DIY Porting for an idiot

The place to "speak geek"
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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:28 pm

Be careful there, The black county is not Brum... Lke getting Oz and Kiwis mixed up, fighting talk back home!!

My accent is the RAF standard "non-southerner" but it reverts to Walsall (Pronounced "Wersil" by the residents...) when I've been home for a week.

Black county joke:

Lad1: I cort a Whale down the kinal
Lad2: A bluddy Whale! What'cha do wiv it?
Lad1: I frew it back, 's got no spoaks....
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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robin
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Post by robin » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:06 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:Cradle of the industial revolution :wink: No defined boundarys but vaugely this.

Image
Isn't that just a smudge of something on a map that someone thought they would then call the "Black Country" :-) Or is it a satellite photo showing the coal dust years on still hanging in the air?

Cheers,
Robin

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:39 pm

Coal dust and filth mostly.

Advice to visitors is don't stop here, keep going, it's much nicer somewhere else. :lol:
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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robin
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Post by robin » Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:32 pm

Black country bloke wrote:Coal dust and filth mostly.

Advice to visitors is don't stop here, keep going, it's much nicer anywhere else. :lol:
:-)

Actually I did the stourbridge ring on the canals in recent years and although we had the odd "ned" incident on the whole it was very pleasant!

Cheers,
Robin

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:29 pm

I've been on the canals for my whole life on and off, parents have a boat so it's a very cheap holiday (2 weeks comes to under £200 + booze) and relaxing.

Scares the hell out of you when you next get into a car though. 2 weeks at 4mph or less makes you appreciate 70+tuts!

Any way back to the news:

Head is assembled and cam ladder is on with some non-setting sealant stuff. Not exactly the right stuff but the nearest *ahem* available equivalent... (Hymolar Blue, I assume this will be ok) New oil seals fitted and I have all the inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets. Prolly going to stick with the plastic plenum to begin with then see later about fitting the VVC. (You still have claim to the old fuel rail Shug)

Bought a manual tensioner but next problem is that the auto tensioner uses an M8 bolt and the manual uses an M10, more drilling required....

Shopping list now stands at:

Head gasket (£30)
Cheap and expensive Oils
cambelt (£30)
verniers (4Mil)
4-2-1 (Some bloke in Leeds - £200)
Lamda sensor (My old one will probably not come out £?? )
Bigger throttle body (56mm from Omega? £?? )
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:50 am

Tryed to fit the manual tensioner but it wll involve enlarging the m8 to m10 for the main bolt and tapping a new hole for the lock bolt right next to the main oil feed :roll:

I'm goign to swop back to the auto tensioner to save me the risk.
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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Uldis
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Post by Uldis » Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:05 pm

No, why?
Go on and enlarge the bloody hole.
Manual tensioners rule! 8)

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:22 pm

It's the second hole that is the problem, it is right on top of the main oil feed and I don't want to break through. Plus I will have to get a suitable drill, tap and the lump it all back to work as my drill chuck will only take an 8mm drill.

This is all a bit much so I'll bung an auto tensioner on and be done with it. :roll:
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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roadboy
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Post by roadboy » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:57 am

What you gonna be revving it to Richard? And what sort of power are you aiming for?

Dan@JPS
SPS Automotive
Independent Lotus Specialists
http://www.spsautomotive.co.uk

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:16 am

Standard ECU so just the standard limit 6500 IIRC, and power wise I would be very suprised if it was over 140 TBH. This is my only car so more torque is good and top end isn't.

It was more of a project to keep me from going (Further) insane while on nights. I wasn't expecting to get this far at all and I'm a little dubious about the wisdom of fitting it but I'm here now....

A second hand K is only £300 right?
Image

Rich :lol:
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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roadboy
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Post by roadboy » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:33 pm

In that case there's absolutely no need to go for the manual tensioner. Its only really needed on higher revving engines. The standard MEMS rev, limit is 6800 rpm.

Do you know where you're going to time the cams. Verniers make it easy but aren't essential. If you get some cheap, go for it tho.

From what I've seen it all looks ok. I wouldn't worry too much about the valve guides. I'm assuming you're not expecting it to last 200k anyway.

If you're going to fit the VVC plenum make sure you match the inlet ports to it. (sorry if you've already done this and I've missed it). The Janspeed manifold will massively improve the mid-range torque.

Its great fun doing projects like this and very satisfying when it all comes together. If the head porting is fairly good I would expect to see 155+ bhp from it when finished.

Dan@JPS
SPS Automotive
Independent Lotus Specialists
http://www.spsautomotive.co.uk

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:29 pm

Cheers Dan, no I'm not expecting 200k! The ports are pretty well matched, just a slight fettling of the new Rover gasket (Which is a bit smaller than the cheapo template one I was using!)

I have a set of verniers on the way from 4mil :thumbsup so should be straight forward to time the cams.

As to the quality of the porting, I really have no idea. It was all done by eye and guess work but it makes sense to me. I am considering fitting each part one at a time to see the difference, VVC manifold first (Cos I've got it!) then the 4-2-1 if I can get it this weekend the the new head. Bit of a faff I know but I will be able to gauge the effects of each then and the car will be off the road for shorter lengths of time (More overall though) if I really need to get something.

The other option is have a SE gathering and do the lot in one go. I intend to get a RR session jsut as soon as I'm happy it's all bedded in OK. Then we'll see....

Rich
Boldy going nowhere
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
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robin
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Post by robin » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:09 pm

Rich,

Has your VVC plenum got the relevant blanking plates for the combined MAP/temperature sensor? If you're sticking with the MEMS (no reason not to - it will work at this level of modification) you need to stick with it's built in MAP sensor (fed via a vacuum hose from the plenum) and the temp sensor needs to go into the plenum - I know the plenum they used for the 135 conversion had a hole in it for the standard air temp sensor but I don't know if this is standard on all alloy plenums ...

Cheers,
Robin

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Sun Aug 06, 2006 9:11 pm

Thanks Robin,
I have a plan for the MAP sender pipe, there is a black plasitc bung with a red surrond in the center of the VVC manifold that will do nicely and there is a air temp sender already in place, looks exactly like the one already fitted to mine. I'll swop them over just incase they have different outputs.

Got verniers now too (Thanks to 4 mil :wink:) All I need now is 4 exhaust studs, a dizzy drive shaft and a piper cambelt. My 4-2-1 manifold may be some way off so I may bung it all together without at the moment and refit the rover one after a little fettling.

Then we will commence countdown to detonation.... :shock: :lol:
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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Rich H
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Post by Rich H » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:33 pm

Head is ready I reckon, waiting for a piper cambelt (£40 FFS) should be here tomorrow.
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress
1980 Porsche 924 Turbo - Funky Interior Spec
2004 Smart Roadster Coupe - Hers

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