Building a 4AGE - Seeking some advice.

[The Real Roadrunner]

blacktop flywheels are the lightest factory offering but you can find S/H steel ones occasionally. smallport cams are good for 90rwkw from memory.after that a turbo is a great step forward.

[Killswitch]

what i meant was.. the rpm range you choose will dictate things like..
cam size, valve springs, extractor and intake lengths and everything else related to them...

seems pointless to only go up 10 deg duration for the cost of 2 cams... second hand HKS jobbies are not that exxy (200-250 or so each at a guess?)

flywheel will allow the engine to rev faster and the car will have a lower effective weight (less to pull) in lower gears....
flywheel - expensive, but if it effectively reduces your cars weight by 10 or 20%.. not that exxy really

Yeah I understood thats what you meant by choosing a rpm range, well close enough anyway .
Yeah my thoughts of flywheels from this thread : http://www.toymods.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8261 was that even if it makes less power it'll rev up quicker and should accelerate quicker. And I can see the revvy nature being a lot of fun. Also, as those cro-moly Xtreme flywheels are around $400 or so thats the same if not cheaper than some cams.

TRR: smallport cams are less duration than bigport cams? and I haven't even mentioned/considered turbo charging for my application so uh... thanks?

Oh yeah, and rep for all those that have helped.

[The Real Roadrunner]

the smallport cams i measured had .5mm more lift than the cams in the bigport engine i removed from my car. never checked the duration@50 but probly should have. both engines had standard cams. wade/crow do cheap cams from memory.

[30psi 4agte]

FWIW
Big port cams : 240 deg duration and 7.56mm lift
Small port : 232 deg duration and 7.1mm lift

Road runner
Sounds like your small port may have had big port cams.



So if you have em stick with em ....... big port cams that is.

[The Real Roadrunner]

ahahh. learn something new every day. always wondered why it went better than most.
and i thought it was just a freak but no, somebody did the switcharoo.
ill stand corrected (ok maybe im sitting)
cheers
linden.

[oldeskewltoy]

my engine is 112hp @ the wheels.... so 130 to 140 hp range at the crank(depending on what you calculate the drivetrain loss is)... stock US 4AGE were 112 at the crank...

The Web cams are 214 @ .050 lift.. gross duration is 244. their lift is 8.18mm, that is a bit more than the current HKS selections. Last I checked the Web cams are about $100 cheaper than HKS.

There is another cam that is alleged to add quite a bit of power, they are made by Colt cams and their stage 2 cams can add 20+hp... their cams have one lobe per intake opening a few degrees before the second lobe and Colt claims this adds a swirl effect... they claim this aids in cylinder filling

[kristian]

sounds like it will be a demon under the hood

[Killswitch]

Well, finally got round to pulling the engine down today(block atleast, will strip the head tomorrow). Off to the machine shop tomorrow to have a chat

It was running a 3 layer metal headgasket, what would this indicate, if anything? (noobism at work!) Also, at top dead centre the pistons were also inline with the deck height, is this normal, or has the block been decked a bit?
Last but not least, it had ARP flywheel bolts (but seemingly factory bolts everywhere else??), is it safe to reuse these or for the small cost just buy new ones?

Turned out it is the 40/18mm combo so will have to see. probably just end up shaving the block/head to increase compression unless I can source pistons economically.

Cheers

[oldeskewltoy]

Hey all, realise this is a far from new topic. Searched a bit and found some info, but just after some reassurance I'm heading in the right direction!

I have a JDM Bigport 4AGE that will be going into my KE70, there are just a few things I'm not sure about that I'd like some feed back on. Hoping for a reliable, revvy fun engine with a bit more power over stock.

1) Will be going 0.5 or 1mm oversize cast pistons due to rusty bores, would prefer a higher compression ratio - would be great if someone could recommend a brand/part number. Don't wanna stuff around with rebushing smallport pistons. Assuming I run better fuel, will the stock ECU (JDM if that makes any difference?) be happy running higher compression, if so... how high?

2) I realise I need new head bolts due to stretching, but what about rod bolts and other fasteners?

3) I should be right on cleaning up the head to help flow, but unsure whether or not to bother with new valve springs, and if so, to go heavy duty or not.

4) Currently won't be running aftermarket cams, but might later on. Have no idea about the previous life of this engine though. Have decided to spend cam money on an aftermarket light flywheel instead due to the ECU's limitations!


5) Last but not least, I would love to have the bottom end balanced but up here in Darwin theres not a lot of options. I understand this is fairly important for reliability at high rpm and the like, but if I choose not to do this how great an effect will this have on character i.e. how it revs and also the reliability of the engine?



Sorry for the random questions, I believe I have the rest of everything sorted and just wanted some confirmations before I order parts soon.


Thanks

Danno

I've added #s to your questions to make it easier for me to answer....

1) The factory has 1/2mm oversize piston. There is NO 1mm oversize.
There is a "EUG" and Singapore 4AGE that used a factory 10 to 1 piston. I can look up the part# if you'd like....

2) only rod bolts MUST be replaced, the other bolts can be

3) OEM springs will take about 8.2mm of lift before binding, some cams are under this, others are above.

4) lighter flywheel definately helps response, but cams are the first best mod for a 4AGE, they MAKE power, a lighter flywheel just frees up some of what you already have.

5) Toyota engines( and engine parts like pistons and rings and similar) are made with VERY tight tolerances... the advantage to sticking to OEM parts is no extra balancing is required to run with the OEM ECU...

[Talasas]

I definitely put my vote in for new head bolts as well, but truth be told if the original ones come out looking mint (no rusty material in the threads) you *can* re-use them (I have before).

I re-used my SmallPort rod bolts, again they were perfectly fine and went back on no problems. I'm with 30psi on this one, get new rod bolts after you've secured what you NEED to get the engine back in ship shape. Get a genuine full engine gasket kit if you can, otherwise you can use high-quality copper gasket goo in certain places (just be very sure you are skilled with it and make sure once it goes on you don't remove the part).

If you really want the balancing done I would go for the crank as a start to make sure its nice and true and then the rods. To be perfectly honest I didn't worry about doing it with my engine when I rebuilt it at the start of this year, I had them checked and they were within very good limits already so it wasn't worth the cost. Of course again, budget permitting, I would have had it done but the engine is fine without. I've done 1500 kms running 10psi of boost and no reliability issues at all yet.

From what I've seen about the place, the best power comes from a good tune of the ignition and the right cams with decent lift. In which case without hesitating I'd opt for TRD (gen. or copy) valve springs and shim under bucket (or 1NZ-FE shimless bucket) conversion.

My $0.02.