Come on water in the combustion chanber is a good thing
LOL hydro lock boom, time for a new motor.

Come on water in the combustion chanber is a good thing
LOL hydro lock boom, time for a new motor.

My truck was 6 months old with 6000 miles on the clock when I hydo-locked it. Two bent rods and a bill from the Suzuki dealer for the equivalent of $2000  

Just a sidenote about fitting headers. On my 16v it meant losing the factory heatshield which means all that heat impacting on the air intake pipe above, not good. So spend some time making up a replacement heat shield to suit as it's worth the effort. Also for those with bodylifts remember to put a filler in btween the top of the radiator and the hood to stop the cool air going over the top of the radiator instead of through it.

One question I have is how much clearance did you have from the top of the piston to the top of the deck? You are going to have the block decked and I was interested in what clearance there was.

Bill

this is great! can't wait to do this to my engine. i am also going to rebuild a honda D16 out of a civic and then sell it. keep up the good work zaggy!

derek

Morning

Brlj
    On this engine I have not checked the piston to deck height as it is pretty stock. Yes the block will be decked the minimum required to square it and the head shaved
.030" less what ever is taked off the block to square everything up and get close to the target 9:1 cr.
    On the engine in my aircraft the block was decked to
"0" piston to deck clearance and the head shaved .020" to get the same result. The reason I did it that way on the aircraft was it was originally destined for an airboat and I expected overheating problems in testing (didn't happen) and I wanted to leave some extra meat if I needed to resurface to head due to overheating.

Thanks for the questions...

Zag

     While we are waiting for parts it's time to talk camshafts....

    I feel the camshaft is like the brain of the engine. It tells the engine where it will make power and to a large extent how much power it will make.
    The stock camshaft is a compromise picked for economy, over all driveabiltiy and emissions.  
   
    For the targets we are reaching for I feel that any of the torquer grind cams would work well to hit our 90hp target and keep the power smooth and a rpm level that makes sense for off roading....what you do not want is a cam with lots more duration. Duration is the time the valves are open. More duration moves the power band up and makes it peakier
    Stock duration is 200 degrees if I remember correctly and the camshaft in the airplane is 228 degrees...I think it would be a little much for the average off roader as it idlles quite lopey and doesn't start to make power till about 3500rpm.
    Lift also plays an important role more is generally merrier, limited by the cam profile (can't open and shut them too quick).
    Finding the right combination of duration and lift gets real tricky as you start to reach for bigger power levels, but at our level and with the goals in mind a torquer cam is a safe bet.

    For this engine I'm going to try a 226 duration and .395 lift cam that I can get locally.

    Any body else out there have good or bad cam experiences with Suzuki's to pass on?

Zag

Zag,

I agree about the cam being the "brain", but there is also the ECM to consider ...

Not sure how far away from "westers" you are (tilley, AB), but would be awesome if you could team up your build recipie with a "westers tune". I got one for my tow rig and combined with just exhaust and an intake, really woke up my 6.0l.

http://westers_garage.eidnet.org/

Oh ... one more thing ... on the 8v ... throttle vlave spacer or not  inquiring minds wanna know.

Hi Sno_falls

   I'm familiar with Westers but haven't seen any import product from them. For our level of target power I think that ECM changes are not in order, if I was keeping the ECM and going another step (90-100hp) it would sure be worth investigating.
    The throttle valve spacer spaver is one I'm still investigating so I can't give you an honest answer. I do know with the 2bbl stock car racing class I used to run in they made a big difference, we never dyno'd the spacer but lap times on a 3/8 clay oval dropped hen we installed a 2" spacer and tuned for it.
    The spacer should work on the Suzuki as well, but I have not had a chance to try it. Typically the spacer increases the plenum volume and velocity allowing more fuel to enter the combustion chamber thus creating more power. Past experience also shows (with the stock car) that you gained torque. We could pull better out of the corners with the spacer.

Good question, I hope the info I gave helped, it would be great to do a back to back test.

