my build thread, e30 with a 9 inch

[Nutzy]

why risk it when a je proseal can be had for <=200$?

Really? Best I have seen is $269. That is the cut ring you are referring to, right?

EDIT: No, JE Proseal MLS...

EDIT 2: BM1004-079 is a cut ring...

[someguy2800]

No issues with the head gasket. I am using a cheap felpro m50 gasket and s54 head studs torqued to 105 ft lbs.

[Nutzy]

No issues with the head gasket. I am using a cheap felpro m50 gasket and s54 head studs torqued to 105 ft lbs.

Amazing, who'd have thought it would hold. I guess I can either groove the head for an O-ring on a stock gasket, or go cut-ring. I'm only using 10mm studs.

[vollosso]

Really? Best I have seen is $269. That is the cut ring you are referring to, right? EDIT: No, JE Proseal MLS... EDIT 2: BM1004-079 is a cut ring...

yup je proseal is the cutring. Search the pn you need they can be had below 200$ if you contact the distributors. Or purchased for just over 200$ in a few places, id link you but im on my phone.

I think the oem gasket is fine, but for the fully Built motor id run a cutring. One overboost or enough detonation will likley end a factory gasket.. You just blew an mls? Did you resurface the block?


If you're running e85 maybe risk an oem gasket, but pump we are running such high effective compressions i think you are pushing the limit.

[someguy2800]

I think the cut ring gasket is the best solution for 10mm studs. Oring'd block also seams to do fine. We will shortly find out how much power a stock gasket can hold with 11mm studs. I chose to use the stock gasket because it is cheap and easy to replace without surfacing the head, and I would rather replace a $35 gasket than a set of rods.

[Nutzy]

Vollosso, if you can flick me a link for the JE that would be awesome cuz by the time it is landed here in Oz it's getting really pricey. Like over $400AUD. $80 for shipping? Winning.... Or not....
Yes I am running E85 on only 8.5:1 at 15psi with timing a lot more conservative than Someguy2800. AFR's are solid with flat 12 heading to 11.5 in the very top end. There is no way detonation should be of issue here - unless I have a dodgy injector. The plugs are all clean and unremarkable. Another possibility is a cracked head. Compression test is 160psi even across all 6 pots. The head and block were both decked nice and smooth before assembly.

Someguy (Perry?), I was always intending to go OEM HG with O-ring but got talked out of it by the engine shop. So if I were to go O-ring now it would be the head that got the grooves and not the block. That's not ideal, but many have done it. Otherwise the cut-ring is the go!

From what I have seen on the forums over the years, it seems the success rate of MLS runs about 50%. I guess given this is my second unit, I just met the odds!

Pete

[someguy2800]

Why in the world would you oring the head? If there is a cheap way to send stuff to aus I have an isky oring tool I can send you. It is also very easy to retap to 11 mm

[vollosso]

Edit because i read....

What is safe timing to you? Perry's timing is pretty high.

Are tou getting coolant pressurization? Have you tried a leak-down test?

[vollosso]

If you blew an mls i dont think your issue is a bad headgasket seal...

Properly Machined and installed i think it would take a problem to mess up that gasket.

[Nutzy]

I feel I'm really starting to de-rail someone else's fine thread here....

OK, so O-ring groove the head....many have done it, many have fine success with it. Ideally I'll pull the motor and just do it on the engine stand. Even with cut-ring, CES recommend pulling the motor and doing the job with the motor upright so the rings stand less chance of slipping out of place. A fair call.

Yes I am getting coolant pressurisation, but only under boost. I confirmed this last night with a drive around for 15 mins or so. The hoses were normal, the overflow bottle normal, no gurgling hoses. Then I hit it a few times with full boost and checked everything again. Now the hoses were super tight, the overflow bottle was spilling over, and the hoses gurgling with air.

The spark map I am using is a tweaked version of the one my motor was dyno tuned with on 98RON with 1 or 2 degrees added for E85.

I wouldn't be the first person to lose an MLS for no apparent reason.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

I feel I'm really starting to de-rail someone else's fine thread here....

OK, so O-ring groove the head....many have done it, many have fine success with it. Ideally I'll pull the motor and just do it on the engine stand. Even with cut-ring, CES recommend pulling the motor and doing the job with the motor upright so the rings stand less chance of slipping out of place. A fair call.

As someone who o-ring'd their motor (block only) to use a stock HG and all this against the warnings of my engine builder because "people do it on the internet" I would not do it again.

With solutions like the cut-ring HG, I don't see why anyone would bother with o-rings as they can be hit or miss IMO. The only downside to cut-ring is the need to resurface the head if you have to take off the head, but IMO small price to pay for the sealing power. My buddy did the cut-ring gasket in his E30 while the motor was in the car, turned out completely fine FWIW.

I currently had no choice but to continue to run the o-rings when my paper HG let go on cyl 6 because I was not going to pull the bottom end apart to get it machined out, and cut-ring is not an option with the o-ring grooves.

What I did was put in much smaller copper wire instead and used a stock thickness MLS with it. No issues since (for now up to 1 BAR).

[someguy2800]

This has nothing to do with my car, but we got like 6 inches of rain yesterday and flooded the trail behind my house so I went to check it out with the dog. Fun ride! Will be raising the snorkels tonight lol.

