Mild to Wild .....

A while ago some guy who has a Chevy told me that after the 1970 Chevelle SS 396 there is no other car that is cool as that,  he might be right, we did build him a very beautiful one.  But that was in my days of American Muscle,  but with air cooled cars, the party goes on and on..........

I have worked for Axiom Motorsports for over a decade, and I can bet a dollar that we have not done the same thing twice

If you go out today and buy your dream car, I can assure you that you will find something you wish it had, or didn't have.

It might take a little longer that on the TV show, but if you dream it, I am confident that we can built it.

This 1979  Golden Targa has all kinds of bells and whistles, everything but the chassis has been modified, or customized,  the targa rear glass was left to remind us of what it is and how old it is.

Oil........ Less

We have just installed an oilless turbo charger on this 1970 upgraded ride,  It is most likely to be the first Porsche with this kind of Turbocharger,  In other vehicles this task can be easier, the radiator can be tapped to acquire a cooling element......antifreeze.....but that does not run in the veins of an air cooled one.  Kind of weird to do it this way.

Historically, the use of engine oil to lubricate the floating sleeve and stationary thrust bearings in commercial turbochargers have rise to a number of operational problems. To prevent oil leakage into the compressor and turbine casings, piston ring seals are employed in commercial turbochargers. Since the piston ring seals are not positive contact seals, there is a small leak path around the piston rings and, during certain operating conditions of the engine, i.e. low idle or a vacuum in the air intake system, some oil leakage can occur. Any ail leakage into the turbocharger casings can result in the undesirable emissions in the engine exhaust.
CompTurbo Technologies.

One of the great advantages is not having to deal with a scavenger pump, feeding lines, sump and that annoying drop of oil from it.

If I may quote our suppliers:

In cold weather, there can be a significant lag in the flow of oil to the turbocharger bearings when the engine is initially started. If the lag is long, the sleeve bearings can fail on startup.
Another problem can occur when an engine is shut down quickly after being operated at high speed and load where the exhaust gas temperature is maximized. Heat transferred into the turbocharger casings can cause residual lube oil in the bearing system to carbonize. This carbonization can build up and eventually cause failure of the bearings.

For more info and some video demos check out their website

http://www.compturbo.com/spotlights/oil_less.php

 

Blue by you !!

Ground off restoration ...part two...


After the chassis has been flipped, dipped and stitched

we will turn our attention to the body parts,  the doors, fenders, hood and deck lid take center stage to make sure all gaps and lines are even and correct. then dissembled to be painted individually.

The fun part begins when the car has color and stars coming together, our customers know that it won't be long before delivery, and even though it may look like it's just a matter of days, the details can take a little longer.

The former Viper green is now a full blown Mexico blue, gallons of paint were used to paint the inside, outside and under, only what needed to be sating black was black.

Before going home to San Juan Capistrano, it took a detour to TRE Motorsports for suspension and engine work, most likely upholstery too.

Frame Off Restoration....

In my time, I have heard this term thrown in a lot.....

 By shops, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and tree shade mechanics,  I've even heard of a one man operation.

There is no frame on these cars.......

But, everybody has their own way of doing it, and this is the way we do it: 

This original 1971 Viper green was to be transformed into a Mexico blue RS

 First order of business is to prepare the tub for stripping, we removed the suspension, wire harness and brake lines.

Then it gets cooked............I mean, the tub goes into an oven, at a very slow temperature it melts the undercoating and paint, after that it gets blasted with a media of our choice.

As soon as it gets delivered back to us, it gets hung on what I call the "chicken Roaster"  others call it a rotisserie.

Every project comes with a list of mods to be added, these are a few of them:

Stitch weld the tub.
Replace the rear sway bar brackets.
Replace the shock tower.
Reinforce the tube.
Reinforce the through body front sway bar points.
Remove the battery boxes.
Modify flare to make look like a RS flare.
..and a few more.

Then we turn our attention to some rust issues, they all have it, it's just a matter of how much.  After all that is taken care of, the body work begins.

