Tony D

First, the SC Frank is using does not require any lube, it is a 'dry' unit, so adding liquid is not required. Second, injecting liquid will only be an issue if you drop the temperature below the condensing point of the liquid used as a coolant. With water, usually keeping the discharge of the I/C above 120 will insure no water will drop out of vapor phase, and pass through simply as harmless (oxygen displacing) vapor. Many commercial compressors that are air cooled utilize this fact and gear the second stage of compression to spin slightly faster to accomodate for the decreased density of the hotter interstage air. In Frank's Case, intercooling the first stage shouldn't be too much of a problem as it should only be 7psi, and the heat generated will only be so much. It will be far more important to intercool after the SC and drop the final temperature into the engine. Using anything to cool the intake charge has to be kept in mind when routing the BOV as well... Don't want fuel dumping to atmosphere. I'd skip it on that application. If you want supplementary charge cooling, install your misting nozzle upstream of the T/B, and use high-pressure injection to do a final cooling before ingestion into the engine. Makes things easier, and most Methanol High Pressure Injecction systems are well under $1000 even with very sophisticated controllers. As for 'cooling' a SC, unless it's a "Wet" charger, it's inadvisable to inject ANYTHING into it. Tip errosion and bearing washout is possible if you start injecting water/fuel/alcohol into a blower without the proper seal package to accomodate those things in the airflow. Also, if you are using simply water as supplementary coolant, it is a simple matter to install a 'bleeder orifice' on the bottom of the piping or in the cold end of the I/C that will blow out condensate, and when put under vacuum, a rubber flapper will seal up the hole nicely. Even a .020" hole drilled in the piping will allow an amazing amount of condensate to freely be discharged without much of a boost leak issue.

I cut down my two-groove solid JDM pulley to one groove. No reason to think Nissan changed much over the years. Face it off and if the thing pops loose on the lathe, you are done earlier than you expected!

Crankwelding is done all the time with great results, especially known in the VW engine arena. Many places will actually hardface the journal areas so if they loose a bearing during a race, they won't have to replace or reqork the crank, just swap the crank to another case and replace a rod or two... And those are 10,000 rpm engine with turbos pumping 45psi + of boost in many cases. Japanese were making 3.5L L28's in the 80's, and true to form, almost 30 years later someone here with enough time and curiosity has come across standard techniques that got him within 100cc's! This is standard technology, it just takes application of the techniques to this situation to make it happen. Five years ago many would have said an L35 DETT would have been impossible as well. Except me, since I've seen one....in 1986! OH, and BTW, my understanding of the Japanese Build was that it was accomplished using liners. This was not some sedate engine, either! Full 7500rpms of useable engine speed...under boost!

I don't think you ever talked to Gene! LOL What I quoted there was an exchange that took MAYBE 5 seconds after he got on the phone! Gene came on the line, said 'Customer Number & Invoice Number?' If you did't have them, it was: "Call back when you get them, CLICK!" It was EXTREMELY RUDE! Seriously, I would have LOVED to have someone take the time to tell me 'Well you've priced me out of the market, I was looking for an excuse not to build your engine anyway, GOOD BYE! CLICK!' I am getting at the 'sensitive' nature of calling the guy rude. He gave a reason and hung up. FAR more than Gene did. Everybody runs their usiness in a different way, but Gene had good products, and was simply sick of rip-offs getting free advice. He was downright RUDE to people when they called, and turned A LOT of people off by that veneer. Thing is he is STILL one of the originals in the VW scene. He survived because of this, so arrogantly thinking you are somehow doing him some terrible harm by not giving him your business is foolish. "Bad day or not, I'm holding him accountable for the way he spoke to me." LOL I'm thinking the only accountability he will see is that he has time for someone who is not going to try and dick around on warranty or pricing. We ALL take ourselves MUCH too importantly! We don't ammount to squat, really. To think we will somehow show some great impact on a business that does likely hundreds of thousands of dollars of business in a year if simply hubris or arrogance. It's why a lot of business owners simply don't dwell on people they P.O., if they are a GOOD business, and occasionally you P-O someone, their impact will be deminimis at best. And going out of your way to 'make someone happy' who is niggling on the front end is probably a bad bet for further business, as it will only subject you to more pain. Some customers you DON'T want. Let the next guy deal with them. I learned that the hard way. Just let some go, and don't bother loosing sleep over their loss. It's not worth it. I am laying money this is part of the reasoning behind not wasting any more time. Irrespective of what others did... Like I said earlier, it wasn't the first call to this place, but it WAS to the other places from what I can see. The FIRST call is always the long and nice one. Try it once a week for six months and see if you get the same response from the guy giving out the advice. And there are people who will do that! Especially in MY business!