Zag

Lets talk horsepower claims

    I was just on another Suzuki board and almost laughed but had to shake my head.
    Some poor newbie had been reading all the info on the various advertiser web sites and taking all the percentage power claims at face value figured he could bolt on a header with stock exhaust, do the cool airfilter, add a torquer cam and his 100,000 mile 1.6/8v would be transformed into a 110-115hp engine.
    Now guys I'm not going to name the manufactures that he quoted but lets get serious.
- Good manufacturers make honest claims, others go
 crazy.
- Minimal mods, means minimal gains
- There are no free rides

Remember the engine is an air pump.....to make more power you have to move more air.

    The numbers I'm using on this project are realistic numbers with real world gains.

Look at what is took to get my other engine to 113-4 hp reliably.

- Full rebuild, +.030 overbore
- Full porting and polishing on the cylinder head, ports
 matched
- Custom 5 angle valve grind
- Head machined
- Block surfaced
- Balanced, blueprinted
- Beefed oil system
- Best level of components
- Plus a whole level of additional internal mods

- Full custom intake system from head out, Twin carb
- 228/415 camshaft
- Calmini header, modified furthur
- Dual crank fired ignition

Thats alot more than bolting on a header, stuffing in a cam and putting a cool aircleaner on.

    Our little 90hp project here is realistic and the goal of keeping the power where 4X4's can use it attainable.

Zag    

if I was keeping the ECM

What do you mean if? Did I miss something?
FI is a bonus offroad ... no way I'd go with a carb ...

I'm going to rebuild my engine this winter, so I'm following along with interest ...

Sno_falls
    I agree in this day and age street driven vehicles need to keep their FI to stay legal, so going past what this build up is intended to do you would have to find ways to reprogram (I'm checking in to having custom ECU's built right now)...no agruement.
    But for strictly off road use at the higher power levels carb's have their place too....
    If I was going all out for max power (150-160hp) I would pitch the FI and go to Weber DCOE's, but that would not be a street driven vehicles.
    Every engine is a series of compromises,EFI and Carb's both have their place depending on the application and what you are willing to live with.

Good point to bring up though

Zag

Lets talk port matching and clean up...

    When I get my heads back I always get them dissassembled as I want to do the assembly. If you plan on getting your head returned assembled you should do this before it goes to the machine shop.

    Place a Good intake gasket on the head and look how it matches up. Suzuki's tend to be good here so you will not see alot of difference between the gasket and the head. Simply mark the intake gasket outline on the head




     CAREFULLY file (by hand if you haven't done this before) material away till you meet the line. Gently blend back about an inch while you are doing this. Be very careful and very patient. It does not need to be mirror smooth, just match the surface around it.

NOW CLEAN EVERYTHING THROUGHLY (I say that alot don't I)

    Now move to the intake, repeat the process. You will notice it generally doesn't match up as well.



You will also notice a lump on some intakes on the number 3 (from the front) runner, be veryyyyy careful here, it is a flow restriction but on some (not all) manifolds it can be a break thru point, examine before starting to file.



    Now again carefully file to match, you can be just a titch smaller on the intake side if you are not confident on a perfect match.

    The intake manifold runners can also stand a little attention. If you look down the port in the picture you will see a black felt marker line that indicates where the 2 manifold 1/2's meet. If this is much more pronouced than the surrounding runner you should carefully sand of fille this down till it's about the same as the surface around it.



    Yes when you are done...Clean everything throughly.

    I will admitt that this seems like alot of careful tedious time consuming work for what looks like not alot
of gain. But on small engines like the Suzuki every little bit helps. Besides this is you labor and costs nothing if you are careful...the cheapest additional power you can get.

    We also need to remember that earlier expression...
The engine is an airpump...the more air it can move the more power it can make, and this helps move a little more air.

   Also remember your engine is a system, this mod is part of the overall system and when combined with everything else plays a role in increasing the hp.

    Take your time, be cautious and careful and have fun
you are becoming an engine builder, rather than an assembler.

    When done, have a cold one!

Zag

PLEASE KEEP THE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS COMING!

    I don't know everything but I am passing along what I do. You guys have come up with some great questions and comments.
    By the way if you think I'm wrong say so and why. I'm always willing to learn and it appears everyone else is too....

Thanks Zag