Cam/HG/Greddy IM/Springs/Retainers Upgrade....Before and After Build Thread

[jspaeth]

I am posting this so that other people can see on the same car, same everything, how upgrading cams, intake manifold, flywheel, and retainers/springs change the performance. With the new cams and springs/retainers, I am hoping I can safely rev to around 8000 RPM.

Current Setup

Stock head S13 Blacktop SR20det, GT2871R 0.64/AR, stock intake mani, PowerFC D-Jetro, RS BOV, RSPL Greddy IC, ACT Street Disc and Heavy Duty PP, 740cc Tomei Injectors, Aeromotive PFR @ 3bar, 3" downpipe and exhaust, stock S13 SR throttle body.

New Setup

Adding the following:

- APexi 1.1 mm HG
- HKS Step 2 cams (264/264 and 12/11.5 lift IN/EX)
- "New model" S13 SR Greddy Intake Manifold
- ARP Head studs (VW studs, not "SR" studs)
- Greddy rocker arm stoppers
- Brian Crower BC0200 Spring/Retainer set
- ACT Prolite (10.5 lb) flywheel
- ACT 6-puck race disc
- Putting in new valve spring seals also, which should add at least 20 whp.


Will be getting the head milled (0.003") and hot tanked after taking it off.

I will be taking the car to Evans EFI Tuning in eastern PA, which is where the first tune was done (allows good comparison of dyno charts)....this is done on a Dynapack dyno.....yes I am aware they read a little bit high sometimes, who cares.



"Current Setup" Dyno Chart





I am particularly pleased with how early and smoothly my torque comes in, compared to other with the same or similar setups.



Will be posting picture updates as I work, and when finished, I will post a new dyno so everyone can see exactly how the cams, IM, springs, retainers, and flywheel affected the torque and powerband.

[jspaeth]

Today, I pulled the head and the intake and manifold. After reading a few walkthrough threads on various forums, this wasn't too bad.

The only pain in the ass is that the stock intake manifold is a massive clusterfuck.

Also, there were a few brackets and clips in places that I didn't know about going in, so once the head was free, it wasn't really free haha.

Ended up unbolting my turbo elbow from downpipe so I could rotate the exhaust mani off of the studs once the head was lifted a bit.....did NOT want to disconnect the turbo or any of the water/oil lines....that is a MASSIVE pain in the ass in my opinion.

Pics:

Setting motor to TDC and getting cam gears and timing chain aligned properly:






Rigged this up with a ziptie to keep upward tension on timing chain the WHOLE TIME....tightened ziptie as I pulled the chain off of the cam gears:





Both the IN and EX cams had some green looking stuff near the 3rd cylinder....not sure if it's paint or what, but the texture looked a little different than the other spots....

"Green"


Not green


In the bay lifting the head while my buddy disconnected one of the various pain in the ass brackets at the back of the head...




Head pulled....great success (for now, until I fuck something up reassembling haha)!





If anyone can comment on why part of the cam looks green, that would be sweet and make me feel better.

[tricky_ab]

Wooo I'm always down with new build threads!

[fliprayzin240sx]

I wouldnt worry about the color of the cams, I'd be more worried about the drippers. Make sure that none of that is clogged when you put them back on. Running a piece of wire into each dripper and maybe soaking them in paint thinner to clear out any gunk will do wonders.

Also, while youre there, inspect the heater hoses under the intake manifold. Replace them now while you have access to them if you have never changed them before.

Lastly, dont worry about the chain jumping off, the oil pump cover keeps the chain from coming off the crank.

PS: What makes you think changing valve seals will yield you 20hp??? Also, no point of bumping your redline up, doubt you'd have any power up there.

[jspaeth]

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

PS: What makes you think changing valve seals will yield you 20hp??? Also, no point of bumping your redline up, doubt you'd have any power up there.

I was completely kidding, wanted to see if anyone would catch it hahaha

Thanks for the tips.

Also, no power there now (8000), but I am building this setup in case I ever want to upgrade the turbo in the future.

If I want more power, I'll just drop in a top mount manifold with bigger turbo, and the head and cams will be already in place

[steve shadows]

You would have to upgrade to like a freakin GT4088R to need a redline higher than 8000 RPMS though

Even the GT35R only breaths out to 8200 rpms with most cams

[jspaeth]

I do understand what you guys are saying about not making power that high.

But lets say that I can make power at 7000 RPM.


I'd rather have a head that is good to well above that, so that if I want to beat on it and wind it out a lot, I have the peace of mind.

Whereas if stock head is good to 7400-7500, then continuously revving to 7-7.5K will make me feel a bit nervous, bc you are then always pushing everything to its limit.

Thanks for all your help Steve, everything is going well so far....just need to get my hands on the Snap-On valve spring compressor tool so that reassembling the head isn't as much of a pain.


