rebuilding my E15ET

[mad_cow521]

hey all. ive been lurking round here for a while, digging great info up, and getting good advice and putting in my own 2 cents here and there.. and its not about to stop,, hahaha

i have pulled my motor as, as i have mentioned.

its on a stand and ive pulled it all down. Its definitely had a rebuild before.. the rods are all individually stamped (not the castings) on the side of the cap and rod.. the hone marks are still very visible, and the head looks great, valves all seat very nicely. im still going to send the head and block into my local engine machine shop and have it checked over and machined as necesary

i asked a few weeks ago about things i can do while its apart, either where the e15et falls short, or simple mods that are well worth there value. mostly, i got out of it that i need to match port my manifolds..

also, i dont have a flow bench or anything, but it porting and or polishing worth a go? i believe the basic principle is the smaller the ports, the greater the torque, but it obviouslt restricts air flow more..

and i was thinking of upgrading the cam. i will still be running a stock ecu, but mods will include t25 FMIC, 2.5inch exhaust, log removal, and more boost... prob 12psi. what brans and or stage should i be looking at for decent gains, i obviously still want it driveable.. but i am looking for the nice performance gain and that great exhaust note of a modified engine

[SET23L]

hi mate
on the note of porting andor polishing, i found that porting my head made a change in response and powerand for me it was really cheap (good old dremel) my mate who is an engine builder did it for me.
it made a difference.
on the note of the cam the only thing i could suggest to you is figure out wat your looking for out of the car and then work with that. in my case my car is a daily so atm its still the stock cam but im looking to buy a tage 2 for it. do its up to you how far you wanna go with the cam and always buy from a well known and established company. im looking at going a camtech, theyre well known for their high quality products.

unfortunately thats all the advise i can give you, im pretty much still a newby with these cars, some of the older boys will be able to shine some more light on the matter for you.


louie

[trailblazer]

Hi man. If your going a t25 with standard ecu I would be sticking with the stock cam. The t25 should spool up pretty early and you really want the cam to be most efficient at the same rev range. A More aggressive cam means It will run most efficiently at higher revs therefore you would want a t28 or somthing like that. That's as a general rule. I would definately get the ports tidied up because standard they a bloody horrible. The short side radius is more like a 90 degree corner, exaggerating a bit. The valve guides can be profiled and there is a fair few lumps and bumps that can be smoothed over too. Get at least a three angle valve and seat grind to finish it off. Anyway good luck with the build.

[ET87]

i have been in 4 ets all with different turbo's and the t28, with a cam, forged motor is the way to go.. his name is alby ET n he will tell u about the whiplash he got from taking his et for a drive.. n the power is unbelievable.. so responsive with a front mount n afm in the piping.. stainless steel exhaust is another item to get.. less restrictive n well help power..5th injector is a must.. i had an n13 ca18det powered exa with a WOLF 3D ecu V4.57 n the ecu is so user friendly.. so easy to boost, raise or drop idle, increase fuel. i was amazed how easy it is to use.

[15exa]

.. stainless steel exhaust is another item to get.. less restrictive n well help power..

pffftt............ just go a larger diameter mild steel item, way cheaper

[Panda_ET]

if you have an aftermarket ecu like you mentioned ET87 why bother having a 5th injector...do it right the first time I say.

PLease explain why the extra cost of forged pistons(which what Im guessing you mean by Forged engine) is going to make a huge difference to a dude wanting to run a T25 @ 12psi, cheapo ACL pistons will handle more than 25psi Im thinking that just cast pistons will handle the EPIC 12psi this chap is wanting to run.

Stock Ecu I wouldnt go crazy with the cam Fuelling will be all over the place, just remember the Ecu wont change it tune for bigger injectors nor lumpy cam Ive heard those Stage 2 regrinds work OK on stock ecu..never tried it myself but seen it mentioned a few times here.

[mad_cow521]

yeah ok.. i do have a t28 lurking around somewhere, but im still not 100% sure how far i want to go. are wolf ecu expensive? i dont have as much dosh as i do will for the moment.. i have two written off cars, both not my fault, still waiting for insurance, and i drive an xf ute on gas thats not awful happy .... haha

but im still not sure about boost either.. i made up my own bum sniffer to put up its rear end when i get it going, to see how much boost i can run before it tries to lean out..

also has anyone had dramas pulling the timing belt pulley off the fron of the crank? trying to get the crank out n its being a bastard. think ive broken the aluminium crank seal housing (which forms part of the rear of the timing belt cover) which it behind the pulley. if anyone has one of these housings on a parts motor or something laying around??

