[RallyBob]

New shop signage…only 6 days shipping via Amazon UK.

Surprisingly, made in Germany, not China!

 

[rrossjr]

Cool sign. Looks vintage (even the 1970's logo) but I assume it is a reproduction?

 

[RallyBob]

Cool sign. Looks vintage (even the 1970's logo) but I assume it is a reproduction?

Yes, reproduction made in Germany and shipped over by Amazon UK, but bought on Amazon in the US.

With Prime, free shipping from overseas! $31.28 total cost. Took 6 days to get here.

 

[RallyBob]

Workshop upgrade continues.

I got the counter backer sheet on yesterday, edging build-up screwed and glued, and then got the front edge and counter surfaces laminated.

This morning I routed the laminated top, sanded the rear edge and sides, then filed the front edge.

It’s ready to go, so here’s hoping my measurements and my full size template were accurate!

I will have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow when I can get a helping hand to install it. The counter is over 10’-6” long so it’s awkward to handle. I need to carry it to the far side of my shop, and fit it up against a finished back wall and side walls. Always tricky without destroying paint or drywall. I made it a little short in length, and figured this will give maneuverability. I can caulk up the wall gaps after the fact.

 

[RallyBob]

Teenage helping hand came in early tonight, and helped me set the counter in place. I promptly screwed the counter down. Just need to caulk the edges to the wall now.

Last part of my engine room’s construction will be the cabinet doors for under the long counter.

Beyond that, it’s just a matter of setting up all my specialty tools for engine building.

 

[RallyBob]

When you don’t want irreplaceable items getting shipping damage…

 

[IT Manta]

I have a couple of those boxes!

 

[RallyBob]

First use of my new countertop.

I recently dug out a few crankshafts for future engine projects. Out of curiousity I put them on my shipping scale.

We have a 1.9 crank I modified way back in 1997 which had 3/4” ground off the counterweights by a machine shop, the journals ground undersize, and then balanced. And maybe just a few hours of my time deburring and polished all the other forged crankshaft surfaces.

Next a crankshaft I inherited from Roger Wilson, in which he spent a similarly intense amount of time polishing it down smooth, then he sent it to Castille Crankshafts to have the counterweights knife-edged, the journals ground, and the crank balanced and nitrided.

Lastly, a stock 2.4 8-counterweight crank.

My lightened 1.9 crank came in at 31 lbs exactly, Roger’s 1.9 crank weighs 31.25 lbs, and the unmodified 2.4 crank weighs 41.25 lbs.

For comparison a stock 1.9 crank usually weighs between 36-36.25 lbs.

The lightened 1.9 crank I did will be going into a lightweight 12.5:1 compression 1989 cc hillclimb engine for me.

The knife-edged Roger Wilson crankshaft will be going into a 11.5:1 compression vintage-class prepared 1958 cc engine for me.

The 2.4 crank is for my father’s 2512 cc Opel GT turbo.

They will all be receiving ARP flywheel bolts, and will be doweled to their respective flywheels too.

 

[RallyBob]

Next new countertop use…

Sort, measure, clean, and label a whole bunch of oversized valves for Opel heads.

Then I cleared off the extra parts that accumulated on my flowbench, in preparation for flowing Charle’s new EFI intake manifolds.

Since the intakes need to be flowed while mounted on cylinder heads, I’m devising a plan of attack to include baseline flow testing of the following heads in my possession.

• 1.5 head with 2.0 valves - this flows a little more than a Euro 2.0 head
• 1.9 race-prepped head with 1.85”/1.50” valves
• standard 2.4 head with standard valves
• heavily ported 2.4 head with 1.94”/1.60” valves

On top of these heads, I’ll try to flow various potential configurations. Standard 1.9 carbureted intake on the low port heads, plus standard EFI 1975 intake, plus the new EFI intake. I also can compare to an angled Steinmetz SSD intake, and an Opel Parts and Service SSD intake.

For the high port heads, I do not have a standard 2.2 or 2.4 EFI intake to flow test. I do have Gordo’s modified angled Steinmetz intake that has a high-port flange. I also have DSD Risse (Jenvey) intake manifolds, and then of course the new Goin EFI high port intake.

All in all, I probably have 12-15 individual flow tests to perform, so I will be very busy when I have everything on hand to do the testing!

