Derek

The Cam towers are rotated 180 degrees so the number 5 (rear) tower is in the front and the sensor plate is machined off to clear the timing chain. But you could use the Honda sensors I suppose. But that's not my department:)

In two posts I learned more about injection and ignition timing than I ever knew. Thanks. I don't need any of that for this build. I think if I was going to do it for a customer i would cut a U shaped chunk out of the back of the valve cover. I would mount a sub plate to the back of the head that matches the U shaped cutout and mount my sensors there. Especially if it's an encoder or shaft driven sensor. Trying to keep a shaft driven item properly aligned on something like a valve cover that is removed frequently is problematic. Better to have it on a fixed plate. As long as the back of the cams are drilled and tapped there really isn't anything other than clearance between the valve cover and firewall stopping someone from implementing any of these things. The stock Honda K20 has 2 sensors in the rear reading 2 wheels bolted to the cams. They are part of the end cam tower and the valve cover seals against it. I have people interested in this head that want the ultimate high HP L6 build. And I have others that want one because it looks so freeking cool. Best not to loose sight of that.

Actually I'm running EDIS but I get your point. I'm all ears:) That's whats causing me to hedge. When I made the EDIS adapter kits, at the time it was the dominant choice. I don't see that for the cam fire. Optical requires clean and sealed. That means it must reside outside the valve cover. Since it has to reside outside the valve cover there is really nothing for me to add as there is plenty of wall thickness to accomplish most any kind of mounting. And if not then an adapter plate could be added. Even if there was an internal solution there really isn't a lot of room inside to do it. Personally I don't see not having a cam driven solution out of the box as being a problem. Having a way to attach to the cam is the biggest issue. After that it's a mater of some fabrication. It's a problem that will solve itself when the first person that wants it makes it happen. People spend a lot more on an OSG and they run a dizzy. It looks a lot closer than it is. Thanks I'm really happy. I'm still waiting on the shoe to drop and I have ugh oh moment. Fortunately Tony has caught a few. Some a little later than I would have preferred

Getting a little tight in there! Got the plug tubes done. Decided to dry fit the rocker assembly. The nice thing about the K20 was the cylinder spacing was shorter than the L6. This meant things were easier to fit. In order to take up the space between the rockers and towers I decided to machine some washers out of 6061 aluminum in 3 thicknesses and I also purchased some .002" shim washers. Was bit tedious but really went pretty quickly. Here is a shot in application. Had a little free time yesterday and decided to make my own oil cap. I'm really happy with the results. This is right after machining. It looked nice but it was a little too blingy for my taste so I gave it a little time in the vibratory finisher. Looks more appropriate for the build style I'm using. Getting to the end of it. Only a couple more things to make and I really need the cams for that.

Regarding kerning. You are ALL right. I used the computer to lay it out and that's how it decided to do it. The camera angle is not helping things either. Ultimately it looks off in person and I should have caught it. And if all I was doing was a valve cover I probably would have but I've got a few things going on these days:) . It bothers me enough to where I'm going to fix the pattern for future valve covers. Regarding the font. I like it and that's all that matters. Period. End of it. The CAS issue is this: There is no better or best. Only what's right for you. My goal is to make it so that as many systems as possible can be run. As Rossman said he sent me dimensions for the 280Z CAS and I verified that V2 of the head will accommodate it. Direct cam angle sensing is a little different. The only accommodation I'm going to make for now is to drill and tap the rear of future cam cores so that will be available for use to mount things. I suppose you could adapt a 300ZX CAS to the back or front of the valve cover and drive it with one of the cams. I'm not going there but that's why they made tig welders. Running the 280 dizzey with a new wheel and cover would probably make the most sense. Derek

The pretty stuff is cathartic for me and It helps me keep it moving forward. It's also when I'm looking for things I missed. Plus if it doesn't work it will look great as a table! Now climb back in your hole you heretic:)

Valve cover done. As I said earlier I'm having it powder coated but I wanted a couple of shots of it raw aluminum. I think it looks great but I want to see what it looks like coated. For me to leave it raw would require a bit of work and then back to the foundry for shot peening again. Not in the cards. The flange is o-ringed. A little more work but since I'm sure to have the cover off and on a bunch it made the most sense. Everything fits really well. Intake casting is a little scruffy but that's how it goes with prototypes. I should have been a plumber:) Should be ready to do oil pressure tests at the end of the week. I have a few more small items to work out but then I'm dead in the water without cams and a header.

I assume you are running it in the stock distributor housing with no cap? I'm starting to research CAS options. I want to make sure people can run as much gear as they already own as possible.

Ok that made laugh out loud. I know what you mean about looking at it. I'm going to miss having it in the shop on the stand. It's nice to look at during the day as I work.

