Derek

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.

As opposed to? The only other method other than cable that I'm familiar with would be drop link. That would be my preferred method but budgetary constraints right now dictate that I give what I got a roll.

The 1/4" lines are feed. Look back at the most recent pics and you'll see a brass fitting in the back of the head. This is the main oil return. I have a 3/4" tube swageloc fitting on the way. I'm going to hard line it down to a bung I welded in the pan. I have a smaller hole at the front that will spill oil into the timing chain area. I tapped both of the 1/4" feed fittings and have installed screw in orifices. This way I can dial in the amount of oil being distributed. Right now the total of both orifices is the same square inches as the stock L6 2mm hole. The front one is slightly larger than the rear to account for the two tensioners. The plan is to get the oil pan and front end buttoned up and the head as you see it installed and torqued down. I'm going to make a priming rod and spin the pump up to idle speed. Hopefully the oil pressure will be good indicating that the mains and rods are in good shape and not bypassing too much. If it's better than good at idle I'll open up the orifices a bit. There is more after that but that's the first step. By letting the orifices free flow with no restriction I'll have a worst case idea of how much oil is going to the bottom end.

Yes but how would I whoombahh. I have my cruise control hooked up to the bell crank. That's one of the reasons I'd like to keep it or a version of it if I can but that would be a good spot for sure.

Why come on down to your local Datsunworks dealer where December savings are in full swing. Bring a bag of cash and you can lug home a big ol chunk of cast aluminum:) I will be selling them but we are aways away from that point. PM me if you are interested. Got the throttle linkage and cable sorted out. I'm hoping the stuff I got with my econo kit from EFI Hardware works out well. Single cable pulley for 6 venturis may be asking a lot. The cable pulley is progressive so it may be fine. I had to make a throttle stop bracket to make all the bits work.It's sandwiched between the cable pulley and the throttle body. Throttle cable bracket. Going to lead the cable over to the firewall and incorporate it into the stock bell crank. The single return spring was just a little light to return the throttles. The kit came with a lever and extra spring so I stuck them on the end. I was going to cut it down but then it occurred to me it would make an excellent whoombahh lever. Here you can see it in the whoom position: And now in the Bahh: I believe this may be the single most important addition I've made so far. It's starting to interfere with production though. I sit out there for hours.......Whoom.....Bahh...... Whomba whoomba whoomba... MMMMM ITB's

Thanks for the kind words everyone. You are on the "pioneer" list:) I have a funny feeling I'm going to upsetting a lot of budgetary plans with this head! Got the oil lines run. Love the rear one hate the front one but at this point I need to keep focus on the budget and to do the front the way I want it is money that can go elsewhere. Plus when it's in the car it will be hard to see anyway. This oil entry will be on the back side of the head and will be a part of the casting. I had to use a bulkhead fitting on this build and this was the best place for it. This will still be the front entry point in the new design but there will be more meat in the casting so I won't have to use an adapter. And yes I still haven't fixed the collision mark on that boss:) Now I'm showing off. Actually I'm starting to work on the throttle cable bracket so the ITB's needed to go on anyway. Plus a little motivation always helps.

Exactly. My inspiration for my original intake system was 70's Can-Am style. My overall style is a factory works look. Functional but not too much bling.

Fuel lines done. Came in on Saturday and fabbed up the fuel lines. I knew from the last time I did it that it is a tedious process. I have three marks to hit on each line. Fuel block, loom, and injector cap. From a performance standpoint a traditional fuel rail would probably be better but this is the look I wanted and by god it's the look I'll have:) Very happy with the end results. This is why I redid the fuel block. Isn't that better? The brass fitting is for the oil return. That fitting is just a placeholder for now so don't judge:) The stainless bulkhead fitting is the rear oil supply line. All the fuel and oil fittings are Swagelok style double ferrule fittings. And in case you are keeping track it took most of the day Saturday to fab the 6 lines.

Thanks Well as I've said before that's the beauty of how we laid this out. If you have access to a manual milling machine and have the skills to do higher end machining then you can take the raw castings all the way to finish. Most of the initial machine work is just drilling and tapping. Now if you want a turn key head I can help you with that as well but that is going to cost.

A Tale of two fuel distribution blocks. There are a lot of reasons why I post the good, the bad and the ugly, but mostly because I think it really helps people realize just what goes into creating something that is truly custom. And why custom fabrication is so pricy. Some time ago on HybridZ there was a thread about a hybrid Z car that was being sold for over a hundred grand or thereabouts. It was green just to jog some memories. It kind of settled int those that couldn’t see the value and those that do fabrication that could. I’m being broad with my brush but you get the picture. I took one look at the pictures and immediately saw that kind on money in it. So for this tale I’m the customer and the fabricator. I’m at the point where I want to get going on the fuel system. I made all the injector caps already but I needed a distribution block so I could do the hard lines. I discussed the options with my customer and we settled on a straight block with the fuel lines one on top of the other. Much like the one I had on my car. I did a 3D model of it which included measuring the space available, measuring the distance required between the fitting in order to get a wrench on them, inlet, outlet and mounting holes. The customer approved the 3D model and I commenced to machine the block. Since there was only one I had to baby sit every operation. No screw ups. I chewed up the better part of a day by the time I was done with everything including finishing. Now if you want my undivided attention for a day it’s going to cost you $400.00 or more. So the piece looked exactly like the 3D model and functioned exactly like it was designed to do. Except the customer (me) just didn’t like the look of it in application. The customer wanted it right so we started over with a new design. Now this one took about half the time since it used all the same general measurements and tool operations so the machine work went much faster. So here we are with five or six hundred dollars in a simple fuel distribution block. And that my children is why this crap costs so much:) First design: Second design: And yea I probably could have found something online that would have worked but this one is EXACTLY like I want it:) Derek

I'm running Meggasquirt MS2extra right now. I use TunerStudio live tune and it works really well. I'm not going to do any Dyno tuning with this motor as it would just be a waste. The test motor is only going to make 8:1 compression because of the flat top pistons. If it feels like it has any power I'll do a dyno pull for fun but this is more of a longevity test for the valve train than a power test. That will come with V2.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Headers, cams and valve cover are the last big things that are out of my control. I'll be really glad when those are complete. I'm just anxious to see them hanging off of the motor on the stand:) Again thanks for your effort on these. I know your free time has dried up a bit. Smells like......Victory

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery:) Honda is surely flattered.

Well Tony and I started talking about it in September of 2012 and actively working on it soon after so it's been a little longer for me:) The whole process has reinforced what I already knew, "if you don't have money you better have time" Since I plan on selling these you can't just roll one bolder up the hill at a time. Version 2 new exhaust port and complete water jacket redesign: wakey wakey hands off snakey

Did a little tinkering today. One last pressure test before I start assembly. Holds 40 psi no problem. Finally rounded the corner and I feel like I'm officially in assembly mode. Got the valves installed. Looking a little scruffy but you'll have that with a prototype like this. A couple of weeks ago a put the head back in the mill and removed the last of the Honda A3 design. The A3 uses an asymmetrical combustion chamber. I was going to do this mod when I do the stroker but it was bothering me. The head is now closer to the A2 chamber. One more dry fit of the rockers. They line up really well on the valves. I'm glad I took the time I did to get it right. Plus I now have good data for the next head. Slowly but surely:)