2eighTZ4me Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 (edited) Having seen Pete's thread on his build, I thought I'd piggyback along with what's going on in my garage. F54 block P90 head V07 stroker crank 240Z 9mm rods JE custom dished pistons Custom Delta Cams grind camshaft Port work etc..... we'll get down into the details here in a bit. Goal is reliability. I'm not looking to spin 8k rpm, nor am I competing - I run with NASA and just go out and have a fun time and don't want to worry if I happen to "exceed" a threshold. I also don't have to worry about rules, as I'm only running HPDE. I wish I had started taking pictures way back when, but I DID film the whole assembly process of building the bottom end that I am still editing. Only have a few pics right now - but many more to follow. I hope to get bits of the video on YouTube. Annnnnd heeeere we go! First - the slugs. A little about them. JE custom (that ironically, I bought from the guy I bought the car from.....3 years later) forged - of course, 88mm bore, dished for a turbo application - double spiro-locks. Teflon coated on the sides and ceramic coated on the tops (thanks to James from Lonewolf Performance). They were designed for a stroker setup, so they have a lower pin height than stock (35mm I believe?? from memory) - so there is no piston poking out of the block at TDC, AND no need for a (expeeeeeensive) 2mm headgasket. Rods have been magnafluxed and shot peened and balanced to within .5 gram tolerances on both ends. Pistons were spot on the money across the board. Note - the spiro-locks are NOT in the pistons in this pic. OK - on to the block. First order - remove all the nasty casting flash left behind from the factory. This increases the speed of oil flow off the walls of the block back into the pan. Note all the ridges and seams. Using a die grinder, a carbide bit, and a LOT of time, here's the end product. Notice all the ridges and seams are gone and we have a nice, even, smooth surface across all cylinders. Next step - Glyptal....... Glyptal is an electricians paint that is impervious to oil and other chemicals. Dries hard as a rock and provides a smooth surface - i.e. even better oil flow back to the pan. Getting dried Glyptal off your hands is no fun chore either. Once it's on there - it's ON there. I've run out of pics for now - but a little rundown. I eventually went back and notched the bottom of the cylinders on the block once I got the crank and pistons back from the machine shop. This notching allows a little more clearance between the big end of the rod and the block - as we ARE dealing with 4mm more stroke. Used a die grinder and took out about 1-2mm of material from the underside of the block where the rod's sweep is. Painted back over it with - you guessed it - Glyptal. Crank was in great shape. Had it polished and cleaned and drilled for hex plugs in the oil passages. Factory Nissan standard size bearings. The bottom end is completely together at this point, but will add more detail to this thread as I get deeper in to it. Head is in the middle of being ported right now - wanna talk about tedious work?? Sheesh!! As you probably imagined, this is going in the car in my sig pic. There's a mule motor in there now out of a 79 ZX with 130K on it already. I've shown it 22psi of boost already and she STILL keeps chuggin' along. MsNs - 3" intercooler piping and intercooler, Lonewolf intake, T3/T4 hybrid turbo, custom 3" downpipe and 3" mandrel bent exhaust to a Borla XR-1 muffler. Tial wastegate and Turbosmart RacePort BOV. All fired off by Electromotive coil packs. More pics to follow.... Edited December 1, 2010 by 2eighTZ4me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-ya Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Looks nice! The paint looks interesting, even though it is chemical resistant, will it stand up to the heat? I'd be worried of it flaking off and clogging the oil pickup tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 What's really important in road race engine power delivery is throttle response. Be willing to sacrifice (if necessary) some ultimate horsepower/torque to get a nice responsive throttle. Maybe go with a smaller throttle body to help with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozconnection Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 What's really important in road race engine power delivery is throttle response. Be willing to sacrifice (if necessary) some ultimate horsepower/torque to get a nice responsive throttle. Maybe go with a smaller throttle body to help with that. Do I read this as 'reducing lag'? What are the tips/tricks required to do this? Nice short BTW....keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Do I read this as 'reducing lag'? What are the tips/tricks required to do this? Nice short BTW....keep up the good work! Its more then just lag. Its reducing the MOI in the engine, its taking the time to make the throttle linkage work smoothly and maybe even a little progressive, its matching TB size to the intake plenum, its proper matching of the BOV and the wastegate to the compressor and turbine, its optimizing intercooler size and tubing lengths. Its about sweating each little detail that