Well folks...time for a little update here.
February 2020 - The poor AW71L finally had enough, started slipping 2nd gear. Tossed in my spare only to find the converter was failing. While installing a new converter I found, the hard way, that there was around 0.090" end play in the crank! Figuring it was just bearings, Ryan and I dropped the pan, pulled the rear cap, and were greeted by a destroyed crank thrust surface. Fortunately, Ryan had a spare crank from a block to be junked, so that went in with new bearings, new converter, car back on the road for another 18 months. Still no idea how or why the thrust failed on it.
Fast forward a few months, and a bunch of parts sales, a killer deal on another block, and the beginnings of a completely fresh engine build came about.
- Traum 96.5mm pistons, full length skirts, offset pins, spec'd for 8.5:1, and long rods to go with them
- BMW squirters (before I found the jig went MIA)
- STS cam gear
- STS stainless water pump pipe
- SPM Stage IV head and Unitek PH1 cam
- ARP head studs
- B230 intake with a Nathaninwa adapter to run a 960 throttle body
- M181 oil pump with IPD B20 spring in it, along with .070" of shims under the spring
Took almost 6 months at the machine shop, due to the pandemic, higher than normal workload, and the loss of his lead machinist. Finally got all the parts back from him, only to find that my wonderful girlfriend went behind my back, and footed the bill for the machine work as my birthday present! So, all the parts are here, machine work looks great, get to building it, everything went together really nice until I got to the aux shaft. Something in the rear bearing wasn't right, ended up having to get another set of bearings and replace the rear. Finally got it all buttoned up, ready to drop in.
Loaded the whole setup into the wagon, rolled down to Ryan's place Friday afternoon. By 11pm we had the motor down to a couple bellhousing bolts away from removal, good enough for the night. Saturday rolled around, 11am in the garage, by noon the old motor was out. Swapping a few parts to the new one, found some crank damage that was fixable, couple other little things, engine back in, oil in, pressure came right up with a drill, so we got everything else mounted, rolled it back into the garage to finish it up. 9pm rolled around, key in, fired up like it had been running for years, no fuss, no weirdness, nothing (other than having the wires backwards on the oil pressure sender). Pressure was good, everything is quiet, burped the coolant, then packed the car up, cleaned up the garage, and rolled out by 11.
As of now, I'm still weirded out with out quiet it is. Loudest things on the motor are the belts and injectors, with just a hint of valve tick from no silencers and wider clearances. No rattle whatsoever, which the old motor had from day one. Power, with the same tune, is notable better, really wants to spool and pull. Soon enough I'll get the nice intake in and along with that will be MS, goal is to have that done and tuned before May.
Definitely glad to get it done, nice having it solid again. I'll post some pics once I get imgur back going again.