Anybody know a good (cheap) suplier for 1300 x-flow piston rings and big end shells. Ford want my arms & legs.

Cheers.


Mac.

autosprint @ birmingham

when you have your crank ground have it taken to Btm limit or even a thou or two under, makes for a nice free reving engine and shorter running in time, mind you what is "running in" these days, does anyone bother ????

on the subject of runnin in is it true your better usin a minereal oil??

Ring me at work tommorrow, we'll do mail order. Dave @ Newark Engines 01636 671715.

Jon's advice on the crank grind should be ignored. If the block's good (alignment of main brg journals) and crank grind is good you won't have any problems with the engine running freely. Grind undersize and you'll lose oil pressure.

Sorry, on the subject of running in, yes, with old tech motors such as X'Flow, Pinto etc you are better to use a mineral oil for running in. Rings bed to bore better. After 500 miles or so then change filter and put in synthetic if you wish. It's only rings that need "running in" but that said few get chance!

We can supply you AE bearings and rings at huge discount and we are happy to take a card and mail order.
01189 677799
C C Engines

Many thanks for all the help, if anybody wants to carry on the running in thing I'm all ears.

While I've got the engine stripped any advice on what to look for regarding engine wear, 76000 on the clock, bore looks smooth with no ridges. other than that I'm open to any advice.

Thanks again

Mac.

If there is no ridge, check the bore size, ive not seen one without a ridge yet that is standard! if it is ok then a hone should suffice, thoroughly clean the parts including oil gallerys generally these engines are bullet proof, just check everything for wear

As for running in we use running in oil for 500 miles, like already mentioned it is only the bores that need to settle, you need to get it running first ,not letting it idle too long, then load the engine, using hills to drive up. keep the revs to minimum but max load.
We use the rolling road to run in kit cars as mostly they are not finished or SVA'd

OK, so what is "huge discount", I'm interested to know - how much for a set of 1300 X/Flow pistons with rings and a set of Mains & B/Ends - H/Duty please? If we are giving the impression of selling cheap then I want to know how cheap.

Whilst on the subject how much to rebore a block from std to +90 and to regrind a crank to 10/10 and carry out a full dynamic balance? - including the huge discount of course.

By the way, have you got a name?

Sorry, Name is John, when im at work tomorow ill sort prices for you, mail me off list for further quotes.

was quoting from Mr Vizards book, re grind, forgot to mention he also recomends a "high capacity" oil pump at the same time, not pressure, capacity, according to him it helps, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.........

i would still go for btm limit......

Jon, I have never read Vizards book on Xflows, but know his 'A' series book virtually off by heart, and his advise is given for a balls out race engine which is going to be stripped on a very regular basis.
All journals to smallest undersize available for engine (reduces bearing surface area, and thus friction) +1 thou. Good advise for someone building a Locost race engine with every little that can be gained helps, but for a road engine it really is unecessary, where longivity counts more than every last drop of performance.

Cheers, Stu.

Rebore to + 090" £120 including platau hone and chamfer edge
Hotwash, remove core plugs ang gallery bungs £18

AE pistons 75 per set of 4 including rings, subject to availability with manufacurer
H/d AE Mains 12.41
H/d A/E Big Ends 13.48
thrust washers 3.43

Full engine balance £90.00
Crank gring £6 per journal
all prices are plus vat and are exclusive to locost builders.

How will I know if it's been rebored ?

Will the piston numbers give a clue or do I need to measure the bore as you suggest (Havn't got a micrometer......Yet)

cheers

Hmm .... Just seen the prices, I'll be ringin you when I know exactly what I need.

Give the top of the piston a good clean off, look for any markings if they are oversized there will be the size lightly stamped into it.

It is also a good idea to measure the bore with a vernier calliper just to make sure.this is not accurate but will give you some idea.

OK John of Locost7-online.com, we have established that your prices are not that "hugely discounted".

I manage an engine business and for machining work, I'll charge you the following:

Rebore a 1300 X'Flow to +90, deck the block, remove the core plugs (big deal) and hot wash - £65 + vat

Grind a 5 journal crankshaft (ie X'Flow) £40+vat

Dynamic balance crankshaft assembly - crankshaft, then crank+flywheel, then crank+flywheel+clutch cover, - £45+vat

You can have AE pistons for £65+vat a set, I bought some today for someone.

We'll do most other things as well, and we take cards and do mail order.

Oh and by the way, before you question our operation, whilst we are engine reconditioners, come and have a look, at the moment you'll also find two, Formula 3 VW engines, a 2 litre VW Hotrod motor, an F2 - Ford 2.0 BDG race engine, an XE 16v Vauxhall racer, a 2.2 Pinto and 2.2 Vauhall racer and an S1 Quattro engine on the bench - as well as more mundane stuff.

Better still our prices are exclusive to anyone!

