Big thank-you to Mike Huddart

[kurrmet]

As some of you may know I have been having problems with my 383 Chevy engine for a while and despite it going back to the orginal engine builder TWICE it has been no better. The original engine builder was

IAN PELLANT
SPEEDWORKS
based in Northampton.

Well it finally blow a headgasket so it needed to come to pieces to be fixed, there was one or two other things that i felt was wrong ("O" boy was i right) so due to me not working in the UK and having a time constrait problem I asked if Mike would have a look and see if he could find why it was not running right.

Well hear is some of what he found and has corrected for me.

Starting at the bottom end, The mains had all picked up due to a sump full of petrol and oil mix This is due to carb pouring fuel down the engine. The crank assy had more holes than you can believe to try to balance the engine WHICH IT WASN'T. Then the piston which where good quality Keith Black piston but they where Huge dished pistons idea if I was running a supercharger but I wasn't so wrong compression ratio. Next he found that the cam bearings where fitted upside down. Now we have a classic the Cylinder bores were machined Tapered not parallel (not very helpful for the rings)

Now I will move to the heads which had to have new valve's and springs due to the various valve spring ratings that Mike had found so I was suffering from Valve bounce.

There was a great number of other jobs that Mike has completed on this engine.

Mike nowing that i needed the engine back the weekend before Silverstone so i could put it back into my car has worked many evening and weekends to ensure that I have got the engine back.

Well last weekend I collected the engine and fitted back into my car and all I can say is MY GOD that is one hell of an engine.

So a very big thank you to Mike for all the work he has done and if anyone wants a engine builder who does what he says you can-not go for wrong with HUDDART ENGINES


As for the original engine i am still trying to decide what to do at the moment.

[tonym]

Iain, glad you're sorted, look forward to seeing you at the weekend

[kurrmet]

Originally Posted by tonym

Iain, glad you're sorted, look forward to seeing you at the weekend

And roll on Spa Track day

[runt]

Hi Iain, glad your engine is now blowing your mind; as it should.
The Windsor Mike Huddart built for my DB Dax has certainly lived up to all my expectations; appearance, idle, correct oil pressure, runs nice and cool, throttle response, torque output, soundtrack; the most incredible engine I've driven behind.
Also chatting with Mike at Detling this year, he has an immense knowledge of his craft; recommend him every time.

Paul/runt.

[wilf]

Iain - glad (yet sad) to hear your news.

Do you still want the E Mids "considered opinion" when we next meet?

We can practice saying "It shouldn't sound/rattle/smell/look/spit out fluids/ vibrate etc ........like that", if you want.......

[VeeEight]

Hi Iain

Pleased to here that you are mobile again.
Who do you trust????? There are not too many that you can!!!!!
Might see you the weekend in the Magnum. It's finished at last.
Will be there on the Sunday.

[Purple AK]

Glad you're sorted Iain And I really hope you guys get the weather you need at the weekend Sadly I can't be there It just goes to show that you don't always get what you pay for with some engine builders

[Colin GD427]

Hi Iain

I know how you feel as I only got mine back on the road a week ago after a total rebuild of my LS6 engine after finding out I did not get what I asked for or what I paid for........agrrrrrr Been off the road for 6 months....agrrr

My so called engine builder was :- Geoff Jeal, Little Aston, Near Banbury. Some may know of him as he was big with the Corvette boys especially the ZR1.

He should of rebuilt my engine with a new standard 350 crank with new forged rods and pistons, upgraded push rods with higher ratio rocker arms, and port the throttle body.

Well after 18 months of not being happy with the performance, lack of torque, vibration at certain rpm, even after paying him for two rolling road sessions, over £600, I decided I had to do something.
In the end Ken Coleman at EDA said he would strip and rebuild it for me, after I took my car up to him so he could see it for him self, and agreed with me that something was wrong and that it was possibly that it had not been balance either, which what I was beginning to think.

When Ken took the heads off , the reason for the lack of power was that the pistons were 208 thou from the top of the block, when actually they should of been out of the block by 10 to 12 thou. The reason was he had used the pistons and rods for a stroker combination, therefore leaving the pistons down the bore. You cannot believe that somebody would do that and leave it....

There were allsorts of others bits and pieces which was wrong too.

But when the engine was totally stripped we found that neither the push rods or the higher ratio rocker arms had been upgraded, and were my original standard ones.

The other annoying thing was my comsumption had gone from 26-32 to gallon to struggling to get any were near 20 miles to gallon, and thought it was the higher ratio rockers. I asked him on many occasions for my original ones back but he kept saying he had not got them there and he would send them up to me.

Geoff Jeal has now moved and living in the US......

Ken @ EDA have sorted it and had it on the dyno on friday and got 434.4 bhp with 467.1 lbft of torque, so I now have my torque back.

I would highly recommend Ken Coleman at EDA for any engine work.
Regards
Colin

[V8 BJC]

Good to hear that you are back on the road m8.
Hope that you have had everything sealed up to stop the water getting in

[stevey]

Ken @ EDA has been building quality engines for years you only have to see how well his and his customer engines perform on the drag strip
Steve