gets you only a small percent improvement in driveability individually but is a big deal cumulatively. Its when you run your fastest lap and are surprised by it because the car drove so easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 If you are properly driving the car, 'lag' is a non-issue in modern turbocharged cars... /Forrest Gump Look/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 (edited) Of which I will do scant little. BOV and Wastegate can be taken care of with different spring pressures and the boost controller to a certain degree. There are only X number of sizes of each. Again - I'm NOT competing - I'm having fun. I used to race dirt bikes and liken the boost threshold to when the bike "comes on the pipe". The intake is a Lonewolf - and is probably way too large for the application - but it's what I have. I have not the knowledge or cash to "optimize intercooler size and tubing lengths" (you also forgot to mention tubing size as well). I have an AZC intercooler - and a finite amount of engine compartment space. All the tubing/IC/BOV/WG have already been mounted. I blew up my Garrett turbo, and bought a SSA T3/T4 hybrid. This thread is to focus on the underlying powerplant that will be sandwiched in between all the existing components. I'm not looking to re-engineer the whole car (been there, done that) - but rather build a "reliable" powerplant with some good internals. As time goes on, I will eventually upgrade the turbo (heck - may not even do that if this one holds up). My power goal is well within range of the current hardware I have, and I'm really not in to "sweating the details" because I'm not racing the clock or other competitors. Best I would potentially do is downgrade the TB - but even then, it's only a 60mm 240SX unit, and I have no driveability issues with it currently with the mule motor under the hood. Not looking to turn this thread into a "turbo efficiency theory" and how much I can squeeze out of it - I'm just posting what's going on in the garage presently. I've got a good bit of seat time in the car (it's street legal and tagged as well) and am very comfortable with the amount of power and throttle response it currently has. It has no problem getting out of its' own way - or mostly anybody else's for that matter. Don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I've seen sooo many threads just fly so far off topic - and folks wonder why they can't find stuff on this site when they "search" - yeah - it's out there - but not in the places you'd expect! P.S. - and yes Mario - it stands up to heat just fine. I believe they mention it in the "How to Build" book - and I've seen (I think) TonyD mention it a few times as well Edited December 2, 2010 by 2eighTZ4me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Everybody uses glyptal for sealing casting sand in and smoothing the interior of the blocks for oil drainage when you don't want to spend the time grinding the castings flat. If it can withstand 450F in an electric motor 24/7/365 a couple hundred hours at half that temperature should not be an issue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Awesome, you learn something new every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Everybody uses glyptal for sealing casting sand in and smoothing the interior of the blocks for oil drainage when you don't want to spend the time grinding the castings flat. If it can withstand 450F in an electric motor 24/7/365 a couple hundred hours at half that temperature should not be an issue... ...So what's this glyptal stuff again Tony? Couldn't resist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 P.S. - and yes Mario - it stands up to heat just fine. I believe they mention it in the "How to Build" book - and I've seen (I think) TonyD mention it a few times as well LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-ya Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Of which I will do scant little. BOV and Wastegate can be taken care of with different spring pressures and the boost controller to a certain degree. There are only X number of sizes of each. Again - I'm NOT competing - I'm having fun. I used to race dirt bikes and liken the boost threshold to when the bike "comes on the pipe". The intake is a Lonewolf - and is probably way too large for the application - but it's what I have. I have not the knowledge or cash to "optimize intercooler size and tubing lengths" (you also forgot to mention tubing size as well). I have an AZC intercooler - and a finite amount of engine compartment space. All the tubing/IC/BOV/WG have already been mounted. I blew up my Garrett turbo, and bought a SSA T3/T4 hybrid. This thread is to focus on the underlying powerplant that will be sandwiched in between all the existing components. I'm not looking to re-engineer the whole car (been there, done that) - but rather build a "reliable" powerplant with some good internals. As time goes on, I will eventually upgrade the turbo (heck - may not even do that if this one holds up). My power goal is well within range of the current hardware I have, and I'm really not in to "sweating the details" because I'm not racing the clock or other competitors. Best I would potentially