If I'm trying to make a point it is that I don't believe this Forum should be exploited for one's own business benefit. I've been a member for a long time and in building my own car have benefitted from the help and advice of members. In return I have tried to help others with constructive comments in areas where I think I can contribute. I have never tried to "cash in". On most other forums it isn't allowed either.

My response to Macbrew yesterday was short and to the point - he needed rings, I can help - however it is then followed by an advertising campaign from an outfit that smells a sale - a set of rings cost 20 quid for goodness sake.

I just feel that exploiting exposure by using a company name (or dot com!) rather than your own, or advertising that you are using my namesakes cast off equipment is just too much. Then pretending that your prices are so good and exclusive to Locost Builders really goes over the top.

I mean no offence, what do others think - does the Webmaster have a view?

Dave, done any work on bike engines ??? have been offerd one at right money but the crank is shot, well knocking anyhow, its a 893 blade....

Jon, in short "no". Car and Bike engines don't seem to sit together well in the same workshop - generally a different scale, different equipment and certainly different parts suppliers.

I've considered doing it as a seperate entity at home. I (like you used to) spend most of my summer with the boys who invented bike engined cars (Autograss) and I could probably have work coming out of my ears.

As you know other than TTS, there are few to choose from.

Best of luck with the GT1

that could turn into a full time job, there's plenty out there using em, know what u mean though, like you i probably saw my 1st BEC in the late 70's early 80's, a certain Mr Ross if i remember rightly, last i saw of him think he was running a "saab" turbo special i think it was, Lincoln, early 90's........do like that rorory idea too though, rememer racing against one at Trent, got me eybrows burnt everytime he lifted, nice flames it spat out too, whats the grass scene like these days ??? More expensive then running the GT1 i guess.

Ah, those were the days,

The first bike engined single seater made its debut at the old Nottingham track (Rufford) in 1984. Norman Ross used a Kawasaki Z1, 900 in a modified FF1600 chassis, what a trend he set. He gave up on the Saab turbo, it was never really powerfull enough.

There were few rotaries about on grass. Undoubtedly powerful they lack sheer grunt due to the rotary characteristics, although one did win the Nationals back in '94 (I think). The one you raced against at Trent was probably that of Dave Hodgson from Lincoln, sadly no longer with us.

Norman's still on the scene, his son Antony today manages one of the bigger constructors - Harvey Motorsport Engineering. He runs a twin engined car - two GSXR1000's in the back and will probably be our '93 champ. In classes 7, 8 and 10 today you are nothing without a bike engine(s) and they have to be tuned to keep up.

Chris Allanson who still races with us was the first builder of twin bike engined cars a Peug 205 saloon and a single seater, both using CBR1000 engines (enormously under-rated engine). They made their debut as recently as 1996. Chris was of course responsible for the twin engined Tigers. Still a full time policeman he runs his own company with staff(!) - Z Cars.

It's really interesting to watch the discussions on here about BEC's - everyone wants a 'Busa. In the hard world of "Autograss" they have seriously struggled. The robustness, or lack of, in some areas, has caused a lot of reliability problems. The GSXR 1000 and ZX12R seems to be the way to go although big bore Blackbirds are still out there in large numbers as are the trusty Fireblades.

A good single seater new will set you back between 10 and 30 grand.

Locost7 is no business! it is my personal locost build site!

To be honest we dont need the work with rolling road tuning we can prove our competition engines...members of the FER are you?

Besides, we dont do Chreap, we only do quality.....we use quality parts, what make of parts are are you offering?

To be honest locost is not worth bothering about because it is simply.LOWCOST.

mmmmmmmmmmm, plenty of locost builders on here prefare to hunt the bargain,

a friend of mine works at a place where they make M&S sarnies, funny thing is Netto ones come off same line, just go into a different package ???


think its time to stop throwing teddys in public don't you ?

Yes, we are members of the FER and have been for 15 years, check out the directory.

By and large we use AE parts for such as X'Flow. - I said £65 + vat for 1300 X'Flow AE pistons in the post.

My critisism remains - do not pretend to be doing your fellow Locosters a favour when you are not. I make no comments about your quality, I'm sure it's fine. Best of luck with the rolling road venture.

Your comments about "Lowcost" are unfortunate, surely any customer is worth support?

PS: Cheap? I can bore a X'Flow block, deck it, chamfer bore, and hone in about an hour and half. I'm happy with the hourly rate.

This is my last post! I simply posted prices because you asked, im my first post i said mail off list.

why have a problem with my logon name? had it for 3 yrs..no one has mentioned it!


Regards
J

Only wanted some parts info, didn't realise I would be poking a stick in a hornets nest.


Thanks for the info, the rest was entertaining.

Great forum, I was getting pissed off and thinking of selling till I found this site, now I'm back on track (no offers also helped) one step at a time is my mantra.

Regards

Mac