My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

Got the car from storage this morning, fired up as usual, power locks were a bit sticky, all windows worked and the AC compressor cycles. Systems check: passed.
Mostly ATF on the drip pans, a bit of oil, probably oil pan or left valve cover. Not too bad, definitely less motor oil than last spring.

Gave her half a tank of fresh gas and checked tire pressures. Pressures had held perfectly. Still smells rich on idle and bucks on decel, nothing new. Got home and the mileage says (10)6969 miles.
Tomorrow is going to include a fluid check, fuel return pressure testing and possibly checking the cam/dizzy gear. And the first cruise night for the year with the MGM.

[Arquemann]

Carb swap update 1: preparations.

- joined the feed and return fuel lines at the engine and checked if the return line causes pressure. None to be concerned with, barely registered on the gauge.
- cam gear seems to be in good condition, the gear on the currently installed is 100% definitely a cast gear, because it actually looks like one. The dizzy gear had some wear, but I doubt it's nothing beyond usual wear.
- noticed and fixed a split vacuum line on the tank vent side.
- cylinder head corners are stamped "R"

So, I can relatively confidently say that the current and previous dizzy gears are cast iron. But can I trust that the new dizzy gear is also cast by the fact that it performed somewhat similarly when it was filed?
Aaand I managed to break my hood ornament... the tiny loop on the ornament broke when I very softly brushed against the ornament. Fix coming at some point, atleast it's out of the way for the carb swap.

[Arquemann]

Carb swap update 2:

-got my Lotus Esprit Turbo fuel pressure reg, gotta figure out where to mount it and how to run lines
-I probably should've checked the AOD line pressure before dismantling the CFI
-fuck 'em vacuum lines
-intake is ready to come off (only bolts left)
-is the driver side exhaust flap open by default? i.e no vacuum
-one of the machine screws holding the CFI unit halves together almost fell into the intake as I lifted the CFI unit off, bolt was completely loose
-egr is squeaky clean after the valve

[kishy]

6969

Nice.
(inner teenager giggles)

-is the driver side exhaust flap open by default? i.e no vacuum

No vacuum, valve is open by default. Vacuum pulls it shut.

[matth825]

Glad your making progress! I’m curious to know if you’ve got a roller block once you get the intake off. I believe they switched to that block mid 1985 model year.


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[Arquemann]

Carb swap update 3 I guess, can't be bothered to number these anymore.
Everything has gone swimmingly so far, only the alternator bracket support required for me to bust out the breaker bar. Intake bolts were alarmingly loose in the middle...
But my oh my! They're even threaded already.


Also, vacuum lines


-USS Enterprise and it's solenoidy friends along a couple meters of crappy old vacuum lines have been successfully evacuated from the Ferd. More to come (and go)
-The space behind the engine is almost tolerable, I removed the ground behind the head and will probably relocate it to an intake bolt.
-Seems like the throttle & cruise cable bracket might bolt straight onto the new intake.
-Also threw the old intake bolts into Annitrol, similar to evaporust, I think. The beforementioned cable bracket and heater hose fitting might also get the same treatment.
-Not sure yet if I'll reuse the old heater hose fitting or use the new straight one.
-Sawed the cylinder head air pump pipe at the T, hammered it shut and will snot some weld on it to make sure it's shut. I'd rather keep the crossover pipe as the thing was a fucking nightmare to remove, and reinstalling only the ends in the correct orientation might prove even worse.

Quick and dirty mockup:


There's some things I've forgot to mention, but I'm tired as hell. I've been working on my seminar presentation of my thesis during the day and fucking off into the driveway in the afternoon. It was T-shirt weather today!

[friskyfrankie]

Carb swap update 3 I guess, can't be bothered to number these anymore.
Everything has gone swimmingly so far, only the alternator bracket support required for me to bust out the breaker bar. Intake bolts were alarmingly loose in the middle...
But my oh my! They're even threaded already.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]57694[/ATTACH]

Also, vacuum lines
[ATTACH=CONFIG]57695[/ATTACH]

-USS Enterprise and it's solenoidy friends along a couple meters of crappy old vacuum lines have been successfully evacuated from the Ferd. More to come (and go)
-The space behind the engine is almost tolerable, I removed the ground behind the head and will probably relocate it to an intake bolt.
-Seems like the throttle & cruise cable bracket might bolt straight onto the new intake.
-Also threw the old intake bolts into Annitrol, similar to evaporust, I think. The beforementioned cable bracket and heater hose fitting might also get the same treatment.
-Not sure yet if I'll reuse the old heater hose fitting or use the new straight one.
-Sawed the cylinder head air pump pipe at the T, hammered it shut and will snot some weld on it to make sure it's shut. I'd rather keep the crossover pipe as the thing was a fucking nightmare to remove, and reinstalling only the ends in the correct orientation might prove even worse.