I am waiting until I get a set of stock 2.4 valves on-hand so I can do all the testing the same day. Testing when the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure are consistent yields more predictable results.

 

[Autoholic]

I can send you a set of stock 2.4 valves. They need to be cleaned up more however.

 

[RallyBob]

I can send you a set of stock 2.4 valves. They need to be cleaned up more however.

I have a set coming to me courtesy of Charles, via OGTS. But thanks for the offer!

 

[RallyBob]

New lighting above my flowbench and my electrical parts workbench.

Previously I had an 18” fluorescent light above the flowbench and 24” fluorescent light above the other work station. Those are replaced by a 36” LED light above the flowbench, and 48” LED light above the electrical workbench.

Although I hate driving with LED lighting, I do enjoy LED’s for my workshop. As I age, it certainly reduces eye strain.

 

[kwschumm]

Almost every house and shop is poorly lit. When I built my house and shop the electricians thought I was nuts putting so much lighting in. I consider it just adequate. My shop has 100 lm/sf and it is also just adequate. 40 4-foot LED fixtures in a 1500 sf shop and may double up over the benches. And my eyes are fine. The only advantage of poor lighting is you don’t see the dirt.

 

[RallyBob]

More shop upgrades continue.

This corner is right outside my engine assembly ’clean room’, and it is being designated as engine parts storage. Naturally anything being assembled will be inside the assembly room, but the staging area will be right outside the door to avoid clutter.

My intent is to build an L-shaped counter here, with small cubby spaces below the counter. These cubby spaces will house finished cylinder heads, finished crankshafts, and all my performance camshafts.

Directly above the counter I will have three shelves, which will have plastic bins with miscellaneous engine components. Pistons, rods, timing components, oil pump parts, etc.

To the right I will put up a panel which will be used to hang up engine gaskets.

To the left, I’ll most likely store valves, springs, retainers, and other valvetrain parts. We’ll see as I progress just exactly what works best.

 

[Autoholic]

So where in the shop is the chassis dyno going to be installed?

 

[GThound]

I’m looking at having another small batch of high-port intake flanges water-jet from .500” thick aluminum.

Unfortunately, since the last time I ordered them pre-Covid, material prices have skyrocketed and so has electricity, shipping, and pretty much all other overhead costs.

Looking at $60 plus shipping for each flange.

Any interest? View attachment 453317

I would take 2 low port flanges or a high port flange if I had a high port engine. But that does not sound like your current proposal.

 

[RallyBob]

So where in the shop is the chassis dyno going to be installed?

Next to the printing press, where I will print out the money to buy one..

 

[RallyBob]

I would take 2 low port flanges or a high port flange if I had a high port engine. But that does not sound like your current proposal.

There wasn’t much interest this time around, so it’s not in the lineup unfortunately.

 

[RallyBob]

A surprising amount of time went into this one shelf. In truth, I cut, routered, sanded, and painted all the components for all three shelves, but the paint is still drying on the other two!

 

[RallyBob]

Got another few shelves cut out, edges rounded over, sanded, and two coats of paint applied.

Watching paint dry is, well…as exciting and time consuming as you might think.

In the interim, I changed my mind a bit on the counter configuration. I was initially going to make it U-shaped with two narrow 15” legs, but a rethink changed my mind. Instead I will widen the main counter from 22” to 24”, eliminate the RH leg, and widen the LH leg from 15” to 20”, now making it an L-shaped counter.

I also decided to make the counter framework separate from the lower storage cabinet. The lower cabinet framework will probably be 2 x 4 lumber with 3/4” plywood shelves to support the weight of the cylinder heads and crankshafts that will be stored here.

I decided to make a counter framework from angle iron and bolt it to the wall rather than put the counter weight on the lower storage rack. The counter itself will be used for some of the head prep so it needs to handle the weight put on it. Maybe Monday I’ll venture out to see what 2” x 2” steel angle is costing these days…


I added a 36” LED light to the left as it follows the future counter location below. I think this area will be used to drive in cam bearings, install pipe plugs, and assemble finished cylinder heads

I saw a bit of a void above my top shelf, then decided to build another smaller counter way up high under the loft. I’m not sure what exactly will get stored there but at least 4 more small bins will fit up there.

EDIT: photo added showing my planned new counter location.