garvice Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 1 fast z, you should get togethor with someone who does casting and start producing these heads. Then we could all have a twin cam crossflow head. No mate, I reckon keep it for yourself and perhaps a few customers. You have put a lot of work into this and although I would love one, I love the fact that it is unique. well done. besides, would it really be financially feasible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Got the car back on the road today. Boost comes on earliar than I would of though. I get 12 lbs at 4500ish in second gear, not too shabby for the size of turbos. At 7 PSI it has the same power the car had before at 12-13 PSI. I really need to change the clutch disk, to the new 6 puck I have, it wont hold 10 PSI in thrid gear anymore. My alternator stopped working this evening, so I couldnt get any vids of it driving. The cams, port work, and turbos definitly made a big difference. It breaks the 245 drag radials at 18 psi loose at 10 lbs in second gear with an LSD. I bought a set of R1 BFG's today that are 315/35/17 today, that should get me to hook a little better, atleast thats the plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 No mate, I reckon keep it for yourself and perhaps a few customers.You have put a lot of work into this and although I would love one, I love the fact that it is unique. well done. besides, would it really be financially feasible? I agree that it would be hard to do, financially, but if enough are produced in the hopes that it would take X amount of years to sell, if they DO infact sell, it could be a worthwhile long-term investment. You'd have to keep interest in the L series long enough though. A lot more swaps are happening, but it seems a lot more new cool projects are coming out too Brian, good work on getting it back to running and even better than before. Glad you're having fun doing this... at least it seems that way. I'm anxious to see the in-car vids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I agree that it would be hard to do, financially, but if enough are produced in the hopes that it would take X amount of years to sell, if they DO infact sell, it could be a worthwhile long-term investment. You are looking at around $35,000 to get set up to cast a BARE head. O.S. Gikken hasn't thought enough of it to replicate casting forms they already have, that may tell you something about the market for after-sale L-Engine heads... Lots of ifs, coulds, and maybes in that equation, but not a lot of consideration of hard facts of the marketplace. Hard does not begin to describe the effort. Bankrupting is more like it! You want a Worthwhile Long-Term Investment, buy after split shares of APD anywhere below $45 a share. Far better return than spending that kind of money to build a head that is not legal in any racing class, and therefore relegates it to street and off-class or pure mod classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I'm happy now. My day just started with some very good news. The L31DETT is back on the road. All I hope for now at this point is that we get a nice graph to go with the next dyno, whenever that might be. Glad to hear it's back in buisness! As far as casting/reproducing this head, I agree with tony. If there were truly money in it OS Giken would have done something about it, most likely, even if that was just selling their forms to someone. Though it might be worthwhile for bryan to leave the door open for anyone who wants to spend 10K to have him do this again with KA heads. This would probably be a lot more feasible than doing molds, and he wouldn't have to worry about making profit in volume, just charge as much as he has to every time. Then IF, big if, there's too many people to handle he can look into getting casting forms made. But I doubt that'd be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Imagine the support demands of a multiple segmented head sold to the motoring public...even if they are 'seasoned'---I know guys who have done field work for 35 years and still can't figure out which end of a dial indicator is up. I could see it as a 'NASA' style endeavor. Send the whole engine in for service in a crate like they do with Cosworths and Ford Racing engines. The only service allowable is FACTORY service. Got a knock, pull it, send it in and install your backup. That is about the only way that setup would be feasible. I would not want to warranty anybody else working on what I assembled. Period. It's not the manufacturing costs, it's the after-sale service for the lifecycle of the product that makes these companies money (most companies these days).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 I got the twin cam, twin turbo setup back on the road this weekend. Havent got any vids yet, because the clutch is slipping bad in second and third gear with the new setup. Hope to get back to the dyno "soon". One of the biggest changes, was I remounted the front turbo, so it sits about 3 inches BELOW the hood line so I can run a stock hood now. I also upgraded to TWO To4E turbos, with a V trim wheel which flows 51 lb/hour and the other turbos I had were 32 lb/hour on the compressor side. The Turbine is a stage three wheel. I also upgraded cams as well as alot of port work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben280zx Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 That is so beautiful.... Care to make another one for my shell jk. lovely job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I did get that cowl hood at the Yard Bryan was a whole $40. I got your message, been busy though. Next time I'm in PHX, I'll carry it along with me. Did you balance those reground cams before installing them, BTW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Yep sure did, they were off a fair amount, they would of worked, but when you have a balencer, why not eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eec564 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 For being a fair amount off, how bad was the balance on your re-grind compared to a stock L6 or RB cam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Stock cams are also off. If you look, there is NO balence marks on L series cams, that means they are not balenced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I am thinking that putting a TK81 on there and measuring resonant frequencies of the head will reveal what benefit there is from balancing camshafts... Of course you would need a before and after spectral analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Of course you would need a before and after spectral analysis. Well... of Course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Well, with some really bad news, I snapped a upper timing chain today, snapped off both snouts of the cams, bent two sets of valves. I have learned my lesson to NOT use junkyard timing chains. I had every intention of changing that old KA chain to a new one, because I never knew how many miles were on it, but now I waited too long. So I will now be taking the head off, and replacing a bunch of crap. Just sucks cause there is ALOT of work in those cams, and it is not like they are everywhere. Yea so a pretty bad day actually. Luckely, it was at an idle, so no block damage was done. I just drove over a thousand miles, racing in another state, etc. And it breaks an eight of a mile from my shop at a stop light!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyZ Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Ouch... that's an expensive prospect (time for you, actually). Sorry to hear that. You just have an excuse to make it a little better now. I'd sure be thankful it didn't happen so far away from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Thats too bad. From what Ive read the cams were *somewhat* custom... What do you have to do to replace them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Yea all for a freaking 30.00 chain! DAMN. This engine isnt like a regular L series where it only takes 30 minutes to get the head off, etc. Between the solid copper head gasket, stainless orings in the block, speacial head studs, the twin turbos and all the pipes, whats left of the timing system, etc. Not to mention that just to settup the solid lifter, flat tappet cams, that are shim on bucket, takes ALOT of hours to get right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Atleast you can do the work yourself. Imagine paying someone to disassemble it.... :0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffp Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Sorry to hear about that Brian. I just went through the same situation on my car. I found the chain had some wear on the inboard links and did not want to go through all of the problems you now have. Sounds crazy, but my disassembly is about what you described less one turbo. Total pain in the butt! I think it really would have been better to pull the engine. I had to take just about everything else apart including the cross member. I have to give you a call and get your shipping address for that wideband. Anyway, take your time, the show is over this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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