is there a similar bracket on the rear of the chassis, or are you only expected to go off the road backwards? -John

@SENCI don't think the Invision platform supports that, but I'll look into it. Unfortunately, images inserted into a post are handled very differently on the backend than those inserted into a gallery, creating its own set of problems. A big one is that unlike a post, gallery uploads are not resized to reduce storage requirements (and for posts, reduce page load times.) That means we either have to implement small file size requirements for gallery uploads, requiring people to resize images before they upload them, or we have to limit the number of images per person. There is a long standing ask for Invision to change this and give admins the option to auto-resize gallery images, but nothing yet. -John