Sway Tale

After getting oil all over the windshield a few more times I decide to do some stationary testing. I pulled all the hoses off. The valley cover port would push small amounts of oil out with higher rpms through the entire hose. This is because the camshaft slings oil directly at the port but when the crankcase pressure builds the amount of oil that comes out of the valley cover is not consistent with RPM but with load. This means venting from the valley cover is pointless and a baffle might not make any difference because the stock baffle doesn't work on OEM vented valley covers.

The oil pan drain did not splash any oil while I had everything disconnected. Well, I was wrong about that....

That was it actually. The literal crankcase, which the pan is right below in case you didn't know, was building so much pressure it was pushing the oil either back up the drain or through the separator outlet.
Now I had a solution to the problem. What if I just put a check valve on the oil drain? Why wouldn't that work? It does work....


I used the 10AN turbo oil drain port instead this time. It sits a little higher than the 6AN port toward the rear of the oil pan I welded on exclusively for the separator. My engine is tilted rearward a bit so that is another reason for that.




And Voila! My contraption:








That is a Radium check valve, its universal. I had doubts that it would open and let the oil drain. I took a piece of hose, maybe 2 feet in length. I put the check valve at one end and let it hang at from the hose. I tried filling the hose with water but check valve would open before I could fill it completely. It turns out this check valve cracks open at 0.3 psi....so that means the weight of something like a small amount of oil would push it open instantly.




And attached to the bottom of the can:






I took the car for a test drive and it works. No more oily mess and the oil stays in the engine. I had it vented to atmosphere.

I did do something wrong though. I made too many changes at once and decided to try out the ideas of someone else. There is a very popular catch can offered for sale that mentions they do not recommend anything larger than a 6AN or 3/8" hose for road racing...which my car does....unfortunately, they don't explain fully why or under what circumstances or how their catch can actually functions. Well.....I had an oily mess shortly, again, but it wasn't the separator this time. My dipstick popped out....6AN or 3/8" hose is too small for efficiently venting an LS engine that is used for any kind of racing or sustained high engine load. The stock breather/PCV system uses 3/8" hose and it will work for a daily driver. There is a reason most of the performance valve covers come with 8AN or larger.

I switched back to 8AN breather for the valve covers and the problem vent away. The dipstick has not popped out since and I have done a lot of testing already. I am going to try 10AN later on.



These pictures are the 6AN setup I was using. You can actually fit a 8AN hose on the stock valve cover breather which is what I was doing with the Holley valve covers and the twin catch can setup. You can also see the oil cap has the vent blocked off.









I did not connect my upper rad hose coolant line to the separator this time. I connected the water manifold to the separator instead because its lower than the highest point. From the separator I ran the coolant to the bottom of the coolant surge tank and it actually made bleeding air from the cooling system much easier.




That is where my breather hose goes. I don't get much if any oil smell like this but I am going to extend the hose further under the car.



This is how the can looks inside:



Remember how I mentioned Subaru engines have the actual crankcase and valve covers vented to each other? That keeps the pressure balanced between them and prevents the crankcase pressure from excessively building up any where. Guess what I am going to try out?....Eventually, before I decided to try that out I realized I ran out of weld bungs. I think it can be done with 6AN though, that means I would only have to modify my RH valve cover.

Sway Tale

This is how my Air/Oil Separator is setup now using stock valve covers:



This is what I am going to try next, its exactly how I was venting the Subaru engines:


This is how I used to have my system setup:





The fresh air catch can would fill up too often with clean oil. Running a larger catch can was not a solution. The catch can with the PCV valve actually caught very little oil in comparison and it was usually dirty.


I am going to mock up a few more variations later...

ryeguy2006a

iTrader: (27)

I thought I read in a few different places that it wasn't a good idea to return the oil that was separated back into the crankcase? Not sure what the reasoning was, but remember reading it and it made sense.

Sway Tale

Condensation. Catch cans collect a lot of it due to a temperature difference between the crankcase, engine oil, breather hoses, the catch can itself, and the atmosphere. That is why I have coolant running through the separator base. This helps prevent the sludge from forming. The Radium AOS-R has a water trap below the oil drain inside the separator. The water forms there and eventually evaporates through the separator outlet when the coolant gets hot enough.