Oh, I needed to see that! Adds to the list of 'things to do'....

A rebuilt CAS from Autozone is under $300. I almost went that route myself. The HEI is susceptible to bad ground, and something 'just stopping' sounds like internally heating and stopping. Mine did that on a cheapo Wells HEI. Once I swapped to the aftermarket Perlux HEI Flame Thrower, the 'just stopping'...er...'just stopped'! But I agree, putting the MS on a Stim may reveal a lot, and letting it sit on the dashboard in the Texas sun will get it plenty hot to reveal heat-related faults. Good Luck!

Check Valves, Vacuum Reservoir, and on the 83's a little "Bullfrog" Vacuum Pump for extended On-Boost Operation of things. As long as you aren't actuating the vacuum accessories repeatedly on-boost, there really is little need for anything more than a vacuum reservoir and check valve. You lift-throttle to closed and you refill any vacuum cannister immediately. The check valve will be all that is needed to keep the vaccum where it needs to be. As for the 83's pump, it operates to keep the reservoir at a predetermined vacuum level. It has nothing to do with on boost or off. If you have a big enough cam, and low enough engine vacuum at idle, it will kick on and off at idle regularly to keep the reservoir 'up to charge'.

It's for oil drainback, and stress riser reduction. Don't overthink it. You want a lightweight block, get an Aluminum one made...

"What I actually said is "Up against your reputation is that my buddy is willing to offer me certain financial terms, and will warra..." That's not what you meant, but it is what you said. CalPoly says you're overanalyzing the phone call, and I'd agree. But that is what I was referring to as 'a lie, intentional or not intentional'. If you meant warranty issue stick with it, financials are something totally different. You seem offended that the guy exercised his perogative to be done with you. You couch it as him 'acting like a bag of c*ck'... We all tend to take ourselves with too much importance. You seem offended that the guy acted like he needed you less than you thought he should have. He has the right to refuse service, and though abrupt, gave you his reasons to be done with the situation. Doesn't sound like he was interested in pursuing what he saw as more trouble than the job was worth. It's his decision to make. Then again, it may be his way of rationalizing to himself 'he doesn't need my level of prep work, and is already trying to screw me down on price, so I don't need this right now!' Any of the reasons are valid. Nobody ever said everyone you deal with will play games. Some people get to a point in their life where they are done with it, and if it's a particularly bad day...then they are really intolerant of any gamesmanship. You say it was mis speaking, but he didn't know that, and has the right not to care, either. You don't need (as you have discerned) a 'built' engine for only 300HP in a turbo application. So go with your buddy, and quit dwelling on the fact that the guy didn't need you as much as you thought he should. He could have been a lot more abrupt, at least he gave you a reason. Mis speak or not, it's not worth dwelling on, it's his right to work for who he chooses. You don't need to save him from his own (in your apprasial) rash actions.

" I'm also planning on making some fiberglass Velocity stacks that will require nothing other than a hose clamp to attach to the outside of the throttle body." Go to your local housewares section and take a look at some spun-aluminum tumblers (or plastic ones for that matter). We made velocity stacks for the Rochesters on the Corvair way back when using Drink Tumblers, Truck Radiator Hose, and Two Hose Clamps. Some drink tumblers have very nice Hillborn-Style-Trumpet and taper to them!

