A project I'm really proud of, even if it isn't as "perfect" as I wanted it to be, very few people would pick up on those issues I see. Intended to be a piece that gets passed down to my kids, and hopefully theirs as well.

Check out my video below, and if this kind of thing is interesting to you, or entertains you, please show it with a comment or like!

It has been a while since I posted on this forum. I still own and love my Zs. But I have been distracted on other projects.

I have built the first electric motorkhana / khanacross car in Australia. It has been competing for 12 months now and is just starting to realise it's full potential.

The chassis is home made from the ground up. most of the mechanicals are mostly from a Nissan Pulsar (small front wheel drive hatch).

The car is front wheel drive because they have a slight advantage over rear wheel drive in this form of motorsport.

The motor is an Advanced DC 9 inch. This type of motor is usually used for converting a 1200KG road car. So in my 500kg car it goes quite nicely.

The controller is a Zeva 1000amp unit (although so far I have only tested it to 800amps)

So far the peak power I have seen has been 67KW. But its the torque that is the real advantage of these motors with around 440nm from 0 revs.

The batteries are 170v lithium Ion from a Chevy Volt. The total capacity is 7KWH and it lasts a full day of racing for me.

I'll post some pics and videos in a minute.

I bought mine for 50$, I'll give it a shot. The bearings seem to be readily available...it's the seals that aren't. I think I can machine the housings for proper teflon lip seals instead of the carbon/graphite seals that are in place now.

Once I figure out how to disassemble the dang thing! I managed to unbolt the rear case extension, front pulley, and the front case this evening. I'll need to borrow an impact wrench to remove the two 17mm bolts on the front of the shafts; they are ground similar to how a turbocharger turbine nut is ground to balance them. They will have to go back in the same place they came from, so I'll bag them. I have NO reference for torque; I'll have to make an estimate and hope it's correct.

Once the front case was removed, I discovered that these units have a 4:1 step-up ratio from the input drive to the actual supercharger. That's cool, because it means that the input pulley is effectively 1" in diameter, but has the belt area of an 8-rib 4" pulley. Also, a smaller crank pulley is needed to produce the same boost as with some other superchargers, which is great since this pulley is unique to this unit and other sizes would be difficult to fit.

Reminds me of the 240 concept.

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The completed plenum shape will resemble this red outline...

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Runner ID is 1.5”.

Length, for this manifold, is 6”.

After testing, a decision will be made on lengthening/shortening them on the second manifold.

A Wolf3D EMS will be installed along with a 6-coil Denso ignition system...

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There is still a large portion of work to be done, along with a couple of necessary adjustments.

I’m expecting to test late March or April. Pending favorable test results and enough interest, I may build a small batch of them.

I’ll try to update the progression periodically.

The first steps in fabricating this manifold required a careful selection of materials, measurements, welding technique and the goal to minimize cost. Welding up runners to a flange for an engine isn’t as simple as cutting a pipe and welding on a throttle body. In a reciprocating engine the intake and exhaust valves are constantly opening and closing. The speed in which the valves open, lift and duration depends on the camshaft design, valve design and engine revolution. As the intake valve opens, the piston sucks air into the cylinder during the induction stroke. Eventually the intake valve closes to allow for combustion of the mixture. The problem lies within the pressure waves created by the closure of the intake valve. When the fast moving air slams into the now closed valve, the air will continue in motion and begin to compress. Now that the air is being compressed the air has nowhere to go. Newton’s First law of motion indicates an object in motion will continue to stay in motion unless an external force is acted upon. Newton’s Third law of motion is for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. This intake wave will revert back down the runner, commonly called a “pulse wave.†Ideally for optimum performance, allowing the pulse wave to bounce back down the runner and enter the cylinder as the intake valve opens will create a supercharger effect. In order to properly time this intake pulse the length of the runner is important, including inside diameter and taper of the runner.

