The ambitious goal - Early bigport 4agze into AE95 sr5

[oldeskewltoy]

Also interesting to hear oldskewl's comment about machining a spacer between the throttles and the head & keeping intake temps substantially lower.

the beauty of wood is you can make it any thickness you want - tune your intake, and it is CHEAP.

get a tight grain hard wood (poplar is such a wood, but others exist) shape it to be 1mm overbore, or 1/2mm LARGER all the way around the port. once shaped and sanded use a marine sealer - numerous coats. When the wood absorbs the sealer it swells approximately the 1/2 mm so that the final size is the ports size.

[TERRA Operative]

no need to go aftermarket cams, just get a set from a bigport engine and stick them into the smallport. It's a cheap, worthwhile upgrade and you can replace the valve stem seals and adjust clearances etc while you're at it.

[PrettyCoolWagon]

no need to go aftermarket cams, just get a set from a bigport engine and stick them into the smallport. It's a cheap, worthwhile upgrade and you can replace the valve stem seals and adjust clearances etc while you're at it.

It's good info to know, I haven't really learnt about the valves etc. yet... I recall billzilla's page saying something similar.. I don't know what the degrees of the bigport cams are(???)

He says anything larger than 264°'s & the factory ECU has difficulty sensing inlet vacuum. I guess that's where my piggy back system comes in. Billzilla's page also says the success rate of aftermarket computers with 4AGZE's isn't great.

For me, I'm trying to keep away from over complicating things & reminding everyone, it's not a race car or street machine but yes - more pulling power's always good. I feel like the more I get into fine tuning the more I'm listening to people who have a different purpose for their car than mine & the more I get out of my depth.

All good info to know ..but I've really gotta go speak to an engineer & see if I'm good to go with the bigport I've got, in which case I won't look for bigger cams but if I have to go small port then I'll look at putting BP cams in.

It's worth noting too, that I don't want the tuning to be so agressive that it's just gulping the juice every time I go on a road trip.

[PrettyCoolWagon]

the beauty of wood is you can make it any thickness you want - tune your intake, and it is CHEAP.

get a tight grain hard wood (poplar is such a wood, but others exist) shape it to be 1mm overbore, or 1/2mm LARGER all the way around the port. once shaped and sanded use a marine sealer - numerous coats. When the wood absorbs the sealer it swells approximately the 1/2 mm so that the final size is the ports size.

Interesting Old Skewel, ..that's pretty cool!

I'm inclined to go for the phenolic resin. I've also work in the marine industry with resins as well..

You'll probably laugh but the whole concept came to me from tea pot handles.
I used to be a silversmith & restore silverware, many teapots have insulators on the handles to stop the heat of the boiling water transfering through the metal handle & burning your hand..
I thought it'd be a good principle to apply to insulating engine intakes to help keep the air cool.
Many of the insulators were made of bakelite (others were made from wood, bone, sea shell etc.) .. guess what the technical name for bakelite is ...

phenolic resin

T-O... Have you ever deaqlt with phenolic resin suppliers??

[TERRA Operative]

nah I haven't. I do plan on doing the same as you for my build, so keep us posted with what you find.
Autospeed did an article about these spacers with some testing etc. Would be worth a read.

[PrettyCoolWagon]

& here I was..., thinking I was trying something new...

good to know I was on the right track though..
Cooling them would be complex but ideal. - maybe a simple way would be to have scoop facing correct way & blow ambient air onto intake runners...

Quote below taken from..

http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Toyot...6/article.html

"...On the intake side a heat-resistant phenol resin intake gasket is used to reduce the conduction of heat to the intake system, improving cool air induction. For the same reason, the flow of engine coolant through the throttle body assembly is controlled by a separate thermostat, preventing the intake air being heated to a greater degree than necessary. ..."

Will keep you posted when time comes - I'm off to a music fest for a few days..

Just got 2-ton jack today, intake & exhaust gaskets & jack stands - still waiting for the HKS engine control kit & big port plenum to arrive in the post..

This all still may take a while but it will happen eventually as I persist..

[banana_socks]

I've looked into those phenolic insulators before, seems like a reasonable idea. Newer cars tend to come with manifolds from high temperature plastics, much to the same effect. You can buy ones for the bigports, but so far haven't found anything for the smallport.

The wood actually seems like a reasonable idea, might have to add it to my list of future projects.

With regards to getting the engine registered legally, I'd probably stick to a STOCK 4AGZE initially, and then make your upgrades after. That way theres less for them to pick on whilst trying to get it through, as they can be pretty uptight about certain things.

[PrettyCoolWagon]

Hey Banana - that's interesting to hear you can buy insulators for the big ports. Do you have any further info on this?

..that sounds like reasonable advice getting the car engineered with stock 4agze..

It might be a good idea if I take my plans to them - toned down a bit

[banana_socks]

They're listed on US Ebay. I emailed the seller asking about a smallport version, but they didn't seem to know much, and only had the one version.

[PrettyCoolWagon]

Couldn't find anything for 4A** series engines, there was a company here in Australia making a lot of products for holden's though..
BTW does anyone know where to source heat resistant paint, like the black on new extractors OR the stuff you paint engine blocks with?

[TERRA Operative]

I use vht flamepfoof paint on headers (anything else just burns off) and the high temp on other stuff.
You can get it from repco, autobarn, etc

[PrettyCoolWagon]

... & is there a product/s I can soak the alloy head in to brighten it up? (or existing threads)
about to go to bed & read up on removing valves ...thinking maybe I should get it compression tested first - a bit reluctant to pull apart the whole head - might be easier to pay someone to do that & the polish & porting + a little grind on the valves

I can do the polish & porting myself - it's just the whole time / professional vs novice thing .. depends on dollars a bit too.

I remember watching a show on channel 31 (Melbourne Geelong community TV) called Gasolene (hot rods & muscle cars)
Actually I'm pretty sure, recently they got their digital licence & are being broadcast in Sydney & Brisbane too..
It cost about $1100 to port a late model V8 head on the latest & greatest machine..

That's a bit too much brass for me - Don't know if it would cost half that for a four banga.. I'm thinking spending more like $250 - $300 , $400 tops.
Does anyone know of a place in the Melbourne region that's familiar with porting 4A** engines & the likes? (or existing threads)

"Gasolene" Has an excellent website - an absolute must for anyone who's passionate about metal that moves

http://mick-curson.blogspot.com/

For anyone who's interested in old school V8's or hot rod builds or body works - these guys also run seminars around the country that you may want to attend one day..

BTW other good C31 shows for auto content are:

In pit lane
Classic resto's
4wd TV
blokes world

http://www.c31.org.au/tv-guide/index/day/fri

[PrettyCoolWagon]

I use vht flamepfoof paint on headers (anything else just burns off) and the high temp on other stuff.
You can get it from repco, autobarn, etc

Thanks T-O

[oldeskewltoy]

porting a V8 head is quite a bit different from porting a 4AGE head....

My fees usually run to about $450 to do a 20V head, $400 for a 16V head. multi angle, or full radius back cut adds to those costs

[PrettyCoolWagon]

Given that our dollars are faily close at the moment - that sounds fair enough - Any Melbournite's??