Some info about fuel and water collecting in the oil is nonsense. There is plenty of water in your oil during the winter, this is why there is a time limitation on oil changes. OEMs know this and specify a mileage and time period for oil change intervals. Ever notice how factory oil coolers are setup to keep the oil at 212°F or higher, the boiling temp of water.....or at the very least an oil to coolant heat exchanger with coolant fed from the hot side of the engine. Your only other option is to keep the entire car in a temperature/humidity controlled environment, ie; A garage......

Fuel and carbon get into the oil as well. I have tuned various cars over time and seen plenty of stock ecu maps. The one thing all factory calibrations have in common? Excessive fueling and ignition timing everywhere except idle and light load cruising. Surprise! They are not tuned to be efficient outside of EPA/CAFE MPG testing. Your engine ecu calibration plays a role in how dirty your oil gets.

Catch cans collect what was in the oil anyway. A heated separator is actually a good way to filter out contaminants.
What confuses me is why some advertise having a PCV system and venting to the intake if you don't want contaminants to enter your engine? What difference does it make if the dirty vapor goes into the intake or back in to the oil pan? Maybe it has to do with emissions regulations and the EPA not making a distinction between a consumer part and a race car.

What I am saying is, take whatever liquid your catch can collects and put it inside a device to distill the oil from the liquid. Then take that oil and compare it to what is in your oil pan. You may end up with oil that is actually cleaner than the oil in your engine. That is the purpose of an Air/Oil separator.

Sway Tale

I keep forgetting to post this:


That and you can see me being a bum on my day off. I have made a lot of changes since that video...


Maldo72 has two nice looking F-Body cars, he's also trying to do a GT45 setup on the older LT engine


New larger oil cooler setup:




I finally started working on the twin turbo setup:







I am attempting to do the runners equal length but mostly I don't want them to be too short.


I switched from the DTC-30 to the DTC-60, big improvement. The 60s are a lot more streetable than most race pads come to think of it.
I need some sort of brake upgrade but until then all I can do is some tweaking like this:




And I got a new coilover setup so I can run wider wheels, Custom valved FEAL 441



Shock dyno



Hyperco 550lb/in Front and 500lb/in Rear, I still feel they are somewhat soft




DMS camber plate front and back, I don't like adjusting camber with the strut bolts





Oh yeah, my SBE LS2 with stock rod bolts revving to 8k rpm

Sway Tale

I am not sure if I put this up but this is a sound clip of my LS2 Naturally aspirated


And those are the LS9/LS7 headers we cut up and welded with GMAW, C25, and 316 wire....no cracks, no rust.... I refuse to TIG steel exhaust or listen to requirements for welding metals at this point. My exhaust has seen extreme temps for a long time and the only thing that has cracked has been the canister on my muffler. Which was TIG welded by the manufacturer.

More on this later but 316 wire is for 316 stainless steel and conventional wisdom says not to be used with 304, 409 or mild steel, which is exactly what I am using. Stainless is "supposed" to be welded with tri-gas (helium, argon, and 2.5% CO2) or at most 5% carbon dioxide. I used 75% Argon and 25% CO2 gas. To be fair, I tried to use 308, 309 wire and Tri-gas, during welding we could tell it was worse than my method.






I had an issue with my 255/40R18 - 18x8.5 +38 setup, The tires became the bumpstop for a little while.






To fix this you can do a few things

First one is take the spring off the shock, re install the shock, disconnect the sway bar or remove the opposite strut and put the wheel back on the spindle
Compress the shock until it bottoms out on the bumpstop and voila you know how much travel you have until you hit something. Adjust your coilover height from there....

Here is an example without the wheel:




You can check like so, just make sure you don't have the springs installed and you have lifted the car on the bumpstop :











I was rubbing in the rear even though I already rolled the quarter a bit. I decided the quarter panels are rusty anyway, why not go ham? Mostly I wanted to tuck the top of the tire inside the quarter. This is a requirement for most race classes anyway and I don't have time or money to do fancy flares.



I literally rolled the inside of the door jamb.