I understand guys who do what the guy did to you. You make it sound rather impolite, but he gave you are reason he could not accomodate you, and then didn't want to waste any more time on the phone with you. How much of his time had you taken up to that point 'window shopping'? The guy told you he was looking for a reason not to do the work, as it's possible like some above have said the profit margin is on the low side for single-in-house machine rebuilds. I always bring up Gene Berg in these instances. When you called for technical assistance, he immediately asked two things: What is your customer number, and what is the invoice number for the parts you are asking about? If you had neither, it was 'call back when you have them'. Now, that sounds really harsh, but realize in cutthroat Orange County throughout the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's VW shops that provide performance engine work and parts came and went BIGTIME. There were places that were FAR cheaper. There were places that were FAR larger. But they ALL are GONE now! Gene spent his time on HIS CUSTOMERS. One of the first things he did (and I find most of this is now on his website) is tell prospective customers to buy his 'instruction booklet' which had a LOT of specific information on his products. It cost $9 at the time. You bought it, and you got a customer number and an invoiice number which he made VERY CLEAR on his receipts that you should save. Your next call would be of almost unlimited time...he would answer almost any question you had....but if you dared waste his time asking one of the questions that was covered in his instruction books he let you know it! Gene Berg was telling VW Noobs to "Search The Archives" 10+ Years before any of us were dialing in to a BBS with our Commodore PET's or Ataris... There were a LOT of people who thought his temperment on the phone was how he was in person. It was not. It was business. He was in business to sell parts and attend to his customers. If you had bought an entire engine kit from him (and I can attest to this personally) there was UNLIMITED time he would spend on the phone, and in some cases you could bring the stuff in to the shop and he would go over it personally. But for someone coming in off the street asking anything about cutting his prices on engine building or assembly costs....you got a VERY short call, usually ending with 'call me when you are serious about building an engine that will last, we don't do it like that here!' I can attest with well over 150,000 miles on my Berg Sourced 2110cc Type 1 Engine (UNBELIEVABLE MILEAGE on a VW, stock much less performance making 3X the stock horsepower!!!) Everything he told me was true, and holds true to this day. His shop is still in business, well after his passing on several years ago. People who know what they are doing, aren't cheap. And I totally understand their stance when people compare apples and oranges. You shouldn't have wasted his time doing what you did. Especially with a lie, 'intentional' or not. That was ethically wrong to be sure. I have to agree with Mikes last line, don't expect to 'wheel and deal'---he has his price, it's HIS perogative to refuse service to whom he chooses. Don't be insulted or upset when he felt no compunction to play your games. He has better ways to spend his time.

"Ive had a few requested and Ive been told that 200 was to high." Those people will obviously have no problem paying you $10 an hour, either... If you have more than 4 hours into your harness, and are selling them for $200, you are giving your expertise and labor away IMO. People put a price on things becuase they are too lazy to do them on their own. Then they do it, and realize 'for $200, it was a bargian'... Most Standalone EFI harnesses constructed of new materials and complete to the connectors will run in thearea of $200-400. The Megasquirt harnesses I've seen for $65 are not 'complete' by a long shot, requiring field wiring and connectors for injectors which can easily double the price. Stick to your price would be my suggestion. If people don't want to pay, then let em do it on their own. Don't give away your work, because damn skippy the FIRST bume in the road one of your customers hits they WILL blame your workmanship, or something YOU did, and expect you to come bail them out. More loss on an already loosing proposition. Even at $24 an hour, you only have $100 left to consider for parts and profit. One or two calls to the field will quickly eat up that kind of profit margin. Pricing sorts that out, to a degree...

That would be 'Ceramics' and the search term is 'Adibiatic'... Ceramic engines run with little to no coolant whatsoever, and heat lost is mainly through radiation from exposed surfaces. Diesels are more suitable for this application since they use the heat of compression for ignition, so an adibiatic engine would ignite diesels efficiently, whereas the upper detonation limit for gasoline would quickly be reached.

Steel Plugs, Good. I use Permatex and stake them in place out of habit. The suggestion was made that you check with oldtimers... But the glossing over of the most pertinent item from the first page is most relevant: Install a block coolant water pressure gauge. We have these on stationary engines and powerplants to tell if we have a cooling water pump problem, and without actually gauging the pressure present in your block (and the rate at which it rises) you won't know what is causing it. It doens't need to go into the core plug, there are other places to tap your block pressure from...but get a gauge in there so you can see what happens. You can see it when it happens. A gauge to 100psi should be more than enough. The bigger the better. The characteristic rise will tell you if the pressure is seeping in, or BLOWING in...since it only happens on-boost my best bet is that it's either something lifting, or something fractured that only opens enough to cause a problem, and then closes back up under tension. I have seen cracked cylinder liners act like this, as well as head gaskets. If the block was cracked anywhere, a quick shot with cleaner and then Spot Chek will reveal it post haste....sometimes you won't see it with a naked eye, and with a rough casting even a relatively large crack can be camoflagued. Core plugs can be incorrectly sized for an application as well---a core plug hole that has been made oversize by repeated pressing of the plugs into it may be prone to blow them out repeatedly---I'd stake them in at a minimum now, and measure the holes and plugs to ensure proper crush on installation. My vote is to put the block pressure gauge on it. 40-60psi is what I recall at speed, 15-30 at idle depending on your pressure cap rating and what suction pressure you are running at the pump inlet. Funny, I recall someone arguing with me that the water pump only causes flow, and the entire system has the same pressure (Cap Pressure) in it! I'm glad to see there are others who realize a thermostat restricts flow, and that the pump actually raises pressure in the block! I will bet combustion pressure is the cluprit, though until the bores are measured an oversized hole could be a possibility. I believe they do make slightly oversized plugs for this situation as well....

