I hate Volvo frost plugs.

That is all.

... and Ford distributor gears

Hate is such a strong word...

Yes, and Ford distributor gears, but that part of my life is long past... I hope.

And I do love the frost plugs when they don't come blowing out at 6000 RPM, but I can never quite trust them.

dang. which car? which water pump? not too far from home I hope?

The 780 actually make it to 6 grand? Not likely.

It was the new engine in the 740. B23 water pump, small crank pulley, large WP pulley. I was doing the Southland/Elbow/Anderson/14th St test lap, and I heard something go Tinktinktink about halfway up Anderson towards 14th. Halfway down 14th I saw the back window covered, looked down and saw the temp gauge pinned, shut it off and coasted around the corner to Southland. Let it cool for a few minutes and drove it 100 yards to the top of the little hill and shut it off to coast most of the way home.

It was one of the ones under the intake mani, so it's easy to get to, but now I don't trust any of 'em. I plan on JB Welding the rest down when I install the new one, but that means I've got to pull the exhaust mani. Since the one that popped was under the intake, there was no smokeshow and therefore I didn't notice until I saw the rear window was covered. Luckily I was close to home and was in traffic so I wasn't beating on it anymore. We'll see if that head gasket is still good.

On further news, 9.2:1 on 87 octane isn't crazy about 7 psi. Had to retard ignition timing to about 8* BTDC. For all that, it runs okay though - better than it did with the B230FT/V15T cam/itsybitsy turbo/stock head at 10 psi. It'll be fine for the winter beater...

Ya I didn't think the 780 had that in her! lol

which water pump though, hepu or gmb (cast or stamped impeller?). If it's the stamped one, even underdriven, goes to show how dangerous they are! If it's the cast one, well, there goes that theory...

FWIW *MY* 9.2:1 is just fine on 87, stock timing and 10psi. Even got 12L/100km on my last tank. Shows how much difference squish, head, cam, and all the other bits make.

Shoot, I have no idea what pump is in it. It was on the block when I got it. I've got another cast impellar one on the bench, though - maybe I should pull this one while i'm in there & while it's got no coolant in it. Thanks for the reminder...

My squish band clearance is set to about .040-.045", so I'm not that far off from "ideal". The gas is pretty old (probably still winter blend - it's been in there since April or May, I think) and I've got the hot thermostat in it. T cam, intended for driveability. NO trouble hitting the limiter with the ported head & big valves & all the other good stuff.

Meh, I'm not concerned with it - it should still get decent economy & makes alright power. It's probably decpetive how powerful it is, since it's tuned so tamely with that cam in there.

Oh right, that's that crazy richard frankenstein motor- not a whole lot different than mine by the numbers!

Time to do another dyno day! Anyone heard from Raz lately?

Geeze...didn't you JB weld the damn things in first? Is there enough meat in the block to drill and tap in a set screw? (I know there is on the B20)...damn good thing you were in a place where gravity could get you home.

Sucky. Glad I've never blown one of those things out.

I'm interested in this compression/boost/octane deal. I'm on K-jet, so I guess hard to compare...but I had to fill up with 87 oct. the other day, and my car pings NASTY at even 3 or 4 psi in higher gears. Timing is at 10 degrees w. 9.3:1 compression. I didn't dare go up to 8 psi in 3rd.

Matt, are you planning on more boost for that car still?

No, no JB weld first. He'd had it running already and I thought I was safe, but I guess he never got it much above 3500, or at least that's what I now remember him saying.

Greg, no, no more boost for this car. It's an economy motor in a winter beater. Not gonna go crazy with it.

Shitty, I always clean out the plug lands and hit them with JB first then smash in the plugs and coat the outsides as well...don't you hate it when people take short cuts.

Richard is not a shortcut kind of guy, he (like myself) hasn't built enough motors, though. Of all the motors I've put together, I haven't had to knock in a frost plug, believe it or not. Either the machine shop has done them for me, or they've been JY blocks without having the plugs removed.

I'll probably get six of them and redo them all. I was going to pull the exhaust manifold anyway to get at those ones & JB weld them from the outside, but your method sounds good too. I'll start on the intake side & see how things go.

R.P.M. ....

*sigh*

Another spring, another instance of Matt blowing something up by RPM.

you rev 'em, they pop, it's only a matter of degrees...

Rpm=bad

(just holding up my end of the conversation, Matt expects this from me...)