After a routine compression and leak down test revealed a blown head gasket, a partial engine teardown exposed some nasty surprises: a warped head, three badly galled exhaust cam bearings, and four heavily scored cylinder bores. Not good, and very surprising given the engine ran well and never hot during my ownership. Depending on your perspective, I then had either a stroke of good fortune, or a lapse in sound financial judgment. I picked up a recently completed OmniTech (aka John McCoy) 1700cc stroker from a local owner who had sold his Elan during the long engine build and no longer had a use for it.
Although the engine was a lot more than I wanted to spend, it was considerably less than the original build cost and was a great spec: new block, with shot peened SCAT 1600 crank and rods, 10.5:1 CP pistons, Stromberg Stage 3 head conversion, OM-420 cams, baffled sump, and more. John recently broke it in on his engine dyno where it put out 162hp at 6333 rpm, but I suspect power will be closer to 150hp installed in my car given the differences between his dyno exhaust system and mine (large bore 4-1 vs. smaller 4-2-1 header).
The engine came with the mechanical fuel pump removed and a block-off plate installed, which paved the way for an electric fuel pump conversion. A Facet Gold Flo pump was installed in the well next to the fuel tank behind the right rear wheel. A few custom hose brackets were printed to keep things tidy. This was also a good time to update the plastic fuel line that runs to the engine bay to an ethanol resistant Cunifer hard line.
The engine comes with John's preference of a points-based distributor system. He made it clear he doesn't like the 123 Ignition I was running on the old engine as he has reliability concerns and strongly prefers points-based systems. However, given I optimized the harness for the electric ignition, and had the tach converted to RVC, going back to points means some minor rewiring, which I don't wish to do. I also like the fact that I can have the ignition curve dialed in on the chassis dyno. At some point, I will likely switch to a 3D ignition, which is easier with the current wiring.
Sourcing parts has proven a longer process than expected. The Fidanza flywheel is backordered until the end of January, and the HD clutch, Weber linkage, and several other parts are proving troublesome to order from my preferred source. I think the holidays have been getting in the way and shortening their work week. The Coolex aluminum radiator with dual fans, however, has finished its trek across the pond. On my scale, its 7 lb lighter than my outgoing twin fan radiator.
Given I'd like to keep the engine clean, yet period correct wherever possible, I've opted for a black powder coating finish on the Coolex rather than bare aluminum, and for rubber fuel hose with worm drive clamps, rather than braided hose with AN fittings.
The airbox came from Famous Frank, purveyor of great interior reproduction parts. It has consistent depth across all four intakes, but is optimized for the standard, slip in velocity stacks, rather than the bolt on air horns fitted by OmniTech. Because the throttle linkage plate is sandwiched between the air box and carbs on #2 and #3, this leaves an air gap the thickness of this plate at #1 and #4. A few measurements and spacers were printed out of a suitable material for the area.
After much internal deliberation, I'm opting to keep the RD enterprises header already in the car. If it proves to be too restrictive, I'll do the TTR large bore header down the road. I am, however, upgrading to their 2" exhaust now. The existing intermediate pipe has some issues, including an area necked down to 1.5" where the WBO2 bung was added, and a creative, but nonstandard mounting system.
The engine came with the mechanical fuel pump removed and a block-off plate installed, which paved the way for an electric fuel pump conversion. A Facet Gold Flo pump was installed in the well next to the fuel tank behind the right rear wheel. A few custom hose brackets were printed to keep things tidy. This was also a good time to update the plastic fuel line that runs to the engine bay to an ethanol resistant Cunifer hard line.
The engine comes with John's preference of a points-based distributor system. He made it clear he doesn't like the 123 Ignition I was running on the old engine as he has reliability concerns and strongly prefers points-based systems. However, given I optimized the harness for the electric ignition, and had the tach converted to RVC, going back to points means some minor rewiring, which I don't wish to do. I also like the fact that I can have the ignition curve dialed in on the chassis dyno. At some point, I will likely switch to a 3D ignition, which is easier with the current wiring.
Sourcing parts has proven a longer process than expected. The Fidanza flywheel is backordered until the end of January, and the HD clutch, Weber linkage, and several other parts are proving troublesome to order from my preferred source. I think the holidays have been getting in the way and shortening their work week. The Coolex aluminum radiator with dual fans, however, has finished its trek across the pond. On my scale, its 7 lb lighter than my outgoing twin fan radiator.
Given I'd like to keep the engine clean, yet period correct wherever possible, I've opted for a black powder coating finish on the Coolex rather than bare aluminum, and for rubber fuel hose with worm drive clamps, rather than braided hose with AN fittings.
The airbox came from Famous Frank, purveyor of great interior reproduction parts. It has consistent depth across all four intakes, but is optimized for the standard, slip in velocity stacks, rather than the bolt on air horns fitted by OmniTech. Because the throttle linkage plate is sandwiched between the air box and carbs on #2 and #3, this leaves an air gap the thickness of this plate at #1 and #4. A few measurements and spacers were printed out of a suitable material for the area.
After much internal deliberation, I'm opting to keep the RD enterprises header already in the car. If it proves to be too restrictive, I'll do the TTR large bore header down the road. I am, however, upgrading to their 2" exhaust now. The existing intermediate pipe has some issues, including an area necked down to 1.5" where the WBO2 bung was added, and a creative, but nonstandard mounting system.
With the flywheel not expected to show up until after my original target completion date, it looks like the car won't be back on the road until sometime in February or March.
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