Check rear axle spool, check driveshaft, and torque tube in a lathe for being straight, and true. When the car is full of fuel and the driver is sitting in place reach down and turn the tube bell, won’t turn either the rear axle is crooked or motor plate is bent. Sometimes the hole in the motor plate are worn out & do not do a good job of aligning. Maybe I'm wrong but worth a shot
---------- Post added at 1:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 1:32 AM ----------
Some more of my ramblings, hope it helps
Time a Direct Drive Race Car: Install a kill switch also on the throttle pedal this can save your life, you don’t want to make it hard nor to easy to hit. Never hammer a magneto in place. Turn engine over till it’s at TDC on power stroke, both valves closed. Use timing marks on dampner rotate engine to desired advance you will use; adjust your pointer if needed. No timing marks use a dial indicator, degree wheel or positive stop. Next put the car in gear or what other way you want and push it backwards to align your timing mark. Mark magneto where #1 cylinder is, attach engine kill switch wire and rotate rotor till it’s just before your mark. Attaching wire keeps you from getting poked or possibly damaging the magneto. If your oil pump drives off the magneto (non dry sump) look at how the tang on the magneto bottom and the oil pump drive shaft align. Use a long screwdriver to align the shaft, may even drop the oil pan in some cases as this can be a hassle. Now carefully lower magneto into place while twisting back and forth, when mag gets within 1inch of seating you’ll hear it gear engaging with the cam. Now finish lowering and the rotor will turn counter clockwise toward the mark on the housing. If it gets to within ¼ inch and stops it’s the hanging up on the oil pump shaft. Once in check to see if your mark is in the spot you marked if not pull it out and try again and turn the rotor a little farther back. It may take a few attempts to get the engagement right, be patient. Be sure magneto doesn’t bottom out on the shaft there should be a little play. Install clamp but leave it loose, as you have to time it next. Magnetos have 2 types 1 has a full advance and the other is fixed. If you have a fixed type and an indexed balancer you can turn the engine to your desired spark advance, set the rotor about 3/8” behind the mark for number #1 and install. Setting up a magneto with an advance curve is almost the same most magnetos have 12 camshaft degrees in them find out for sure. Now figure out what position the balancer needs to be in. First step is double the degrees the magneto has example 12 X 2 = 24degrees to get crankshaft advance (Crank rotates at twice the cams speed). If you’re going to use 36degrees total advance subtract 24 from 36 = 12, so rotate engine to 12degrees Before Top Dead Center and repeat from there on. When running your plug wires forget what the cap says the engines firing order and which pin is next tell you where the wires go. If the engine suddenly gets a loud flat sound (sounds different) check your clamp on the magneto did it come loose, check your timing. Oops no timing light to be had, try this. Loosen clamp with engine running slowly retard the timing till engine slows down, then advance until the engine speeds up. Do this several times and you’ll get a feel for about where your timing should be. Tighten the clamp and you are done it’s crude but it works unless engine pings at high RPM’s then retard timing a little. Be sure to re-time when you do get your hands on a light. The gasket under the magneto can compress causing it to come loose. In a wet sump engine their can be too little a clearance on the oil pump driveshaft and the thrust can turn your magneto.
1st Start Up: My friend used block heaters on both sides of the engine and a hot water heater element in the dry sump tank to heat the fluids so engine wouldn’t be fired up cold. Oil temperature should be 160dgrees minimum 90% of all engine failures are caused from firing engines with cold oil won’t show up right away but this is where it probably started with cold oil. Engines seemed to last a lot longer than others did. Never start engine cold if you can help it use a salamander heater, block heaters on both sides, and an oil heater. Set the engine up to run lean when you first fire it up. You don’t want to wash the cylinders slight film of oil off with a large dose of methanol. Methanol is a solvent actually that’s used as a fuel. Use a mineral based oil to break the engine in then switch to premium synthetic oil. Synthetics hold up to heat and stress better they won’t burn off or gum up you can run a lower viscosity to reduce friction. Crack fuel line at pump to prime system, remove plugs, put in gear put water in the radiator jack up the front end to get all the air out as radiator usually lower than engine. Next push the car about 60 feet did the oil pressure come up is there fuel in the system you’ll need some friends to help you certainly can’t push and drive. Be sure your push truck has enough power to do the job, don’t use a quad, most will just hammer the your driveline and end up breaking it later. Run the engine up to 2500RPM’s for 30 minutes watch for leaks, never rev the engine the 1st time you fire it up it proves nothing and may cause damage to some parts. Shut he engine off and look for leaks, as the pressure will spike in the system. Remove the oil filter and drain the oil but use a strainer to check for metal shavings any questions seek out an expert if your not sure, let the oil sit in the pan. After the oil sits for a bit look for water in the pan, as the 2 different liquids will separate oil and water don not mix and there is any water your bearings will not last. While your waiting cut open the filter the oil runs from the outside to the center so pay attention as you dis-assemble remember which is which. After removing the mount cut the metal ends off and lay the filter outer side up you want to get into the creases of the filter, run a magnet over the element to see how much metal is in the filter. Cut the element into sections if that’ll help use a light and a magnifying glass to get a good look. There shouldn’t be anything in the center of the filter if you do find something find out where it came from. If you install a new filter and oil pressure drops replace it with another and cut it open before you re-fire engine. Ok if everything checks out re-fire the car then set the timing and the idle give it a couple flips of the throttle to see how it is now. Engine oil at 100psi cold will be 80psi when it gets hot. When warming the engine up turn the fuel shut off about 1/2 way to keep oil from getting contaminated with fuel. Keeping cylinders from being washed down, methanol is actually a solvent and can wash the oil film off the cylinders that lubes pistons. After the car starts run engine check oil pressure if ok run engine up to 3,000RPM’s for approximately 20minutes to break in the cam and valvetrain. After checking oil pressure, check for leaks everywhere and anywhere use ice on headers to check cylinder heat, cold it’s not firing. Start up first time, run engine 1/2hr when hot shut off re-torque heads and set lash again. If the engine has cooled off too much re-fire and heat it up again be sure to repeat your checks for leaks every time you fire up the engine. Engine is OK and after a few laps the temperature shoots up pull in retard timing 3 degrees and or change the pill by .005 might help. If temperature is cool out and you can’t build heat tape off part of the radiator don’t lean out engine too much it could blow engine. Denser air means more oxygen so if more fuel is needed, if it’s running OK leave it alone. When firing the engine the 1st time use hot laps to seat rings, need to have load on engine to seat them properly. How do you know? When 1st fire the engine a haze will come out of breathers, when that’s gone rings are seated. Every time you fire up engine to warm it up turn fuel valve off partially too lean it out you don’t want to wash cylinders down with alcohol. Some people break in valvetrain with lighter springs for 20 to 30 minutes. After engine is warmed up look into dry sump tank if so equipped and rev the engine if the oil goes down a little that’s ok. If doesn’t the engine is holding oil inside and not draining back correctly. After you get the engine running top off the coolant before it gets to hot. If one end of the head gets hotter than other you probably have an air pocket get rid of it, loosen the closest fitting see if that helps.
