76er Swallowtail build

[thestu]

best!!!

[Oneofthegreats]

Well, the old girl's engine finally gave in to over a decade of pain, abuse & punishment, but I still got one last road trip out of it.

The engine had travelled approx 370-390K of torture.
The engine wasn't even a day old from being rebuilt & I was out drag racing it.

Km travelled - 1300+km
Fuel consumption - don't know
Everage speed - ???? I know I sat on around 4000rpm the whole trip with an average of around 3500rpm.
Trip's cost - don't care
Sight's seen - Plenty

Would I do it again - Hell yeh, if I get another engine!!

I made the trip upto Wagga for my GF's RAAF Graduation & it was a blast! Sorry, but I'm not posting up pics of the grad.

I started the trip off with a bit of hestitation about the engine's health, due to using alot of water & the old Powerade bottle starting to fill up.
I gave the breather bottle a good cleanout, checked & topped up all the level's & I was off.

First fuel stop I took some liquid's & the car took about 2 litres of water. Not looking good, but the breather bottle was empty. Good enough for me.

I decided to go the back way to wagga just out of Holbrook. Big mistake. The road's were rough as gut's. The car took an absolute beating & so did my back. I'm very suprised the KW's didn't give up, as it was that bad. It was also going on dark & the roo's started to come out & I was in full nasty mode.
Then Josh decided he would ring me & wanted to have a chat. I definately had my hand's full.
To give you an idea, I was grasping the wheel with both hand's tight.

Got to wagga, no problem's, took on another 2L of water's, alittle vapour's in the bottle.

Cruised around the sight's having alook around. Never been to wagga so it was pretty nice to see somewhere new.

Stayed in a awesome hotel, massive room's, big bath room, cheap & the owner's were really friendly & welcoming. Will definately stay there again. if I'm back in town.
I had to replace the heater tap again, at the hotel in the morning, due to a leak & bypass the whole heating system. I found it leaking when I started the car up in the morning. The car was also starting to get hard to start???

Decided I'd go the normal way home & go down the Olympic Hwy, but stupid me was to concerned with the phone, I missed the turnoff!!!!

I ended up in Narrandera!!! You idiot. So I thought I'd make the most of it & see some country side. I came down through Jerilderie, onto Conargo, Deniliquin, Echuca, Bendigo, Castlemaine & then I got lost again & ended up on the Calder Hwy. By this point I didn't even care about the right way home & thought of it more as an adventure.

I took on some more fuel in Denni & rechecked the fluid's. It was bad to say the least. It took nearly the whole watering can, 0.5L of oil & the breather bottle was now full! The car was also very hard to start, which I think could be caused by a lack of compression, as I could turn the engine by hand!

I thought, bugger it. Me & this old engine have been to hell, broken the devil's leg's & returned. I had complete condifence that I would make it home - just!

I had to top up the coolant (now pure water!) in Gisbourne, which it took another whole watering can & the breather bottle was now a milkshake.

I had to refill in Melton, as it was also starting to use a bit more fuel, due to extreme blow by. The breather bottle was now over flowing & the milkshake was splattered under the car.

From there on in, it was a straight forward drive home, apart from the sickening smell of the breather bottle!

Funilly enough, the car never over heated once, even when there was nothing in the expansion tank & it could still outrun a Gen3 from a standing start. I think the cold country air & 4k rpm was keeping it alive the whole time & was pumping what ever little amount of coolant around fast enough to heat up & cool down.
It stilled pulled like a train, right up to when I pulled in the drive way.

I'll post up some pic's of the breather bottle content's soon & also a report on the condition of the engine. If I get time tomorrow, I'll do a compression test & when some free time comes up, I'll strip the engine & take some pic's.

Anyway, roadtrip pics. I'm not the best at aking pictures, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

Also note the car still hasn't been washed.

Hume Hwy



More Hume Hwy. Amazing how different the scenery can be.



Whoops!!!



Cruise control, the easy way.







Over looking Wagga Wagga.







Toy car in the scrub!

[Oneofthegreats]

If you ever need a cheap place to stay, you can alway's stay in some old horse stable!!!!!



Not much out here, that's for sure.



Had to get a picture out the front of Conargo Pub.



And the same for Denni!

[Oneofthegreats]

A couple of my favorites.

Note: I had to leave the car running for most of the shot's, just in case I couldn't restart the bastard!!

[Oneofthegreats]

Well I pulled the motor & done a quick autopsy on it.

Compression Check & leakdown check's were carried out.

Compression Check

Cyl.1 - 185 psi
Cyl.2 - 185 psi
Cyl.3 - 210 psi, filled with coolant though
Cyl.4 - 170 psi

Leakdown check
Cyl.1 - 40%, Inlet valve leaking
Cyl.2 - 30%, ring's leaking
Cyl.3 - 34%, head gasket leaking
Cyl.4 - 70%, exhaust valve leaking

I've been in a pretty laid back & lazy mood, so I was in no great hurry to get the the engine out. I also done some work to the Audi, just in case I have to start driving it again.