[Panda_ET]

yesssssss mine was stuck on freakin hard lol took me a while I swear something was going to break whether it be the engine or my arms lol

your build sounds very smart to be honest I like the idea of not going over the top and keeping it reliable but still a lot of fun If you want to go alll out your lookin at well over a grand JUST for the ecu(plus tuning), then add some more for some injectors, last quote on forged pistons I got was around the 1k mark as well. Remember if you go the all out route there will always be some hidden costs going custom is scary and its a never ending process

[Damo]

hey all. ive been lurking round here for a while, digging great info up, and getting good advice and putting in my own 2 cents here and there.. and its not about to stop,, hahaha

i have pulled my motor as, as i have mentioned.

its on a stand and ive pulled it all down. Its definitely had a rebuild before.. the rods are all individually stamped (not the castings) on the side of the cap and rod.. the hone marks are still very visible, and the head looks great, valves all seat very nicely. im still going to send the head and block into my local engine machine shop and have it checked over and machined as necesary

i asked a few weeks ago about things i can do while its apart, either where the e15et falls short, or simple mods that are well worth there value. mostly, i got out of it that i need to match port my manifolds..

also, i dont have a flow bench or anything, but it porting and or polishing worth a go? i believe the basic principle is the smaller the ports, the greater the torque, but it obviouslt restricts air flow more..

and i was thinking of upgrading the cam. i will still be running a stock ecu, but mods will include t25 FMIC, 2.5inch exhaust, log removal, and more boost... prob 12psi. what brans and or stage should i be looking at for decent gains, i obviously still want it driveable.. but i am looking for the nice performance gain and that great exhaust note of a modified engine

You will find in every Nissan engine (that I know of), and for that matter every other manufacturer, will have cylinder # stampings on the edge of the big end to show which bore it belongs to. Sorry dude, but nothing special there.

Visually the head 'may' look o.k., but you have done the right thing by sending it to be once over'd. As has been said, have the shop do a 3 angle valve seat, it will promote better flow at small lifts, it won't give you shattering power up, but every little bit compliments the others you do.

I would expect a machine shop to have a laugh to themselves if you tell them you are going to have a go at 'porting' the head with a dremmel or similar, because of the amount of time it will take to do the job. BUT, it is possibly the best thing to use if you have a go yourself, as it only takes a small amount of material away slowly. Which means its quite hard to royaly screw it up!
There are quite a few principals which you should adhere to if DIY, not hard to do, but important for a benificial job. Do a search on the net with images to show where you want to be lightly taking material away. Practically, you want to smooth the entire port with something like a flap wheel sander in a drill, then the 15mm or so just inside the valve seat on the port side. The goal is to remove all the obvious 'dags' and casting marks.
You want to try and straighten the flow path as much as possible without lowering the port floor.
If you want to get really crafty, you can shape the port's short radius into a 'D' on its side which in effect widens the port floor without making it lower and shortening it futher. Airflow under vacuum will prodominantly follow the short radius, so the wider it is, the better.

Running such low boost, I would recommend sticking with the stock cam. The benifit of the extra rpm/power for the trouble isn't worth it, you would be better off winding up the boost a few psi. And for that matter, you will almost need to bite the bullet and go bigger injectors and aftermarket ECU anyway, as you will find you will be on the cusp of running out of fuel flow with the above mods.

Also, get the whole thing balanced. Makes the whole package feel more refined, and makes it far more pleasant to rev it over 6k.
Out of interest, I threw the spare rods I have on my scales the other day (minus the end caps and pistons) and there was a varience of 5grams from the lightest to the heaviest! And when you can balance rods to the nearest .1g, 5g is mammoth! I punched the numbers the other night and came out with a figure of 3.5 to 4kg out of balance at 6000rpm, and that is for one rod. If #1 and #4 are the heaviest, thats 8kg lifting the engine 200 times a sec. Vibration city!



