American in Japan with a British car.

NitroInjected

Well-Known Member
Where do I begin?
I have been reading this site for a few years now and never had the need to really ask a question. I should have said hello and yet here I come hand open expecting something hopefully not warm brown and squishy.
I have been on a bunch of forums with leave it be guys or rich guys wanting to sell ya something or wanting a million dollars for their idea. Then there is the bullying. I have a lotus Esprit 90 SE.. Its a turd. A well polished one but still a turd. The cars and most from the factory were or are crap. It's not that they weren't engineered its that they were cost engineered. Yet I had one guy making fun of me for not using a part he designed and was diying to sell me. I didnt want it. His car was and is a work of art... In some ways I can appreciate others make me scoff. But I warned the guy about the rods which come in at 800+ grams that they probably wouldn't hold. I knew from experience the hard way. The guy pitted a bunch of dudes against me in a bunch of posts and I said screw that noise. ... The guy is currently throwing new H beam rods in his car and using components I said I was going to use for my build... That should be charming but the fallout from it has made getting reasonably priced parts from England a chore. But on to what all the fuss was about and why I am here.
I am in Japan and that limits me to the factory engine anything else will not pass inspection. I am also subject to an electronic smog test.
What I hate about my car:
SLANT 4
Stock rods weight 850 grams...
Open deck.
Factory exhaust casting loves to crack and flows almost as bad as a log manifold.
The valve bowls and area were larger than the port center section along with the inlets!
There is only one gasket available for this engine.
The inlet manifold area is smaller than the port area and is a bandaided carb manifold turned injection and meant to fit a car with way way less clearence...
The turbo is too small to sustain boost at peak even from the factory.
The injection is Delco batch fire.
The intake is on the opposite side of the car from the turbo.
The water air intercooler is too small for the car!
It has 3 rear windows on the same plain
and the tires are an odd size.
Oh and the cake topper. This transmission cant hold over 350 H.P. off the line without blowing up and... almost forgot. Some jackwagon installed my rear main with a screwdriver and didnt do the valve job when it was rebuilt 1000 kilomiters ago or 600 miles... The pistons arent even broken in and the whole motor is caked with oil inside and out.

What I am doing to remedy that:
Illegal to change the motor so it stays.... So I am spending even more money.
I am either going to cut up some inconel junk headers or use 341SS bends. I bought a welder just so I can an exhaust up.
I did a full port and mirror polish. My aided theory behind the polish is to keep carbon off or at the least make it easy clean. My port job included widening the inlets to a template I calculated from the valve area minus the stem in a stadium shape and recontourintg the divider between the valves to a sharp edge. I still have a mm of the inside of the port that was too big ( I said above too small...) but the variance is much less. I cleaned the guide ends right off as they werent sticking in too far. I also cc'd it after polishing and only 1 port displaces 1cc of volume over the others.180 hours with a hobby dremmel a bur and sandpaper grits going from 120 to 2000 before rouge polishing.
I am planning a manifold with hand made butterflies at 46mm exact to match the exhaust valve area that will stick out of the current hatch but still sits under the glass. this is a mid engine car by the way.
I am also making a plenum to match the volume needed as the factory unit does not have enough area.
The turbo in mind is a cheap aliexpress version of garrets GTX3076R giving me ceramic ball bearings and a billet wheel. Which not only is slightly bigger than needed and will spool much faster but it also will not need as much oil keeping my oil pressure higher at idle which was an issue before in the summer.
The delco is being switched for a haltech elite 1500 which gives me sensor output protection which can shut down the engine in a bad situation along with direct fire ignition and injection that can be tuned by gear as well as auto learning which is good because there are no dynos within 600 miles!
I may relocate my turbo to inside an unused space in the back of the car. If not I am going to at least pull air from the near side of the car.
I am ordering a dirt cheap but much larger water to air cooler along with using an electronic cooling pump.
I am having an MLS head gasket made to tighter than factory tolerances leaving just enough gap on the bore to allow for crush.
I am also consulting with ARP for studs that wont lift or break at high boost.
I got H beam rods and the stock pistons are MAHLE forged units with gas porting and chrome coating... looks to be something else now as these are new.
That all gets balanced to .5 grams or less. By me of course.
I am sending the crank and flywheel out as I dont have a lathe or... many tools at all to get machined and balanced independantly. I am going to ask in another thread but I might remove most of the webs and I want to take 10 pounds out of this 19 pounder. Its a steel unit so there shouldnt be a failure. Aluminum ones are out of production.
The gearbox stays stock until I can afford a sequential 6 speed or until it blows.

I think thats enough about that for now.

The goal is only 550 brake power and I would have been happier than a pig with 430 until that guy ticked me off. Now I want to show up all his money with my own two hands and spare change. In fact my rods were bought with change! I saved for a year!
I hope I fit in. I am, easy to get along but also easy to piss off by leave well enough alone types telling me what to do. I accept advice as long as its in the form of a ribbing or is given politely either way. I wont fight Ill just leave the forum but I do not have any issues on the forum I help run for MightyCarMods... Check us out! And I also have no issues on my bikes forum all those dudes have been cool.... I mean real cool. I had a dude offer me parts when I blew my motor due to chain tensioner failure and we helped a dude out with some at the time unknown disease. ( BTW hes recovering as best he can thanks to them. )
And thats all I have to say about that... My Teacher of motors always said... T*** or Tires is always trouble but its just the kind of trouble I like getting into!
 
first WELCOME to the web site as a registered,member
pictures of the car and several of the engine compartment would be really helpful here.
BTW, are you saying that any and all, engine modifications and engine swaps are not legal in japan?
 
Thanks guys! I'll try to get a photo up in a few days. Tonight I am going to clean and weigh my pistons.

EDIT: Swaps are not legal without government permission. I had full plans to keep the stamped capacity the same and go with a honda 4 cylinmder. My car is 2.2L and taxes are on capacity and age. My car is in the highest age bracket as its 28 years old but the 2.2L is its saving grace. still 600 a year plus an inspection every 2 years at about the same price.

Also I am currently cleaning my pistons off. They are chrome coated on the top only the weight minus the pin comes to 518 ish grams with the pin 6... I am short on brain memory... But anyways its over a kilo for the rod and piston! I think I aught to post a photo of the underside of the pistons before I cut.
 
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:D I should have said hello and yet here I come hand open expecting something hopefully not warm brown and squishy. :rolleyes:

You will fit right in here. Welcome.
 
Rats. Missed this one as well. Welcome to the board and definitely: pics or it don’t exist or never happened :D
 
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