Engine was pulled out & as it now stand's everything has been swapped over onto a stock "GX" engine incl the Autotech HD Valve Spring's. I decided to refit the Autotech 270 cam & the MK2 5Spd for everyday use. At least with the 270 I can cruise along smoothly in 5th at 50kph. There's no way in hell you could do that with the TT276! It would buck like a bastard!

It won't be anywhere near as fast as the original old girl's engine, but it shouldl be a nice cruiser & once I re-adjust the CO%, it shouldn't be half bad on fuel either. I reckon it should make around the 105-110hp with the other bolt-on mod's.

Breather bottle content's tell the story, along with the massive buildup of gunk in No.3 inlet port right up the intake manifold.











Sorry Josh. I had to show the milkshake maker!



This is one of the reason's I like K-Jet so much. It's such a clean burning engine & also keep's the inlet track very clean, apart from the mishap in No.3

You can also see the burnt coolant crystal's in No.3 exhaust port!

[Oneofthegreats]

Still pretty clean for a 380+K engine. Also a TT276 in there too!



It wasn't this clean 10mins before I took this pic, that's for sure.



All ready with the 5spd to go into the car tomorrow morning.



The ol' girl's looking pretty bare now. Also note the oil sweat from the dipstick tube. This was caused by excessive crankcase pressure buildup, even though it has a 1" breather tube. I can't wait to tear it down for further inspection.



Hanging in the breeze. Just airing out the burn't front tyres! Ha haaa

[Oneofthegreats]

Well I fitted the other engine this morning in the rain & is running ok & also done the CO% tune. Was only out by a fraction of f@#k all.

Took 2hr's to refit everything & fire it up.

Car started up straight away after regaining fuel pressure. Oil pressure light went off straight away too!

I decided on fitting the vernier & lightweight pulley's & also took some time to replace the fuel injector braided lines while I was playing around, as I already had them here off the GTI.

Total cost of engine swap. $2! I needed a gasket & didn't have one lying around anywhere.

It doesn't go anywhere near as hard as the original one & in my eye's not very impressive at all, but it will have to do.

Nice to have the Autotech 270 & 5spd again too! Can just cruise along in 5th @ 50kph nice & smooth.

I was right about the valve stem seal's. Only alittle smokey when cold. Not too bad though.

Will go into Vic Road's on Friday to have the engine sighted.

I may also fit the original GTI dizzy with vac advance for an increase in fuel ecomony next weekend & see how it goes. Not interested in performance for this car anymore, as spending any money on this engine is a bloody waist.
I'd like to get around an honest 460+km out of a tank.

You can't even tell the difference. Look's identical, apart from a clean breather bottle!









The aftermath of an engine swap. Took nearly just as long to clean up everything than it did to refit the engine & box!



Also have to thank the two JJ's for their hand removing the engine & box. It's nice to get a hand doing these sort of job's without engine cranes etc.

Alway's good to catch up with you guy's for a chin wag.

[Oneofthegreats]

Haven't been on here much lately, but thought I should give a little update on the 76er.

The instrument cluster finally clicked over half a mill! It only had 10K left to do when I pulled the interior out of my old silver beater.

I've now travelled 10k since building this car too!

I know, I know. I still haven't washed it. 10K of dirt, road grime, brake dust & build up. It's on the "Thing's to do" list, along with a couple of rattle's & squeaks.

[Oneofthegreats]

Alittle update on the old girl.

My quest for fuel economy is on pretty good track & recently got 8.9L/100km combined highway/city & about 450km for a tank of juice. The speedo is also spot on 100% with the 5spd & 16" wheels.

I've just fitted the GTI vac. advance dizzy today & hopefully this will come down even further. Will update on progress.

I could also refit the stock K-Jet fuel dizzy & airflap, which will bring it down again, but its not in too good a condition.

I know it's not much to write home about compared to diesel's & new car's but it's pretty good for some very old technology.

Also doesn't come close to the Audi's 6.7L/100km. May have to rob some K-Jet & aux. air part's off it if it doesn't sell soon & wreck it out.

[Oneofthegreats]

I thought I'd give an update to the "what's going on" with this car so far, 6 month's on from being built.

Lately it's been driven, hammered, loaned out as it's turned into a bit of a community car of late. Also known as the "show car/loan car"

But some work has been done on it.

I had both the front seat's repaired by a well known & top notch upholster in Melb.

It wasn't cheap, but the result's were worth it I reckon.

They repaired & double stitched all the pleat's on the base & backrest & also added in a new vinyl section across the top of the seat with piping where they get very bad sun damage, causing the material to shrink, split & tear.

They also gave me some extra vinyl material for the back seat across the top too when it need's it.

[Oneofthegreats]

Since all this was built, its been used as a everydayer & has so far clocked 533+K

I've also since added a slight power upgrade to it, but I'll do another build thread on that.