JohnCh

There is too big a hole in the bottom where the engine once sat. I'd have better luck with the ass-engined car in my garage since it is related to this: -John

The 2.5L head flows better but the ports are different and would require new throttle bodies and header to mate up. Given my current head is more than capable of meeting my power target, and I already have 45mm direct-to-head throttle bodies and a custom header, what would I gain replacing those and using the 2.5L head? Thanks, John

Same head as before: 2.0L Duratec head with the exhaust tumble removed, some port clean up, and this time he reprofiled the backside of the valves. It may not flow quite as much as a later 2.3L head or the high port head that was available in some non-US markets, but it should flow more than enough for my target of 225-230hp. -John

Shane, it sounds like your cars have more ground clearance than mine I just heard from the machine shop. There is too much clearance with the standard thickness rod bearings, which is the opposite problem we had with the main bearings. New, one size thicker bearings were just ordered and this time they agreed to make an exception and ship directly to the shop. -John

The floods finally receded which enabled me to drop off the rod bearings at the machine shop yesterday. If the standard size prove correct, and there are no other issues (I know, I know…), the short block should be back home by the end of next week. Since people like photos and a photo of a box of bearings is kind of boring, here are a couple of photos of the flooding across the valley between my house and the rest of civilization that delayed the trip. Multiple road closures meant nasty traffic along the one main road that was still open at the north end of town. Thankfully things are back to normal. For now. -John

I'm pretty sure Scannon added hub adapters so he could use his Mata wheels. Might be worth a PM. I have H&R bolt on spacers on the back of my car. Very well made and they do a version that allows you to change PCD called the Trak+ Wheel Adapter. Of course, they may not make an adapter for 4x108 to 4x100 and they will adjust the offset which may or may not work with your existing wheels, but might be worth exploring. -John

Staggered is stock; I'm just surprised by the delta. 185/245 is more extreme with my ass-engined car. Even the 620R -- which by all accounts is reasonably powerful -- only has a 185/215 stagger. -John

I thought the CSR used 245 rears, but the S3/SV used 215? Does that significant difference in front & rear width result in a lot of understeer? -John

We have completed implementing a number of changes to reduce the impact from spammers. PM is reenabled and notification emails are flowing again. However, there is a backlog for the latter, so don't be surprised if you receive thread update notifications for posts made several days ago. Hopefully things will be back to normal within a few days. Please let me know if you uncover any new issues. Thanks, John

I was impressed until I saw the box of Dos Equis on the bench. Hey, at least it's not Fosters, but we clearly need to work on improving your beer palate so it's a better match for your garage. -John

Good to know, thanks. If the dyno shows there are big gains with this engine by running a variable intake, I plan to take a shot at making one. I picked up the variable intake system from a Yamaha R1 a few years ago for inspiration and when Emerald made my replacement engine loom, I had them include wiring for the native VTEC switch functionality in their ECU. Whether I can get everything to work well and fit within available space is a open -- and very large -- question. The video below shows the system in action. Relatively primitive, but so is the rest of my car -John

I've heard that's a good strategy to broaden the torque curve. Did you find that cylinder mixtures were acceptable given you were tuning for the average between longer and shorter runners? Thanks, John

Given Murphy seems to rule my life with his eponymous Law, 90mm will probably prove to be the optimal length, but I still want to see the numbers. -John

The rod bearings turned up yesterday. However, thanks to flooding and mudslides impacting my commute, I'm working from home this week and probably won't have an opportunity to drop them off at the shop until early next week. Yes, it's wet. Even for Seattle. More good news; the head arrived a couple of hours ago. Steve said it was in great shape and he didn't see the need to do further porting than his original job 13 years ago. However, he did re-profile the backside of the valves this time, which in his experience can help airflow as much as blending the seats. The laundry list of work included: Clean head and valves Surface head Machine seats and reface valves Modify valves with performance upgrades Valve seal set Install new cams, set valve lash to provided specs, assemble -John

