The Raven e9 project

Stevehose said:
Now is a good time to port match the manifold to the head and carbs, and yes, trim all gaskets.
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Yes, well, one day when I grow up and finally decide what I really want to do for fuel delivery, I will definitely do that. Honestly, the more I get into this project, the more I start to contemplate other options for more power, torque, and reliability. I know there are some (especially you Steve) that finesse the carbs to perfection. But I do wonder if an FI system will be more user friendly. I have plenty of time to ponder. Right now I just need to get this engine out so I can stare at it for a while.
EDIT: Whoa, as soon as I wrote "FI", I got a funny feeling inside my belly. I might not be authorized to use that term. o_O I still have to evaluate things, but a goal would be to use my original block (albeit perhaps bored, etc). Since my car was originally a carbed car, that may be the right answer. Too many questions, not enough answers.
 
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I took a step back, or sideways, this weekend. Rather than taking more apart, I did some studies on two areas. First was digging out a tii brake booster I have and seeing how it will interact with side draft carbs. I already know of examples where this works well, but I wanted to see/test it for myself. Here are some images of the booster installed along with the middle carb that typically conflicts with the original booster. I doubt I would use this combination of trumpets and dome screens, but you can see that there is about 3/8" (1cm) between them. I think the individual air cleaner assemblies with 90 horns that @Stevehose found might be nice.
20200705-weber tii-1.jpg

20200705-weber tii-2.jpg
20200705-weber tii-3.jpg

20200705-weber tii-4.jpg


Here is a comparison of the original booster and the tii booster. As you can see, the tii booster is about the same thickness, and much smaller diameter. I see I will have to modify the booster shaft or the linkage from the brake pedal if I use this setup.
20200705-boosters-1.jpg


Does anyone know the purpose of the two different boot assemblies? The original booster had this aluminum flange that holds the rubber boot, whereas the tii booster boot attaches right onto the booster body. Note that the E9 booster has the exact same accommodation and the smaller boot could attach right to it.
20200705-boosters-2.jpg


And I realized I have two brake master cylinders. They appear to be identical although there are slightly different casting marks between them. They are both the 23.81mm bore size. This measurement is from diameter of the metal parts of the piston (not the distance of the parts that the interior jaws are pointing at - that was just a coincidence).
20200705-MC pistons.jpg


Today's temperature in the garage - and humidity. I keep it very dry in there. Nothing will ever rust again as long as it is in this garage. :cool:
20200705-dry.jpg
 
autokunst said:
Not Milwaukee - just the inside of the garage. It is sweltering and soupy outside. Very much looking forward to fall!!!
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Wow. I've hada veritable river running from my humidifier drain the last week here in Judd's deathbed. I think I'd need an AC & 2 humidifiers to get to 18%.
 
autokunst said:
Yes, well, one day when I grow up and finally decide what I really want to do for fuel delivery, I will definitely do that. Honestly, the more I get into this project, the more I start to contemplate other options for more power, torque, and reliability. I know there are some (especially you Steve) that finesse the carbs to perfection. But I do wonder if an FI system will be more user friendly. I have plenty of time to ponder. Right now I just need to get this engine out so I can stare at it for a while.
EDIT: Whoa, as soon as I wrote "FI", I got a funny feeling inside my belly. I might not be authorized to use that term. o_O I still have to evaluate things, but a goal would be to use my original block (albeit perhaps bored, etc). Since my car was originally a carbed car, that may be the right answer. Too many questions, not enough answers.
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Stephen - be careful about that 'growing up' thing. My favorite philosophical phrase is: You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.

Gary
 
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I like the inset dome screens and would put those on mine but they are only for 45's.

The ones that fit the 40's have a clumsy rubber seal that obscures the beautiful look of the trumpets.



IMG_7649.JPG
 
JayWltrs said:
Wow. I've hada veritable river running from my humidifier drain the last week here in Judd's deathbed. I think I'd need an AC & 2 humidifiers to get to 18%.
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To be fair, when I snapped that photo the dehumidifier was being helped by the heat pump in cooling mode (AC). I just got home from a long day of meetings and site visits and it is 27% RH out there right now. And it has gone up just above 30% at times ;) But it is also a new building, built/finished reasonably tight. And I keep the doors and windows shut this time of year to keep that humidity out.
 
Restoration Timeline: Day 50
Approximate Hours: 40 (corrected time)

Today I realized that I am 50 days and approximately 50 hours into the restoration process, which has thus far all been disassembly. 690 photos have been taken thus far to remind me how to put this car back together. Coincidentally, today we (Amy helped) pulled the engine out which is a pretty nice milestone. I had already dropped the transmission out the bottom last week. The engine, with water pump and pulleys on, came out with the hood on and room to spare.
20200718-engine and trans out.jpg
20200718-engine out hood on.jpg


Next steps are to drop the front and rear sub-frames, diagram/document/remove all wiring/harnesses, and remove a few other remaining bits and pieces as well as anything aluminum/alloy.

