So, I finally got off my butt and built an engine for my '98 GT. I decided to do a 2V to 3V conversion because I've done them before (was actually the first). It's a cost effective upgrade and produces good power with a lot of room for future power upgrades. Obviously the least expensive route would be to find a complete '05-'10 motor, and you can find them for around 1500 bucks complete on ebay, can't beat that. I had some parts lying around however, so I created sort of a bastard creation using parts no one wanted.
I started with a really beat up Teksid block from a Mark VIII that I got for free by putting someone's car on the dyno.
I had it hot tanked because it had a lot of corrosion and it appeared that the engine had been over heated at some point, but it checked out ok. I decked it .003" for an 8.934" deck height to ensure flatness and that the deck surfaces were parallel to the crankshaft centerline. About $800 in machining costs, but not too bad.
For the crank shaft, I used a crank that had been damaged on the rod bearings. It's a stock crank from an '06 GT, so I had it turned down from the stock 2.08" (I think) rod size to a 1.888" honda H22 size. This cleaned up all the rod damage, and combined with the weight taken out and the weight that could be taken out of the counterweights removed 3.5lbs from the crank. Sadly I couldn't find any pics of the crank, but check out the rods.
They are eagle items, 5.95" center to center (stock is 5.933"). On top is the eagle items, bottom is a standard Manley modular H beam. They weigh 548 grams, the manleys weigh 603, not to mention they are quite a bit cheaper than the Manleys and have the same .866" piston pin size. I had the crank offset ground when it was being turned to the smaller bearing size, so it's now a 3.52" stroke (stock is 3.543"). Combined with the slightly longer rods, slightly decked block, and stock piston compression height (1.220") I have .004" deck clearance, much better than the stock .0125". With the .020" overbore it's 282ci.
I chose regular Mahle flat top pistons because they are the best design on the market, and at about $550 bucks with pins they are really cheap. I then whipped up a CAD drawing and had a custom dish machined in them.
Top is my dish, bottom is a standard "spherical" dish. This helps to create better "squish" with the flat parts of the cylinder head. The crowns on Mahle pistons are really thick, much thicker than say a Diamond piston, so I had .050" taken out of the underside too.
All told they weigh 335 grams and they cost me less than $750 with machining, pins, everything.
I got junkyard 3V heads and then went really cheap and just had them decked for flatness, cleaned up some casting flash in them, then put new valvesprings in them and called it a day. I plan on putting cams into it, hence the valvesprings, but I'll run it with stock cams for now.
Old non-PI ugliness
New hotness
Got the valvecovers and front cover from the junkyard, el cheapo. Definitely a budget build, but they look okay cleaned up and painted.
These are the exhaust adapter plates so that you can use 2V exhaust.
I have done this with Mac headers and know they will work, but are tight. I decided to try a couple different kinds, but in keeping with the cheapo theme I decided to try Pypes and Hedman headers. The Pypes are JUNK, they wouldn't even fit on a standard 2V car, fitment was terrible. The Hedmans fit GREAT, almost like they were made for the 3V conversion. They are cheap too, but there is no readily available H or X pipe for them, I'll fix that tho.
It runs and drives now, I'm gonna take some more pictures of the completed installation when I get a chance. I'm gonna try to dyno it this weekend to see how it does.
Other things. I used a Melling oil pump because I'm eventually going to do cams and rev it, I think this is a no brainer upgrade. I converted the car to COP ignition which is really easy, I'll get some pics of that as well. I used Livernois full advance lockouts (about 109 intake centerline) to eliminate the VCT. I got the intake for 50 bucks on ebay, I just removed the CMRC plates and shafts and expoxied the holes closed and voila, free CMRC delete plates. I'll take some close ups of the throttle cable/throttle body setup. It's a stock Cobra twin blade I got for 30 bucks on ebay. The cobra throttle body is twin 57mm vs. the '05-'10 twin 52mm, so it's a slight upgrade.
The cold air is something I make that mounts the IAC valve on it, I'll get some pics of all that conversion stuff soon. Maybe I'll do a nice write up too.
Cause it's a '98 I couldn't use the '05 fuel rail like you could if it were a '99-'04, so I got cheapo fuel rails off of ebay for 30 bucks, then bought summit fittings, line, and a regulator. I used conduit hold downs from menards to keep them in place. I even routed the fuel rails a certain way to minimize the amount of fittings I'd have to use, not only is it cheap, it's light! Anyway I'll get some more pics soon so you can see what I'm talking about.
