strokin' it. M20B31 build (finished!)

[acolella76]

IE has HORRIBLE customer service, and they aren't even able to tell you the specs of their products half the time. The kit is also "special order only" which to IE means "you'll get it when we feel like it". Metric Mechanic is the king of M20 building and their pistons are works of art. Like nando said you can get the crank and lighter 24v rods for a couple hundred bucks and probably have spent less than the IE kit.

Oh and FWIW, MM's pricing is $195 per piston and another $30 per ring set. That's a total of $930 vs IE's $880 for custom pistons.

Buuuuuttttt.... he did say part of the reason he kept the m20 is sound and itbs will sound sweet!

ITBs would sound sweet but they really don't provide any gain unless you're driving a high revving screamer

[e30polak]

it could be worth it actually. port matching the stock manifold doesn't do a whole lot, unfortunately. but it is the cheapest! :)

$/hp, an extrude hone might actually be the best bargain, but you'll also need a BBTB. And even if money was no obect, the dbilas ITBs aren't neccesarily the best thing ever anyway. There isn't really a "perfect" intake setup you can just buy, at any price, for the M20. :(

I totally agree Nanado, I guess I'm just thinking of $/hp. For a full out NA set-up, I'm sure a custom intake manifold would be the best option. But extrude honing with a proper BBTB would be the next best choice.

The Dbilas set-up is awesome, but I'd rather put that money towards a REAL itb engine like an s54. :p

[SkiFree]

Raxe, good to see the car coming along. The Canadian postal service didn't do anyone any favors in the past couple of weeks.

You or your dad can email me any questions as usual regarding the stroker setup.


Thanks again for the pictures from a while ago, I'm doing an illustration in the near future and am looking for a rear 3/4 shot taken from down low. Will have to PM you the details in the next couple of days.

EDIT: This is Andrew

acolella76 - Kinda sorry to hear you feel that way, but I guess we are all entitled to our internet grievances.

[Raxe]

I did, I used their pistons. Because I tried to buy a kit from IE first, and they didn't seem terribly interested in taking my money.

try this: give IE a call. don't tell them who you are. try to ask them about their kits.

then call MM.

are you sure it's me?

I haven't had any issues with Ireland Engineering, they've been quite helpful and friendly whenever we call to order anything. I even had the opportunity to visit the IE warehouse when I was in LA earlier this year and got a tour from Andrew and Jeff. As far as I'm concerned they've earned my business for any future parts.

Annnyways, what's the best way to go about the BBTB? M30? Most builds I've read just "have" a bigger throttle body, they don't really mention where it came from or how it was made.

$/hp isn't my number one priority on this project. I still have a budget, but I'd rather stretch out my timeline and buy quality parts than do a junkyard build. Reliability and finished product are most important to me on this car.

Edit: Thanks Andrew!

[tabasco]

nice work!!!

[nando]

I haven't had any issues with Ireland Engineering, they've been quite helpful and friendly whenever we call to order anything. I even had the opportunity to visit the IE warehouse when I was in LA earlier this year and got a tour from Andrew and Jeff. As far as I'm concerned they've earned my business for any future parts.

Annnyways, what's the best way to go about the BBTB? M30? Most builds I've read just "have" a bigger throttle body, they don't really mention where it came from or how it was made.

$/hp isn't my number one priority on this project. I still have a budget, but I'd rather stretch out my timeline and buy quality parts than do a junkyard build. Reliability and finished product are most important to me on this car.

Edit: Thanks Andrew!

You can get a bored out m20 tb on ebay I believe

[Raxe]

Also called in my next order to IE today!

- 272 billet cam
- Adjustable cam gear
- oversize intake valves
- oversize exhaust valves
- heavy duty rocker arms
- coated shorty headers
- stainless cat back exhaust

Parts arrived :)





Also got a chance to install the sway bars last night. What I thought would be a 2 hour job max turned into 5 hours... turns out they don't just bolt right up. Oh well, not really a big deal. The change is nice right off the bat, I'm going to still play around with settings to find the perfect balance but for now I'm pretty happy with the way the car feels.

Haven't gotten around to washing the bottom of the car for a few years now, I wanted to last night but the extra time spent installing the bars didn't really make that possible. I'll do it right before the exhaust goes on.

[Raxe]

Put my W.A.R. chip in and got running tonight. I've had the MAF kit in for the last week running on the standard Miller chip but tonight I switched ECUs and am running solely off of the programmable unit. Haven't been having much luck with it so far... after a few hours of trying to set it up I at last had it running (mostly my fault for being super impatient when it comes to computers). I'm still rather confused as to what's going on but with time and an email or two I should have an okay grasp of the system.





Also installed my exhaust last week from IE. Really nice sound and volume in my opinion, especially with the "customized" air box. Haven't done the headers yet, those will have to wait until the head rebuild unfortunately.





And last but not least is this handy tip I received from bimma360 about the rear swaybars:

"I installed them where the joints had the same orientation to each other. In other words, if you rotate your bottom (trailing arm side) mount 90 degrees, you'll notice that when the trailing arm moves up and down the links won't bind."

So in other words not this:



yes this:

[leegf]

exhaust looks nice. can you compare the sound to other m20 exhausts? (and can we get a sound clip?)

[digger]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with an IE reground cam. I have personally them in two of my own cars and I've had a couple friends use them as well. Internet hearsay is a lot different than real life and I'm tired of this shit.

what where the specs listed on the camcard?

[nando]

do yourself a HUGE favor, and replace the screws in that adjustable cam gear with better hardware. also, the advance/retard marks are backwards. Otherwise, it works fine.

[acolella76]

what where the specs listed on the camcard?

There is no cam card I don't think. It is IE. I didn't get one when I bought mine, and when I called they couldn't even give me any info..

In my opinion you should have gone with long tube headers from eBay, but no big deal... and once you put the headers on you might want a center muffler or resonator. I have headers straight into a muffler and it's pretty loud and droney. Just a few words of advice. Looks like some real progress was made, keep it up

[dude8383]

Did you weld in the reinforcement tabs for the trailing arms?

[Raxe]

exhaust looks nice. can you compare the sound to other m20 exhausts? (and can we get a sound clip?)

I haven't made any recordings since putting in the airbox yet, I'll see if I can make one tonight or tomorrow. It's fairly quiet and livable compared to most aftermarket mufflers.

do yourself a HUGE favor, and replace the screws in that adjustable cam gear with better hardware. also, the advance/retard marks are backwards. Otherwise, it works fine.

Good advice, thanks!

In my opinion you should have gone with long tube headers from eBay, but no big deal... and once you put the headers on you might want a center muffler or resonator. I have headers straight into a muffler and it's pretty loud and droney. Just a few words of advice. Looks like some real progress was made, keep it up

Thanks! I'm considering putting a cat back in if the headers are too loud, we don't have any sort of smog checking or emissions laws here but the smell can get a little old sometimes, especially indoors. I'll see what it sounds like when they're on.

Did you weld in the reinforcement tabs for the trailing arms?

Nah, I don't know how to weld. :( They're tightly in place working like large washers so I'm sure they are still helping quite a bit, someday if I can get someone to weld them in for me I probably will.

[leegf]

It's fairly quiet and livable compared to most aftermarket mufflers.

okay, i just lost interest. i already have a quiet and livable aftermarket muffler ;)