josh817

That's a good idea. I'm having to outsource my aluminum welding, if I ever get around to it, but other than that I like to do it all myself. The quality/looks don't really bother me since its well.. just me. If it works the way I want it to then yay for me. An example, I'm just about done hobbling my fuel injection manifold together. Between school and work it has taken me a year of brain storming, reading, and actual doing. The labor part was really only 3 full days ironically. A mill would be nice to make small parts like flanges, spacers, etc. I also had plans to build a 3 cylinder oscillating air motor, drew it all up in Google Sketchup, never went any further... Anyway, as you can see, I'm not necessarily working on very fine clearances or anything (note the fat felt tip marker in the background hahah). If it's a little off... well, I pull out the file. haha The parts I am wanting to make are parts that other companies already produce and I just don't feel like dishing out lots of money for the work. Plus I have more pride and more fun doing it myself even if it wasn't my idea.

Blah! I don't have that much to drop! The most I would spend would be to get a Harbor Freight minimill.. We have one of these, as well as a bench model drill press. Quite honestly I must have been underestimating what these things do. I figured it wouldn't be too much side load or chatter if you lube it up well and go slow.

Looking for a cheap mill so I can make some parts, perhaps for the Z, perhaps not. They're pretty expensive however when I started looking at them I am thinking maybe I can just use our already nice drill press and mount one of those tables on it. I'm lacking in knowledge... Don't really know what those tables are called, but they allow you to adjust in the x-y planes accurately. Is this realistic, to get the table, the cutting bits, and just use the drill press. Granted I would have to find a way to make the Z travel or height of the bit travel, accurately readable. I figured a minimill would be a more versatile than a lathe.

Why not get a piece of bar stock aluminum, maybe 6" long, drill a large hole running its length. Then drill three holes boring into the side of the stock, like a fuel rail. Tap for whatever thread you want, install barbed fittings or whatever, and go. Or you could just run them inline, like in the picture. I did that for three years and it worked fine. Didn't have a fuel return either.

Marine Crankshaft Inc as well... We had a customer who ordered 3 TR3 (4 cylinder) cranks in a group buy and even with that price break they were about $2600. Normal price was like Tony said. Though, if you go with a billet crank, you could go for a different journal size so that you can get some nice cheap rods. The TR3 guy I mentioned had them do a journal size that fits Chevy rods. Set of 8 rods for like... I don't know what they're at, $500-$600?. That was enough for two of his motors.

Just as curious here however its only due to me not going through the 24 page source... Looks like that's where I'm going next. Getting a bit mixed up by the pictures but I'm assuming that there is some casting flash that blocks water from flowing between that exhaust and intake port, so you're drilling through it, allowing water to go around it. Excuse my ignorance on the situation.

Just waiting for my study abroad to clear! Probably won't have enough money even with scholarships though! I'll just post it, hopefully you don't get upset that I'm doing this.

I like your youtube dyno videos. Would love to hear that thing when it's in the car.

Nice Nick

I had the same thing happen to me except the rocker came completely off and was sitting in the oil alley thing in the center of the head as well as the lash pad. This happened when I was testing RPM's, slowly going up through the range and right about 6500-7000 it took a dump. Was only taking a dump because the exhaust valve wasn't opening at that point. I put it back on and it ran like a clock as usual. I guess maybe valve float, possibly a stuck valve but I don't think I made the motor an interference fit. I had posted a thread on it a long time ago when it had happened but no one responded. Basically just me asking if the mouse trap springs are necessary but seeing how it held your rocker on, I guess so! Maybe mine was more violent. Keep in mind my Z was a daily driver so no rotten gas.

I can check my bucket-o-parts this weekend. I know I have a head temp sensor, there must be the ping sensor somewhere in there too

Unfortunately I know what you mean. Last year we had two guys pass away on the same race weekend. One was driving, the other had had a heart attack somewhere in the paddock not driving.

I hope the Z was ok.