Body language

a 1988 came to us some time ago, Yes, a 1988 Carrera

 From Oregon to Axiom Motorsports via TRE Motorsports, this guest came wearing different bumpers and tails, part of the metamorphosis had began months before,  with new wheels and a 3.6 litter engine, G50 Transmission and new oil cooling system  and big brakes........... 

The whole idea was to have a very light and fast vintage looking car, but elegance was a must.  Let's get physical:   fiberglass fenders, bumpers, hood and deck lid are to be fitted, this task was painfully itchy, anybody that has work with this material knows. custom made rocker panels added a touch of class

 Every line and gap was match as close to perfection as humanly possible,  then primed and block several times to insure the triple black paint job would reflect its surroundings

There are many more pictures of this build here.  http://axiom-motorsports.com/Back_Dated.php

Before heading home to Oregon, it took a little detour to San Diego to be in a parade;  People thought it was an old car with new interior.......

When it's all .....LOBE....

 I remember when I was a kid in school, if I had homework, I would have to convince some friends to come with me to the library and then try to get there before other 50 kids with the same assignment get the one book...........decades later, there is Wikipedia.  So, lets talk cams: if your heads need more air to create more power, the valves' timing of the duration of the lift, has something to do with it, it's a "lobe" affair.

History

An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq (Mesopotamia) by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata, water-raising machines, and water clocks such as the castle clock. The cam and camshaft later appeared in European mechanisms from at least the 14th century, or possibly earlier.

Uses

In internal combustion engines with pistons, the camshaft is used to operate poppet valves. It then consists of a cylindrical rod running the length of the cylinder bank with a number of oblong lobes protruding from it, one for each valve. The cams force the valves open by pressing on the valve, or on some intermediate mechanism as they rotate.

Automotive

Material

Camshafts can be made out of several different types of material. These include:

Chilled iron castings: this is a good choice for high volume production. A chilled iron camshaft has a resistance against wear because the camshaft lobes have been chilled

Billet Steel: When a high quality camshaft is required, engine builders and camshaft manufacturers choose to make the camshaft from steel billet. This method is also used for low volume production. This is a much more time consuming process, and is generally more expensive than other methods. However the finished product is far superior.

Timing

The relationship between the rotation of the camshaft and the rotation of the crankshaft is of critical importance. Since the valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture intake and exhaust gases, they must be opened and closed at the appropriate time during the stroke of the piston. For this reason, the camshaft is connected to the crankshaft. In a two-stroke engine that uses a camshaft, each valve is opened once for each rotation of the crankshaft; in these engines, the camshaft rotates at the same rate as the crankshaft. In a four-stroke engine, the valves are opened only half as often; thus, two full rotations of the crankshaft occur for each rotation of the camshaft.

The timing of the camshaft can be advanced to produce better low end torque or it can be retarded to produce better high end torque.

Duration

Duration is the number of crankshaft degrees of engine rotation during which the valve is off the seat. As a generality, greater duration results in more horsepower. The RPM at which peak horsepower occurs is typically increased as duration increases at the expense of lower rpm efficiency (torque).

Duration can often be confusing because manufacturers may select any lift point to advertise a camshaft's duration and sometimes will manipulate these numbers. The power and idle characteristics of a camshaft rated at .006" will be much different than one rated the same at .002".

Many performance engine builders gauge a race profile's aggressiveness by looking at the duration at .020", .050" and .200". The .020" number determines how responsive the motor will be and how much low end torque the motor will make. The .050" number is used to estimate where peak power will occur, and the .200" number gives an estimate of the power potential.

A secondary effect of increase duration is increasing overlap, which is the number of crankshaft degrees during which both intake and exhaust valves are off their seats. It is overlap which most affects idle quality, inasmuch as the "blow-through" of the intake charge which occurs during overlap reduces engine efficiency, and is greatest during low RPM operation. In reality, increasing a camshaft's duration typically increases the overlap event, unless one spreads lobe centers between intake and exhaust valve lobe profiles.

