Fiat Spider, 8V engine and things

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cos
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Fiat Spider, 8V engine and things

Post by cos »

Hi Guy and all in the forum, although difficult to find the time I'm always keen to browse through this forum as I'm an admire of Italian machinery and even more so of the twin cam engine.

I've own my SC2 spider for nearly 15 years now and besides the usual messing around to get more power with cams compression and twin 44's it was about time I took it it to the next level. So a year ago I decided to spend every available lunch hour having another go. This time it was going to be fuel injection. And must reduce the weight. I'm privileged to be working in the motorsport engine industry so i twisted all my suppliers arms to get the max discount and most were very happy to do so.

I've kept an excel file with the weight records and even though the engine is not complete yet 6.1 kilos have gone! Amazing. Most of the weight has come off the right areas like piston / rod assemblies (steel rod/forged piston), replacing heavy steel bracketry and plates with aluminium, and with the abundant use of titanium bolts courtesy of a friend who works for an F1 team and titanium bolts are no longer allowed to be used there. I completely removed the Auxiliary shaft and instead modified the housing to run 2 roller bearings. 1 kilo came off that. The valve spring retainer was re-designed to have a smaller disk shim and without machining the cam carrier used a solid tappet. More weight off the valve gear. For those who own 124 Spiders and the known ground clearance issue on the sump pan. Initially i was going to go wet sump big wing but when a pump assembly became available to me at the right price I decided to go dry sump instead.

I'm nearly there now, but still have to sort out the air box, the alternator, the dry sump tank in the car and the ECU. Can't wait now.
Attachments
Cos Spider unit.jpg
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Cos Spider unit (2).jpg
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Cos Spider unit (3).jpg
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Cos Spider aux ds mod.jpg
Cos Spider aux ds mod.jpg (60.11 KiB) Viewed 14269 times
Last edited by cos on February 18th, 2009, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Guy Croft
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by Guy Croft »

Carbon fibre? That's sneaky Cos!

They'll all be after you now!

GC
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

Ha ha! well you have no idea the amount of effort it took to polish a standard cam cover (hands still sore), then make a glass fibre mould!
Pleased with the finish though.....
Uros Piperski
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by Uros Piperski »

Looks great (not only the carbon fibre).
Why didn't you completely remove the aux shaft wheel and housing?
Rich Ellingham
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by Rich Ellingham »

Cos I thought mine looked good! Excellent. Have you any photos of the stages of fabrication of the cam covers from negative moulds to finishing the mating surfaces?

I guess all the pulleys are aluminium? Did you fabricate them?

Rich
book 38
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

Uros Piperski wrote:Looks great (not only the carbon fibre).
Why didn't you completely remove the aux shaft wheel and housing?


I just though it would be easier to use the standard belt layout and length.
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

Rich Ellingham wrote:Cos I thought mine looked good! Excellent. Have you any photos of the stages of fabrication of the cam covers from negative moulds to finishing the mating surfaces?

I guess all the pulleys are aluminium? Did you fabricate them?

Rich
pulleys (except the cam ones) are machined out of solid and hard anodised. Did not alter the water pump speed though.
Guy Croft
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by Guy Croft »

Cos, email me the original photos would you?

I'll swap them for these, the photos uploaded here don't do justice to the level of prep.

GC
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

will do Guy
TR-Spider
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by TR-Spider »

That engine is very nice made, congratulations!

I bet the airbox will be a nice carbon thing as well...

A question on the modification of the valve tappets.
I guess your intension was to reduce mass, is it really that lighter now?
And adjusting the valves is now a camshaft-out job?

Thomas
GC_23
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

Hi, thanks for your comments. Yes the airbox will be carbon as well. The space available under the spider bonnet is bit restrictive though.

Regarding the tappet weight saving, yes 37g reduction per tappet (including the shim - based on average size) so total valve gear weight saving was 296g.
Guy Croft
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by Guy Croft »

What do you weigh Cos?

Any savings there?!

GC

(Mountune let you do 'homers' then??!!)
cos
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Re: Fiat spider, engine and things

Post by cos »

my wallet has....
wildman
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Re: Fiat spider, 8V engine and things

Post by wildman »

I love those valve covers.. Too bad you didnt do the distributor in the exhaust form,, I would gladly pay premium for them. It brings a new tech look to the old lump,, i love that stuff.
wildman
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Re: Fiat spider, 8V engine and things

Post by wildman »

love to see more pics of this project..
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