Here is hoping it makes okay power!
I started with a really beat up Teksid block from a Mark VIII that I got for free by putting someone's car on the dyno.
I had it hot tanked because it had a lot of corrosion and it appeared that the engine had been over heated at some point, but it checked out ok. I decked it .003" for an 8.934" deck height to ensure flatness and that the deck surfaces were parallel to the crankshaft centerline. About $800 in machining costs, but not too bad.
For the crank shaft, I used a crank that had been damaged on the rod bearings. It's a stock crank from an '06 GT, so I had it turned down from the stock 2.08" (I think) rod size to a 1.888" honda H22 size. This cleaned up all the rod damage, and combined with the weight taken out and the weight that could be taken out of the counterweights removed 3.5lbs from the crank. Sadly I couldn't find any pics of the crank, but check out the rods.
They are eagle items, 5.95" center to center (stock is 5.933"). On top is the eagle items, bottom is a standard Manley modular H beam. They weigh 548 grams, the manleys weigh 603, not to mention they are quite a bit cheaper than the Manleys and have the same .866" piston pin size. I had the crank offset ground when it was being turned to the smaller bearing size, so it's now a 3.52" stroke (stock is 3.543"). Combined with the slightly longer rods, slightly decked block, and stock piston compression height (1.220") I have .004" deck clearance, much better than the stock .0125". With the .020" overbore it's 282ci.
I chose regular Mahle flat top pistons because they are the best design on the market, and at about $550 bucks with pins they are really cheap. I then whipped up a CAD drawing and had a custom dish machined in them.
Top is my dish, bottom is a standard "spherical" dish. This helps to create better "squish" with the flat parts of the cylinder head. The crowns on Mahle pistons are really thick, much thicker than say a Diamond piston, so I had .050" taken out of the underside too.
All told they weigh 335 grams and they cost me less than $750 with machining, pins, everything.
I got junkyard 3V heads and then went really cheap and just had them decked for flatness, cleaned up some casting flash in them, then put new valvesprings in them and called it a day. I plan on putting cams into it, hence the valvesprings, but I'll run it with stock cams for now.
Old non-PI ugliness
New hotness
Got the valvecovers and front cover from the junkyard, el cheapo. Definitely a budget build, but they look okay cleaned up and painted.
These are the exhaust adapter plates so that you can use 2V exhaust.
I have done this with Mac headers and know they will work, but are tight. I decided to try a couple different kinds, but in keeping with the cheapo theme I decided to try Pypes and Hedman headers. The Pypes are JUNK, they wouldn't even fit on a standard 2V car, fitment was terrible. The Hedmans fit GREAT, almost like they were made for the 3V conversion. They are cheap too, but there is no readily available H or X pipe for them, I'll fix that tho.
It runs and drives now, I'm gonna take some more pictures of the completed installation when I get a chance. I'm gonna try to dyno it this weekend to see how it does.
Other things. I used a Melling oil pump because I'm eventually going to do cams and rev it, I think this is a no brainer upgrade. I converted the car to COP ignition which is really easy, I'll get some pics of that as well. I used Livernois full advance lockouts (about 109 intake centerline) to eliminate the VCT. I got the intake for 50 bucks on ebay, I just removed the CMRC plates and shafts and expoxied the holes closed and voila, free CMRC delete plates. I'll take some close ups of the throttle cable/throttle body setup. It's a stock Cobra twin blade I got for 30 bucks on ebay. The cobra throttle body is twin 57mm vs. the '05-'10 twin 52mm, so it's a slight upgrade.
The cold air is something I make that mounts the IAC valve on it, I'll get some pics of all that conversion stuff soon. Maybe I'll do a nice write up too.
Cause it's a '98 I couldn't use the '05 fuel rail like you could if it were a '99-'04, so I got cheapo fuel rails off of ebay for 30 bucks, then bought summit fittings, line, and a regulator. I used conduit hold downs from menards to keep them in place. I even routed the fuel rails a certain way to minimize the amount of fittings I'd have to use, not only is it cheap, it's light! Anyway I'll get some more pics soon so you can see what I'm talking about.
Here is hoping it makes okay power!