The speed in which these pulse waves travel also varies on the speed of sound, which varies with air temperature, density, humidity and altitude. I was able to find a handy dandy calculator online to provide calculations based off my tube inside diameter, camshaft duration, and peak torque range for my desired RPM. These measurements were for standard conditions at sea level. Now this measurement is not the length of the runner, rather the length from the throttle body or plenum to the center of the intake valve. I was able to calculate with my camshaft duration of 260 degrees and an inside diameter of 1.4†and desired peak torque at 5,350 RPM my runners should be 63†inches long. Ideally this would not work due to space restrictions, so the next best option is to use one of the multiple pulse waves reverted back and forth. My final calculations were 11.2†from the center of the intake valve to the throttle body. This would allow me to take advantage of every 5th intake pulse.

For my parts selection I chose 6061 aluminum which is very light and can be easily welded and cut. I purchased the intake flange from a local member of a car forum I am a member of and began my project. In order to properly weld the aluminum, I needed a TIG machine which is capable of AC or DC current, which I would take advantage of the AC for aluminum. When welding aluminum I would manually select AC current and I adjust the AC wave balance, current in amperage and frequency. The total current adjusted the amount of heat I applied into the material. The AC wave balance adjusts how much the positive or negative waves on the sinusoid wave are applied into the material. Basically the lower the balance value, the less cleaning the arc will provide and deeper penetration into the metal. The greater the balance, the more cleaning is provided but you lose penetration. I chose a 75% balance which is a very nice balance for welding aluminum. Finally the frequency adjusts how wide the arc is on the metal. For a nice wide arc and puddle a low frequency is ideal. The lower the frequency the less penetration I will gain. Increasing the penetration narrows the arc. The narrower the arc, the more focused the heat is, which allows greater penetration. Proper gas and tungsten are also important. For this application I used 100% argon and Zirconiated tungsten.

For cutting the aluminum, I was fortunate enough to use several tools throughout the shop including; a band saw, 14†chop saw with an aluminum rated blade and a plasma cutter. Once everything was cut to my specifications, I was careful to de burr the material and begin the materials for welding. The key to a strong weld with deep penetration and a clean bead is cleanliness. I cleaned the ends of the aluminum with emery cloth, then a stainless steel wire brush and rubbed the aluminum down with acetone to clean off oils and grease. To prevent warping the aluminum flange I clamped the material onto a sturdy welding table with a steel surface to help absorb the heat. The first step was tack welding the runners to the flange to ensure a proper mock up. It is important to add several tack welds around the runner to prevent warping. Once everything was tacked onto the flange, I ran a full fillet bead around the runner onto the flange. This was difficult to do in one continuous run, so I was able to do each runner in 4 sections. My biggest difficulty was between cylinders 1 and 2, as well as 5 and 6. Due to the close proximity of the runners there was a tight gap I needed to weld in. I attempted to use a very small cup and extended the tungsten out to fit the gap, but continued to see a muddy, dirty puddle. This was one of my first errors when welding the project, due to the high air pressure being accelerated out of the smaller cup. My welding instructor mentioned I should lower the air pressure to help out the situation. Unfortunately the gap I was trying to work with was too small and I was unable to get adequate gas coverage. The only option was to apply a lot of heat and filler metal to melt out the impurities in the metal. I would then apply a die grinder to grind out the impurities and apply some more filler metal and heat. Eventually there was clean aluminum grinded down smoothly without pitting or cracks. After welding each runner to the flange I allowed proper cooling to prevent warping or running too much heat on the next runner which could create a uncontrollable weld.

Now that the flange and runners were completed, I temporarily mounted the throttle bodies and came into my second issue of the project. The famous rule, measure twice, cut once should have been followed here. After mounting the manifold in my engine bay I realized I cut my runners too long and did not allow for proper clearance for my plenum. In order to fix this I decided to flip the plenum on top of the throttle bodies and runners and utilize a 180* degree bend. In addition to running out of room, I also already cut the materials for the plenum design which meant I had a 4†diameter pipe now in half horizontally so I did not have a sealed tube. I was able to fix this by re-attaching the 2 half pieces of aluminum and running a full weld down the manifold which wasn’t fairly difficult. I used a square butt joint weld for this application. The next step in welding up this project is cutting the holes for the velocity stacks on the plenum and welding them on. I carefully measured the proper spacing for the velocity stacks to line up with the throttle bodies and used a 2†hole saw on a mill and cut the holes. I was able to insert the velocity stacks from the inside of the pipe and push the attaching end out of the plenum and run tack welds. I learned that polished aluminum is fairly easy to weld once being cleaned properly. I used a fillet weld technique all the way around the velocity stack and plenum. I also extended the length of the plenum by adding a 4†long section of tubing to the end of my plenum using a square butt joint weld.