Hi Nigel Right behind the timing gear is a 7/16" hole. It is right above the boss for the front right head bolt.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Everyone except thedarkie and G-E. Here are a few more pics for you to pick apart:) Top side finished. Getting the correct thread pitch for the oil cap was tricky but it fits great. I also ran a mill across the firing order. I'll sand it up a bit to try and make it blend. The shop cat just farted. Holy mother of god that stinks. I'm setting up the plug wire boots for a k24. This is one of the plug ends from Magnecore. Not crazy about the look but man do they seal well. Guilty party.

I hate you.

Yea I'll get right on it

Glad to see someone's paying attention:)

Look what UPS just dropped off! Very happy with the first pour. I had what's called a "short run" where the metal didn't flow all the way. It's right at the firing order. The 1 and 5 are barely there. The metal made it it just didn't fill. There was a hole below it that they welded in for me. I'll sand the other numbers down to that level and see if I can make it work. Otherwise off they come. I'll modify the pattern so that future castings won't have this issue. The lettering is nice and crisp. I'm going with Prismatic lite charcoal wrinkle with the lettering and ribs raw aluminum. Yea!

I rotated everything around. The arrows on the cam towers now point to the rear. This is one of many hindrances to making Vtec work.

People still use distributers? V2 water exit is behind the front face of the head so you luddites can run your Mallory dual points I run EDIS so it's not an issue.

Probably a good time to change the subject:) Did the Timesert and got the head on and torqued to 65lbs. This abomination is the water outlet. It's what I had to do in order to not have to make a separate timing cover pattern for this build. It's setup for the stock nissan outlet and when it's on it won't look too bad. The new design is completely different. Upper timing gear went right on and my custom chain stop popped right out. Ignore the grey silicone if you don't mind:) The outlet is o-ringed against the head and is bolted directly to the head so I'm not worried about leaking. Obviously I'll have to rework the upper timing cover patten to clear the tensioner. February. There I said it.

Well if there is one thing we can all agree on ARP instructions suck at best and are destructive at worst. I'm going to install the timesert and have another go. I'm going to take it to 65-70 lbs. I'll recheck it after it sits for a while and see how it feels. Re-torquing after heat cycling is a bitch because you have to pull the cam towers to get to the head bolts. Derek

There was some corrosion in the hole. 85 lbs is the spec. on the kit. 70 lbs is the spec. for a 10mm 220,000 psi stud in their general torque value chart. I'm leaning towards 65 lbs and calling it a day. It's a low compression NA motor.

Interesting points. The ARP kit says 85 lbs as well as their pdf on the website. The studs are from a BMW M50. I believe that block is aluminum. They do have issues though as there are timesert kits specifically to repair them. I'd like to hear from someone who has run those kinds of torque on a L28 block. None of the other studs felt even the least bit mushy so it may be a case of a single weak thread. Thanks Derek

Well the head was on and ALMOST torqued. Making the last pass and one of the studs popped. Unfortunately it pulled the threads out of the block. I guess I'll be ordering a time-sert kit. Not sure if I was over torquing or if the block was just tired. According to the ARP docs the head stud kit I'm using requires 85 lbs with their molly grease in order to get the correct stretch. The studs are quite a bit shorter than ARP l28 studs so that may account for the difference between the 60 lbs that ARP recommends for the L28 kit. Not sure how to approach this as I want the proper stretch but I really don't want to keep pulling threads out.

That's a good idea but honestly the $20.00 items are tearing through my budget really quickly. And there is still a long way to go.

Hi Bob The oil feed hole on the side of the block sits right under a cam tower so the feed will always come from elsewhere. I think it is going to work out well as the orifices are accessible from outside the head so tweaking the oil flow will be pretty straight forward. I'm running a Melling M111 with no turbo so there is more oil available for me to disperse as I see fit. It will be interesting to see the pressure gain after I install the cams and rockers and the top end isn't free flowing. I don't know what size orifice is in the factory turbo but all things being equal the turbo oil pump should deliver the total of the 2MM orifice in the block and whatever size the turbo is. I don't have that data yet. I don't know if this is the best way to go about it but it made the most sense to me. I've diverted from the normal K20 oil system so I need to pay close attention to my oil flow up top.

Nice. But now I've really earned it:) Behold my hardline prowess!! 3/4" stainless .065 wall. Used my Hossfeld bender with a 1 7/8" radius tube die. All those years of building complex pipe rail finally paid off:) Clears the dip stick nicely. Another angle because...Why not. Unfortunately I have to cut it as I created a line trap in that I can't remove the line without removing the pan or the head. I figured that was going to be the case but I kept it one piece as it makes for a better overall fit. I'm going to cut it up under the manifold on the horizontal section and clamp a piece of high temp hose between them. No biggie.