SO I'm drivin my car and I notice that there is a bit of smoke starting at 4k and it gets really bad at 5k+. It has 214k so i'm thinking it's about time to give the old girl some life again. so I'm off the the yards on thursday to get either a z6 or y8. The wife and I decided on a $2500 cap on the whole thing. Now I'm of to hasport for new mounts and other various sites for cams, pistons n rods, and heads. I'll keep ya updated on the progress as soon as i start. Now the hard part build it for NA or Turbo...hmmmm
feel free to chime in with words of wisdom or suggestions at anytime.

 

Since you have a budget and might go turbo, I would skip the aftermarket mounts and just use stock mounts. Fill them with with window sealer if you want them to firm them up.

 

yea..the budget is just to keep the wife happy. however...she doesn't know my commission checks are not deposited like my regular checks. so i know i'm going to be going over the posted budget a little bit. I'm liking the idea of the turbo with some vitaras tho...

 

So I found a guy who has a complete y8 and a disassembled z6. He's askin $350 obo for the y8 and $180 obo for the z6. The y8 was running when they pulled it from the car for a swap and the z6 he bought for a project he never finished.
what do you think would be a fair price for those. I'm gonna head up tomorrow to pick one of them up.

 

talk him down to at least $130 for the z6 and get that

 

sounds good to me.

 

So he'll take 150 for it. no worries. He said i'll be able to get it off him on friday. Hope work will understand me leavin early.

 

Check it thoroughly, make sure nothing is warped etc

 

will do. he says it's sitting on a engine stand, so i'm hopin all is well there. If it is, I got my eye on some Eagle h-beams conrods w/arp's. Still not sure if I should go n/a or boost.

 

you mentioned vitaras, i've been thinking about taking out my set up selling it and building another d16z6 but this time go n/a and try to sqeeze as much power out of it as i possibly can

 

I know. I'm drawn from doing either hi compression and low boost or low compression and hi boost or just high compression. But in the mean time, I can get crank, flywheel, rods and head work ready before I choose the pistons. It's not like I'm tryin to break the 300hp mark.

 

Today's my only day off for the week. This workin 6 days a week **** is getting old really fast. Anyways, Gotta take my little cousin to see Harry Potter, then off to find a cheap engine stand and move my Daytona 675 and some other stuff around in the garage. I saw an engine stand at kragens for $59. so I'll start there. While I'm there, I"ll see if they have a manual for the z6.

 

So i picked up a engine stand and a straight edge and some feeler gauges. Thought i had the feeler gauges but most have lost them in the move.
Any one know of any good machine shops in the near Pleasanton, Ca?

 

i would just replace the engine and drive it for another 200k miles. Not worth getting turbo or anything that is illegal in cali....

 

i like the way you think. :thumbsup:

 

you got a valid point. It sucks being in a state that has such strict laws regarding smog, mods, etc. And it raises a question. With the d16z6 being the motor I am going to be working with, lets say I kept the motor in stock form, will that be an issue to smog at a later date? Or will the fact that it is a d16 be ok?

 

You can swap in any motor and get it to pass CARB test for a BAR sticker.
When you have the BAR sticker you can add a street legal turbo kit for that motor and still be legit.

 

Thank you 4drEF, you just answer the other question I was going to ask. So that pretty much settles it for me then. Build up the motor to near stock specs but with better quality parts to handle some abuse for a legit turbo setup at a later date.
How are various stage 2 cams for smog?

 

I contacted soeone at Exospeed and asked him about their stage 2 cams.this is what he had to say:
"Most aftermarket camshafts will affect the smog, especially in CA. Our stage 2 will work, but the car has to be in PERFECT condition with no issues with the engine, catalytic converter, injectors, distributor, etc for it to even possibly pass smog. But its a risk you're taking and considering how strict smog laws are, slight changes in the engine can affect the smog results so its your call on that. An option can be swapping out to a stock cam when its time to smog."
Keeping the stock cam around isn't hard to do.
I also emailed Crower to see what they would say as well.

 

So last night I drove out to pick up the z6. checked everything out and all went well. I'll be posting some pics later tonight when I get home. Just wasn't too happy that the dizzy wasn't there. no worries, after thinking about it i wouldn't want a used dizzy on a new rebuilt engine.

 

I'm in the process of researching parts. so far this is what i'm leaning to:


Eagle Rods
Arais n/a pistons 75mm or 75.5 not sure yet.
Crank shaft balanced/polished and knife edged
8-11lb flywheel
stage 1 clutch
head work
port/polish exhaust
match port intake
1mm oversize exhaust valves
Crower stage 1 cam
AEM cam gear
I/H/E


This is about as far as I've gotten to. Still researching valve springs, pulley's, fuel pumps, injectors, etc...

pics of the block and various other parts coming tonight after work

 

Considering CA smog, you really are limited on what you can do if you really want to pass smog 100% trouble free.
The most basic things such as intake, exhaust and header can easily affect smog readings depending on how the condition of the engine is.

Keep in mindthings like compression change, cylinder head flow modifications such as portwork and cams will affect the readings.

So you really have to figure out what you really want to do and how much you are willing to do.

 

This is what sucks about being in Cali. Other than rebuilding to stock..what would you suggest to get more HP out of this motor and stay legal? or is that an oxymoron?

 

Since I've started doin research on bumping the HP #'s on the z6 I'm building, I've been getting warnings from various people about some non-CARB perfomance mods(P'n'P, Upping compression, cams, etc..)conflict with California smog laws. I've tried searching but so far I haven't turned up anything how how far I can mod this z6 and still keep it smogable. I'm not trying to hit above the 200hp mark, I'm seriously just trying to squeeze as much power outta this thing as possible. Things like weight reduction and reducing the rotating mass to make it more responsive is obvious.
I'm I stuck with doing a stock rebuild and slapping an Edelbrock/Greddy CARB legal turbo kit? And no, swapping a B,H or K in isn't an option......well not at this moment anyways.

 

200hp all motor is a whole different level. LOL, It'll be called a Gross polluter to have an SOHC d16 at that HP.

Seriously though, if you're that concerned about smog stuff, youre going to be limited. The upgrades to get even just 20hp gain can throw off smog readings.

Sorry, I'm not trying to burst your bubble here. I'm a huge SOHC fan and I would want you to do stuff to the SOHC. But what i've said is just being realistic. People who modify their engines are taking a risk and take different routes on making their stuff pass smog somehow, from illegal smog stuff to changing out the parts they put in when they have to smog. I'm not saying to do that, but thats how extreme people get to get Power.