Well I drove the bugeye to work today. This is the first real drive, after
completing the 210 5-speed conversion, and re-rebuilding the 1275 (new pistons
20-over, md266 cam, dellorto dhla40 side-draft, maniflow header, and 1.75
exhaust)
The car was great on the freeway, I'm not sure how fast I was going (60-70mph),
since my speedo is off, but it was really nice cruising at 3500rpm rather than
42-4500rpm :-)
The engine still had a tendency to heat up to about 200 degrees while sitting
at
the metering light for approximately 8-10 minutes, but cooled right down to 160
once I reached cruising speed. I am now using 1/2 bottle of Redline
water-wetter
+ about 20% coolant in the radiator, so I'm still a little concerned that the
fan is not doing it's job (newly re-cored down-flow with bugeye fan). I noticed
that the leading edge of the bugeye fan blade is almost flat , so it could be
that it needs to be bent to pull more air at low speed, or replaced with the
later 1275 fan. I would like to find a 'clutch' fan if possible.
The oil leak that has plagued my engine appears to be resolved. It now only
leaves about 3-5 drops vs. the 3-5 table spoons it used to leave after I parked
:-) Also the issue of pulling oil up through the PCV into the intake manifold
doesn't seem to be an issue anymore either. It used to smoke quite a bit for
the
first mile or two until the engine was fully warmed up.
When I had the engine out, I also put some marks on the front crank pulley to
make it easier to time. I have 0 degrees clearly marked with white paint, as
well as 30 degrees. These were set 'exactly' while using a protractor, and a
dial gauge to find TDC.
I first tried timing the car by ear for the first test drive, and when I
checked
it with a timing light, it appeared to be around 18 degrees at 1000rpm.
I later 'speed timed' the engine at around 3500rpm, and I noticed that it was
running way too advanced (~40 degrees), I then reset it to around 30 degrees.
Now the idle is a little rougher, and my timing appears to be around 6 degrees
at 1000RPM. Does any one else have any comments on this??
Over all the car starts easily and idles fairly smoothly above 800rpm, it seems
to have plenty of power, and the 210 tranny is a definite improvement over my
original rib-case.
On other note on the clutch: I noticed that the Nissan TO bearing doesn't
always
want to pull away enough from the pressure plate so that it will stop spinning.
I think I'm going to try putting an external return spring to help with that.
It
seems that a lot of the problems that people report with the 5-speed conversion
is that the TO bearing wears out and freezes up, so I want to try and prevent
that.
If any one wants all the details on my engine rebuild/modifications and/or the
5-speed conversion let me know, and I'll post it.
- Bryan Vandiver (59-bugeye)
San Jose, CA
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