Firewall Forward

Total Build Time: 832 Hours. I received my 2nd replacement cylinder head from Sonex, cleaned it up and installed it. I purchased a compression tester while waiting for the new head so I could more accurately check and record the leakage in each cylinder. My compression test results on the new cylinder head without any … Continue reading »

Total Build Time: 789 Hours. “During assembly of my aerovee kit, I was inserting the top spark plugs into the cylinder heads.  I gapped and applied anti-seize, then fit and hand tightened all 4 top plugs. I set my torque wrench to the prescribed 12 ftlb, and torqued the first plug successfully. However on the … Continue reading »

Total Build Time: 788 Hours. For continuity purposes, this post will include my progress on the cylinder heads, rocker assemblies and valve pushrods. My next post will include the issues I’ve faced with the Aerovee cylinder heads. The cylinder heads were pretty dirty with shavings, I spent over an hour per head cleaning and filing out … Continue reading »

Total Build Time: 781 Hours. The pistons mate to the connecting rods via the piston bolts. I had some fitment issues between the piston bolts and connecting rods.   I had a couple piston bolts that were just too tight with the connecting rods. I used an extension socket and emery paper to slightly file … Continue reading »

Total Build Time: 777 Hours. I cleaned out the crankcase using files, emery paper and a dremel tool. All burrs and loose material was removed, then the case was cleaned.   I then masked off all machined surfaces and openings and painted the case with engine primer.   I then assembled the connecting rods onto … Continue reading »

Total Build Time: 771 Hours. The Aerovee crankshaft uses a shrink-fit assembly. That is, certain parts need to be heated (and others frozen) to allow them to expand/shrink enough to fit onto the appropriate parts. Once the parts cool, they fit snugly. The first part to be heated and inserted onto the crankshaft is the … Continue reading »

I had the engine delivered to my office to save on residential shipping costs. Here’s the pallet in the delivery truck: Fitting all 5 boxes into my VW hatchback made for a tight fit! Putting a VW conversion engine into a VW hatchback did seem appropriate, though.   Once home, I unpacked and inventoried the … Continue reading »