I've posted a 'hello' and a little bit about my project in the general chat forum.... But I thought I might take some photos and keep a record of the build...
So first the starting point.
My truck is a 1985 Hilux, which started life as a 2.2l petrol 4x4 hilux.
Before I bought it someone had converted to a rv8 - although this done with a very liberal coat of bodge... but the price was right - and i just liked it!
It really wasn't particularly great though, first thing that needed attention was the exhaust system ( if you can call flexi pipe an exhaust system) to side mufflers which sounded pretty rough and a bit too loud...
So first thing I did was remove and remake the system in stainless. There's not a lot of room on the drivers side, so I ran the pipe around the sump and did a nice big powerflow stainless twin muffler with twin exits out the passenger side just ahead of the rear wheel...
sounds much nicer... (photo soon...)
BUT
still didn't seem to have much go... which is probably because it just wouldnt rev beyond about 3700 rpm... after that it would just break up/backfire through the carbs...
so, i started reading the internet.
First bit of bad news apparently - stromberg carbs seem to be hated by everyone... nevermind - i dont really think thats the biggest problem i had. The dizzy shaft has soo much play in it - it was ridiculous - so I whacked in a nice new one from RPI, along with one of their amplifiers and a set of magnecor leads - woohoo - now we can rev at least...
time to head off to see mr dyno and figure out where we are with the fueling - it sounds like it's detonating under load so i figure a bit of analyisis and perhaps some new needles might just the ticket...
Theres an old boy nearby who runs a dyno shop and is pretty handy with carbs nearby - so we booked a session, and put her on the rollers...
Anyway - it was quite an interesting morning - first run of the day... was a none to impressive 110 hp... but this would bounce up to about 125 with the CHOKE pulled out... (houston we have a problem)
So she's weak as hell as soon as you open the taps... I guess this is in part the K&N filters and open exhausts...
So we pulled the carbs and the old boy turned down the needles a bit to get some more juice in there...
On the rollers again, and between sorting a few carb issues and tweaking the timing we are showing a much healthier 150hp... (which i was quite happy with until the little mini you can see on the edge of shot rolled onto the same dyno and pumped out 165 - from 1.3 litres...)
Anyway - with the old boys warning that she was 'still weak up top' ringing in my ears I trundled off - And let me tell you - 150hp feels a world different to how it was when I got it! The old girl is actually pretty swift, given it's geared for about 90mph top speed...
So I trundled around like this for a while, doing little cosmetic bits... fitted some roll hoops and spotties to complete the look, well we all loved marty mcflys pickup - go on, admit it... (perhaps it was just me then)
All great until that dreaded nasty noise of a burnt out valve... and a bit of overheating etc...
so i limped home - and whipped out the old lump to see what the score was...
nice big engine bay is quite easy to work in... but UGLY messy - will sort that out before the engine goes back
then I find just what I'm looking for...
An engine in a TVR built for Classic touring car racing... sounds interesting spec and I can test drive it in the car (an old TVR wedge)
The guy who owns it also has a TVR griffith 500 in his garage and is a bit of an enthusiast. He's bought himself another 5ltr block and is building up a whole new engine as part of a rebuild of the wedge - and so is selling off the tuned 3.5 (which is a bit of a hairy beast, I'll be honest)
I take it for a drive - sounds beautiful - runs beautiful - revs lovely and clean, good oil pressure - clean as a whistle inside etc... so I take it!
And that's nearly up to date...