With 26 bathrooms, domestic help is probably necessary. -John

I've heard a lot of good things about Driven Racing Oil HR which was designed for older engines that are driven intermittently. It's available in both dyno and synthetic. I have some of the dyno oil in the garage ready to go in the Elan as soon as I have time for an oil change. https://tech.drivenracingoil.com/whats-hr-conventional-10w-40-hot-rod-motor-oil/ -John

Once we get through the spamming issues we'll look into adding the vBulletin feature for this. It would display forum user names which is an extra layer of privacy compared to the Facebook solution. -John

Hi Sean, I think you missed the part where I wrote that Dave found a lightly used set on the shelves that I bought this morning They were only 100GBP, so not expensive. Although even at the new price of 135GBP for the set, they are a good deal if you want to experiment. -John

I'm still waiting for the rod bearings to arrive. I'll ping the dealer again to see if they can get an update from King, but I had expected them to be here by now after placing the order with Priority Mail shipping on the 23rd. One area I've been kicking around for the build is intake length. Longer pushes the torque peak down, shorter pushes it higher in the rev range, and at some length you hit the sweet spot. That perfect compromise which smooths out the torque curve and maximizes the area beneath it. The default for Duratecs with Jenvey TBs seems to be 90mm, but I've been curious what would happen to the shape of the curve when going longer or shorter, particularly given the other work done to my engine. There are rumors that longer than 90mm produces better results, but I've yet to see actual numbers to back that up. Given longer runners require the air filter to stick further out of the bonnet, which in turn requires a larger hole in said bonnet, I'd rather some hard data before pulling out the saw. Although Emerald makes adjustable velocity stacks with a range of 60-130mm (more info here) that are perfect for my needs, the 45mm size required for my TBs have been shown as out of stock for a very, very long time. After speaking with Dave I learned that unless they can find a new supplier willing to do them for a reasonable price, they won't do another run. It sounds like the original shop underestimated the effort, and at the new production cost the retail price becomes, in Dave's words, "silly." Luckily for me, he was able to find a lightly used set in their inventory, so the order was placed this morning. -John

Thanks Bill, but I've always dreamed of being a despot with my own totalitarian regime. Controlling the gates of registration and crushing the dreams of spammers is about as close as I'm ever going to get, so I don't really mind. Final total yesterday was 90 and they keep coming today. -John

Brief update: Spammers have gone nuts with 70 registering so far today. We've implemented manual measures to stop them from completing the registration process, but please report any that have slipped through or who have been laying dormant for a while. As part of the underlying spamming problem, notifications are temporarily disabled. That means you won't receive emails when a thread you are watching has an update, or someone sends you a PM Hopefully this will only last a couple of days, but it could be a bit longer. Thanks for your patience. -John

We had a ton of spammers register over the past two days despite Spam-O-Matic being installed as well as a number of rotating registration questions that require some level of automotive enthusiast knowledge. I've gone through each registration and banned about 20 from that group. If you receive an IM that's spam, please report it and I'll make sure that user was banned. Thanks, John

The EarthX ETX36C is about $240 more than the PC680 (both on Amazon) and 11 lb. lighter. That's less than $22/lb savings which isn't bad compared to some other weight saving areas. Melt down is definitely a concern, but driving a se7en isn't exactly for the risk adverse -John

Talk about two different driving experiences. The Westfield looks like a great option for someone desiring a very vintage driving experience, and the S1 for someone who is concerned a se7en might be a little too raw. Bench seat and A-Series vs. doors with opening windows and a Zetec. -John

Welcome to the forum and thanks for starting a build thread -- with pictures! We love pictures. I believe we spoke at Bruce's party in December (I'm the Westfield owner who was selling the benefits of 13" wheels). Lot's of experienced folks here who can help if you get stuck along the way. Given I'm local to you, don't hesitate to drop me a PM if you need a hand. -John