Actually, the question has come up on their forums and it's still open-ended if they will fit or not. I have offered to send him 'one of each' so that they may check fittment on the Round-Top 46mm Hitachis, Flat Top 46mm Hitachis, and the smaller 38mm SSS/Roadster Hitachis. No takers as of yet... So if someone wants to actually BUY a set and try them... I would think offerring postage one way to try, and postage back to me would open up a whole new market stream to their product and they would jump at it... Maybe during the winter he will get back to me on e-mail and do it then. Who knows.

I have one in the back yard! Interesting Story, as well. I got it from the original owner who took it off the road in 1987. He loved the car, and 'intended' to restore it, but never got around to doing it. I get the car, along with the factory service manual and every scrap of registration and titling paperwork ever done on the car. Nice Provenance.... So the car is sun-beat, but the body is ROCK SOLID. A little dinged here and there, but nothing but SoCal Surface Rust from being in the sun and oxidizing. So I look through all the paper, and make my way through years and years of registrations till I get to a Buick-Oldsmobile Dealership Wroksheet. It was the original Salesman's Workup for the original sale deal. Ready for this? The original owner, in November 1969, got a WHOLE $1500 trade in value on his shiny, new, white Opel GT... What did he trade in, you ask? A RED 1964 MUSTANG V8... I could not believe what I was seeing, so I called the guy and asked him about it. Sho'nuff! The guy said "Oh, that Mustang got a lot of looks...but that V8 just SUCKED gas. And when I saw that little Opel on the lot, I said "Hey, that LOOKS like a Vette, but I won't have to take any sh*t from my Mustang Friends buying THAT! Besides, that thing got GREAT gas mileage!" The more things change, the more they stay the same... I can't recall, but the Stang may have been convertible. All I know for sure is the car was 'the first year' of the Mustang... Imagine which is worth more in the same condition today????

You want it as hot as it can get, as quickly as it can get. The standard bungs you can buy usually have a mix between "A" and "B" in your drawing. If it's a heated sensor, and it's placed reasonably close to the heat source (post turbine for that application) then you can get away with "B", and can monitor how much your heater comes on at idle and low speed to determine how well the exhaust stream is heating the sensor. The further away from the engine you put it, the more it has to be set up like "A" just to get it hot enough to run without the heater circuit on all the time. Technically many of the WBO2 sensors heat themselves and that's all you need, but for the NBO2's you want it close so you can keep it out of the exhaust stream, with just the sensor tip inthe flow, and not the whole body.

We all digress from the initial question at hand. 0.0001 (one tenthousandth) was what was supposed to have been posted. But nevertheless, the equipment to measure the Metric Equivalent of that hundred-thousandth is easier to read and morereadily available than stuff that will read the English Equivalent. The significance of the statement was that buy foolishly trying to convert his METRIC specification cam into English Measurement the error was induced. As you can see, my conversion of the METRIC specification was correct. The 0.040" approximation was correct, but I didn't convert from metric to English using that 0.040" number, rather the 25.4 (or 24.5 in my case) standard conversion. And I will disagree on Measuring in Metric not to be more accurate. I can use run of the mill dime store Harbor Freight indicators with METRIC graduations, and do an alignment on a geartrain that will STILL show misalignment when using the Metric Scale, but when the customer uses standard ENGLISH Dial Indicators, they don't even MOVE unless you use a last-word type of indicator (much higher in cost than HF Tooling I can tell you that!) It's a root of SPC that you must improve your measuring tools to improve your production process. The ability to read precise tolerances more accurately and quickly with tooling made for run-of-the-mill METRIC measurements will be FAR more precise than equivalent ENGLISH graduated measuring instruments. Case in point: Your standard cheap ENGLISH Micrometer will read to 0.001", and may have a .0005 marking scale somewhere...how accurate who knows, but it's there. Really it's accurate to 0.001"+/-0.0005" Standard cheap METRIC micrometer will read to what? 0.01mm? Accurately (not eyeballing or guessing). What is that, 0.0004" accuracy out of the box with a scale (as mentioned) base-10 for another decimal place? Add another zero in front of that for an 'eyeball equivalent' for measurement. It's an order of magnitude more accurate than the similar English Graduated Instrument. I can remember when I had to do instruction in the field and our shaft displacements were set to 0.02mm. Try to find ANYBODY in the Millwright Field that has a last word they carry with them regularly---people could not BELIEVE that we were requiring measurment to 0.0008" (Eight-Tenthousandths of an inch) shaft displacement before installing our pinion gears. Most guys were 'just a hair below a thou'. Yeah, that's precision measurement for ya! And as for what has a tolerance of 0.00001", check out the specifications for the mechanical seal assembly on a variable displacement hydrostatic pump. Their surface flatness is measured in helium light bands... a bit tighter than 0.00001"! It's all what you are used to...there is a reason Germans have Hydraulic Technique to the point they do: they have been dealing with a totally different measuring system that is far more precise and who's daily tolerances are less than what is normally even measured in an English System. What scares me the most is most of Eastern Europe can precision machine stuff because they are all set up with this kind of measuring system and tolerance requirements. We simply add more decimal places to keep up. Shouldn't we simply go that way as well, and get used to a more fine system of measurement? The more numbers you have, the greater chance for error. .5mm is less of a hassle than .020" (or .02" if you will...) But again, we digress from the original topic too far, methinks!

