Longchamp +100 HP

It's always a bit worrying what you find when taking your engine apart. I don't think the heads have ever been off, I've never had to use so much force to loosen the head bolts before. Most looked good, pistons look like new, the wear ring is invible, feels non-existent. Only thing worrying were the pushrods, I put new in when I changed the cam in 2008, had to because of length. Two of them were obviously bent. Intake on 2 was 3mm bent, intake on 3 was 1mm bent, and maybe others. I'm not going to reuse them anyway, but is this a sign of something bad? I don't think the cam is bad, and I just took out the 16 lifters and checked the bottom, looked good. I doubt this engine has been above 5500 rpm since that cam and those pushrods were put in. Well maybe a few times at Spa...

If I remember right, one of the pushrods I discarded when changing the cam in 2008 was also bent
Why do they bend? I've never had a bent pushrod in any engine before.

Heads are off, so now it's about cleaning and making the reused parts ready. I'm also installing a carb spacer that will be modified as per Dan Jones instructions. So, short of a stroker kit or forced induction, this engine will now be at its full potential IMO

The most common cause of a bent push rod is a stuck valve.

If the engine layed without running it for a long period of time, this could have been the cause.
Better to use bronze valve guides then the original cast in iron ones.

I have seen on the 428 engines valve guides that are too tight new. It's an easy fix when the heads are off the engine though. Run an 11/32" reamer through them to make sure they are straight. 3/8" on the FE's.

When you replace the original guides with the pressed in bronze guides you MUST do this anyway. The pressure from pressing them in can distort them enough for the valve stems to get hung up when the engine is hot.

The FE's run hotter normally than the Cleveland or the Ford SB does.

A flat cam lobe could easily be caused by using engine oil with not enough ZDDP in it.

Many owners are simply not knowledgeable enough to realize how important that is?

Better to have too much in it than not enough.

Make sure you use plenty of the cam shaft break in compound on your new cam and lifters.

The first few minutes are critical and you can kill the valve train on first fire up if you don't liberally coat everything in it.

ALL of the afermarket cam manufacturers are using cast iron cam blanks from "OFFSHORE" sources. They only spot check the cores when loading them into the cam grinding machines.

A noticeable amount are coming through with visible defects on them fresh out of the box, Check your new camshaft over carefully. Do not assume it is perfect and without defects.

There have been those that used 3/8" push rods on the Cleveland for as long as I can remember. Probably just using the hardened 5/16" that you ordinarily would on a solid lifter cam with guide plates would be enough.

I did have a brand new set of Crane hardened 5/16" push rods break on me though. If you look at the push rods, they have little dimple welds that hold the round tips to the tubes.

On the Cranes, the cracked through those welds and about 4 of the tips came off into the engine on the lifter side.

I went back to the TRW Boss 351 service push rods and have never had another issue since in 30 years. I run triple valve springs also, so there's a lot of pressure on the valve train.

Never bent a push rod in a Cleveland. Yes in a 428 AND 351w.

I have heard of the lifter bores being too tight on some engines as well. Personally I have not encountered that yet though.

Maybe consider using the Wyandorff bronze lifter inserts? The kit comes with a reamer to clearance the sleeves once you press them in.

Theoretically you can do the modification on the block on the engine in the car, but you need to catch ALL of the metal debris you create from boring out the lifters and that is much simpler with the block disassembled and on an engine stand.

Incidentally, the drag racers here use a C4 automatic trans behind the Clevelands. They are much lighter and can handle the power of the Cleveland. The C6 is considerably heavier.

Doug, thanks for input. Since I'm putting on new heads, that should sort that part. I doubt the lifters bind, at least they slide down freely all of them.

Spacer work. Before:

After:
This is what to do if you have a dual plane with floors at different levels, which I think all dual planes have. Maybe that's why they're called dual planes...

BTW, does anybody know what the small hole close to the fastener hole top left is for?

Heads have arrived

Hi Mikael,
nice heads, what did you go for?
Cheers, Tim

Tim, it's Trick Flows, 62cc, 2V, for normal cam. I think the cheapest they do for the Cleveland. This engine is a medium build all the way, has to be able to drive in traffic with auto and A/C. And still outrun almost everything it meets of course...

Pretty heads.

quote:

Originally posted by No Quarter:
Tim, it's Trick Flows, 62cc, 2V, for normal cam. I think the cheapest they do for the Cleveland. This engine is a medium build all the way, has to be able to drive in traffic with auto and A/C. And still outrun outrun almost everything it meets of course...

not directly the purpose of a Longchamp ?

Damn right it is! You thought it was a quiet sedan for an old guy to relax in? Wrong, it's a domesticated race car, undercover... Soon with enough power to back it up

I agree, Mikael. I always thought of the Longchamp as a Euro-Mustang with a better suspension.

Progress. But don't be fooled, there are no pushrods or rockers under those covers. I needed different length pushrods, and no vendor in my backwards country had any length but the standard ones. So have to wait for Summit via Mike. But tried to do everything else.

BTW, this thing about getting the right geometry by getting correct length pushrod has always confused me a bit, some instructions on doing it sound counter intuitive to me. But I like this one, simple, even I could do, and the satisfaction of seeing the ink-wear pattern in the middle...
Lunati pushrod length checker

Carb sits a little higher with the modified spacer. I hope (and think) the hood will be able close.

In comparing my old heads with my new, I would like to know what compression ratio I'll get. I made a crude measurement on the new heads, 62cc, and "62cc" was stamped on it, not bad I made a just as crude measurement on the old heads, approx 75cc. Pistons are slightly dished, with two "twirl"-notches I think. Does anybody know any specifics about my old heads, and my compression ratio before and with the new heads?

quote:

I agree, Mikael. I always thought of the Longchamp as a Euro-Mustang with a better suspension.

Bosswrench, in a way: yes. But there's more to it than that. E.g. cooling fins in the engine room, cooling ducts for front discs, tri-Y headders (an option), ZF steering (Series 3). Lots of small stuff that shows they took performance seriously. And the suspension as you say, independent, rear discs moved inwards etc.

CR is gong to be just under 10:1. 9.7 or 9.8. It should feel crispier with those heads.

In order to make the car pull, you need to do something with the final drive ratio.

3:1 is not going to cut it. You need around 4:11 or better. 4:33 is actually a really good number.

Doug, do you know the ratio in my Longchamp?

Mikael, do you know if any varients of the Longchamp or Deauville used ZF steering? If so, which type of ZF steering was it?