Most liked posts in thread: Hit a milestone and still making changes.

Yup, be my guest.
Last time the car ran for 35,000 miles after the Sprintex install that wasn't done until 176,000 miles, and as I said the only thing that was really wrong with it ended up being the head (which btw had 125k at failure) with no W/M , and the issue with the oil squirters was nothing but too much RPM on a stock bottom end, as I said everything else ended up being very good, so I'm not worried in the least esp. with the current extras that were put into the motor.

This was my end game anyway, short of a full on turbo conversion (which the motor is certainly capable of), and nothing has changed, I'm doing the same as before, trying out unconventional options and running with them.
To me, it's just not that interesting to do the same old things as everyone else.

 

But also don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the failure on the head at all, it had 110,000 miles on it prior to changing to the 60mm pulley on the Sprintex, things only last so long, esp. when your trying to push some limits, just so happens that the head was the first thing to suffer, but that head gave me plenty of good performance, and my intention all along was to swap it out when rebuild time came around.

 

I can't imagine it would be that much different than before, supercharger setup will be exactly the same, the only real difference from my earlier setup would be the slightly larger bore with the forged Pistons, but with additional oil flow to aid with anything there, and the better flowing head, I'll just have to wait and see if it will require anything special as far as oil cooling or thermostat changes, but the stock cooler and OEM temp thermostat worked just fine before, esp with the electric W/P.

 

I don't see where you think it's backwards, same size valves, just now the Inconel's, same spring and retainer specs, but larger intake and exhaust ports, with the matching intake. Just doesn't seem backwards to me.
We'll just have to see.

 

But it's also fair to say that there's no reason it can't be improved on.
There's nothing wrong with Hubie's design/specs, it works well, it always has, hell it's been the standard for years, but even he experimented and changed things later on, I just wanted to see what something slightly different will do, and I guess I will, as anyone who was around earlier can attest, I've never been afraid to try different solutions.
I guess I'll know in a month or so.

 

Clutch is due next weekend, so reassembly can finally start.
But in the meantime got one more project done:
Rear Seat Delete and new rear Floor Pans.
Started with a 24"x48" piece of cold rolled 18ga steel, normally I'd use aluminum or something thinner to cut weight, but I had decided to move the Bottle and W/M tank inside the cabin so the pans had to have some strength to them. Made some cardboard templates and got out the air shears, a few cuts, some grinding, a bunch of measuring and a little paint later and this is what I ended up with:
Drivers Side.



Pass Side, w/ rivet nuts for Bottle brackets.



Then just a little unbacked automotive carpet and some edge trim.



Added a little plastic fiber foam for support.



And installed.





Harnesses fit around the bottle perfectly.

 

Those are for the RWD IRS conversion....


I'll turn it in to a AWD Twini...

 

Don't know what to tell you, both intake and exhaust are exact matches in size to the manifold and header, and as far as the head itself, it is what it is, I think some of what your seeing is the pictures themselves.
But regardless of if it is or not, it's not coming off and if there are issues they will show themselves during tuning.
Motor and tranny will be back between the frame rails this coming weekend, evening else just depends on time and any unforseen setbacks, I'm certainly not getting in a rush now, and I still only have weekends to do any work.

 

Well, the last 2 months have just been tedious and slow, between the heat and humidity, and little issues just taking a while to sort, last weekend was finally a good one...

Motor fired right off, oil pressure came right up, wouldn't idle or throttle due to a stuck throttle body, a quick poke with a finger to unstick it and all is well. Fires up, idles and throttles prefect, only thing left to do is the rear brakes, front of the car is complete, reassembled and on the ground, just simply ran out of time, front brakes and wheels were a PITA from sitting for so long, had to clean out the lug threads to get the bolts to even seat against the wheel properly. The wheels have been on the rears this whole time so they shouldn't be as much of an issue.
Going to be the weekend before I can get first drive simply because of my work week.

 

Finally back on the road, rear brakes were a pain, but it looks like the new pads will work OK for now with the old rotors. The only reason I haven't changed everything is because of the planned BBK and complete brake overhaul in early spring.

Motor runs well, of course I'll still be a little easy on it for a while before we start tuning, but it fires right up and doesn't miss a lick under normal throttle, extremely smooth and very free feeling, just seems to want to accelerate with little or no effort.

Only hold back to not driving it everywhere to get the break-in miles done is tires and P/S pump.
Rear tires had been on ramps for over a year now and have some dry rot cracks in them, 4 new ones on the way, should be here by Wed.
And, while I was checking the cooling system for leaks before it was all back together, P/S pump ran on and wouldn't shut off without pulling the battery cable, it's toast, won't come on at all, luckily it's the original and is covered under the recall, appointment to have it changed next Mon. Just have to remember to bring my big neon pink marker with me so I can write "Do Not Update The ECU" in big letters on the work order....
No biggie, I can always re-download the tune if they screw up....

Should only take a couple of weeks after that for the break-in to be done and tuning to begin, HFS-3 should be here by then also.