I think what TonyD said is how you should approach the problem, work backwards. With this knowledge, you should take the port size on your head and then apply the taper TO THE LENGTH you are looking for. If the optimal taper is .2" diameter for ever inch in length and your tuned runner length is 8 inches, then you take your port diameter, lets say its 1 inch. 1 inch + (.2)(8) = 2.6 inch inside diameter runner. How do you find the optimal length? Information can be found on the internet for that but think along the lines of air temperature, air density, cam duration/valve timing, runner diameter, etc. Anything that can effect an air pressure wave. You've seen photos like this right? And the reasoning behind this method is right to do with what you are trying to solve, best diameter and length of runner for performance. Skip the BS and jump to 4:03 for what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul0NzRy7sIA&feature=youtu.be When you find calculators online, they will refer to the number of induction waves. As the video shows, there is a pressure wave that resonates within the runner. This wave is going to crash into the back of the intake valve if it is closed. The first crash is obviously "number of induction waves = 1", then it bounces off the valve, eventually cycles back and crashes again. Each crash is less in magnitude so the first wave will be the strongest, second a little less, third a little less, etc. By changing your runner length, you can tune for which wave you want. Now you're probably thinking you want the strongest, first wave. However, tuning for this first wave requires a freakishly long runner. As Leon said, the longer the runner generally means lower end power, shorter runners are for high RPM peak power. Even at 7000 RPM peak power, the first wave runner length is freakishly long. You're trying to time it so that wave is right at the back of the valve when it opens. You don't want it to crash into the valve and then open; you want it to go right into the cylinder. From what I have heard, to get a nice balance between length and wave magnitude, third order waves are used. With our large engine bays you may be able to pull off second order but that's iffy. Remember the length these calculators will ask for is from the entrance of the runner to the back of the valve, not just your pipe length. A properly tuned intake ramming air in, and a tuned header sucking air through the cylinder, will lead to lovely results in volumetric efficiency. I don't know enough to even touch on what a taper will do to this pressure wave. I can only make an assumption that the wave will speed up as it tapers, or maybe the calculator takes that into account. Calculators online are sometimes sketchy though. Some taking certain things into account that others do not. This source has been referred to once before for its technical articles on cooling systems. There are articles over other things, one being induction systems. It will provide definitions, descriptions, and formulas to solve your questions on intake tuning. http://mysite.verizon.net/vzezeqah/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/inductionsystems.pdf Edit: After reading through the article for the first time in a long while, this should really help you. It will tell you that a 2.5% taper can be applied before airflow starts to get choked, as well as provide reasoning behind length and runner area (get your diameter from this). Quickly regurgitating what I see, runner length will tune peak power over a narrow RPM range, runner area will effect the power across the entire RPM range. I used this source rather than iffy online calculators.

If you don't mind running .040" or more bearings on a fresh motor I guess it's alright. Rusty cranks, from what I see at my dads shop, usually come back turned to something more than .030". If anything were to go wrong in your motor, the crank may be turned to its fullest already so you wouldn't be able to repair scratches and have a second go at it. But hey, for $50 yah why not.

