New Engine Build - Death to 10:1

[DrGonzo]

I've had my fun with the 10:1 boosted engine in my Stealth for a couple years now. It was a great engine and took everything I could throw at it. Been to the track plenty of times and has always gotten me home in one piece. Of course I want more POWER!!!!

For the last couple years now I have been piecing together parts to build a new engine to replace the 10:1 I have in the car right now. My goal is 400-500hp depending on the turbo route I decide. I have all of the bolt-on's needed to get there just not the tubos at this time.

The block I got from a local guy. it was a 2bolt 93+ block with pistons, rods and forged crank. The motor supposedly spun a bearing. I looked over the block and bearings and the damage was not bad at all. The bearings were all still intact just scoring on the bearings and crank. I ended up getting it all for about $100.00 so Not complaining at all about anything.

My original plan was to have the crank turned and polished. well one day at the local pick an pull I came across a 96 VR-4 with the lower block still in the car. It was a 4-bolt but someone screwed the deck up really bad either removing the heads or dropping something inside the enge bay after the heads were removed. Still had the forged Crank!! So an hour later using basic hand tools...... I got the crank out. Place charged me $40.00 for the crank 0.o!!!

A couple months later I got a set of complete heads with 3rd gen lifters in them for another $100.00. Of of the cams lobes has a bad gouge in it from a rocker falling off and getting wedged between the cam and valve.

So far I have $240.00 into this new engine......LOL

A year has gone by and I slowly gather other parts here and there as they come up. Things like water neck, oil filter housing, water pump and pulleys, etc. Probably about $150.00 in misc parts. I have a bunch of stuff here already and other stuff will come off of the 10:1 engine currently in the car. The plan is to build the new block to the point I can drop it in and just have a few minor things to bolt onto it.

Couple weeks ago I started getting things spec'd out and sent off to the machine shop. I found that the $40.00 crank I had was out of spec and had to be turned. Sent it off to a local shop to have it turned/polished and get the oil galley balls drilled out and tapped for set screws:







This is the reason to have those balls removed. This is what came out of the oil passages after the machine shop did the work on the crank. Now I know that this is just from then drilling out the balls. When they turned/polished the crank they cleaned it and then drilled out the balls "Communication issue". I can just imagine the garbage that was sitting behind the balls prior to drilling them out.

Cost for crank work: $185 for turn/polish - $50.00 for drill/tap work

While the crank was at the shop I worked on the pistons. I soaked each one in chem-clean and used a brass brush to clean them all up. I also took all measurements. I am blueprinting everything I can on this engine build.



I completely stripped the block including all oil galley plugs, oil squirters and freeze plugs. Sent it off to the shop to have it hot tanked, deck checked and honed.

Cost $65.00 for hot tanked, deck checked and honed







Blocked needed a fresh coat of paint so I went with a bright color. Black blocks make it really hard to find where a leak is coming from. So bright blue it is then....

Taped and ready for paint:



All Painted:

[DrGonzo]

I got a bunch of parts on order right now from Chris at Ninja Performance. Clevite bearings came in I think right after Christmas so I spent some time getting the crank mains checked. Since the crank was turned I was a little worried I wouldn't get the clearances correct.






Took a little bit of swapping bearings around to get the correct fit and I was a little worried but in the end they all cam out good:

Sorry for the crappy Cell Pic, It doesn't like to focus on zoom….


Mains all came in between .0019-.0022

The crank still has to come back out as I am still waiting for the oil squirters to arrive. Once those are in I will press them in and re-install the crank and start on getting the rod clearances checked.

In the meantime I am working on cleaning he parts for the heads. The heads are already stripped down and I'm working on cleaning all of the parts. Springs and retainers are done and stored away in bags. Heads will be off to the machine shop in the next couple days to be pressure cleaned and checked.

Depending on what work needs to be done to the heads will tell me what gets done next. I'm taking this build one step at a time really. Not getting ahead on myself and not jumping over things. I'm documenting and speccing out everything I can.

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

seems like a reasonable rebuild. May I recommend a new oil pump or oil pump gears?

[IPD]

awesome. what was the max power you got on 10:1?

[DrGonzo]

seems like a reasonable rebuild. May I recommend a new oil pump or oil pump gears?

All parts will be New OEM or aftermarket. Oil Pump, Water Pump - OEM. Even going with new electronics like Knock sensor and such. Timing belt will be Kevlar and BLE solid tensioner. Some things I will just get off the shelf such as the Idler pulley and such will be just standard Koyo, Rear main and other seals will be Fel-pro. I have used those brands for years now and trust them as much as OEM.

awesome. what was the max power you got on 10:1?

Don't really know. No AWD Dyno's close by that I know of. We were guessing between 350-380 maybe. Could never really get a good solid tune on it as something would mess up "FPR, HeadGaskets, ETC". I was always haivng to fumble around with the SAFC. I have it set now at 12psi and it seems to like that. Going any higher means consistent fine tuning.

[CoreyB]

Looks like a nice clean budget build, nice.

[DrGonzo]

Yeah, trying to stay on a decent budget with this build, hence no forged pistons. Probably just shoot for low - mid 400hp and be happy. Just got to figure out which TD04 turbo I want to use. I want to find something that would be a good match for my goals and not break my wallet "No Billet's"

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

13Ts are where it is at, but they won't make 4000 horse.

[DrGonzo]

Ha ha ha.... I got happy with the zero key. Fixed!!

[BaadVR4]

Just finished install of Gates Kevlar belt and BLE solid tensioner. Engine still on stand, waiting for some final bits and pieces. How do you plan to set the tension on the timing belt? I set it to 3/16" deflection of the belt in the middle of the run from the tensioner pulley to the front bank exhaust cam sprocket. Reason I ask is I can't find anything from BLE.

All parts will be New OEM or aftermarket. Oil Pump, Water Pump - OEM. Even going with new electronics like Knock sensor and such. Timing belt will be Kevlar and BLE solid tensioner. Some things I will just get off the shelf such as the Idler pulley and such will be just standard Koyo, Rear main and other seals will be Fel-pro. I have used those brands for years now and trust them as much as OEM.



Don't really know. No AWD Dyno's close by that I know of. We were guessing between 350-380 maybe. Could never really get a good solid tune on it as something would mess up "FPR, HeadGaskets, ETC". I was always haivng to fumble around with the SAFC. I have it set now at 12psi and it seems to like that. Going any higher means consistent fine tuning.