Overall the project was very difficult due to time constrictions, price and selection of materials, inadequate planning and improper measurements. Fortunately I was successfully able to weld an intake manifold to my specifications and should show an improvement in my engines performance and tuning. Although my poor planning was the primary difficulty, the welding process and instruction by my teacher was extremely beneficial and proved to be much easier than I expected when following procedure and processes.

Anyway.. here are some pics of the project

This above was the original plan. Unfortunately because i did not plan this well enough, I was unable to use this beautiful intake design.

In the end I was able to use a larger plenum design by flipping the plenum on top of the manifold, similar to a Nissan Maxima intake manifold on the LD28 motor. Yes the rubber hose is ugly... but I am sourcing down a cheaper option than $210 for 6 - 2" u bends! Give me some time!!

yup, bankston datsun ^^^ hahaha lol (OMG HOLY ♥♥♥♥)

turns out, it's a nissan / datsun 200sx. from what I've gathered, it should have an Z22E 4cyl. under the hood, 5mt, AND RWD (mini-me L24E, like my max, sort of lol) the body on this thing is UBER straight, it has a little surface rust, but I looked under it and it's all there, complete, stock, no major rust, and the odometer is sitting @ 67k!!!! oh and it has a 02/82 build date, which just happens to be the same exact build date of my maxima, go figure!

*update* I was getting it ready to TRY to start it, dropped the tank, cleaned it, new lines, pump, new blaster coils, new battery, new clutch etc etc, and the LAST thing I did before trying to start it, I was gonna get some fresh oil in it, so I drained it out, looked into my drain pan, and saw metal shavings in it:shock:, so I went a ahead and dropped the pan, and upon close inspection of the crank, it has a spun rod bearing. the crank, the cylinder walls, and rod and end are all scarred up, I don't think it'd be worth machining down to tolerance, so I'm on the hunt for just a KA to just throw in it and be done with it. the main purpose of this car will be a slammed cruiser, don't plan on racing it or drifting or any other silly-ness, just like my maxima lol

If it's not ok to post this here, mods go ahead and delete.

I acquired this 1985 Toyota Supra (my 9th Mk2 so far) this past September for FREE.

Owners claimed it had no reverse and no longer ran; didn't have the time to fix it. So we towed her home and with a new battery I got her running. Drove her around for a bit, cleaned her up, installed some clear turn signals and Euro/JDM rear vents.

Then the 187,000 mile 2.8liter engine started choking on itself. Started burning oil pretty bad, so figured it was time to give her a heart transplant.

In January, I happened to find a 3.0 liter 6MGE block on craigslist for $50. Went and picked it up, brought it home and gutted it. The #1 rod bearings were MISSING and the rod and crank were pretty chewed up. The boyfriend gave me a spare 6M crank and I was able to get a free set of 7MGE connecting rods from a member on supramania.com.

At the begining of February I started dropping off the parts I was acquiring to the machine shop.

On the 19th I got everything back and slowly started assembling things.

I bought .030" oversized high compression pistons (stock 5MGE 9.2:1 compared to the flat top 8.8:1 pistons that normall come in 6Ms) and had the block bored to match. The connecting rods were resized. The rotating assumbly is fully balanced. Flywheel resurfaced. Head had a valve job and was milled .005".

My fuzzball headed self installing the wristpin clips Keep in mind I've done 99% of this by myself.

...and this is where I am now. head is torqued down. Lower timing cover installed, front main and oil pump seal installed, intake mocked up.

Tomorrow I should be pulling the engine out of my car and grabbing the stuff I want off it. (oil pump, fuel rail, cam towers, etc)

I am also going to be changing from the POS automatic to a 5 speed manual, so that should be fun too