I plan to build a chassis dolly out of 3x3 HSS steel – I’ve already drawn up a design in CAD that is largely inspired by the dollies that Miklos Meszaros’ shop uses. I’ll have to get in the cue for the dipping place soon as I think they have a 4-week backlog.

Realizing that 50 days have elapsed, I feel like I haven't made much progress. But based on the actual time I've tracked, I think 50 hours is pretty reasonable.
 
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Do you have a pic of the engine on its way out of the bay to show hood clearance or was it too stressful to take pics?
 
Stevehose said:
Do you have a pic of the engine on its way out of the bay to show hood clearance or was it too stressful to take pics?
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Sorry, no. It was all business with Amy on the lift handle, and me guiding the engine out. But it wasn't even close. I kept the flywheel about an inch away from the bulkhead, and rotated the engine clockwise a bit (when looking down) to make sure the distributor didn't contact the radiator support. Honestly, the radiator support is the obstacle - I never even paid attention to the hood. By the time the engine was up above the rad support/bulkhead, we were able to pull it out the left side. But again, there was so much room I didn't even take note of it. I just wanted to get it over the fender and back down closer to the floor. I had to put the engine crane on the longest boom position since I came in from the side, and it was flexing more than I'd preferred. That is the "1/2-ton" setting which "should" be ample capacity, but I didn't want to test it too long.
 
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Restoration Timeline: Day 51
Approximate Hours: 40 3/4 hours (corrected time)

Got out to the garage for an hour today. I'm starting to prep for dropping the front and rear subframes, and decided to disconnect the brake lines towards that end. When I removed the rear wheels (the first time I've done that on this car), I discovered a pair of 25mm FK spacers. Made in Germany, so they must be good. I also see that the car has Bilstein shocks - presumably the sports given how low the car sits. When I bought the car, the seller described this car as his hot rod. These discoveries seem to support that. It is also fitted with the high performance red spray paint on the brake caliper.
20200719-wheel spacer.jpg

20200719-Bilstein rear.jpg
20200719-red paint upgrade.jpg


Unrelated question: Does anyone know where to get nitrile gloves these days? I ran out right about when the pandemic hit, and they've been scarce ever since. I can find small packages of the really thin blue ones, but those rip almost immediately. I'm hoping to find the heavier duty black ones.
 
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I need to make a Lowe's trip Monday morning. I'll see if there are any Black Diamond large nitrile gloves. If there are I'll buy a couple of boxes for you & send them on over.
 
adawil2002 said:
I need to make a Lowe's trip Monday morning. I'll see if there are any Black Diamond large nitrile gloves. If there are I'll buy a couple of boxes for you & send them on over.
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Brilliant. The big box stores are out in my neck of the woods. Even Harbor Freight is out - they donated their entire stock to a local hospital. Can't complain about that. And thank you!
 
adawil2002 said:
I need to make a Lowe's trip Monday morning. I'll see if there are any Black Diamond large nitrile gloves. If there are I'll buy a couple of boxes for you & send them on over.
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I love this forum for so many reasons. The folks here are generous with their time, knowledge, and insight. Here I find my inspiration, and so many new and lasting friends. And today, after I posed a question about where to get nitrile gloves during the pandemic, two boxes of "Edd China orange" gloves arrive as a gift from @adawil2002 . Thank you! My hands will be clean once again.
20200723-gloves.jpg

Thanks again Andrew!
 
Day 58
50 1/2 hours

They say the last 10 percent takes 90 percent of the time. That seems to be true of disassembly. As the parts get smaller and more dispersed, I seem to be slowing my momentum chasing all of the remaining items down. I spent a lot of time just standing in the engine compartment, staring, labeling, contemplating.
20200725-bulkhead.jpg

20200725-labeling.jpg


Speaking of time, last week I noted my "approximate" hours spent thus far. It was a conservative estimate, but that didn't sit well. I actually have quite a bit of documentation on how much time I've spent each day I've worked on the car. So I geeked out and created a journal of the restoration. I'd always planned on doing this - it just took me several weeks to get on it. I could do this in excel, but a hand written journal seems to capture the romantic nature of a vintage car restoration better. At least that's how I see it.
20200725-journal.jpg


I found surprisingly good looking bolts/studs holding the rear sub-frame to the car. Given the corrosion around this area, these look "too" good.
20200725-rear subframe bolt.jpg


Does anyone have any advice on how to remove the seat adjustment hardware? I unscrewed the three flat head screws, and still do not see how to free this handle assembly. I even removed the spring - which is really under tension. In hind sight, I realized that this does nothing to help get this part out.
20200726-seat adjustment.jpg
 
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