Merkur Engine and Head Work

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john vanlandingham

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NoCoast
It's a stock long block that I would put in the car. The Volvo headed engine can then be built more slowly. Scott and I are going up on Thursday to check it out. He's bringing tools from his shop to inspect stuff!

My accessories are a bit hodge podge. I have a Mustang P/S bracket with a Thunderbird P/S reservoir (only one offered with remote reservoir). Both from around 87 or so. I have a 92 Ranger Alternator and bracket. The crank pulley and water pump pulley are from a Mustang too I believe. Changed from v-belt to serpentine. I need longer belts or to modify the tensioners to work better and knew that from the beginning. They were both too tight. As in even at the loosest setting on the alternator I had to loosen bolts from bracket to block to get enough loose to get the belt onto the pulley. P/S side was even worse. It is actually a pretty easy fix I just figured the only side effect would be broken belts if it was too tight so always had spares ready to go. Doh.

If those 3 dollah vbelts are so good they why don't they use them for timing belts.???


Serp belts do a great job but if you have something wierd it may be hard to find one. Even normal stuff like Chebby trucks we get skunked once in a while in small town USA.

Whatever "reasoning' that lead you to use a morphodite serpentine set up was in error.
Junk that shit and use just 2 $3.99 belts that you can have spares installed in mere minutes..and for which you can find in any Auto-zoo, Schucks O'rielly, Napa, Car Quest whatever in the whole gawddam country and likely survive with the next step up or down or alternate width even----instead of fucking around with one thing which IF perfect doesn't do anything the 2 $3.99 belt do just fine, but if wrong are fucked OPP!

What the fuck were you thinking? I mean what da fawk????

No1 Rally rule violation : SIMPLE is better than not simple.

Well, didya junk the shit yet?
Whatcher waiting for?

Actually John, the serpentine setup was the simplest way for me to move the alternator to the p/s so that I could run a 90 degree rotated intake. This setup was built at least a year prior to you and William building/designing a bracket to relocate the stock alternator. I knew you were working on designing/building something but didn't have a timeline and didn't have the patience to wait. Much like the rear brake kit...
I also gained more volume for power steering and easier plumbing for the cooler.
It cost me about $20 worth of brackets. I now have an alternator that is easy to find anywhere as it was used on a ton of Rangers. It has higher amperage. There are even higher ones available I think. I have a power steering pump that is also widely available.
Simple, expedient, and beneficial. What's so wrong with that. I just didn't foresee that too much tension would cause a drag on the crank pulley. No biggy, I just get out a die grinder and make the tensioner pulley able to rotate to looser.

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NoCoast
Actually John, the serpentine setup was the simplest way for me to move the alternator to the p/s so that I could run a 90 degree rotated intake. This setup was built at least a year prior to you and William building/designing a bracket to relocate the stock alternator. I knew you were working on designing/building something but didn't have a timeline and didn't have the patience to wait. Much like the rear brake kit...
I also gained more volume for power steering and easier plumbing for the cooler.
It cost me about $20 worth of brackets. I now have an alternator that is easy to find anywhere as it was used on a ton of Rangers. It has higher amperage. There are even higher ones available I think. I have a power steering pump that is also widely available.
Simple, expedient, and beneficial. What's so wrong with that. I just didn't foresee that too much tension would cause a drag on the crank pulley. No biggy, I just get out a die grinder and make the tensioner pulley able to rotate to looser.

So the alternator is more than 90 amps?
Really?
I see they're 95 amps , OK.
But the whole sepentine thing is fine---as long as you do everything they did and it works right. But th ease is mainly ease for manufacturer, not the guy who has just a few minutes to figure why he shredded belts...and mount up another on the side of the road.

Just thinking of eventual service in short time..
Never saw any real rally cars do it.... but what do I know?

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john vanlandingham
So the alternator is more than 90 amps?
Really?
I see they're 95 amps , OK.
But the whole sepentine thing is fine---as long as you do everything they did and it works right. But th ease is mainly ease for manufacturer, not the guy who has just a few minutes to figure why he shredded belts...and mount up another on the side of the road.

I haven't a clue. I think you can get up to 130 amp but I figured I'd worry about that when I have to get lights going.

I didn't do anything anyone else has every done. I hodgepodged a setup together and it seemed to work just fine for about 300 competitive miles plus a few hundred just driving around. I have too much tension. It was something I thought wouldn't be a big deal, I now know at what expense and it's easily fixable. It was easy for me. Not sure how a serp belt is any harder on the side of the road than a v-belt.

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john vanlandingham
Just thinking of eventual service in short time..
Never saw any real rally cars do it.... but what do I know?

Short time? Are you saying a serp belt takes longer than a v-belt? Ever seen the length and quantity of services in the US?
Never saw any real rally cars do what? Use serpentine belts? Or are you talking about Merkur rally cars? How many of them have there been? I can think of the Ohio one that had a YB, Sean's, mine, Matt Smith's, Ian's and McLeery's that have actually seen stages. That's two of six that run a serpentine setup.

I am happy with my V belt setup, I would also like the complete serp setup. That being said, I modified mine to allow the PS belt and the Alternator belt to be seperate, so one belt/system fails, and the water pump is always working. Seize an alternator, keep going for a bit. Seize a PS pump, keep going.