Update....Today's Work


- Today, I took off the valvesprings using a socket and rubber mallet, then used pliars to pull off all of the valve stem seals....took out valves, kept everything in order in its own labeled plastic baggy:







Everything out and removed:





Mounted old intake manifold stuff onto new Greddy Intake Manifold

-IACV
-Brake booster and PCV ports
-Vacuum ports
-Fuel rail (had to dremmel off 2 brackets)
-Fuel return line
-Throttle body
-Throttle cable plate (modify later)

Old cluster****:






New Manifold with everthing bolted up:











Taking head to the machine shop this week, then reassembling head next weekend and gonna try to prep the block and put on the new head gasket and studs next weekend.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Oh yah, I remember what I did now for the throttle cable bracket. Make a bracket to shift the bracket higher an inch or so.

[jspaeth]

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

Oh yah, I remember what I did now for the throttle cable bracket. Make a bracket to shift the bracket higher an inch or so.

Ok thanks ray.....what's the main reason that the bracket needs to be fixed?

The angle isn't right? There is too MUCH slack? Too little? I am sure I will figure it out though...

[fliprayzin240sx]

Shitty angle...

[jspaeth]

Well, I didn't have my camera with me to take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but since last update, I have:

Taken head to shop to get milled 0.004"

Reassembled head
- New valve stem seals
- BC springs
- BC Ti retainers
- ARP head studs (VW 1.8L studs, sold by FRSport, and torqued to 85 ft-lbs, not 105 haha)

Gave the block some TLC, spent about 3-4 hours cleaning off the old gasket material (PITA, using a whole can of Carb cleaner)

Put head back on, as well as Greddy Intake Mani, and for now, stock cams. Will put on HKS cams next weekend....I just wanted to be able to drive the car around for a while to see how the headgasket is doing.

Also, I have some pictures of how I got the throttle cable to work. IMO, it lines up REALLY fucking well.

Pics!!:

Cam sprockets lined up after reinstalling cams (there is a little slack in the middle, since the tensioner pushes harder with oil pressure):







CAS lined up properly, after insertion and bolting housing down:




Now, here are some pics of the throttle cable setup.

I was VERY lucky that I found this steel bar sitting in my garage with holes in it, and 2 of them were already the same distance as the holes for the bracket.....so I drilled a third hole, and used this and the second hole to "shift" the bracket toward the motor:






Now, even though the throttle bracket is aligned with the pulley, the section with the two nuts and threaded bolt is too far down towards the pulley.....it needs to be moved up the cable.

However, it is clamped to the cable sheath. You first should measure just how far back the threaded section needs to be moved up the sheath.

1) Cut away some of the rubber around the cable sheath, to expose the metal coil below.

2) Pull (carefully) on the threaded bolt section so that it stretches the coiled metal.....then get a pair of metal snippers, and snip the coil.

3) Now, the threaded section should be free to slide up and down the cable.







4) Next, you have to remove some of the sheathing and coil on the side toward the firewall, so that you can slide the threaded bolt section up the cable....slowly uncoil the coiled metal (I used a set of needlenose on the end of the coil, and a set of flat pliars to squeeze the coiled section above it to get leverage and "unwind it" to as far back as you measured that it should go.



5) Now, you need to pull the coil/sheath out of the crimped end of the threaded bolt section.....I used flat head pliars, and then I grabbed the end and twisted it and lodged the pliars up against the bolt to give it leverage to pull itself out (like a cheap corkscrew works).







6) Now, make sure that the end of the coil that you trimmed back is squeezed back so that it isn't sticking out......

7) You need to get the sheathed/coil as far back down into the crimped end of the bolt as you can.

Since it's already crimped, it's very hard to get it that far in there, but I put a little oil on there to make it a little more slippery, and manage to work it like 1/4 -1/2" in there.

8) Then, crimp down on the end.....hard enough that it grabs the sheath/coil, but not so hard as to deform it so that the cable can not freely slide in and out.

Here is how mine ended up.....almost perfect length....you can see that the inside edge of the bottom most nutis about even with the outside of the U-shaped spacer that goes into the bracket.


Then tighten down the nuts (I left the bottom one where it was, and moved the top one down.....








I had already pre-bent the bracket a bit so that it would cause the cable to come in to the pulley at the best angle I could get.

This was the end result:






Also, I drove the car around, and it feels pretty good.....not quite the same (bc of the Greddy IM) but very good. Didn't beat on it very hard, as I am not sure of how much increased flow the intake mani will give up top.


Also, I put in a new thermostat.....my temps driving around are now like 83C.....before, I was driving around with a thermostat that was stuck open, and they used to be around 78C......


Cams next weekend getting put on, then the weekend after I am getting tizzuneddddd.

[roplusbee]

Nice work on the throttle cable. Looks tedious from an outside-looking-in perspective. I have yet to experience that situation, but I am running a 1JZ now. Gonna have my own shaare of problems to overcome.

[2fast4y0u]

looks nice.
i will take credit for the throttle cable help.

glad everything came out good.

[jspaeth]

Originally Posted by 2fast4y0u

looks nice.
i will take credit for the throttle cable help.

glad everything came out good.

True! Shout out to Jay (2fast4y0u) for advice on the throttle cable modification! Thanks Jay!

[JVD]

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

Lastly, dont worry about the chain jumping off, the oil pump cover keeps the chain from coming off the crank.

Oh shit. I didn't know that! Haha.

[S-Nation S13]

Bringing this up from the grave, and of course out dated links, fucking blows need help with my throttle cable.