X19 Race car rebuild

[Chard]

Hi everyone, you might have seen this car posted for sale in the fs&w. I'm still open to offers if someone wants to take the project over. I bought this car without even knowing what an x19 was. Mainly for the weber dcoe 40 carbs I saw on it. I bought it from a scrapper and saved it from going to the junk yard. The owner before him somehow sucked a nut into the #1 cylinder. The motor was seized so i soaked it in acetone/atf to free it up. It still wouldnt turn completely over so i pulled the head and found the nut. I think they just gave up on it after that.
So far I've pulled the motor to find a 1500 block with a 1300 head, I think. Cam is measuring around 252 intake duration at .05" (.46" max lift) and 262 exhaust with .472" lift. 107-108 lobe seperation angle. So really high lift and relatively short duration. Pistons are domed. Next step is calculating compression and disassembling block to check for damage and measure to see if it's within spec. The head will need at least one new valve. Intake valves are 36mm and exhaust is at 33mm. The head looks to be ported...For everything they did to the motor I'm wondering why they didn't resize the intake valves? Seems like with the cam, pistons, and carberation, it might need the added flow? I'll follow this with photos of the progress so far. The plan is to rebuild what's there myself and spend as little $$ as possible to make it track ready again. I was ready to sell it but the more i tinker with it the more excited I get to hear this motor scream behind me! I'm definetely going to have some questions along the way! So thanks in advance!

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Cool project. Keep us informed how it goes.

 

[Chard]

Here are some more pictures of the body.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

It was definitely a dedicated race car. Would be fun to turn it into a street legal version.

 

[Chard]

Here are some engine photos. One of the carbs was seized. I think they both need new throttle shafts and bearings. Am I right about the head being a 1300 and they revalved the exhaust to 33mm? The head is stamped 128ac. Are they otherwise the same?

 

[Chard]

It was definitely a dedicated race car. Would be fun to turn it into a street legal version.

It would, but I don't have a title. That would also take more time and money than I could afford.

 

[kmead]

That car has led a tough life. Nice body mods.

Yes a 138.2 block is a 1500, I haven’t looked up the head but would suspect it is the 1300 head, US-spec '74 1300 head. Doesn't have big valves. Member AKimball has a spreadsheet of the various heads and their characteristics.

Keep at it, neat to see as there aren’t many racing car threads on here.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Looking at the pics the cylinder walls appear to be ruined (red arrow). Before you get too far into it, measure the bores to see if there is enough room left to rebore them, and that larger pistons to match are available. Often race engines are bored to the limit to gain displacement, or following a few rebuilds. Either way, having to bore the cylinders means you won't be able to reuse the high compression pistons that are currently in it - unless you opt to resleeve the block and them bore them to match the pistons (assuming they are good).

It also appears the block has been "O-ringed" (blue arrow)?

The inside of the block seems pretty clean, so it probably didn't have a ton of time on it before the damage. But it has sat with water in it for awhile.

EDIT: Ooops, I forgot to include the image that I was referring to (colored arrows). Here it is:

 

[lookforjoe]

Looking at the pics the cylinder walls appear to be ruined (red arrow). Before you get too far into it, measure the bores to see if there is enough room left to rebore them, and that larger pistons to match are available. Often race engines are bored to the limit to gain displacement, or following a few rebuilds. Either way, having to bore the cylinders means you won't be able to reuse the high compression pistons that are currently in it - unless you opt to resleeve the block and them bore them to match the pistons (assuming they are good).

It also appears the block has been "O-ringed" (blue arrow)?

The inside of the block seems pretty clean, so it probably didn't have a ton of time on it before the damage. But it has sat with water in it for awhile.

Yeah, that bore looks absolutely shagged.

Nice thing about steel blocks is that it is easy enough to get it re-sleeved. My machine shop had to do that with mine, when he broke a piston ring during the short block assembly & put a massive gouge in it.

 

[Chard]

I'll get everything checked at the machine shop after I tear it down. The rust in the cylinder bores came right off with a little scotch brite pad, so I'm hoping they arent toast. I've seen more rust on a cylinder before that honed right off, so i'm hopeful.

 

[carl]

Are those HC pistons, they don't seem to have any domes on them.

 

[Chard]

Are those HC pistons, they don't seem to have any domes on them.

Slight dome, not sure if this makes them HC or not. Still need to calculate.

 

[Chard]

As far as the bores go i'm more concerned about the vertical scratched at the bottom.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Since you will be taking it to a machine shop for evaluation they will outline your options. It's difficult to tell a lot from photos as they can be deceiving. Take everything together and let them look all of it over. Then they can see how well the pistons fit the bores, crank journals, head condition, etc, etc.

 

[Chard]

Just pulled the pistons and took some measurements. The 3 and 4 pistons are beat up on the back side like something was in the crank case. There was .012" thrust on all the rods. Zero thrust in the crank. And there isn't any noticable play in the piston pins.

 

[Chard]

Anyone recognize the pistons? I couldn't find any markings on then.

 

[Chard]

Without including any dome in the pistions it looks like the compression is around 11.9:1. My diy measurements with some calipers were 62.4mm stroke, -1.27mm deck clearance, 33.5 combustion chamber (looked upn didnt measure) 86.66mm bore. I also used 1.4mm for head gasket but i bet that's too thick...

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Just judging by the grooved block and copper O-rings, it is likely that CR or higher. Which seems typical for race built SOHC engines.

 

[Steve Hoelscher]

Clearly those are high(er) compression pistons. My guess would be 10 or 11:1.

The combustion chamber shape tells me that's a 1300 head. With good porting the stock sized valves can make good power.

I have built and prepared a number of these cars for Production road racing and autocrossing. I'll be looking forward to seeing this one back on track.

 

[Chard]

Clearly those are high(er) compression pistons. My guess would be 10 or 11:1.

The combustion chamber shape tells me that's a 1300 head. With good porting the stock sized valves can make good power.

I have built and prepared a number of these cars for Production road racing and autocrossing. I'll be looking forward to seeing this one back on track.

Thanks for the input, Steve. Good to hear about the stock valves making power. I guess some racing classes dont alow for valve resizing, so that could also be a reason. I need get a spring compressor to disassemble the head and see what it needs and check the porting that was done to it. Good to know someone has some racing x19 experience! I'll be looking forward to your replies as I continue! Without a good forum like this I probably wouldn't take on the project.