Mine was ~39mm. Oh well. You could go to Kinler or Hilborn and purchase some of their ram tubes. The L series manifold they provide is 1 13/16" but tapered to something like 34-35mm if I remember correctly, after the throttle plates. You may want to check the spacing on a stock EFI manifold. I have a hunch that if it is the same as the Hilborn then perhaps... you take any one of the stock manifolds whether it be for EFI or SU's. Cut the runners off, use the flange. Get yourself some 12" ram tubes of whatever diameter and weld them onto the flange. Since they're straight tubes, the port spacing at the head is the same spacing all the way down the tube, which is the same as the Hilborn manfiold (I think! maybe not though!) which means you can take the 5/16" throttle shaft if Hilborn sells just the shaft, get your throttle plates and screws too. Then line bore/drill wherever you want the throttle plates/shaft to be on the ram tube, and weld on injector bungs. Of course with this idea, there is no taper to the bore so another way could be... Get one of the stock EFI manifolds. If you look, the first 3 or 4 inches appear to be straight (I'm only eyeballing pictures). Cut the runners right where they start bending so now you have the flange and 3 or 4 inches of straight runner. Now, get a ram tube that is of a diameter that will slip over, tightly, the straight bit of runner on your cut manifold. Run small welds around where the edge of the ram tube meets the manifold. At this point, a cut away few should look like this: So from here, the red is the thin ram tube, the black is your stock manifold, the green is the weld, the blue arrows point toward the thick manifold that you have which you can get a hand tool die grinder whatever, make your taper. Of course if you slide your ram tube all the way up to the flange, you would have potentially 3-4" of length to make your taper from the big ram tube to the small port match on the head. If you only slide the tube over 1" of stock manifold runner length then you only have 1" to make a taper which might be detrimental. A more predictable method of tapering, when you don't have all the right tools or supplies would be to a set of large bore bits for your drill press or whatever fancy bore machine you may have. Bits from 1-2" in size. Then you get your welded manifold and from the ram tube side of the manifold, bore a small hole, say 8" into the runner. Now get a slightly larger bit and run it only 7.5" or maybe 7.75" in, and repeat this until you get almost as large as the ram tube size. Do it in equal increments of length so 8" deep, 7.75", 7.5", etc. Now you go in with your die grinder and smooth out the steps you made. This should hopefully make a more uniform taper instead of eyeballing it. Illustration: Perhaps if the taper angle is how you want it, and you can get the right diameter bit, this would be a much faster method: With using this manifold idea you can utilize the stock port injection setup. What if you don't like the taper idea? Well, the point of it was that with runner spacing the same as port spacing you could utilize the throttle shaft that Hilborn or Kinsler provides as well as the injector location. Another idea, to skip the taper hassle, is to get a triple carb manifold since the taper is in the manifold... I think, you would have to double check! Hilborn and Kinsler offers a 2 bolt flange ram tube which with some luck you may be able to find the same spacing as a Weber. If not then maybe you weld your own tabs onto the tube, and drill the hole in them to match the manifold. If you still aren't complacent with that idea then simply weld the tubes onto the manifold. Now from this point, I would run a tube size that is the same diameter as a Weber throttle plate. So 40mm, 45mm, 50mm, whatever, because you will line bore/drill through the ram tubes, not the manifold. This means your throttle plate spacing should be the same as that of a Weber DCOE of whatever size. You will use Weber throttle shafts and throttle plates. Then you have weld injector bungs onto the manifold and you should be good to go. If it were me I would drill for my throttle shaft in the same location as the Weber throttle shaft if there were a Weber installed. This way the linkage dimensions shouldn't get all messed up. Hilborn catalog and price list location for you to shop: http://www.hilborninjection.com/product.asp?Id=444&CatId=254 Kinsler catalog: http://kinsler.com/handbookFullIndex.cgi After typing all this, I realize I didn't even answer the initial question however I refuse to delete all of this.

Two things I love when working: -Wave at the drivers of open cockpit cars and they give a full handed wave back, arm and all. That's not obvious or anything that you're missing your arm restraints. -Calling it in that someone doesn't have their arm restraints and everyone turns to grid asking what the hell are you doing if you aren't making sure they have all their gear. Good times, glad he still has his arms.

I've been wanting to buy one suited for my purpose but I doubt any of you header hogs want to share the love for some cash trade.

Alright, here is what I run on my truck which has a single Weber DGV carb. Although the valve cover goes to the air filter on the carb, which you don't have a carb, that's what the small filter is for. On my NA Z I ran a small filter on the crank case and the valve cover vent. This works because you are trying to PREVENT pressurizing the crank case and the pressure is allowed to escape OUT of the filters but don't do this. My motor looked nice and pretty for a few weeks and was gunked up with oil vapor. So what you want to do is suck those vapors (all that white misty smoke) into the intake. It doesn't matter where you put your little filter and where you hook a vacuum line to, if you want to filter the crankcase and vacuum to valve cover or vise versa, that's cool it works both ways. The point is that when the you have drawn all vapors from the crankcase, you start drawing in air from the other end with the filter. Filter needed so that you don't draw in dirt and stuff. Yes, you're basically creating a vacuum leak to prevent sludge and nasties. On the vacuum line hook a PCV valve inline with the system. Hell, you may not even have a bad PCV valve, you may just have put it on backwards. How do you tell? Blow into one end. Can you blow into it? If yes, then the side your mouth is on should go to the vent, the other side goes to the manifold. If you can't blow into it, but you can suck air through it, then the part your mouth is on goes to the manifold. Obviously, you can see how this would allow for the manifold vacuum to draw the vapors in until you create boost and it plugs up so you don't pressurize your crankcase to 15PSI. lol And I'm sure you can see how putting it backwards would make it so that vacuum shuts the PCV valve and boost opens it, thus the same problem. Now as per the picture, if you remove the blue line from the crankcase/valve cover (the line your PCV should be on/the one that goes to the manifold), rev up the engine. With your hand next to the vent, is it pushing a ****-ton of air? What about when you place your hand over the hose? If you're pushing SOME air through the crankcase at higher RPM this is ok. Realize that if you are running 13PSI of boost through your manifold, the crankcase would have to create over 13PSI to push open that PCV BUT it won't do this because it's venting out of the little filter at this point. Obviously you are creating so much blowby or your PCV valve is messed up and your turbo is pressuring the crankcase to the point where the little filter can't vent it enough so it sprays oil. Without that filter, if it was plugged, you could have blown your seals out; hopefully you haven't already because that rear seal is a pain! However, from the sounds of things I suspect its the PCV valve unless it was doing this from day one, then maybe consider your rings.

