Dave's 87 Shelby Z

[beeblebrox82]

awesome looking stuff going on in here!

[Khajjathefang]

Finally had a chance to do some investigative surgery tonight



Girl I'm talking to thought I was lying about being under the car cause I know she thinks guys who work on cars are "hot" :P showed her. lol

managed to pull the head fully dressed all by myself without banging up the surfaces. I was happy to note that the bores still looked good and all of the pistons are intact. #1 appears to be showing signs of light detonation though











Apparently the engine stopped at full lift on #4. FM475 has just a bit of lift. lol



---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 PM ----------

At this point my theory is the head lifted on the #1 side and flushed the water at 21psi. Im seeing studs in my future...

Also, worth re-ringing the jugs? I do have a built block with .040 JEs in it but it had oil pressure problems and I would have to have it checked before it went back into service. I also have an 89' 2.2 commonblock that could be built up (and will likely be the eventual long term solution) Looking more towards the short term here because of all the new parts and the tuning thats going to have to happen eventually

[cordes]

did you do a compression test before pulling the head? Often times the pistons will look fine from the top, but have broken or cracked ring lands when pulled and inspected.

[Khajjathefang]

No I didnt, think its worth pulling them up for a look? could they be stuffed back in with the same rings? Im pretty positive it lifted at this point (kinda forgot to chase the threads when I reattached the head last time ) and I am using arp bolts but they've been used 3-4 times. between the fine sheen of oil all over both sides of the headgasket, the water contamination boogers in #1, and the chucked rocker I think I've got the culprit.

In the long term view I think I'm going to pull the JE over 40 block out of my parts car and redo the bearing clearances and a couple of other little things for added strength. I can always build the all out block later. lol

[cordes]

i may not check them then. I always like to do a compression test before removing the head so I don't miss anything obvious, but it sounds like you have a great idea of what is going on so I would avoid pulling the pan and everything in that case.

[Khajjathefang]

Pulled the cam this morning and put the rocker back in, torqued down and the rocker is still loose...wtf? look and the valve is lower than the others...uh oh. flip it over and check this out:



Dropped an exhaust seat. Mother ----er. Well now we know why it spit out a rocker

At this point I dont trust any of my spares (esp the ported FAW) so I'm thinking we are down for the season while waiting for the big valve.

Bolted the plenum up to the two piece so I could get final clearances for the vac ports (or port since im only running one from the front) Amazingly enough with the shorter +40s and slotting the stock fuel rail for proper injector fit the stock rail and accufab reg fit PERFECTLY. If I were viewing this page and had a 2 piece I'd be blowing up Lengel's inbox right about now.











Also transfered sensors and ais to the 58mm throttle. on the stocker the tps pointed towards the firewall, with the new plenum design I had to mount it *180 facing front. I *think* this will work. If not I will have to sand down the connector and make an extension harness :P

[Khajjathefang]

My cars down for the season...

Ill never use that chinese head again...

Im such a liar...

[Khajjathefang]

I was originally going to get all Jules from Pulp Fiction and write "bad mother ----er" on this thing but then I started thinking that the sheetmetal plenum reminded me of an aircraft fuselage and one thing led to another. Its just sharpie but I really like it. Gonna have to come up with a more permanent way of doing this...

[cordes]

That's pretty cool.

[Reaper1]

If you cleaned it really well before you did that, you *might* be able to get clearcoat to stick to it.

[Khajjathefang]

Looking at the accufab's inlet and it seems I'll be able to replace it with an AN fitting and use it remotely when I make the switch to bigger lines and the aluminum high flow rail. Bitchin' i love saving money



Stayed up to 4am last night. Building the head drunk seems the exhaust manifold bolts were getting loose on the stock head bet it spools faster now





And tonight got it in and torqued down. this orange abomination is a mild ported, chinese 782 FM Enforcer 1 with the same FM475 cam and full Mopar Performance valvetrain and backcut ss valves in standard size. Ought to shake loose a few more ponies all by itself.

Meanwhile, I have the Menegon ported IM lower bolted on while I wait for the plenum to be tapped for vac and charge air.

Now some of you may have noticed that I chose to mount the throttle directly to the plenum without an elbow. I went this way for two reasons 1: I didnt want any obstructions behind the throttle plate and 2: It looks cleaner to my eye. Smart guys in the crowd will know the throttle bracket mounts to the left of the TB and so turned would directly block the intake pipe. The simplest solution was to clip out the cruise control half of the bracket and to notch the mounting holes so it can be turned to a higher angle.





Cable will now route down and around the brake booster and should still have plenty of room to clear the hood. Plenty of material left on the bracket to remove if a tighter angle is required

---------- Post added at 11:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 PM ----------

Also dropped off the HY35 so my buddy can hit with some serious heat and get the seized exhaust section off AND passed him an old manifold gasket which he is going to use to draw up the flange for my header

[black86glhs]

Dave that is a cool idea.

[Khajjathefang]

Which one?

[Rampage16V]

I love the intake !!

[Khajjathefang]

Couldnt bear watching the lebaron slowly rot away in the driveway so today I pushed to old fridge out to the curb and made some space for it in the back of the garage. Started up and moved on her own but she didnt sound real happy. Body is clean straight and rust free. Id been toying with the thought of selling it but with all the spares from the daytona projects it might be fun to do a partial resto and t2 555 swap. Hell its already got a clutch pedal.



fridge was barely out for an hour and this dude was stuffing it in the back of a grand cherokee.



Made all the plumbing connections under the car and hooked the exhaust back up, on the top side I got most of the available connections made but some I'm simply going to have to wait on until the plenum is finished next week. Its going to suck to mount in car but I think I'll manage



looks a lot better on the ground

[black86glhs]

Which one?

LOL....the TB bracket.

[Khajjathefang]

Plenum and fuel rail are supposed to be done today. If i manage to pick them up tonight I'll try getting the plenum mounted. Also ordered a silicone 90 and gasket last night.

[Khajjathefang]

just managed to find the space to bolt it on, had to pull the wastegate to do it though

[Reaper1]

I love the shark face on that intake! It gives the whole engine bay so much character!!

[turbovanman²]

I know its old but on the DDG, they say not to make the intake like that due to starving cylinders of air? Still hold true or not anymore.