This new Predator deal has just been one hurdle after another. I am not going to list all of them but needless to say I think we must be cursed with the block from hell. It has fought from the get go but the end is in sight. But just for couple of the more recent issues here ya go..

This is one maybe we should have caught before now, but needless to say it is not something we even thought to check honestly. I mean have to massage things a bit is one thing but this is something entirely different. This is a picture of the oil inlet on the block. The black sharpie line is where the gasket would go. Can you see the issue?


This better illustrates the issue. You can see the witness mark where the hole SHOULD be in the block.


This is a stock gasket laid in place, obviously we have a problem Houston..


This was when we first noticed said issue, with the inlet fitting laid in place to check fitment initially. The pointer is highliting the gap that


So away we go modifying a nice new part from AndyF productions..BTW that black sharpie line on the block is a spot we had to mill off to even get the plate to fit previously





And viola problem fixed.

T next issue was something we were aware of when the B1 from the Cuda was last freshened. We were experiencing some issues with Thrust washer wear on the cam gear of the Jesel belt drive. Called Jesel to discuss the issue and they have a solution. It is a new cam gear with a different thrust set up that is supposed to eliminate the issue. Not sure if it works yet as the Cuda engine just got the new stuff on freshen up but they say it will. Anyway the new cam gear is a different design and sticks out further than the previous gear did. I meant to discuss this with ATI when I got the balancer but it slipped my mind. Anyway here is what you get with the new upper cam gear from Jesel and an ATI balancer.


A "slight" interference to say the least I do not have the after pics here but we basically chuck it up and trim the balancer a bit and the upper gear and it is all well now. But just another example of the kinds of things we have been dealing with.

The latest hurdle has been with the Peterson Spline drive front. Seems someone was not listening when I ordered these parts and they do not want to play well with what I have. Will be on the phone tomorrow with them trying to get it figured out. I expect this will go just as difficult as everything else have.

These are just two of the myriad of issues I have had with this thing. Lots and lots of little stuff for sure. Thankfully I have a very patient and meticulous guy making sure it all goes well. Have no doubt it will make decent power but man what a road it has been. Still a ways to go.


guess this is the price I pay for trying to do this stuff right the first time. It has been a long long road to this point. Now the facility we used to dyno stuff is also closing the end of the month so we will be on hold yet again until we find a place we can do some work on the dyno. That may not be til March now as I will be headed back to DC here very soon. Oh well will hopefully have the top together tomorrow and at least it will look like an engine.

I feel your pain....and creative corrective actions....but that block would scare the hell out of me. CNC features that are mislocated generally have additional baggage.

The simple fix for the balancer fix is a spacer (washer) that ATI offers, seen this many times with milodon and jesel set ups.

Good luck.....and forget the dyno - tune that monster on the pavement

That's crazy. Why is it the end users to figure out manufacture's Mistakes! Well it looks like your towards the end. Good luck. I just had some issue's with a new pair of heads that I ordered. I feel the pain too.

It is hard to believe that machining could be THAT far off.
It is bad enough stuff like this eats up the calendar. A guy without your equipment would really be up a crick, and it would probably be out of pocket to boot.
I had a serious cam thrust issue on my 528, wound up force feeding oil directly to the thrust surface on the Milodon gear drive by running an oil line to the gear cover. That gear drive also needed the spacer to clear the damper.
Is that an Indy block?

And it sucks that you have to pay good $$ for things and they don't work like they are supposed to. I know, that's racing, but that is also a cop out for this industry.

I feel ur pain. I got a new block from Indy 5 months ago, the top four head bolt holes on both sides weren't there....

FWIW the block is fixed. Just took a bit of work for sure. The oil hole no one can explain for sure. We had to machine that pad to accept the plate and never really paid attention to the oil hole, but then who would. Was not a huge issue to address but def should not be there. We are beginning to think it was a "blem" block to begin with. Not happy about it but it is fixed now after a lot of extra time money and work.

As for no dyno, out of the question. We will wait until we have found a place to take it. Have another SB that will be ready in March and will likely do both in one trip since it looks like it will now be a raodtrip deal.

Oh don't get me started on Indy. Have some parts here that have more issues that you can shake a stick at. Although the normal guy putting together a motor in his garage likely would not even catch them. BTW on my block a Mildon pump would bolt on, cover up that hole and likely be ran with not so good results that way.

too bad you don't live closer.


Joe

You probably still have an issue....unless they manually over-ridden the program with an angle change....it would be impossible for this feed passage to intersect with the distribution channel at the proper point....food for thought.

Your ball, your game, your court....but I personally wouldn't spend a dime on dynoing a bracket motor.....confidence and competency are the only tools required. FWIW/IMO....

Wow, drilling the oil hole in the wrong location is a very big mistake to make on a block. The average guy would've just bolted a Milodon pump on there and gone down the track with a huge restriction in the oiling system. The bottom end probably would've lasted to half track before it let go.

Jerry no worries we have addressed all the issues trust me. People way smarter than me who did the work. Just showing the end result is all. It was not a simple grind and do operation trust me.

Andy kinda my point. We put a Milodon pump on it just to see if it would cover the hole completely and it did. SO if I guy put the gasket on the pump and slid it home like he would have had an issue later.

AS for the dyno stuff. I NEVER not dyno a serious piece. On my little stuff sure no reason to spend the extra money. For something like this we will be running in TS track time is very limited and want to maximize what we can. Not like we have any T&T days out here. We have race days that's it. So need to be ready to go when we get the chance

Hey Al, if it's not too far along, machine an oring groove around the feed out hole on your pump where you extended it, and ditch the gasket. Then you can crank that pump down as tight as you like, and forget it.

I've had to make a spacer ring for dampers before as well. Usually cut them off a factory snout, and hone them out a bit so they slip on.

If you're running roller cam bearings, and having trouble keeping the thrust washer alive try this. Pull the front bearing out and with a triangle file, file a groove from the cam bore oil hole out to the front. So when the bearing goes back in there is now an oil feed to the thrust. then take the thrust washers and and file a slot crossing center on the front and rear thrust washers. Mine all look new since doing this. Makes the thrust a pressure fed bearing.

We did machine a slot for oil from the front cam bearing to feed oil to the thrust. Did it with the B1 when we first found the problem. Jesel suggested the new cam gear so we did it to the B1 and the Predator. The damper is not a big deal really. Just something I wished I had remembered when I ordered it. We just machined a tad off it, it really looks worse in the pic than it is. As for the oring Guess more pictures would have helped. Appreciate the suggestions!!

Al
My deal has not had any of the problem you have run into, thank god!
Anyway did you end up running offset lifters?
I was checking pushrods clearances and I'm going to have to do a bit of clearanceing to make sure nothing touches.
Did you go over 1.000" lift?

My lifters are all left hand offset Jesel keyways. Pushrods are pretty much dead perfect. Required a lot of clearancing for the double taper 9/16" pushrods we are using. Not just on the block and head also a small notch in the bushing and lifter at the very top. On the base circle it is just REALLY close with out it. If we had gone one bigger to a 70MM cam core it would not have been an issue.

As for the cam specs I will list all that stuff later whenever we get it to the dyno and have some numbers on the combo. Lets just say we are expecting a good number.

Thanks
I'll keep working on my deal and keep you posted
What RPM are you looking to run?

Whatever it takes