Just pulling this out of my ass but I feel like it's something along the lines of "rock solid valve timing"; not having to worry about chain/belt snapping or stretching. Then again, many other applications use them just fine. It was worth a shot!

It feels so good

You did it correct. No sealant is needed. I actually put antisieze on mine. Both of my L engine seals were rubber, tapped in no problem. Just get one edge started and gentle tap around the edge with a plastic mallet as it goes down slowly. You could have torn it putting it in but I doubt it. They're tough suckers. If it was sealing around the outer edge, which it probably was, then you need to check your front pulley too. If there was a groove cut in the pulley where the seal was contacting it then you need to get a speedy sleeve to restore the original surface. My Z pulley was tight to get in there, sealing well. The L20B I did was loose. I could slide the pulley on and off really easily. Even that, doesn't spew. The only oil that front seal should experience is that oozing from the top of the head and spraying from the tensioner. This is only really enough to cause a drip, it shouldn't spray. So... for what its worth, it sounds like your PCV system is bad, if not that then your rings. I don't know how a turbo system works but last time I had a turbo on my Z, I never actually made pressure until the motor was under load. Just sitting there revving it never brought it above atmospheric pressure on the gauge and if that's the case then it would kind of mean you are somehow spraying, even though the gauge reads no positive pressure differential.... which would mean your rings and not your PCV system. One easy way to check is to pull the hose from the crankcase or the valve cover, wherever it's drawing from, and rev it up. If you feel air being blown out the hose then your PCV valve or something else in the system (I don't do all the vacuum line ****) is messed up. If there isn't anything blowing from the hose but you reach down and feel near the vent on the crankcase/valve cover, and feel it blowing a lot of bypass when revved, then it's your rings.

We can be header buddies. Wall art.

Took the test today; Hibbler and I became best friends for the bast 24 hours and I think I did alright. I still have to fill that gap in the homework problems. Her test questions were direct, like Hibblers homework problems, so I was thankful. As for the real world being much harder, I haven't come to a conclusion on that. I've heard a pretty even 50/50 split of people saying the "real world" is much more difficult and others saying not at all. Thinks to look forward to. They appear to be interesting so hopefully that will promote good grades.