Some persuasion required



Yes I rolled the wheel well entirely, I got tired of damaging the tires




Before:


After:




Finished product, it is ugly but (Function)(Function) = Form




I also added helper springs. If you don't know, they are a way to trade compression travel for rebound travel on the shock. They effectively increase droop travel of your suspension and also affect ride height directly. In a sense, its an adjustment **** for your control arm(s). Where the camber curve starts and ends. blah blah, stance guys use it to further lower the car and hit the bumpstop sooner to prevent the wheel from hitting the chassis. Most people usually tub the wheel wells instead of this. Helper springs absolutely require preload, how much depends on your setup.







Another snag and revelation. With the helper springs I had to make the spring collars lower to fit the helper springs. I never noticed feal suspension has slotted upper clevis bolts for the rear struts. I was maxing out negative camber on the spindle end which was really bad. So bad that now the spring was interfering with the rim and tire. I set the camber to max positive on the spindle end and adjusted it on the top hat camber plate instead. This was actually a better way of doing it because it affected the camber curve (control arm movement during compression) in a more delicate way.



I got very lucky with minimal damage to the wiring harness. The tire rubbed through 3 layers of anti abrasion tape (TESA)

Sway Tale

Back to the LS stuff

Ghetto way of preventing MIG splatter




If you are wondering why I have the wastegate clamped down to the flange and pipe, it is because MIG welding warps flanges easily. Clamping it down prevents this, it also prevents the majority of MIG splatter from getting on the flange too.
This is the actual reason flanges like V bands are TIG (GTAW) welded, to prevent warping. Its not just about fancy looking welds. The problem is TIG usually has a small area of penetration and heat relative to your work piece, this is often because you are trying to prevent the metal from shifting. Also TIG welding absolutely requires a backpurge and it cracks over time from heat and expansion anyway. With MIG welding a backpurge is not necessary but can be used as well. You are welcome to argue these points any way you want, just not with me.



Many people get away with welding stainless tube (as opposed to schedule 10 pipe) on turbo setups. Guess what? Plenty of them are MIG welded.


Finishing up the first manifold.


I even gave myself spark plug clearance.




The manifold is not perfectly equal length but its very close to it. I don't know how the RH side is going to come out and its been very difficult to keep all the runners a similar length





The only thing that was important was avoiding making the runners too short in length.





Great, one manifold is finished. I only have to make another one, downpipes, exhaust, merged dump tubes, y-pipe, muffler axle back, redo the fuel rail feed lines, make a harness for the AEM infinity, change differential bushings, install carbon fiber drive shaft, fix random rust, revalve front shocks, reinstall hood cowl, swap injectors, make turbo oil feed and drain lines, reroute the oil cooler lines, relocate the oil filter, relocate the fuel filter, swap to dual fuel pumps and rewire them, install Air/Water intercoolers, heat exchangers, water pumps, expansion tank, blow off valves, charge piping, boost controller.........believe me when I say this is no where near done

Teddy-2000RS

This is beyond cool. I see you have encountered the internet welders a time or two eh?

I rubbed through the harness on my old RS the same way.

Sway Tale

Thank you.

I like to call them welding advisors, in my case its face to face **** talking. They usually get upset when I point out how their work is something an artist would make and not something designed for a function. Its a lot like the reaction I got on Nastysock

The tires are a bit tall, 35 profile would have had much more clearance. I had the ride height too low and that wiring became the bumpstop as well. With the sti 17x8 wheels I never had an issue on this car. The GC chassis is even tighter as far as wheel wells.

I remember your build, how much incentive do you need to finish?

Teddy-2000RS

Yea like anything else there is a rule of thumb or the "ideal world" setup. The exhaust on my daily has stainless sections welded to rusty mild sections with 70s2/C25. I have done 40k miles of dirt roads/mud season and three New Hampshire winters without issue. It does not always look like an Instagram post and will still function the same 99.9% of the time.

The GC was smaller in every aspect, I was very surprised how much bigger the GD chassis is. I parted my car out and sold the roller. Someone cut my solid axle work out of the back of it for there own car and its for sale again the last time I saw. I have an E36 M car now that will likely get just a simple Gen 4 ally block 6.0/6.2 when I get my own shop space again.

