Some ugly engine pictures

[TulsaSpider]

That is an amazing looking motor! I am going to be beginning my build soon. So tell us some more about the performance and what you think made the most difference.
Cheers!
Clark

[bwilson27]

My biggest question is how long it took him to complete it all.

[Daniel]

nice work Kevin !

Here is an engine i did a while back

[azygoustoyou]

It's nice to see some pretty engine pic's!! It's motivation for the rest of us who want to do the same.

[kmac33]

That's one nice looking motor Daniel!

My biggest question is how long it took him to complete it all.

The entire "nuts and bolts" restoration of my Spider took almost 2 years. I'm going to do a full write up in the restoration section soon. The work moved sporadically the first year - started doing a rolling restoration, then switched to full on complete disassembly and rebuild, which meant doing some things twice like the carpet and dash wood. Literally every part of the car has been replaced, refreshed or restored. I even ended up media blasting and repainting parts that no one will ever see (like the gas filler hinge pin and clamp ).
The restoration really ramped up in March and I put a ton of time into it to get the car finished for FFO 2010.
The total time for the motor build is hard to pin point since multiple parts of the restoration were going on at the same time. Took 3 or 4 weeks for the head and intake to travel to Jon Logan for him to work his magic and travel back home, only took the local machine shop 1 day to do the block work!, the powder coating shop had my header for 2 weeks for ceramic coating, took my friend (that did my paint work) and I about 3 days to do all of the paint work on the block, cam towers, pulleys, etc., took 3 weeks to get the cam covers chromed, motor re-assembly only took 2 days, took a few days to reinstall the motor and transmission, get everything hooked back up and start it for the first time.
As for what made the biggest difference performance wise? I think it is really the combination of all the "right" elements coming together such as the correct size high compression pistons, correct size valves, etc. . All of those build elements have to compliment each other to get the most out of the motor. I spent a lot of time researching all of the options out there - but I have to really thank Jon Logan for spending a few hours on the phone with me going through various "bang for the buck" build options and helping me map out a build that meets what I was looking for: very streetable motor but very good performance, easy to tune and keep running well, longevity, reasonable cost (I know this one is relative) - Jon helped me rule out some options because the cost to performance gain ratio didn't make sense for me.

[bwilson27]

Kevin- You did exactly what I'm doing to mine. Just like Brady is doing as well. Every little piece that goes back on will be refurbished or replaced with a new piece.
It was kinda spooky looking at all your photobucket pics. Your car and engine are SO similar to mine, it was like deja-vu. Just knowing that my engine and car will look that good some day gives me new-found inspiration.

I have a question for you- What did you do about nuts and bolts? Did you try to restore them, or did you just replace them?
I wish there were a place to buy the complete set of nuts and bolts for an entire engine.

[kmac33]

The vast majority of nuts and bolts on the entire car were replaced with new stainless steel ones. I should have bought stock in Ace Hardware! I actually bought a zinc plating kit to restore them, but it ended up being much easier to just go buy new ones.

[BEEK]

kevin, if you need any additional hardware, try howards hardware in duluth...they have any and every bolt, nut, washer known to man

[bwilson27]

But you can't find those neat little bolts that say FIAT on them in a hardware store! I know that's what I'm going to end up doing though, too.
How about a rock polisher? I think that's been mentioned here, has anyone used one? Photos?

[htchevyii]

I tried the vibratory tumbler thing, if you leave them long enough they will get clean, but with no corrosion protection will rust. So I tried a Caswell plating kit, but.... the tumbler imbedded the previous zinc coating, so it didn't work. Use acid to remove the zinc and then replated. Even the ones that came out the best rusted within a year. I think you are better off buying new hardware, although some of the of the hardware store stuff is pretty crummy quality and rusts too. By the way my cars live in the garage and only come out on nice days!

[bwilson27]

Well, I managed to blast my corner pieces, but its just been too hot anything else. It was 110 again here today.
I did find out that my gas tank fits onto my sandblast cabinet with room to spare! I'll post a photo whenever I get it done.

[azygoustoyou]

Wow! 110- I couldn't deal with that.

[bwilson27]

Then it's like 130 in my non-A/C garage. I'll be doing something about all that this winter, when the attic is a mere 70-80 and I can run some ducts.