Planning engine rebuild winter 2012

[jmcburnie]

Hi all, Planning on rebuilding the engine on my ep3 this winter, the engines coming up to 110k and to be honest those sort of numbers strike fear into my heart, things need changing on the engine anyway due to wear and tear so im thinking i might aswell spend some cash and have fun and reliability, im not bothering to change the engine as to be 100% truthful the engines been a beauty just had problems with sensors since ive owned it, i am just looking for some input on do's and donts regarding the engine, which parts will need strengthening if ive missed them and any helpful input really, now i am planning on big but usable power so im thinking of supercharging as i feel turbo would be far to aggresive for road use, so the ideas are:
(bare in mind i havent looked at sizing so far this is just an idea to get a ball park £figure in my head)

strip down + clean up
rebore bottom end + possible cryo freeze
new pistons probley just forged standard compression
new crank and arms (undecided on sizing and type)
sump baffle
fast road cams
new valves and springs
new gaskets and seals ( seen in an article that the k20 heads arent to clever after a skim, any ideas on what to do about this)
fidanza ally flywheel
exedy stage 2 clutch
quaife lsd
toda timing chain + new pullys
and finally some shape or form of a bolt on supercharger with sized injectors to suit

This build will probley take up most of 2013 (and the wages to go with it) as ill be in germany but i just love this car too much and know itll be worth it

 

[Stoo.]

Firstly bud.

If it ain't broke... Don't fix it.

If you want to go supercharged, you don't need cams. They can lose boost with higher lift cams.

I would suggest a new timing chain and tensioner and a sump baffle.

No need to go Mad for no reason.

Why would you be skimming the head??

 

[jmcburnie]

i know ide just rather do it all when the engines out and ive got it apart anyway, i dont see the point in taking everything apart and leaving the job half done when i could of just done it then, because 110k is alot of wear and especially with these highly strung engines, ive done things to my old corsa redtop and when things go wrong i just felt devastated that all the hassle had to happen again and in all fairness i wouldnt really feel like the engine was safe adding a s/c when its got 110k internals.

i was looking for lessduration cams than high lift to give abit more power top end as the supercharger would sort the low to mid range, like i said nothings final my ideas could change totally by winter, im starting basic training next month and then after that ill be in germany till december so im just goin to spend my free time planning whats happening and when and getting a better idea of what i want out of it im swayed towards the turbo but i think ill encounter alot speedbumps going down that road

 

[Chris.]

110k is not a lot of mileage for the K20. Unless it's useing a substantial amount of oil, is knocking or down on power then leave it alone. :idea:

 

[jmcburnie]

is it not? well maybe ill do things bit by bit then i suppose ill have the car on the road alot more aswell, is their anything i should look out for or get done around this marker the gearbox will be gettin a once over when the lsd, flywheel and clutch are fitted

 

[Hazz]

If you do rebuild, don't buy a new crank and con rods. At most re-grind the crank journals but only if they need it. If I was going to do anything to a crank I'd get it wedged, knife edged and rebalanced. This will have a similar effect as a lightened flywheel.

Head skim is not worth doing if you're going to S/charge it, if you're staying N/A it's worth doing IMO - although I don't know how much you can take off a K20 head before valve/piston clearences start to become an issue. I'd also look at getting the head ported and knife edged exhaust ports also. Same with the stage 2 clutch, only get it if you're going down the charger route IMO.

 

[Chris.]

is it not? well maybe ill do things bit by bit then i suppose ill have the car on the road alot more aswell, is their anything i should look out for or get done around this marker the gearbox will be gettin a once over when the lsd, flywheel and clutch are fitted

No, it isn't. There are plenty of K20 engined cars running fine and producing health power well beyond 110k miles. The same is true of older B series engines also. If you are insistent on doing work, then a new OEM clutch, lightened flywheel and LSD is a worthy mod. If you are planning on a supercharger then you might want to look into a stage 1 clutch such as the Exedy.

 

[pulpmelon_R]

110k OMG how has it lasted that long?! It could explode at any moment!!

 

[dsjones198]

My engine has recently gone over 174,000 miles and runs fine!!!