Sway Tale

Continuation of the turbo manifolds

When you are too lazy to build a jig or welding fixture:







This manifold came out much better than the first one but its very similar.










The manifolds are not meant to be straight, symmetrical, or perfectly equal length. I need the turbochargers to sit parallel to the ground and since the engine doesn't, neither do the manifolds. Its already a tight squeeze to make everything fit so I don't mind. The runners come out to 11" to 13.5" long. Cylinders 3,4,5,6 have the longest runners.


I actually had a welder ask us what kind of bevel we had on the weld els....he got confused when we told him before or after we cut them? Anyway, penetration with the MIG on high power is awesome. Downside is you need a jig to prevent the runner and flanges from moving or leave it to the head while welding. This makes welding the 4 into 1 merge and where the runners pass next to each other a pain. The first manifold was done in sections like you would typically, inner runners fully welded while sections of the outers removed, too much work. Had to heat up the manifold to bolt it back to the head. The second manifold we just decided to weld all the runners in one shot without a jig or removing the manifold from the cylinder head. This worked much better and took way less time. The design of the manifold allows for this, its not always possible.

And just for reference this is a stock engine bay from this car:



The L33 I made 350+whp through stock LS7 exhaust manifolds and stock 862 heads. I took it apart, again, it has been asking for an overbore for 6,000 miles but I just keep throwing new piston rings in it. I may just send it to the machine shop this time...or not.
Real reason for tear down is to swap out the JE pro seal 0.039" head gaskets for the BTR small bore LS9 style gaskets. The quench height is too tight for boost, it just causes issues, even on e85.





JE left, BTR right. Its something new from BTR, LS9 gaskets for the small bore LS (4.8/5.3)




Still looks just as bad as the day I got the engine

Sway Tale

They are not facing backwards, that is how they will be mounted on the engine





Oil drain options, the turbos hang low so I cant just run a 10an elbow to the pan. 3/4" and 12AN to the rescue





I was curious if the manifolds could be flipped left right:

Sway Tale

I may be able to squeeze the s366 cast on to my manifolds. I am waiting on a 0.82 AR v band housing for the S366 73mm exducer (80mm turbine wheel) from AGP turbo.

For now just pics of the turbos, box stock s257sxe and a cast s366 on a tial 1.30 turbine housing, The tial housing is humongous, its almost the same size as the s400 turbine housings. The outlet vband flange from Tial is for a 4" exhaust. Also the Tial s300 housing will work with an EFR 9180 iron bearing housing because you have to get the install kit for one to use it with the s300 turbos. The aluminum bearing 9180 has some spacer ring contraption and I don't know if it requires a different turbine housing.


























I really wish I tried out a single setup but I couldn't justify running a 7875. Not that its a bad turbo but with road racing I don't think the engine nor I would like it.
So I thought a single s366 with a nice big turbine housing would be the way to go....Enter the S372SXE. Hank Peabody ran a S369SXE on his LS3 and I thought why not try that in the future. Its got to be a better setup than the precision.
Anyway heres a couple of pics comparing the turbo sizes and wheels.


S366 has a smaller compressor cover in diameter and height. Notice the similar overall height with the s366 having a taller turbine housing


S372 SXE left and cast S366 right


sxe extended tip 73mm exducer left
"clipped" s366 73mm exducer right


I may be wrong but I think the difference between the exhaust wheels isn't just the extended tip

Sway Tale

S300 73mm AGP vband 0.82 A/R turbine housing came in. It is the same size so everything should fit my current manifolds







I think spool with these turbine housings will be better than expected







Not much difference in overall size except for compressor cover diameter

Sway Tale

S366 73/80mm fits just fine. I only tried LH side of the engine which is tighter than the RH side






So I tried mounting it in the car. Its tight and it barely fits with minimum clearance. With the 6 bolt heads the clearance is bad, which I am not planning on using actually.

Red arrow is compressor cover touching cylinder head. Green arrow is compressor cover to frame rail. Ignore the hose and silver heat shielding it sticks out past the frame.
In order for it to fit with these heads I would have to cut the 6 bolt ear.