Damo

[mad_cow521]

yesssssss mine was stuck on freakin hard lol took me a while I swear something was going to break whether it be the engine or my arms lol

your build sounds very smart to be honest I like the idea of not going over the top and keeping it reliable but still a lot of fun If you want to go alll out your lookin at well over a grand JUST for the ecu(plus tuning), then add some more for some injectors, last quote on forged pistons I got was around the 1k mark as well. Remember if you go the all out route there will always be some hidden costs going custom is scary and its a never ending process

thanks dude. yeah the main reason i pukked it down was cause i was skeptical as to what lied under its lid.. plus i didnt want any nasty surpises later, so i figured its not registered and it isnt costing me to much, i might aswell rebuild it BEFORE i break something. plus then i know that the engine is in great condish, and if i have any dramas later, ill know where im at if u no what i mean. peace of mind that my little donks happily humming away..

i dont think ill bother with the cam then. i only want simple mods. doesnt have to be a powerhouse, and ill be happy with the reliability and economy it will still have. id much rather that than be working on the dam thing all the time..

[mad_cow521]

You will find in every Nissan engine (that I know of), and for that matter every other manufacturer, will have cylinder # stampings on the edge of the big end to show which bore it belongs to. Sorry dude, but nothing special there.

Visually the head 'may' look o.k., but you have done the right thing by sending it to be once over'd. As has been said, have the shop do a 3 angle valve seat, it will promote better flow at small lifts, it won't give you shattering power up, but every little bit compliments the others you do.

I would expect a machine shop to have a laugh to themselves if you tell them you are going to have a go at 'porting' the head with a dremmel or similar, because of the amount of time it will take to do the job. BUT, it is possibly the best thing to use if you have a go yourself, as it only takes a small amount of material away slowly. Which means its quite hard to royaly screw it up!
There are quite a few principals which you should adhere to if DIY, not hard to do, but important for a benificial job. Do a search on the net with images to show where you want to be lightly taking material away. Practically, you want to smooth the entire port with something like a flap wheel sander in a drill, then the 15mm or so just inside the valve seat on the port side. The goal is to remove all the obvious 'dags' and casting marks.
You want to try and straighten the flow path as much as possible without lowering the port floor.
If you want to get really crafty, you can shape the port's short radius into a 'D' on its side which in effect widens the port floor without making it lower and shortening it futher. Airflow under vacuum will prodominantly follow the short radius, so the wider it is, the better.

Running such low boost, I would recommend sticking with the stock cam. The benifit of the extra rpm/power for the trouble isn't worth it, you would be better off winding up the boost a few psi. And for that matter, you will almost need to bite the bullet and go bigger injectors and aftermarket ECU anyway, as you will find you will be on the cusp of running out of fuel flow with the above mods.

Also, get the whole thing balanced. Makes the whole package feel more refined, and makes it far more pleasant to rev it over 6k.
Out of interest, I threw the spare rods I have on my scales the other day (minus the end caps and pistons) and there was a varience of 5grams from the lightest to the heaviest! And when you can balance rods to the nearest .1g, 5g is mammoth! I punched the numbers the other night and came out with a figure of 3.5 to 4kg out of balance at 6000rpm, and that is for one rod. If #1 and #4 are the heaviest, thats 8kg lifting the engine 200 times a sec. Vibration city!



Damo

i pulled the valves out and gave the head a thorough clean, all looks a1. Even with the straight edge the heads very flat, and no cracks. as i said, im still sending it in. it will need to be checked to make sure its not soft etc. but again, thankyou everyone for the advice. thats what i love about being on here. everyone aint scared to say the truth, and it bloody helps.

i think for the supporting mods i have and what i want to get out of it, the t25 will b the go. i wont need the boost up as high as he t28 will support, and for my use, i would rather have the lower power/torque range. i dont need it to rev its face off, or be a quarter mile king. i want a decent all round package. i wanna drive it to work, have some fun round the town, turn heads with decent paint n wheels and it SUPER different for around here, and i wanna b able to trailer it to my local track for fun days. i just wanna b able to enjoy building it, then be proud to know i built it and i can then enjoy it. cheers guys.. keep the info coming..

i also have a rising rate reg, but was convinced that for driving it mostly on-road the gain wont be worth the losses. i also ran a vl fuel pump, but had problems with the setup so i went back to standard.

[ET87]

the wolf is around 1400 i think with a hand controller... n i bought the exa with the wolf ecu n it looked like 5th injector was custom made but i could be wrong.. n the 15exa didnt know the mild steel would be the same n cheaper.

[mad_cow521]

got an exhausr anways.. yeh 1400 is to much for me to justify atm, plus itd need a dyno tune