http://www.tubeshark.com Need I say more?

He took the initiation... At least he recognized the mistake of hardmasking a repair area, FOG it in, never tape unless it's a whole panel stopped by a body line! Good Advice on the post, you spelled it out politely and correctly. At least he didn't stuff steel wool into the holes to 'hold up the bondo while it dries'...or even better: Crumpled up Newsprint! Oh, the stuff I've seen over the years...

Actually, I use the metric system. The English system is fraught with B.S. pitfalls like this. I can't remember the last time I used a fractional tape measure... Matter of fact, when I do manual alignments on machine drivetrains, I use my METRIC Dial Indicators, METRIC Tape Measure, and METRIC everything else. When I'm done, even though I can still measure a misalignment, when the customer checks my work for acceptance, they can't measure ANY misalignment unless they use very 'high precision' dial indicators that measure to 0.00001". English measurement are simply too imprecise for my work. It was fine 20 years ago, but today everything in my industry is metric for the most part (internally in the machine)---when you start dealing with forces and pressures, it's just too easy to do that. The exception: Gauge Pressure. PSI is a better more precise gauge for the layman. Unless you get KpA, MpA etc.... Bar is simply not a good gauge unless you have digital instrumentation and several placeholders.

Beware, the Opel was sold in Europe for some time, and those DOHC latemodel engines will push the GT body well into the speedranges that would scare many people. Especially with that short wheelbase! The Opel GT was the car referred to as 'The Poor-Man's Corvette' and also as "Baby Vette". Incidentally, V8 swaps in Opels are not as uncommon as you might think, you just put it in from underneath...

It's not 24.5? I thought it was 24.5? Now I got to go look again. let's see.... 1mm = .040" right? I'll be damned, it's 25.4.... now someplace else somebody reamed me for using 25.4.... CRAP! O.K. it's 25.4. I should use online converters, and not my memory. Or we all should convert to the METRIC SYSTEM because english measurements SUCK! I guess if JPL can miss Mars, I can miscalculate a Cam Lift... It's not rocket...er...yeh!

Mine was $40 at Griffith's Machine in Paramount. It was 5000 yen in Okinawa, they cut it to 7Kg, and would cut the smaller 4 cylinder flywheels down to 5Kg for the same price. My 5000 yen flywheel revs considerably better than the one cut down in the USA. The Japanese Machine shop cut more out on the inertia ring, and did a nice overall finishing on the whole rear of the flywheel. And on a manual machine at that! Someone could NC my flywheel and turn them off on a CNC Machining center like nothing! I just bought one of those 4.2Kg Kamaeri Chrome-Moly Flywheels. I'm incorrigable...

0,496? Or 0,514"? (8.4mm/24.5= 0,3428571)*1.5=0,5142857" Metrically, you got it right, though...(8,4*1.5=12.6mm at the valve), which is over 1/2 and inch, not less than half... But agreed, given this 8,4mm cam lift probably means the duration is probably lift to lift. You need to find out duration at 1mm lift (at the valve) for somewhat od a normal comparison of our ,050" duration ratings here in the US of A.