Hella tight


Compressor cover interference



If I turn it on the v band towards the frame I get this:

Sway Tale

Cliff Notes: GM head bolts are not TTY, there is no reason to replace GM head bolts with ARP head bolts, I write captain wuss on my tire, and I am using ARP head studs because I ripped the head bolt thread out of my aluminum block.

The only legitimate reason to replace the stock head bolts is if they are the original ones from 20 years ago or you are way past the limits of the stock block/heads.

I wanted to continue reusing the GM head bolts. They work and the clamping strength on them is considerably high, it is just the OEM torque specs do not utilize their capability.

Some people don't understand what they are working with and follow instructions like a robot. Some do not question why the stock head bolts are not reusable, why the torque to angle method is required, and others simply reuse them out of necessity. When something is written in a manual or done to a certain spec there is no consideration of the reasoning behind it.

Usually I use 65+ ft/lb to tighten used head bolts, three stages; 25, 45, 65-68. Normally this works just fine and gives you a similar tightening torque as the TTA method. I think its not enough.

If you have learned how tightening torque feels when you are tightening bolts and when to stop before they yield, then you can usually figure out max tightening torque of a bolt with any torque wrench. If you have broken enough bolts and used a torque wrench enough times then this should be easy to understand. I decided to go up to 70-75 ft/lb and I noticed there is a moment where the bolts stop feeling soft and tighten up and stop. If I had to guess the magical number is probably 80 ft/lbs just like the ARP head bolts spec. Using a clicky torque wrench set at 75 ft/lb and past experience I was able to tighten all the bolts to what I could discern as the maximum but one of them just didn't feel right.

edit: I forgot to mention that there is a bit of a soft/sponge feeling when tightening the stock head bolts. Some of this can be attributed to the headgasket, ie; a thinner headgasket vs LS9. The cylinder head and block also cause this feeling of soft tension. That is not the bolt causing that because if it did it would have already yielded at that point, this is also why the Torque to angle method is used. If you have ever tightened the head to the initial 15 ft/lb torque spec for the TTA method (or even the ARP bolts/studs) and gone over the head bolts 2 or 3 times before angle tightening you will know what I am talking about.

I took all the bolts out and this is the reason, however, for the OEM torque to angle method :
(ARP head stud for reference)


The thread in the aluminum block will yield before the OEM bolts do, so much for ARP head bolts. The OEM head bolts are not torque to yield, not even close. The bolts have to replaced because of the threadlock/sealant paste on them, it has nothing do with TTY.
The Torque to Angle method GM specifies for head bolts isn't anywhere near the yield strength of the OEM head bolts either.

Using ARP head bolts doesn't solve anything either, the block threads can yield at 80 ft/lbs. If you have an iron block then this normally isn't a problem unless its rusty. A brand new aluminum block may not have any issues either.


If you have ever worked with Aluminum brake calipers (ie; OEM Brembo) that use steel bolts then you know where this is going and why.

Anyway....











It says GEN 3 and does different head bolt lengths but it works just fine on GEN 4 as well. Just use a ruler to measure your depth, the drill bit, tap, driver all have two marks to differentiate depth of hole. The kit does not come with the inserts for the short bolts on GEN 3, they are sold separately.




Regular black garbage bag and some blue tape is all you need. I don't know why there is people mummifying their block with the blue tape. Just cover the engine with the bag and cut out a hole for the work area. Cover said hole with blue tape overlapping the bag.









You will need compressed air to blow out the shavings and some brake cleaner to get rid of oily residue.


put the plate on, align the hole you need to fix with the bushing and pin



Drill hole. I do not use a drill. The tap wrench is enough to drill aluminum by hand. You will get a lot of shavings.



Tap







Install the thread insert


Locktite is required to prevent the insert from coming out


Now you have a thread again...



Find something to do while the lock tite sets, I had a white marker in my pocket at the time.




Get confused by what you just did...



If you look at the first pic with the arp stud you can see that the hole is deeper than the stock threads. Make sure to measure how deep the thread needs to be.

