4age 20v questions...noob

[ketowillis]

hey guys, im fairly new to all this and have a couple of questions..ive searched around for a while but still feel i need to ask some questions.

so i have an A series block from a bigport 4age sitting at home, its has a crank and rods in it. i also have a pretty much bare silvertop 20v head sitting there aswell. i know the two will mate and form an engine provided i have 20v pistons. but what i want to know is what else i need to have a complete motor. i know i need ecu,loom,wiring,manifolds,gaskets,inlet plenum,alternator,water pump and cooling gear,cams and cam gears,belts and a few others that i cant think of right now.

im pretty positive the head has all the valve gear like buckets, shims etc.

was wondering if anyone could help me add to this (extensive) list and maybe head me in the right direction to find it all
sorry for the noob question but i would really apreciate some help. hope i dont get flamed for this haha
thanks, will

[Sam_Q]

no good, the rods and crank arn't compatiable

[ketowillis]

really? i thought they were identical items. is it just the crank and rods?? say i bought 20v items, would they be compatible with a bigport block?? my understanding was that all A series blocks were the same.

[Ken_T]

The 20v pistons have a 20mm gudgeon pin while the big port (3 rib) have 18mm gudgeons. You need the 20mm rods to use the 20mm 20v piston but those rods won't bolt onto the crank because the new rods have a 42mm big end while the 3 rib rods have 40mm big ends.

The story is different if you have a 7 rib bigport as they have the 20/42mm rods so the 20v pistons will go onto them.

The cranks will swap from one A block to another as mains diameter is the same.

[Sam_Q]

have a search for your questions on the ae86dec forum. Read Bill Sherwoods site and also wikipedia on A engines

[ketowillis]

thanks for the info ken, sam i have read through billzilla a few times, just couldnt find too much on interchangability of the 20v and 16v parts in question. just thought id ask. thanks

[BLK_20v]

No harm in asking, at least you didn't have most of the bits and find out the hard way.

You could get custom rods to make this combo work, but that'd be an expensive option. Check the 4sale section on ae86drivingclub as you often see 20v short motors to suit rebuild, or just buy an engine package from SSS / just jap

[ketowillis]

thanks BLK. i think ill give the custom rods a miss, but a short motor sounds a good way to go. found out today that the head i have was rebuilt before it was taken out of the previous car and has just been sitting in my garage since then. i got it for free so im just trying to work with it and keep it as low budget as i can. i realise that theres not really a cheap way around it especially because its eventually going to find its home in my ke70 (ecu,distributor,cooling gear, TB etc dramas) but im going to have to make something out of it eventually or it will just take up space in my garage forever. thanks for the info