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Polish a turd? z5 headwork...

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    Polish a turd? z5 headwork...

    Just picked up a brand new, never installed z5 head with valve but no cam for $100.

    I'll either port match the head to the intake/exhaust manifolds myself or just have a local machine shop do a light port and polish. (I've tried it myself, not worth my time)

    Hmmm...Mazdaspeed made adj cam gears for this motor and web cams does decent regrinds.

    I need help. I just can't leave well enough alone.

    #2
    and then slap on the essentialspeed header or their turbo kit too!!!
    =)

    CLICK HERE FOR PICS
    1.8L 97 LX (CDN)
    Erebuni kit, JDM heads/corners/tails/hood scoop, 17" BSA 259 w/ Khumo Ecstas, KYB GR2 struts, Apex springs, Ractive X-drilled/slotted rotors, KVR C/F pads, EssentialSpeed CAI, Essentialspeed custom cat-back (y-piped with dual Vibrant mufflers), Clutch Masters clutch, touring wing, Vibrant F/R strut bar, AWR 21.5mm rear sway bar, indiglo gauges, Sparco wheel/shift knob, custom interior, TomMotorsports 'BRIDE' seats, Innovatek DVD-0181 DVD/CD/MP3/etc player, Innovatek IN-720 7" indash LCD, 'MZDASPD' plates

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      #3
      the adjustable cam gear for the Z5 is a waste of time

      if you look under the valve cover, the intake and exhaust cam's are attached by a chain
      you cannot change one without affecting the other, they are not independantly adjustable

      so if you wanted to advance the intake cam, the exhaust cam will follow, and so on and so fourth...

      thats why there is only one cam sprocket on the Z5's
      the exhaust cam is driven off of the intake cam

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        #4
        Yeah your right pigeon... I just thought about that.
        Oh well.. better to just get a regrinded cam
        photo album|photo album 2 (pbase)

        dbest1a AT yahoo DOT com

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          #5
          Well, thats pretty much how Corksport described those adjustable cam gears to me, when I emailed them. You can either adjust for acceleration or top speed. Pretty much, it just moves the power band, though I have no idea what the actaul gains are.
          Last edited by turbonium959; 01-05-2004, 06:26 PM.
          "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by turbonium959
            Well, thats pretty much how Corksport described those adjustable cam gears to me, when I emailed them. You can either adjust for acceleration or top speed. Pretty much, it just moves the power band, though I have no idea what the actaul gains are.
            The gains are none, like you said, it just alters the powerband.
            Ryan The middle child is always ignored
            BP powered 97LX Touring Edition
            Vibrant strut tower brace, KVR front brake pads, Tungsram Megalicht H4 headlight bulbs, Phillips Halogen H3 foglight bulbs.... 91 GT rims w/ 195 60 14 Yokohomo Mirada GTX sport

            Comment


              #7
              I saw that when I pulled the cams...but it's a chain. Can't a chain length be altered fairly easily? And wouldn't the cam gear be good way for dialing in the new cams?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by davens
                I saw that when I pulled the cams...but it's a chain. Can't a chain length be altered fairly easily? And wouldn't the cam gear be good way for dialing in the new cams?
                You COULD alter the length of the chain, but good luck altering it enough to change cam timing +/- only a few degrees.
                I don't know if these chains have automatic tensioners to keep them tight when they do stretch from wear or not, but if you did say add another link, you'd be lucky to keep it from jumping a tooth and really ****ing up the cam timing.
                Ryan The middle child is always ignored
                BP powered 97LX Touring Edition
                Vibrant strut tower brace, KVR front brake pads, Tungsram Megalicht H4 headlight bulbs, Phillips Halogen H3 foglight bulbs.... 91 GT rims w/ 195 60 14 Yokohomo Mirada GTX sport

                Comment


                  #9
                  i'm not sure this would work but i know like bike chains get longer when they wear...so if you put in some old links in a new chain it would get bigger in a very small increment...although this could be a very stupid thought because a very worn link will jump the gear teeth...so it's just a thought
                  real drivers accelerate for the corners

                  Comment


                    #10
                    check it out...

                    Comment


                      #11
                      there is a tensioner between the chain, so even if you added a link, the tensioner would just pick up the slack

                      also, adding a link wouldnt make a difference anyways, its a chain wrapped around a sprocket

                      the thing you COULD do would be to hop the exhaust cam a tooth advancing the cam...
                      then get the cam gear for the intake cam and retard that
                      so then you wouldnt have advanced the exhaust cam TOO much

                      but in all honesty, that would probably jus turn out to make the car run like ****, and you may even bend a valve if you're lucky
                      especially if that head that you have has been re-surfaced

                      ive never done any cam work myself, but just from reading... when getting custom grinds, you should really know what youre doing, cause you could be spending money and not really getting much in return performance wise
                      and tuning is very important

                      which isnt even possible in our motors

                      i dunno, i went through the possibilities of modifying the 1.5
                      but to be honest, its not a good motor to build for race in my opinion

                      i wanted to get some naturally aspired power, and then possibly turbo...
                      but im going to jus get the 1.8L instead

                      the reasons the 1.5 isnt as good is because
                      - no parts are interchangeble... well correction.. SOME 1.6L parts are
                      at least thats what i read on the mazda interchangability guide... apparently some short block parts may be interchangable