Sway Tale

Cliff notes: Do not over-torque ARP head studs, actually read and follow the damn instructions. Make sure the head stud washer and cylinder head are dry and not oily. Subaru engines have always been garbage. You are not at the level when you need $600 head studs. My L33 block should have been scrapped before I bought it. Re-using the Katech IWIS chain for the 7th time in a row.

I am using ARP 234-4317 headstuds (8740) which came with the patterned washers. I wasn't looking for increased clamping force because you would need the Custom Age 625+ (100 ft/lb) head studs which torque to a significantly higher value than the 8740 (80 ft/lb), ARP2000 (90 ft/lb) and the OEM GM head bolts. I was trying to use the stock head bolts but that didn't work out. I would opt for a head with a thicker deck or LSA heads before I would waste money on expensive studs. GM chose to use a 12mm head bolt on the LS9 instead.

I have only had trouble with ARP head studs once, and I have used them multiple times on Subaru EJ engines, Nissan SR engines, a Toyota 2JZ, Honda K series, accord F22, Mitsubishi 4G63, 4B11 and a few others I can't remember . Besides some of the studs not wanting to come out when rebuilding, just need some vise grips to solve that.

I have had an ARP2000 head stud crack the block while tightening the nuts, only once and it was a subaru block of all things (I ended up welding the crack on the outside of the block, didn't care as back then the EJ engines would only last 500-1500 miles anyway). This can happen from various things such as when the stud starts spinning and tightening further while tightening the nut, applying more torque than in the instructions, or like ARP says the washer spins with the nut and "inconsistent clamp load maybe applied". ARP has never acknowledged these issues (nor do they need to) but they came up with the patterned washer to try to solve that. Before their solution was to use some sandpaper on one side of the washer and the cylinder head bolt hole face. It would be nice if ARP gave a more thorough explanation of what they sell and what it does but at the same time I don't expect everyone to understand half of what's written in the current instructions.

Here's what the instructions actually describe, red arrows:



The green arrow is something I alluded to in the previous post, #9 bolt holt on both of my cylinder head the stud sits ~1mm lower than the others. I repaired #9 bolt hole on the RH side of my L33 block which puts it at the front of the engine towards the top. The #9 bolt hole on the LH side of the block is actually at the rear of the engine towards the top and has not been repaired. Strangely it also has the stud sitting ~1mm lower.

Here is a picture of the RH cylinder head, you can see bolt hole #5 (left) and #9 (right):



Here is the LH cylinder head, same thing:




Something interesting, might just be my block. It won't have an effect on anything though.

Still re-using that Katech IWIS chain....The small studs at the top are kind of useless, they only torque to 28 ft/lb



BTR LS9 head gasket for small bore , 3.950" i think




Use a small paint brush for applying arp lube on the studs/nuts after you have installed the head/washers, I like the crayola ones from wal-mart with the white bristles. The bristles don't fall out like the cheaper ones. Just don't get brake or carb cleaner on the brush handle, it smears the paint and make the handle sticky.

jasons69chevelle

I’m at a loss of words here more then 1 way to skin a cat.
That’s a lot of work cool build though.

Sway Tale

Cliff notes: Pin the crank with an ATI pulley using the crankshaft sprocket keyway as a reference while cam and crank are dot to dot so it lines up with your timing pointer. Alternator only belt drive can be done using a Mitsubishi tensioner, one longer bolt, some washers/spacers, and an off the shelf ICT bracket. I get hallucinations of a motor plate and a dry sump setup with bottom mount turbos. Improved racing crank scraper requires some trimming when using a sikky front sump oil pan. 3/4" turbo oil drain diameter should help with a horizontal drain.

I have been planning on switching to an ATI crank pulley and held off because I wanted to pin the crank as well. I was using a fluidampr pulley and I dont want to drill it or the crank so.....

If you dont want to guess where to pin the crank. The keyway for the crank timing sprocket (red arrow) lines up with 90% of the timing pointers available off the shelf.
Set TDC using the cam/crank dot to dot (blue arrow) will be very close to checking TDC with a piston stop, mine was off a very small amount. If anybody can explain if this has to do with degreeing the car, slack in the chain, or something I missed that would be great. The ATI keyway is "SBC style" 10° after TDC. I used the ATI pin kit but I didn't take any pictures. So mock up before you drill. The ATI pin kit is designed to be use with the front timing cover/crank seal in place and prevents 99% of metal shaving from going in the engine.

