FricFrac Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I was thinking about the piston tops. They are machined but there is some roughness to the machined parts and the valve reliefs are not machined (casting marks - no flashing). I think if I had more time I would have done the piston tops as well but I was on a bit of a time crunch and they're pretty good. I'll be running ARP head and rod bolts. I think in this application it's a good bang for the $$$ Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted November 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Parts back from powder coating :) L16b oil pan for the conversion. Valve cover is bright red - for some reason it's bright orange in these pictures :) Quote Link to comment
mattyhacks71 Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Looks good! I like that Chevy orange :poke: :rofl: Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted November 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Lol I think it's the sodium vapour lamps or whatever industrial lighing they have where I took the pics ;) I'm still debating grinding the powder coating off the lettering.... 1 Quote Link to comment
mattyhacks71 Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 If you do, I'm thinking black would look the best B) Quote Link to comment
Rustbucket Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Lol I think it's the sodium vapour lamps or whatever industrial lighing they have where I took the pics ;) I'm still debating grinding the powder coating off the lettering.... I support taking it back down to the aluminum. Looks fancy pants that way! Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Unfortuately (or not lol) I had it double powder coated - zinc base then black over top so it THICK :) Works wicked on any pourous cast aluminum stuff - really helps to smooth it out. Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted November 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 After spending a few days researching I think I might have a solution to my turbo manifold question - as in what am I going to run for a turbo manifold. Someone mentioned that the KA24E exhaust layout was the same as the NAPS Z head. From what I can tell it looks like it will work but there isn't any way to tell without seeing it up against the head. I don't have access to a manifold and I hate to order parts without knowing for sure but I found one for a good price and if it doesn't work there are a ton of S13 guys around who would probably buy it. The exhaust outlet on the Z22 is oval(ish) whereas the manifold for the KA is round so I'll have to do some port matching one way or another which I would have done anyhow. The other question since I had the option was log or tubular manifold. After much deliberation I went with the log manifold as it will spool faster because of the lower total volume inside the log manifold. There is also less thermal loss in the log manifold compared to the tubular which also helps spool more quickly. While spooling doesn't give you more power it does give you more power under the curve. The log manifold is top mount and it's offset towards the front of the car which should keep out of the way of the strut towers. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 The KA is NOT the same as the Z series. Close though. I support taking it back down to the aluminum. Looks fancy pants that way! Do the lettering and the raised lines and leave aluminum. Quote Link to comment
yenpit Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Are there exhaust manifold GASKETS for the two different applications?? Buy the gaskets (cheap!!??), and compare the manifold pattern with them.........but if datzenmike speaks, it is correct! Still, the two gaskets together would give you a visual of what mods would need to be made, or if it would work at all! Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 The gaskets are two seperate pieces so that wouldn't work. Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2012 440cc injectors! Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! Well it looks like with some fairly aggressive but doable porting the KA24E manifold will work with the NAPS Z heads - woohoo! There is lots of material on the head on the sides of the port - just have to be careful on the bottom as it looks like that's where the water passages for the head reside. The log manifold is cast so there is lots of material to work with. I must say this manifold looks very nice and I suspect it will flow well. It's not optimal but with the large runners but smaller volume than a tubular manifold it should spool quickly (which means more power under the curve). The only place on the manifold that isn't smooth is the entry into the turbo flange which I'll clean up with the die grinder. I made templates for both sides and marked off where the material needs to be removed to match everything up. Looks like it was made for the Z22! I'm hoping the offset top mount will clear the strut towers. I looks like it should be fine but I won't know until we get there. Quote Link to comment
Farmer Joe Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 how much do those manifolds run price wise? Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Around $200. Godspeed has them listed at $300 but check out E-Bay, Amazon, etc... Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Square head ports meet round manifold ports :) Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2012 Pretty much done with the head now. Lapped the valves in and hot tanked the head. There's one seat that has a nick in it we'll try to polish out then a quick clean and install the valves and cam. Had the old piston wrist pins pressed out and the new pistons and wrist pins installed. Sent that to the machinist which is the only machine work so far for a total of $62. Pistons are installed and started painting the block. One coat of primer over the old paint and a coat of semi gloss black engine enamel. Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Fixed the last valve seat with the nick in it. All the valve springs and valves are re-installed. Spark plugs gaped and semi-indexed (picked the best of for the eight). Painted the head with high temp exhaust manifold paint to match the block. Ready for cam reinstall. The hot cam for the L28ET is the L28E NA cam. Hopefully the Z22 NA cam works well for a turbo application. Still undecided as to what turbo to run on this build. Probably will start with a T3 from an L28ET. I think a GT28 or GT30 would likely be a good final build turbo for this application. Big returns from a methanol injecton for the L series head and a boosted application - not so sure the hemi style head here will need the methanol as badly. Something to ponder for the future.... Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted December 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Cleaning out the garage (SLOOOOOWLY...) and found a scrap Z22 head - side by side of the exhaust ports: Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted January 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 So apparently when I was told to use the L20b ARP set on the Z22 the person was assuming I was building a LZ. The L20B studs are WAY too long for the Z22 with the stock head and they don't make a Z22 kit (or any NAPS Z kits for that matter). I think I've found a stud that will work. ARP sells these as a individual stud - M10 x1.25 x 1.50 x 109mm PN: AM 4.300-2LB so 10 of these, 10 washers and nuts should make a Z22 ARP head bolt kit :) Just talking with ARP to find out if they'll make a kit of these to buy direct from them or through their suppliers so I can get this thing together! Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Picking away at the endless "little things" while I try to get the head studs squared away. Did some more porting and polishing on the exhaust manifold. I already matched the ports but I wanted to transistion and take some of the roughness of the casting out and round off any sharp edges going into the turbo flange. Cleaned it up and painted it satin black with some header paint to match the head. Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 OK I've finally sourced the head bolts. My local parts place wanted 4x as much for the nuts, etc with a four to six week lead time. Ordered them from Regal at Northern Auto Parts for a fraction of what the local shop wanted and 7-10 days to get them in. Working on the turbo manifold a bit. Got a heavy blanking plate cut and had made a copper gasket and had it annealed to make it soft. I'll use these to block off the wategate flange on the turbo as I'll be using a stock T3 from a 280ZX with an internal wastegate. Got an old 280ZX turbo cast downpipe and hacked off the flange. Port matched it to the T3 outlet then tapered out for a mandrel bent 2 1/2" down pipe which I'll likely flare to 3". The turbo flange is a little rounded so it looks like there is a lip but it matches up perfectly. Quote Link to comment
aintnobiscuit Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 damn. thats some awesome work. I REALLY want to see and hear this run. This is an exciting build! Quote Link to comment
FricFrac Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 Fuel rail almost done :) Quote Link to comment
ProjectFeint Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 I admire the work and attention to detail you put into all these parts, and loving this thread! keep it up!! Quote Link to comment
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