Derek

I'm not sure there will ever be a turn key solution. In some ways this is a real plus because you end up with a head and valve train that is tailored to your goals. Hopefully a few other builders other than Rebello will jump in and then there will be more choices. I think it's appealing to Rebello because getting an L6 head to flow enough volume to support a 3.5L can be challenging. The owner of V2 has a 3.0L and his requirements are a lot different. From a production standpoint I've made all the changes to the head that I plan to make so the next batch should go a lot smoother. Hopefully these four will move quickly so I can get busy on the next batch. Rebellos firm on two heads and possibly a third. All five casting passed the final pressure test at 75PSI and that is the point at which I can start relaxing a bit. I still have to sweat out the finishing of the cams and hopefully at that point I'll sleep a little better:) VCT cams should be in my hands next week so I'll be able to start mocking up the gears and chains. Fun fun fun! Derek

Where is the fun in that:)

V3 manifolds finished Finished up the manifolds for V3. These were tricky because the owner of V3 decided to make my life miserable tilt the motor the opposite direction. He did this for looks plus he wanted to gain some distance for his induction system. I did a quick check on the 3D model and it looked doable. Trunnion plate on the 4th axis comes in handy for this kind of stuff. DCOE pattern matched to 48mm. Made a quick fixture/index plate to locate off of the DCOE flange. I find most people prefer that their carbs/ITBs line up when they are bolted to the manifold:) Port matched to the head and o-ringed. Rebello will blend the port match into the manifold. Since every build is different I figured the best way to handle it is to cast it a little smaller and then blend as necessary. The ripple pattern you see is from the 3D printed sand. There are certain angles where the layers on 3D printed items are fairly pronounced. I was surprised how well everything worked considering the manifold casting is 180 degrees out from it’s intended angle. I kind of cheated this shot. The manifold has already been through the vibratory finisher so this is the final finish. I threw it back in the fixture to get the picture. All done and looking pretty! Added a rib in the center so that if people have drop link type linkage they can mount the risers to it. Manifold looks a little fugly in this shot but it really isn’t:) This is the last of the V3 stuff so Rebello should be good to go at this point.

I'm thinking electric at this point:)

Hold my beer.

Machine work finished! I can relax a little:) Just got done with their first bath. Still need de-buring and edge finishing but the majority of the work is done. The VCT holes are drilled and tapped but they haven’t been drilled all the way through. Easily opened up with a drill if needed. The head has provisions for three sub plates. Timing chain idler, upper tensioner and a slack side guide pivot. The idler and tensioner are connected to the oil system and o-ringed. It is getting really crowded in there with all the oil passages, head bolts and cam tower bolts. Next stop vacuum resin impregnation.

So here is what I ended up with the o-ring so far. I made the groove tighter than I normally would for a pressure seal. This way the o-ring stays in the groove well enough to handle without it falling out. For those of you that don't know o-ring grooves are wider than the o-ring to give the seal a place to go as it crushes. The valve cover isn't exactly a high pressure seal and the method of attachment doesn't have enough oomph to pull the seal down evenly. I started out with round but it seemed like it wasn’t providing enough contact area based on the mount of torque I could apply to the valve cover. I ran a square for a bit before the head shit the bed but I’m not sure if it was better or worse. My gut feeling is better because I really increased the contact area with the square profile. Makes sense in theoryville, the land of my people.

Ready for battle! Getting geared up to start machining the heads. Officially the first production run.

Got the valve covers done. They are machined and somewhat finished. I've decided that since I don't know what people plan to do for finishing that I would leave the final cleanup to them or their powder coater. I sanded down all of the sand tears, Rand a DA over most of it and then ran them in the vibratory finisher. The flange is grooved for a .125" o-ring. I also machine in clearance for the cam towers and bolts. There are 2 bosses on either side of the plug hole. This is for a KN20 COP. The bosses are positioned so that you can have the plug facing forward or backwards. It's up to the end user to drill and tap accordingly. Semi action shot.

After this batch things should start picking up supply wise. All of the things I control move along quite quickly. Every thing else just takes forever.

I did what I did because it looked nice:) Seriously.

Hi. I don't know what tower with MPI refers to. I mean I probably do but not by that name. I hope demand is still there when I actually have heads to sell. No mater either way as long as I have one:)

Probably not going to happen:) Actually V2 is a one of a kind head. V3 and V4 are virtually identical except for some adjustments to gating and wall thicknesses. V2 in visually different and totally unique. He also ended up with 2 valve covers and three timing covers since they only fit that head:)

Well I hope to be making them for a good long time:) HP specs are based on estimations by Rebello since there are currently no running heads. V2 hasn't even been assembled yet since he decided to retire, build a custom house and shop and put a twin cam head on his Z car all at the same time. Hopefully that will be moving along soon. V3 is moving forward but slowly since it is only a small part of a comprehensive engine/car build.

Thanks. It's kind of cool having a stack of DOHC castings sitting on the floor.

Santa was late but better late than never:) Went down to the foundry and pored the remaining 4 heads right before the holiday break. Went down and picked them up a couple days ago. Next stop Ohio for hot isostatic pressing.

Decent price is the sticking point. Even if you are starting with a raw casting the amount of machining is still pretty significant. A Mazworx 2JZ billet block is $9000.00 FYI.

I personally think it is a good idea. They are Z cars and they are doing hybrid type work. Derek

One thing to consider is to hire a tuner to dial it all in. I had Jeff Linfert setup and tune my DOHC with ITBs and he did it all via email. Spending a little money up front getting things setup by a pro and then learning how to tweak may save you some frustration and get you on the road a lot quicker. I would find one in your area if you want to do dyno tuning as well. Derek

Search on hybridz for speedhut gauges. I love mine.

Here is one from mcmaster carr. BST NPT adapter

The word I got from my tuner is you need a MS3 unit to control VCT. There really isn't a lot out there about VCT/VVT with mega squirt. Miata conversions seem to be the most popular.

VCT cam cores are finished. Really happy to have this behind me. I had one set of S7 blanks so there was no room for error. Cross drilling VCT control circuit. Talk about butt clenching. Sounds a little crispy as the drill bit breaks through the other side. S7 tool steel is some pretty tough stuff. Finished VCT circuit. Still have to deburr the holes. Here is a video of the finish pass ending on lobe 6 and starting on lobe 2. I finish them in the firing order so I don't get confused. The noise in the background are 2 other machines that I'm coding and running at the same time so I try and keep things simple:) Next they'r off to Crane for heat treating and OD grinding.

The dual pulley is what's going to mess you up for aftermarket. Probably rebuilding your existing damper is going to be the cheapest route. FYI I sell a 36:1 kit and sensor mount. EDIS Kit for $220.00

Thanks for the info. Probably going to stick with the local guy for now. He's five minutes away and that is nice.