Lift

The camshaft "lift" is the resultant net rise of the valve from its seat. The further the valve rises from its seat the more airflow can be realized, which is generally more beneficial. Greater lift has some limitations. Firstly, the lift is limited by the increased proximity of the valve head to the piston crown and secondly greater effort is required to move the valve's springs to higher state of compression. Increased lift can also be limited by lobe clearance in the cylinder head construction, so higher lobes may not necessarily clear the framework of the cylinder head casing. Higher valve lift can have the same effect as increased duration where valve overlap is less desirable.

Higher lift allows accurate timing of airflow; although even by allowing a larger volume of air to pass in the relatively larger opening, the brevity of the typical duration with a higher lift cam results in less airflow than with a cam with lower lift but more duration, all else being equal. On forced induction motors this higher lift could yield better results than longer duration, particularly on the intake side. Notably though, higher lift has more potential problems than increased duration, in particular as valve train rpm rises which can result in more inefficient running or loss or torque.

Cams that have too high a resultant valve lift, and at high rpm, can result in what is called "valve bounce", where the valve spring tension is insufficient to keep the valve following the cam at its apex. This could also be as a result of a very steep rise of the lobe and short duration, where the valve is effectively shot off the end of the cam rather than have the valve follow the cams’ profile. This is typically what happens on a motor over rev. This is an occasion where the engine rpm exceeds the engine maximum design speed. The valve train is typically the limiting factor in determining the maximum rpm the engine can maintain either for a prolonged period or temporarily. Sometimes an over rev can cause engine failure where the valve stems become bent as a result of colliding with the piston crowns.

Bells and whistles....

So what does "SC" stand for ?? The answer is "Super Carrera". Following on from the Carrera 2.7, the SC model was to have been the last 911 produced, as the "new" 944 model was to have conquered the world. But following unprecedented demand for the SC and a less than enthusiastic public response to the 944, plans were changed and the rest is history.

The year was 1979, when this SC came to life. for decades it roamed the streets of Los Angeles, and   It did have a good run, but being a daily driver took a toll on it.

Once the engine was so tired to carry on another mile, it was time for a make over,  and it has been a big one:        I tell you, one things will always lead to another.
The engine needs rebuilding......wait a minute, why not upgrade???      "Oh Boy, oh boy...this is gonna be great"
Turbo engine, turbo body, suspension, sway bars, 19" wheels, 993 headlights, 964 front bumper modified to take 993 fog lamps, 993 door handles and aero mirrors.

Modified rear bumper to take a custom muffler and tail pipes.

Custom intercooler, fuel management system, manual boost controller, alcohol injection, rear view camera, and sensor on both front and rear bumpers.

State of the art sounds, satellite radio, radar detector, and a whole lot of other electric gadgets.

The interior in wrapped in leather, suede and some other exotic skins.

Have you noticed how the doors open ??

Perhaps on another post...........see ya !!!!

What a head case !!

 Every one knows that oxygen is what gives you life, gives you power.......

The expression "walking on thin air" is only true to humans, our interaction with air give us the impression that it is almost non-existent, but only because we move so slow,  actually, some slower that others.

A fast moving object can find air a difficult substance to maneuver through,  what can give you speed and power can also chock you and slow you down...................breath baby, breath.

Most engines denied themselves the horsepower simply by the lack of air,  stock cylinder heads are usually suboptimal, sometimes due to design or manufacturing restrains.

I got three words for you:  Porting, porting, porting.
Improving the flow of air through the heads will bring any engine to its highest level of efficiency.  More air, more power;  After all, can you run a marathon with something stuffed up your nose ???


A stock factory turbo came at 265 hp, if we can modify the intake and exhaust ports  of the internal combustion and improve the quality and the quantity of the air flow.....

We can improve the wild ponies driving Big Red away...

and when the Boss flow bench those heads.....................................stay tuned.