I carry both spare belts in the car

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phlat65
I am happy with my V belt setup, I would also like the complete serp setup. That being said, I modified mine to allow the PS belt and the Alternator belt to be seperate, so one belt/system fails, and the water pump is always working. Seize an alternator, keep going for a bit. Seize a PS pump, keep going.

I carry both spare belts in the car

Smrat boy

So most serpentine belts require massive amounts of tensioning compared to the old Vbelt. That can lead to bearing failure in everything from water pumps to the actual engine. Many Nissan 3.0 V6 had crank snouts break from a shitty design and slightly overtightened serp belts. Vbelts can slip for weeks without failing, serps can slip for mere minutes and burn off. Vbelts are harder to launch from the pulleys, easier to adjust. Serps can do much more work per belt and tidy things up a bunch.

And a V belted alternator or PS pump is quicker to change out. Only the water pump with a pulley driving 2-3 V belts might be a bit quicker with a serpentine. But you change alternators in rally cars while in the boonies and trying to not lose time in service far, far more than water pumps.

Just don't use Dayco Top Cog v-belts, they can slip hugely without making a squeak.

Mark B.

Well the Volvo head and exhaust parts showed up. Intake manifold is almost done and should ship in the next week or so. I guess I'll know in August if the Volvo headed engine or the stock rebuild is going into the car. I'd love to do the Volvo but still have to work out rods/pistons and a camshaft. Interestingly enough, when I was searching for cams I found this post from 2.5 years ago.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=2138599&postcount=14

I also have stock cams so may just assemble the head stock and get the bottom end done and see how the car feels and drives. Especially that latter part.

Oh. Here's some in Sweden that I've found.
http://www.agap.se/res/Default/agap_volvo_b234_eng2.pdf
That's about $800 for a pair though! Stock cams look more attracti

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NoCoast
Oh. Here's some in Sweden that I've found.
http://www.agap.se/res/Default/agap_volvo_b234_eng2.pdf
That's about $800 for a pair though! Stock cams look more attracti

Something wrong with full base circle cams like these I made?


which look like this when done?


Have you decided to remain turbocharged?

I would strongly advise against the stock n.a. 16v cams then, unless you want peak torque at 4800 rpm, peak hp at 5600 and a lazy powercurve.

get some MILDER cams like copy YB.

And twist the halfshafts off.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Yeah. Definitely sticking turbocharged. Never did find out if you could actually achieve a decent compression ratio for NA on a Lima 2.3 with B234 head either.

Full circle cams mean the valves would always be open right? Hahaha. I'm funny. Are those cams in that head ones that you made?

No, nothing wrong with those cams other than a lack of response from Knox Motorsports and no details as to if a Volvo cam in YB specs exists or has ever been made. I don't have the time, patience or time to wait years for stuff to happen. I create enough delays on my own.

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NoCoast
Yeah. Definitely sticking turbocharged. Never did find out if you could actually achieve a decent compression ratio for NA on a Lima 2.3 with B234 head either.

Full circle cams mean the valves would always be open right? Hahaha. I'm funny. Are those cams in that head ones that you made?

Yeah, for a 11.6 comp n.a. motor

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No, nothing wrong with those cams other than a lack of response from Knox Motorsports and no details as to if a Volvo cam in YB specs exists or has ever been made.

Yeah probably like most place that actually do work, he hates email cause its endless and ever answer generates 5-8 questions..

ironically every time I call on the TELEPHONE he picks up of Billy takes good notes.

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I don't have the time, patience or time to wait years for stuff to happen. I create enough delays on my own.

You have all the time in the world. And you take years to do things, but want, like most guys in their 20s and 30s, instant answers and parts at the snap of a finger...

Of course nobody has done YB cams, everybody gains all their knowledge from other guys on webz forums and they all knew the cousin who was talking to the sister of a guy at a 7-11 who said he knew some dude who had 10.5 com in his Honda who was running a Holset with a 113cm housing and did 35 psi on a stock motor and it was way wicked fast, so you need a N.A. cam and it'll run fine with a good tune..

That's the key: a good tune.

Grant, you have a million projects, throw huge sums of money and say its always cause you don't have time.
You have time.

Maybe you don't have enough time to indulge every whim in the world but you have time to indulge a few whims better than 6-10 whims scatteredly..

Truth is everything special takes time and takes communication. The place in Sweden lists cams but you want to bet if they actually have on their shelf a cam for what you need?

You taking the time to call me or Lawrence might give us a hint you really are going to follow thru with something--commit to A PLAN...a nailed down plan that makes sense.
After all we all aren't at a keyboard getting paid to clicky clacky while some program runs in the background.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Grant, I am semi seriously considering a wicked G2 motor for the next car, maybe 16v with help from John.

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phlat65
Grant, I am semi seriously considering a wicked G2 motor for the next car, maybe 16v with help from John.

That's really where a 16v can be a huge advantage. The pent-roof combustion chamber is by its design detonation resistant and on pump gas fersure ought to be happy at 11.5 comp when combined with a hot cam.

Heaven forbid we should weld in some bigger quench pads and be able to pull off 11.5 with flat tops..


Of course with a realistic target on max BHP in a 2wd car, one could really make a powerband that would be strong as hell and pull hard, and still be easy to drive and not demand a close ratio box.

Oi Oi Oi.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.