LS1 Powered S14 by SicBastard

5 minute(s) of a 390 minute read

I've moved to Long Island. My little apt doesn't have real garages available... so I rented one in Queens! Here's the beast getting dropped off. You'll notice the rear sitting low because the F'n Ohlins still aren't here (sent out 11/07)! After ordering just basic rebuild parts from Japan without without actually looking at my shocks (wait a few months), then actually ordering specific parts I needed (wait a few months), and now realizing that those specific parts that showed up are different then what I need I'm presuming that I'm going to be waiting a few months.

8/27/08

Called ohlins again today, the cat that used to "take care of" their parts ordering from Japan, no longer works there...

Talked to a nice guy named Christer who has taken his place. They said that they need to order entirely new shock bodies for the rear. I asked them to look into ordering them with the 300zx spindel mounts instead of the 240sx mounts for me. Maybe there will be a silver lining in all of this frustration. (the 300zx spindles are made of Aluminum instead of iron like the 240sx and save you 3.5 (7?) lbs per rear corner) Christer wasn't sure and said he'd get back to me. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

8/29/08

I already rolled the rear fenders. May be even a touch too much as I think I might need a 10mm spacer in back now for the wheel to look completely flush.

I should have stopped here...

But I pulled it just a tad more. Even though the above looks evil the notion of a rub at 100+ miles per hour didn't sit well with me.

And this just for kicks. AceInHole is running 285s on all four corners! The fronts specifically are 285/30/R18 on 18x10 +20 motegi wheels. I seriously thought that I was pushing the boundries of stock rolled and pulled front steel fenders when I ordered my 17x9 wheels for 255 tires for the front of my car almost two years ago. When I can afford serious brakes that require 18" wheels I will be upgrading to this size tire at some distant point in the future.

I still think that greater than 285 is possible with stock roll/pulled fenders in the rear though. Once the ohlins are in I'll measure the inside clearance to the coilover and let you all know exactly how much clearance is left.

9/13/08

I've been reading up on piston design. I've read a few debates on reverse dome vs. traditional circumferential dish. I was leaning towards a reverse dome when I cam across some writings by Larry Widmer of Endyn. 

He has some interesting theories about basically building a reverse dome on the exhaust side of the piston with a regular dome on the intake side of the piston in order to mechanically induce swirl and a better/faster/more localized burn. Even more interesting than his theories are his results! His personal street car is running 13.4:1 compression on 92 octane with VERY little ignition advance (down to 10 degrees), and 300 hp out of 2L with incredibly low BSFC. He originally developed his ideas in the 70s while working on 2 valve nascar heads, though Endyn now seems to specialize parts for N/A hondas.

I've really enjoyed his articles:

The Old One - Energy Dynamics

and here are some pics of his ideas on piston design I pilfered from his web site (I hope he doesn't mind)

I have a set of stock CNC LS7 heads that have been milled to a 63cc cumbustion chamber

What's up with the funny button of material in the chamber just above the spark plug between the intake and exhaust halves of the chamber? I hope some of the head porters stop by. 

With the cam that I am considering now with a IVC of 43.5/68.5 @ .050"/.006" lift I am going to need a dish of about 16cc to keep my DCR below 9. I think that might be a difficult piston to design. Especially for these LS7 heads which seem to have the majority of their chamber volume below the intake (which Mr. Widmer suggests I eliminate with a partial traditional dome; even at the expense of intake valve lift!).

Has anyone tried "soft head" style design on an LS or any other engine?