Heh, they announce to the world that they opened new parking. True, but it's all parking garages, so they forced students into a $600 garage spot. I would think in the desert, parking fees are low. What do I know. I don't want to make it seem like I have already made up my mind but... at the current moment it is difficult for me to drop the idea of changing. Like I said, I get excited with the thought. And you know what, maybe that's what I need. Something to take my mind off things. Something to say that if I don't get this, its not the end of the world. I can retake, I can switch majors, I can do whatever I want, hell drop out and go work at a welding shop as a grunt and see where it takes me or whatever! If my mother wasn't so livid over the idea of joining the military, that would be further up on the list of things I can do however because of her feelings and disowning me or murdering me before someone else gets the chance to, it's basically last on the list. Quite possibly a good thing too, if all else fails, Uncle Sam can use me. This helps me breath fresh air, relax, lose some anxiety, but I must keep from being cocky and blowing off a test. My opinion on retaking a class is fine and dandy however if you don't get a second or third time... massive frustration. As I said above, there must be a point where persevering just yields false hopes of achieving a goal that may not be cut out for you. I'm not even at that point yet so I won't worry. Friends would make a tremendous help, and I don't want to sound like a sorry sucker, but that's part of my issue with having college be the worst time I have ever experienced. I really do hate college but I love learning and frankly labs are my favorite part of class even if it adds extra work. I will go out and say that I do not have friends that I can hang out with, talk about girls, classes, cars, whatever. Ever since my freshman year I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend. Hah been a year now and without a lady friend or any bros it gets extremely lonely. Enough for me to move back home and commute 45 minutes every day next Fall or move in with my dad who is closer, doesn't matter. Again, I won't lie, I get VERY upset and disappointed thinking that this is prime adolescence time. A time to go out, have fun, try new things, all that and I don't mean drugs. I haven't done any of that. I have never attended a party, never been drunk, never done this done that, whatever. I will be an old man, maybe have kids, and I won't have any advice to tell them or any stories to share except college was terrible. My typical week is classes, dinner, homework, movie, sleep, repeat. Weekends, if I'm working, means standing out on a corner waving flags with a bunch of 50-60 year old men and listen to their stories. Some events my father comes with me and we camp out. If I'm not working I'm either at my fathers shop working with him or I'm back home in Keller with my mother. I don't do **** in Keller but I just enjoy the feel of home. And I'm not at all disappointed in this, I'm not embarrassed to chill with some old guy dragging on a cigarette and falling asleep on a stool while a Porsche burns to the ground, or spending time with my parents, but it would just be nice to experience the things kids our age usually do. For the good time stories, for the fun, for the booze the girls the music whatever it may be. And yah, I have been active, I have been out trying to make friends and get the ball rolling but they don't compare to my best friends from highschool which are fading away as we speak. They come home for a few days and the only time I get with them is an hour or two before they leave. They tell me "be active, make friends, that's how you get the opportunity to do fun stuff" yet for the past 4 days they were home, they were out partying and I wasn't invited nor did I hear any word about such events to possibly invite myself. After a while of that sort of stuff, I learned to entertain myself. I started working on a garden over summer break, I take summer courses, I "restored" my Datsun pickup. God knows I need these activities because I literally did not hang out with a single person last summer, or winter, or spring break. To say the least it's frustrating and it kills me, but that's not what this is about. lol rant sorry So not only has it hit me real hard in the social department; when you want to take a break from things and have fun, there isn't anyone to do that with. And for my classes, I have hook ups for 3 of the 4 classes which is probably why statics is being a buger. Perhaps I invest in a tutor. UTA provides rooms for math, physics, and chem. where students can walk in and ask questions, basically like a tutor service but its free. I talked to the Physics lab and they said they MAY be able to help, probably not, and definitely not if they have students in there needing help on physics. The problem I'm seeing right now is that yesterday, I sat up front to scope out who is smart and who I should avoid. I spotted some guys who looked to have completed most the homework and asked if they wanted to work together and they didn't seem interested at all. I'm going to start brown nosing and see if I can't sucker them into working as a group. I find that if you aren't hopelessly lost in the class, then you are smart enough to do the work on your own at home, perhaps it clicks for them but it's not an enticing offer to say lets study and work together as a group when they are doing just fine on their own. Perhaps as long as I don't wear out my welcome, I can stop by the TA or prof. office once a day to do one problem at a time. My mom says if that's all the advice they have for you then you might as well use it and wear it out until they find something more helpful to direct you towards. "If you're going to go down you might as well light the ship ablaze" In the occurrence that I do switch, I can already say I won't switch to liberal arts. I simply can't stand it. I like number, I can do math all the way up to Calc. 3/Linear Algebra before it starts getting theoretical and confusing for myself. I could see maybe finance or accounting and continue on with an MBA. I know I won't pursue a masters if I stick with engineering so we'll see. Another question I may pose to the already employed engineers. Is this something that you go in for your 8-12 day, do your thing, and when you leave the day is over. I can see maybe you still go home pondering on things or brain storming but I really don't want to be in my mothers situation as a school teacher where she goes in at 6AM, comes home at 5PM, and then gets to look forward to more work at home. Maybe that's a bit too picky but I'm just getting a feel for things.