                      - the the whole cam gear ordeal, you cant do any fine tuning... which is important if you're trying to be efficient with your modifications and getting as much out of them

                      - also, i couldnt find anyone that would do regrinds on new billets, they jus want to use my old cams, or hardweld them.. which im a little sketchy about

                      - and it has shim over bucket lifters... its good that it has the solid lifters, but it has the worse kind of solid lifters
                      most cars that come with solid lifters, come with these kinds... but for the BP, you could purchase shim under bucket lifters, which are the same idea, but lighter, and safer at higher rpm
                      so if you had those, then you could get your cam's regrinded for a bit higher rpm, and you could be confident that the valvetrain can sustain

                      and really, those few things discouraged me against modifying the Z5 cause its not worth it for what i want

                      and say you wanted to go turbo, its better to go turbo with the BP anyways because you could use the manifold for the GTX
                      if you wanted to go turbo with the Z5, you'd have to have one custom made...
                      and i'd prefer to stick with high end parts, or genuine mazda parts when it comes to stuff like that

                      ive heard of people who has had their custom manifolds crack because they were made of a metal that couldnt withstand the head

                      i dont know about metal, so i have no clue what would be good in that application
                      i do kno that a mazda engineered piece is going to be reliable tho

                      but if you're set on doing something with that head... and you're not lookin for crazy gains...
                      id actually do a port and polish, and maybe a 5 angle valve job
                      and port match the intake manifold too...

                      im not sure if id touch the cams, for fear they wouldnt run all that great without a very tunable motor.... and they'd be hardweld

                      you'd probably have one of the fastst 1.5L's out there
                      cause the rest of us have intakes and exhausts and wires.. OOoo
                      lol

                      but with all that work, you'd probably be just as fast, if not slower than bruce.. who jus put in a BP

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by pigeon
                        i dunno, i went through the possibilities of modifying the 1.5
                        but to be honest, its not a good motor to build for race in my opinion

                        and really, those few things discouraged me against modifying the Z5 cause its not worth it for what i want

                        ive heard of people who has had their custom manifolds crack because they were made of a metal that couldnt withstand the head

                        i dont know about metal, so i have no clue what would be good in that application i do kno that a mazda engineered piece is going to be reliable tho

                        but if you're set on doing something with that head... and you're not lookin for crazy gains...
                        id actually do a port and polish, and maybe a 5 angle valve job
                        and port match the intake manifold too...

                        you'd probably have one of the fastst 1.5L's out there
                        cause the rest of us have intakes and exhausts and wires.. OOoo
                        lol

                        but with all that work, you'd probably be just as fast, if not slower than bruce.. who jus put in a BP
                        All excellent points and well taken. That's mostly why I titled the thread "polishing a turd".

                        I know a hopped up z5 just might be on par with a bp. I'd love to go with a motor swap but I've been down that road on two Hondas and it is ALWAYS more expensive then you figure.
                        I'm just looking for more power on a street motor while staying as budget as possible. I'll do all my own work so I'm looking at strictly parts, maybe some machine work.
                        I've got a $125 dollar in the head, $40 for some cams to use a core if necessary.
                        Some new gaskets and I'll at least have a freshened up, port matched stocker(it's got roughly 100k of hard use and slightly neglected by the woman who owned it before me)
                        Whatever I can do for cheap horsepower, I'll consider.
                        I'm going to call Corksport and see what they say about the adj cam gear. As far as a cam...I'm still debating.

                        The header will be new and mildly improved. I have to replace the primaries/header because it's cracked. This is the second header I've cracked. In talking to a buddy who's into welding...he says it's obviously the quality of the metal that Mazda used. Not enough Nickel? But this new third header is designed a little different and the metal is a slightly different color then the last one I put on. I'm not feeling the "Mazda engineered reliability" yet.

                        I have to confess, unlike most of you here, I simply consider this car a beater. I have my other two toys so this one gets leftovers. I'm a sick man, I just can't resist the urge to hot rod whatever I got.
                        Last edited by davens; 01-09-2004, 02:57 AM.

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                          #13
                          haha do it up

                          if you do anything nobody has done yet make sure you post and let us know how it worked out for you

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The thing is .. your trying to cover a 30hp gap.. Good Luck. I honestly wish the car was at least a 1.6 with a true DOHC .. then you could actually really have something to work with.
                            The other thing that is really weird is the pistons in the 1.5 are smaller than the pistons in a 1.6L sohc 323 hatchback 90-94,
                            Till this day, everytime I start my Protege. I can't figure out what Mazda was thinking when they put the 1.5L in the Protege.
                            ohh well..
                            I guess you can say, I would rather just throw a B6T in the car...
                            It would just make more sense.
                            bruce
                            photo album|photo album 2 (pbase)

                            dbest1a AT yahoo DOT com

                            Comment


                              #15
                              exactly

                              and if you're going to do a swap, you may as well go with the 1.8
                              a motor which was also available in the miata
                              and manufacturers make plenty parts for that motor

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