Finally this week it felt like I got something accomplished on this project. The last three weeks have been an unending string of fiddling around with minor issues, fabricating small parts, etc. This process extended into this weekend, because I still had a few small fabrication projects to get finished. These included making a bracket to bolt the fuel pressure regulator to the front timing cover, making four small L-shaped brackets to hold the EFI fuel rails in place (the old ones wouldn't work because my new injectors are taller, and position the fuel rail higher), making a fitting to install the vacuum relief valve for the dry sump system in the left valve cover, and making brackets to hold two short coolant lines from the intake manifold in place at the top of the front cover. I was busy all week with other stuff, including Friday night, so I didn't get going on this until Saturday. It took me until 11:00 PM Saturday night to get all this finished up, plus make up the coolant and fuel lines! It just didn't seem like it would be that much work, but it took forever.
Finally, though, all that was behind me at the end of the night on Saturday. Before turning in I decided to bolt on my new engine sling. One of the issues with these engines when you use the Hilborn setup or this sheet metal intake is that it is difficult to find a place to bolt the engine lift chains on, where they won't be pushing against some fragile tube or other sensitive part of the engine when you lift it up. A while back I stumbled across this new engine sling that uses nylon straps to bolt to the exhaust ports, and just lifts the engine by those straps. The straps rest against the valve cover as they come up to the top of the engine, which of course isn't a real fragile part. I figured this thing would be perfect for lifting up the SOHC, so I picked one up. Here's a photo of the engine ready to come off the stand, with the new sling bolted on:
Sunday morning I got to work taking the 428CJ off the dyno, where it has been sitting ever since I ran the intake adapter dyno tests. By noon I had the engine off and the dyno room cleaned up and ready to take the SOHC. After rolling the SOHC into the dyno room and attaching the flywheel, bellhousing, engine mounts, etc., I got the engine up in the air and ready to bolt on the dyno. It was at this moment that I discovered a limitation of my new engine sling
You can't really tell in the picture below, but the attachment point for the lift crane is so high up over the engine that I didn't have enough height to get the engine high enough to mount on the dyno, without having the crane hit the ceiling:
I ended up getting it up in the air as high as I could, and then putting a small jack under the back of the engine to raise it so that the dyno's drive shaft could slide into the bellhousing and engage the drive hub bolted to the flywheel. Nothing is ever easy with this stuff. Anyway, by 2:00 I had the engine bolted down on the dyno stand. Next I had to figure out a way to mount the dry sump tank in approximately the same relative location as it would be in the car, and then make all the dry sump lines. While I was at it I installed the headers, to make sure that I had clearance to all the dry sump components. Finally when all that was done I filled the oil filter and dry sump tank with 7 quarts of oil, took the pump loose so I could remove the belt, and spun the dry sump pump to pre-oil the engine. Everything went according to plan, and I got good oil pressure during the pre-oil. Here are a couple of photos of the engine on the dyno, and also one close up of the dry sump components that are chassis mounted:
I still have a lot to do to get this engine running, including hooking up the exhaust, cooling system, and fuel system, plus all the wiring and programming the EFI software, but I think that's all do-able this week, so I should be running on the dyno by the end of next weekend. I'll post another update next Sunday night.