Quick and dirty mockup:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]57696[/ATTACH]

There's some things I've forgot to mention, but I'm tired as hell. I've been working on my seminar presentation of my thesis during the day and fucking off into the driveway in the afternoon. It was T-shirt weather today!

REALLY nice work - congrats!!

[gadget73]

Flat tappet cam in a late roller-compatible block. Odd that they are tapped though, all the ones I've seen like this had un-tapped holes in the block.


makes me wonder if those loose intake bolts weren't a big part of your problem to begin with. IME if you don't run the torque pattern on the intake 3x the middle doesn't pull down right. By the third time you should get a click on the torque wrench almost immediately. The first two the bolts typically turn some noticeable amount before hitting torque.

[kishy]

I removed the ground behind the head and will probably relocate it to an intake bolt.

I defer to the thoughts/opinions of others, but if it were me I would not ground to an intake bolt for fear of possibly causing some corrosion-related headaches. We already see headaches with steel hardware through the aluminum intake into the coolant then into the iron heads; I'm not sure if it is possible to make that situation worse, but I bet current flow doesn't help.

[Arquemann]

Yup, I've seen the roller-compatible blocks a couple times before, they were never tapped.
The intake didn't have vacuum leaks from the outside, but I guess it's possible it could've leaked into the intake ports from the underside. Didn't see any evidence of such on the manifold or heads, intake gaskets were replaced at some point in history, proper fel-pros.

@kishy
Noted.

[Arquemann]

-Intake is installed, tossed the cork china wall seals and used RTV like everyone tells to do. We'll see how it holds up.
-Torqued to spec, dunno what spec tho. Dads ancient torque wrench starts at 40lbft. Eh, didn't crack the manifold so I think I'm good. Dad loaned his calibrated forearm aswell.
-The throttle & cruise cable bracket bolts straight to the new intake, might space it up a wee bit. Shot some paint on the bracket and cleaned up some bolts. Sucks that our bench grinder doesn't have a wire wheel.


-Dismantled the CFI unit enough to remove the throttle shaft.
-Now to figure out how to attach the linkage from that to the Holley. I should be able to shave off the throttle stop and return spring and keep the overall linkages less wide. Less stress on the carb shaft bores that way.

-I'll probably install the pressure regulator behind the carb, suddenly there's a lot of space there. No EGR, less vacuum shit and the new intake doesnt use the rear water ports.
-Valve covers are coming off for paint tomorow, I have a can of gooooold paint. I might try to remove the solenoid bracket bracket that's spot welded to the other valve cover.
-I ended up only using the ends of the cylinder head smog pipe. Trying to reinstall the plugged crossover pipe was such a fucking nightmare. I just used the ends flipped over like suggested before.

[gadget73]

I use the Fel Pro gaskets with the rubber end wall seals. They have a molded lower section that sits over the block to keep it where it belongs.

I want to say its 25 ft/lb for the lower. Somewhere in that range, its not a whole lot. The bolts are 5/16 (8mm), not exactly robust.

[matth825]

Looking great! Can’t wait to see it finished. Watching it come together is making me want to move forward with a carb swap on mine. Glad you’ve got the roller block,too. That is strange that the bosses for the lifter spider are tapped…maybe when a previous owner replaced the intake gaskets he tapped them with plans of a roller swap in mind?


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[Arquemann]

Instructions with the intake said that final torque was 15-18 lbft, but damn that seems low. I professionally guesstimated the setting on the torque wrench, since it was all below the lowest number. It's probably somewhere between 20-30 now. I get it it's an alu intake but I still got iron heads.

I dunno if the non-roller roller-compatible blocks are all supposed to be untapped. I guess I could check the block casting number at some point, but that probably won't tell anything new. Either way Im happy because an actual bolt-on roller swap will be nice.

[sly]

Yeah... the torque spec is probably for aluminum heads. You're probably fine as long as you did the proper pattern.