[someguy2800]

when I was at the track on Friday the trans was leaking a good bit of fluid at high rpms. I couldn't see for sure but it looked like it was coming from where the tailhousing bolts on to the main case at the top somewhere. I just wiped it down between runs and figured I'd fix it later. This morning I was was trying to pull the tail housing off in the car but in order to get to the last two bolts you have to pull the shifter out, and you can't get the shifter off in the car so it looks like the motor and trans will have to come out AGAIN. I don't take to whiners but I'm pretty tired of pulling this motor.

Okay, bitching over, off to do work.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

Okay, bitching over, off to do work.

[rajicase]

He's probably already pulled it, fixed it, and reinstalled it.

[Nutzy]

He's probably already pulled it, fixed it, and reinstalled it.

So much truth....

And his avatar had me watching three Clint Eastwood westerns last week!

I don't take to whiners but I'm pretty tired of pulling this motor. Okay, bitching over, off to do work.

Although I find the most recent problem with mine somewhat annoying, after confirming there actually is an issue I just kinda grinned, shrugged, and muttered that "such is the life of a modified car". Roll with the punches.

[someguy2800]

I think I found the problem. The shift boot got dislodged when I put the motor in last time. I think it was just slinging oil up off the reverse gear past the shifter. Im going to pull the tail housing and shifter off and reseal them just to be sure.




Also raised the snorkles on the wheeler. I'll have to really get stupid with it to swamp it now.

[PEI330Ci]

when I was at the track on Friday the trans was leaking a good bit of fluid at high rpms. I couldn't see for sure but it looked like it was coming from where the tailhousing bolts on to the main case at the top somewhere. I just wiped it down between runs and figured I'd fix it later. This morning I was was trying to pull the tail housing off in the car but in order to get to the last two bolts you have to pull the shifter out, and you can't get the shifter off in the car so it looks like the motor and trans will have to come out AGAIN. I don't take to whiners but I'm pretty tired of pulling this motor.

Okay, bitching over, off to do work.

I have to pull the engine on my car to do major transmission work as well. Looking at how to change that....

[someguy2800]

I could get mine out the bottom if I had a lift and a transmission jack. I'm sure its possible just with the car on jack stands but I hate working on my back.

[Parallel]

You are a renaissance man! I wish I could be so versatile. I Enjoyed the video, and continue to love all these updates. This is the only build I follow because it's simply amazing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[someguy2800]

Getting ready to hit the track tomorrow. I was going to go to a no prep night on Wednesday but it got rained out. Got a new set of tires today for the back. Same size 325/50-15 drag radials, but this time I went with a set of Hoosiers instead of the Mickey Thompsons.



they are definitely quite a bit shorter than the M/T's. The tread is also way softer and the sidewalls are about half as thick. The guys from Hoosier tell me they should quite a bit better on a stick car than the M/T's so we will see. I took a 60 mile drive on them tonight and did some testing on the boost controller. I had them filled to 25 psi which is just what the tire shop put in them. It spins them enough to get interesting in third at 25 psi on the highway, and it totally blows the tires off in 3rd at 28 lbs!

Still need to to do a couple things tonight but mostly ready to go for tomorrow.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, should have everything ready for tomorrow. Last time I was at the strip they were complaining that I was dumping water that was condensating in the exhaust out when I launched so I took the exhaust off. I made a nice little elbow to go on the down pipe to direct exhaust out the side but naturally that vibrated loose and fell off when I test drove it tonight. They also informed me that I need a window net to legally get my license to run faster than 10.0, so I put that in tonight. Of all the safety rules I have to say this is the only one that I think is stupid.



the front two straps go around the door bar and the rear strap goes around the factory seat belt bar on the floor. The top has a spring loaded bar that clips into two rings welded to the cage.



i welded two little hoops to the door bar to keep the straps from sliding around.



To keep from burning the headliner and interior trim I put 4 layers of aluminum foil between the cage and the roof. One small piece of the headliner got a bit toasted but it's in an area you can't really see



lastly they also told me my cheap plastic battery cutoff switch was not legal. They said it needed to have a metal handle so I put this one in. That I actually didn't mind as this is way nicer than my old one



this NHRA thing will drive you nuts but I understand they have to make the rules for the least safe car. I've seen some really sketchy cars running before like those 60's gasser cars. You couldn't pay me to run in some of those things. Hey let's take a 62 impala, jack it up 18 inches, put a beam axle from a Volkswagen in the front with leaf springs, 25 year old pie crust slicks in the back, 3 inch wide tires in the front mounted on magnesium wheels with the structural integrity of a muffin tin, and then spray the shit out of it till it traps 140. Sounds like fun!

[Butters Stoch]

You will like the Hoosiers much matter IMO.
Air them to 16-17# and smoke them up, they will hold real nice. A bit more wobbly than mt but mt is steel belted and the Hoosiers and M&H are not.
M&H hook even better than Hoosiers

[good & tight]

I have a confession.... I'm jelly of your back halved 9" setup, there I said it..
Hope you hit 9's Perry..!!!!!!

[someguy2800]

Didn't get through tech. This time they told me that I didn't have the right jacket and pants. They said because I run E85 I need to have SFI 3.2A/15 rather than the normal 3.2A/5. When I got my chassis cert they told me that E85 counted as gasoline so /5 was good enough. As usual the rules depend on who you talk to. I didn't feel like making half passes so I got my money back and went home. The /15 jacket and pants are 1000 bucks so that's a pretty hard pill to swallow. I'm getting pretty tired of this.

- - - Updated - - -

The worst part is the next track day isn't till the end of September. I'm pretty bummed out about it.

[futureroadracer]

^ That really sucks, bud!