do is downgrade the TB - but even then, it's only a 60mm 240SX unit, and I have no driveability issues with it currently with the mule motor under the hood. Not looking to turn this thread into a "turbo efficiency theory" and how much I can squeeze out of it - I'm just posting what's going on in the garage presently. I've got a good bit of seat time in the car (it's street legal and tagged as well) and am very comfortable with the amount of power and throttle response it currently has. It has no problem getting out of its' own way - or mostly anybody else's for that matter. Don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I've seen sooo many threads just fly so far off topic - and folks wonder why they can't find stuff on this site when they "search" - yeah - it's out there - but not in the places you'd expect! P.S. - and yes Mario - it stands up to heat just fine. I believe they mention it in the "How to Build" book - and I've seen (I think) TonyD mention it a few times as well I totally agree with your plan. Use what you have, and make the most of it. That is my plan for the build I am doing. Reliability is most important to me as I don't have a lot of money to throw around either. And I think that the moderators should create an "Engine" area under "Members Projects" for these kinds of threads. This thread is starting to get get clogged up with meaningless posts. I don't know about you, but I like to get to the point. Not spend a lot of time sifting through meaningless crap. If you don't have anything useful to add to the thread, don't bother posting. Rant completed.... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 There is something wrong with the site, or posting from Red China, because I posted that ONCE! But for the record, Glyptal has been used for years....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun723 Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 There is something wrong with the site, or posting from Red China, because I posted that ONCE! But for the record, Glyptal has been used for years....... Hahaha suuuuuure. We all know you just kept posting it to up your post count I didn't know about the Glyptal stuff...seems pretty good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 SEE! SEE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Finished porting the head over the Christmas holiday (the subject of another informational post for those that want to do their own porting) and the machine shop just finished up with a 5 angle valve job on it along with a quick skim over the surface for flatness. Picking up external oiler cam towers this evening and will be beginning on the cam wipe patterns over the weekend. Here's a couple shots during the porting process - a pre and a post. More to come....stay tuned! After - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 OK - been a while. Had to order an overbore sized head gasket, timing kit, and started on my cam wipe patterns - ONLY to find that I was 4 rocker arms short of having the Full Monty. Sent some core rockers off to Delta Cams (Thanks Ken!!) and received the rest of the allotment (along with 2 other sets) just the other day. Based on my wipe patterns across 8 lobes, I was at an "average" of .180 lash pads with a 190 and a 170 here and there. Interpolating that info, I bought a bunch of .180's - as well as a few .170's and .190's. They showed up just yesterday. Will finish the cam wipe patterns tonight and start assembling the timing components. I have also ground out the front timing cover to accommodate the diesel Maxima water pump. Everything's just about ready to go together - so stay tuned for upcoming pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Welp.....I thought I'd end up taking more pics than I did. It was probably due to the fact that this is the 18th L-Series I've built, and I got on a roll and zoned out and forgot to pick up the camera. Painted the assembled bottom end....whoopee - ain't that purdy.... Copper coated and installed the ($150) head gasket...... Head is ready to drop on...... Aaaaaannnnndddd - there it is. Done deal. Still going to remove the balancer and wipe the inside with some anti-seize compound - but other than that - it's ready to drop in the car......the car......where's the damn car!!!???? Oh yeah.....it's up at DIY Autotune being tuned on the 150K mi. mule motor to produce 400rwhp or 20psi of boost....whichever comes first. So, if it goes on the dyno, I've got backup!! Edited January 31, 2011 by 2eighTZ4me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillerBjt Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Still going to remove the balancer and wipe the inside with some anti-seize compound - but other than that - it's ready to drop in the car......the car......where's the damn car!!!???? Oh yeah.....it's up at DIY Autotune being tuned on the 150K mi. mule motor to produce 400rwhp or 20psi of boost....whichever comes first. So, if it goes on the dyno, I've got backup!! Is this not a bad idea, since the balancer is a pressed fit with a key might this cause problems with the balancer moving at speeds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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