240zphilly

Just to antagonize you a bit, im going to be the first to say get rid of the afm and get a computer! HAHA, Seriously though, look into the same piece for the v6 Mazda 6 (2004ish). You can probably pick one up at the local auto parts for about 60 dollars, and at a glance looks like it can put your afm and a filter out infront of the radiator support.

Have you considered running the passenger side back and around? Like this kit.

Very nice project, Pete, some great parts you've amassed. Where did you get all this authentic Bob Sharp stuff?

If those heads are the ones that came with that block originally, then the motor was originally a tuned port omtor, and those heads are the high swirl design, possibly with 1.94 intake valves. Another IF, if the motor was produced after 87, expect a factory compression ratio of 9.5:1 an easy way to tell if this is a post 87 motor is if it has a hydraulic roller cam. As far as detonation is concerned, with programmable engine management you can avoid that altogether. The use of an intercooler is going to help you greatly in detonation aversion. However if you are going to cut corners and run low boost <10psi with, no intercooler and a rising rate regulator, I suggest you implement methanol injection to deal with the possibility of detonation. I suggest picking up some turbocharging literature, maximum boost by corky bell comes to mind.

Nice score!

Agreed, the "Butt Dyno" on the original purchasers of turbo zx's was mighty pleased with the torque provided, and since most of their efforts werent into the 6-7k rpm range (stop light shows and overtaking slow traffic) What more could they really ask for. From an engine designer's standpoint I can imagine having better efficiency down low would improve mileage in the operating band where most of engines use was, and customer satisfaction would ultimately be higher that way. The same exact argument can be made for stock turbo size, and although ive never looked for it, im sure its on the forum here somewhere, or in the archives. Efficiency, and torque in the area which the car would be operating 99% of its time took precedence. If they wanted to, they could easily have had a cam like the L24 to push the powerband higher, and had a slightly more appropriate turbo like a t3/t04e.50 to help breathe better up there. But the gasoline wars win again. and performance falls to economy.

Since the heads are uninstalled, you can easily inspect the cylinder bores for wear and damage. Thing to look for include: Cross thatching. You should still be able to see the honing marks, it should look like a fine spiderweb along the cylinder wall, and be smooth as glass to the touch. Cylinder wall wear. Run your fingernail along the cylinders and see if it sticks or snags anything, if it does, the block would need to be honed again or possibly bored out to correct the issue. Rust. Many people dont properly store engines and engine components, bearings, cylinder walls, crank journals and cam lobes can all easily fall victim to rust if not properly lubed before storage. being garage kept is not sufficient by itself, so inspect these parts carefully. Caveat about rust, you can easily repair most flash rust on the rotating assembly, however it is a vital point to make while negotiating and can bring the price way down. If any of the aforementioned parts are rusted to the point of pitting, dont even bother buying it. There are plenty of fish in the sea when it comes to four bolt 350's. Furthermore, camel hump heads made great power back in the seventies and eighties when there really was not alot of power to be made. Plenty of people due to rules in their race class or superstition would buy those heads off of you in a heartbeat. For the money, and depending on your budget and power goals, I would recommend these: http://www.jegs.com/i/Patriot+Performance/723/2151/10002/-1 Aside from a nitrous kit, those are going to provide you with the most horsepower for your dollar. and at 700 dollars for the pair, you really cant go wrong. The only downside to that is You need to buy and intake that is made for the unique intake ports on vortec heads. In my experience, the edelbrock rpm air gap vortec intake is the best for naturally aspirated engines shifting at or below 6500 rpm. (and with a carb and air cleaner still fits under the stock Z hood). Good luck and happy hunting.

Really dont want to venture even this far off topic, but I am totally in accordance with this stand point. Seen too many builds go way tangential based on "I gotta source this (insert bullshit rare part here)" because I read it's the greatest EvAR!

WOW! That was a alot to digest in one sitting. I appreciate you putting all that down so we could learn ourselves a little sumthin. I'll definitely be picking up that book, Amazon and I have a revolving door it seems lately! Thanks to your explanation I can probably grasp alot of the concepts in the book more confidently, as opposed to having to google half the stuff I read about and hope for some dummied down talk or a diagram, haha. Thanks again, Paul, for an ignition rookie like me that was very helpful.

As far as Kim Jong Il is concerned, I'm a tanker by trade, as such although I promote diplomacy before all else, I secretly hope for the all else. Nothing like watching a 120mm main gun round glowing across three grid squares before meeting its final destination.

LOL its seem the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Yea I've been up here at Irwin for the past two years, moving to South Korea this summer. going to have to transport the wife and Z back east until I get back stateside, when we make the move to Colorado. Hooah, not. Do you work for an air compressor company?

HAHA nice one, hopefully they come through. Woke up this morning with three or four inches of snow on my cars, are you anywhere near Barstow, Tony?

I'll give them a call tomorrow to make sure before I go any further with the car.

So Tony, do you think these designs with the center throttle blade are inferior somehow? why have they mostly fallen to the wayside?

Thanks drax, I have seen some people design log intakes with what I guess is called a diverting plate in them after the throttle blade before the runners. If I remember correctly it had holes in it of various sizes to try to get an even amount of flow to all the cylinders (large hole infront of the number 1 runner, gradually smaller holes to the number 6). Which is what I believe is being portrayed in your first attachment. Really, I was more concerned with the budget aspect of quickly converting from a 4 barrel to EFI, and maintaining the benefits of the four barrel intake. As far as designing an intake I think it would be worth considering one of the designs you posted, or something similar.

I have no issues breaking him off some money to take it. I just need to know that he'll take it before I start dissecting.

I think if I ever get bored and try this it would be with injector bosses welded in, and one of these:

AWESOME... I would love to see how it stacks up against similar combinations with log intakes. Is the vehicle going to be N/A?

Very interesting! I happened across a four barrel throttle body from FAST. http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=FS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=307603&Category_Code=4150Style That may be very useful because of its low profile design, in conjunction with a boost friendly carburetor bonnet like the one from http://www.csucarbs.com

To the OP, thats t3, and as previously stated overpriced.

Curious what your thoughts would be regarding taking a 4 barrel manifold, like the AZC piece, for example, and adding a throttle body and injectors to it. The only reason this occurred to me was with all the recent discussion about intake manifolds, and the L series having no easy way of putting the throttle blade in the center of the intake, this seems like a viable option. I'm sure a well designed log intake built from scratch will outperform it, but I'm curious about the offset of cost of building a custom intake versus the benefits of having the air enter the intake in the center, as opposed to at the end of a log. The old turbo tom intakes had the turbo feeding into the center of the manifold, I have heard good argument for that design, but all of the successful turbo EFI intakes I have seen have been of log design. I wonder if thats a result of people not wanting to mess with nature, or complacency? On alot of domestic V8's conventional EFI intakes are discarded for 4BBL intakes with injectors because of the superior flow and runner design. Wonder if anyone has explored how true that is for L series four barrel manifolds?

btw since it was mentioned earlier in the thread, i searched and couldnt find anything comprehensive... im curious what your methods are for tuning the ignition. ive heard people use vacuum advance and lock out the mechanical advance both to great success... curiously i cant find any real all inclusive thread like this about ignitions.