I was planning on making my own timing pointer that is dead center middle of the crank and thats what the sharpie marks on the crank snout are.



ATI 25% (5.67") pulley vs ATI 10% under drive pulley. I planned on using a subaru p/s pump and alternator on the LS. I originally got the 25% underdrive because it very closely matches the subaru crank pulley diameter but I gave up on that idea. I became interested in running a dry sump in the future. I am most likely just going to run an electric power steering pump as electric assist column doesn't fit very well.




The 25% pulley is a pain in the *** because belts in that size are hard to get and i need to run two idler/tensioners to make it work. Mitsubishi 4G63 timing belt tensioner pictured.



My current belt drive with the 10% pulley. Mitsubishi 6G72 timing belt tensioner and modified ICT alternator bracket. The 4G and 6G tensioners are identical in size and function but the 4G has a belt lip and rougher surface. Audi and Mazda have similar offset tensioners as well.








Anybody know how close the dry sump pump gets to the motor mounts brackets, how much more space do you need to run a 4 or 5 stage? Trying to avoid running a motor plate for now. Kind of interested in mounting the turbochargers lower and getting rid of my current motor mount setup. Maybe I will convert the trans adapter plate to a mid-plate. 1" thick aluminum plate might work.



I swapped to a front sump 8+ quart oil pan from sikky. Experimenting with my oil starvation under heavy breaking.... My F-body mid sump RX-7 swap sikky oil pan only holds 6-7 quarts anyway. It also has ports for turbo oil drains which a bonus.
So I picked up a Front sump scraper and windage tray from improved racing. It required some trimming to fit but that is to be expected as both fabricators expect you to use their parts in an oem setup.
You don't need to do any of this if using a stock oil pan.



Red outline is roughly how I cut it. That section interferes with the weld on the inside of the oil pan and prevents the oil pan from lining up. The front sump windage tray does not use that bolt hole anyway, that is for a different application.
The windage tray also needs to be trimmed at the rear of the engine where the oil pan is shallow.


Oil pan at the rear bottom. I do not use the transmission bellhousing to engine oil pan bolts, the subframe is in the way and the subaru trans doesn't have anything there anyway. So I have to chop off that plate at the back of the oil pan. Decided to be fancy and counterbore the two long bolts. I cannot reach these bolts because of the subframe anyway so why not make it flush...




Mockup of oil drain route. 12AN should make up for the near horizontal oil drain. 90 degree elbows do not fit the sikky oil pan. The bung are welded too close to the block. Straight or swivel fittings are needed.

Sway Tale

Cliff notes: A reminder that while 3/8" pushrods fit stock casting cathedral port heads, such as the 862 and 243, you don't need them with stock lifters and a 6,500 rpm redline. BTR shaft rocker kit and 862 heads work just fine with 3/8" pushrods.
Using Johnson 2116 lifters I needed to get 7.550" pushrods w/862 heads vs 7.650" pushrods w/PRC225 heads.

A lot of subjective information about pushrod diameter, rpm, valvetrain stability. In the spirit of idiots with corvettes I went with 3/8" push rods. Mostly because I needed to buy 7.550" pushrods and they fit 862 heads with no need to clearance them. I am also curious how much the pushrod diameter will help after 7,500 rpm.

3/8" BTR 7.550
5/16" Cam Motion 7.400"
Stock




I am re-using the BTR shaft rockers and johnson 2116 lifters. They worked great up to 8k rpm on my LS2/PRC225 engine, which is down for an overbore and is already disassembled. The LS2/PRC225 used 7.625" (I should have been using 7.650 actually) push rods and a JE 0.039 head gasket. This engine has LS9 headgaskets and stock 862s and a 7.535/7.540" would have been in the middle for all the lifters. I am not ordering custom pushrods, its not a short travel setup, so I went with 7.550".




The clearance is tight at the pushrod to bore. The pushrod is hardened steel and the head is aluminum, whats the worst that can happen?
The push rods