Yeap, they don't like waiting.....

Waiting sucks, you pay roughly $15k in 1 hit, not counting the supporting mods...you wanna drive it as soon as possible.

Yeah but blowing the motor not long after sucks even worse.

Any update ?

Looking like the end of February ----end of March for a start date on my rebuild.

I wasn't done paying for the 15K worth of parts I put in it :wtf2: when I broke the piston and rings.

I am currently footing the bill on my Condo in Destin (probably till March). It hasn't been rented out since October. So that is not helping :icon14:

I will not be throwing in the towel though. I am going to rebuild this engine and I am working on some internal parts that might have a BRD brand on them :hello:

But here are some pics anyways.....

Be careful of cylinder walk. It just got me and I lost my headgaskets. Not sure what I am going to do for sure yet but I do have a plan. If you got questions, ask them. Don't go for round 2 like I am having to do.

I believe it was a combination of cylinder walk and head lift that caused my engine failure. I am working on inserts and processes for closing my deck to eliminate the cylinder walk. I have some ideas for the head lift that I am working on as well.

RJM's closed deck conversion doesn't work. Don't go that route.

We are designing something new. What were the problems with RJM's? any specifics?

Might help with our design lol

Machines shops I talked too stated you just can't get them in tight enough to hold the cylinder. They were right. You can design
whatever you want, you will still be in the same boat.

Has there been any actual failures with the blocks that RJM did?

Yes

Do you happen to know if they machined the head and cylinder to match the closed deck insert?


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Yes, it was perfect. LOL, we are not talking about back yard shade tree guys. It's not the first one that had issues either.

Headed to the engine machine shop today and discuss my ideas on closing the deck on my block. Hopefully they give me good news and agree to work with me on this project.

I haven't seen it done this way before and after talking to a few machinist we believe we have a good idea. But only time and testing will show the outcome.

Wish me luck, not devastation. This could be good for the community!

Just make sure we don’t say the saying “I told you so”

Well, there are no engine machine shops in the area that have the proper equipment to help with our plan. So.......I might have to switch gears.

Looks like I might just go ahead and wet sleeve the block.
$2,300 for the sleeve install and deck surfacing plus the $1,050 for the sleeves.

Make sure they are using a 3 or 4 axis CNC. If not, no go. You really need an experienced machine shop to do this. Contact Mazworx, they can help you out.

If you arent going for over 800hp, I would recommend just doing a normal piston and rod build and leaving the cylinders alone. Less is more, when it comes to getting to spend some quality time behind the wheel of your Z. You could do a mild build to get your car back on the road so you can enjoy it, and use a spare motor to climb down the rabbit hole of experiments and unreliability. If you go straight to that type of build right now, statistics predict the car will be parted out after 3-4 years of nightmares and a solid 30+ grand in the hole. Not trying to be negative... just seen this happen too many times.

They have a 3 axis and they install sleeves everyday. He said the did the same sleeves on a VQ35 last year. No issues.

That makes me feel better about going with Darton MID sleeves.

That is what makes me nervous too.

Nobody likes when I tell them this... but almost 20 years in this industry I can promise anyone that it IS worth the money to have a spare engine when you have such a highly modified vehicle. The only exception might be if you have other highly modified vehicles to entertain you during your down time. If your big engine needs a break, you can swap to the bench warmer and keep it at 600hp or so and still love and enjoy the car. Its nearly impossible to stay in love with a car that is in pieces 90% of the ownership experience and a constant pitfall of cash. If you are actually getting to use and love it, it will be a lot easier to maintain a positive attitude about the car.

This is why I wont build the engine in the car anymore. You buy a core to build. Keep the stock engine stock and swap it back in if ever needed. It will still suck if the big engine has a problem and needs to come out, but at least you can be back in action 2 days later.

You read my mind. I am buying all new stuff, that way I can take all my good parts out of the blown motor and build another spare for a whole lot cheaper. I am on the fence about finishing my garage and installing a lift so I can do the swaps myself. Time is just my enemy. We shall see on getting my garage finished. I know I need to do it to save time and money. I have the skills and tools to do what I need to do also.

Guess I’ll just build my
Stock motor that’s in my
Trunk as a mild piston rod combo.

I talked with Mark at Mazworx about building a spare motor a while back. He flat out said, "You won't need it". Man he is confident. I hope that holds true.

I might just build out this motor without sleeves (but with all the other goodies) and think hard about that billet block. I can keep this engine under 750 WHP and be happy for a while.

YOu have one the best tuners right near you. Seb!

I need to change my profile. LA as in Louisiana :roflpuke2:

I use Admin Tuning (Moncef). He is only a 5 hour drive from me.

The billet block would be nice. Since my motor popped, I am out on that for a while. You could build this motor out with ARP 625 and a quality headgasket, keep the boost at 17psi if you stay 11:1, Carrillo rods, and CP pistons. You may be OK for a while, You may not. I would suggest a better tuner with more experience though. Seb does remote tuning. I highly recommend you go that route. I think that was the main reason your other engine popped.

L19 or 625? I thought the L19 had more clamping force?

ARP 625, they are better and are less prone to corrosion issues.

Whoop Whoop, getting started on the engine build today!!

I will update as I go!!

Completely agree with Phunks post. Especially since spare enginrd are so cheap in the USA and can still support a good level of power.

Goodluck with building and take your time to do it right!

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Bye any chance you ever go through your logs, and check timing and knock sensitivity. Your tuner is being put on blast right now.

He's being raked through the coals :rofl2:

Oh yeah? Where's this going on? I've got popcorn!

Found it! https://www.facebook.com/groups/vq35hr.37vhr/

I hope you have a big box of popcorn

I don't have facecrap.