SimonB

The bolts are supposed to be slack. If you tighten them you run the risk of cracking the cam cover. They should be barely more than finger tight. Try a dab of gasket sealer in the corners.

I got mine from Machine Mart on one of their VAT free days. Here it is: http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cht434-multi-valve-spring-compressor

Thanks guys, especially Chris, always good to hear you're doing it right! Last time I said I was deciding whether to put up with slightly bigger than ideal oil clearance or order some undersize bearings. Well, I decided it would irritate me knowing it wasn't quite perfect so I have ordered a set of 0.025mm undersize bearings - I'll mix those with the standard ones to get the perfect clearance. While I'm waiting for those, time to work on the head. I'm using Ferrea dual springs, which use the standard valve seats plus Ferrea valve seats (the second spring sits on these). Then there's the valve seal (again Ferrea ones as I'm using their guides too), the dual springs and then a Ferrea retainer and valve locks - you need the Ferrea ones to go with the retainers. The first pic shows these bits laid out. So, assembly time. First I cleaned the head again, then I started with the intake valves. For each I put the stock seat in, followed by the Ferrea one. Then I sprayed some assembly lube into the guide and seal and put the valve seal in. I used the handle of a screwdriver to push home the seals onto the guide. Then I sprayed the valve stem with assembly lube and slid it into the guide. Finally it's in with the springs and retainer, the next pic shows them going in. I attached the spring compressor - you can see that in the next couple of pics. Then it's the incredibly fiddly job of putting the locks in. You do get the hang of this but it's still a PITA. I found it easier to attach the compressor then screw it tighter, then slacken it with the screw before unclamping it. The Ferrea springs are pretty stiff so this makes it easier. Finally I had done all 24 valves, phew!

Just order one from Toyota, parts like this are cheap, they'll turn up within a couple of days and you know it's the correct bit.

Zeek? Sheet you mean don't you?

That's way too high for standard fuel pressure. Stock fuel pressure is 40psi static. Which means with the engine not running. With a stand alone ECU you can use whatever pressure you want within reason. It won't start without the fuelling set roughly right on whatever ECU you have.

To whatever it was mapped at.

Nice one, engine building is obviously in fashion this year! I can't think why you'd need a DTI accurate to 0.001mm - they are pretty expensive and they only things you need that level of accuracy for are bores and diameters of things. I doubt you'll need a ridge reamer either unless it's really coked up. My 80000 mile stock engine had no ridges - I'd have a look before buying one. Good luck with it!

I *think* he could claim as a third party on her insurance whether or not he was insured himself, since it was her fault. If he had been a pedestrian or something it would be the same, that's what the third party bit of your insurance is for. The police should have charged him for driving without a license though!

We camped over this year, it was brilliant! From about 6:30 onwards there's hardly anyone there and you can poke around the paddock without anyone in the way. Then we hung around the house and did the pap thing with the celebs arriving! I think my favourite car this year was the Mazda Furai concept. It looked stunning. I was chatting to the guy who ran their ALMS team - the mechanicals are from the ALMS car - triple rotary engine. Here it is: Got to love Goodwood, I was in the Cathedral paddock talking to Alan McNish and next door Derek Bell was getting changed into his race suite! Nowhere else could you do that. Some great pics on my mate Alex's site, including some of VBH arriving at the party for fans of hers . Have to say she did look very nice! http://www.alexgoss.com/Cars/GFoS/2008/index.html

Yes, it's supposed to be flush. Best way of putting one in I found was to use a bit of plastic drain pipe from B&Q - one of the standard sizes is just right and you can push it in gently and keep it level. I put some MP grease on the inner edge (the crank edge) and some gasket sealer on the outer edge.

Competition car insurance aka Egger Lawson are pretty much the only track day insurer. A google search should find them...

One more thing I did yesterday was the final bit of prep before assembly - finding the torque to tighten the rod bolts to. The specs for the Carillo rods with Carr bolts are given as bolt stretch. You basically get a rod, measure the length of the bolts, then tighten them to gradually higher torque values until they stretch the specified amount. Record that torque and that's what to torque them all to when installing. I haven't got a bolt stretch gauge so I used a micrometer. The bolts have a dimple for the stretch gauge to center itself in - I used a ball bearing sat in this to get an accurate measure. The specs say you want a stretch of 0.127 to 0.178mm with a maximum torque of 65ftlbs. I measured 0.150 and 0.157mm stretch at 60ft/lbs, so that's what I will torque the rod bolts to when installing them.

That would be too easy! If you look at this pic of the Brian Crower crank you can see there's no oil pump drive gear on it: http://www.mvpmotorsports.com/merchant/catalog/jdm/t/supramkiv/p/bc/bc_2jzcrank.jpg I think the thread I saw on Supraforums about it they were talking about having to cut it off!

I certainly haven't! I remember looking at the stroker kits when I was deciding what components to use. Some of those require you to do exactly that - butcher a standard crank and re-use the oil pump drive. I definitely didn't fancy that!

Now main bearing clearance. To check this I used plastigage. If you haven't seen this stuff before it's basically a thin tube of plasticine that you put between the bearing and crank journal. You then torque the caps and the plastigage gets squeezed. After removing the caps you measure the width it got squeezed to against a scale that comes in the pack - the wider it gets squished the tighter the clearance. So I did that. The engine manual specs are that it should be 0.026mm-0.040mm for normal sized journals with a max of 0.060mm or 0.025mm-0.061mm if you ground the crank to 0.25mm undersize (and are therefore using 0.25 undersize bearings). I was aiming for the wide end of the standard range. What I measured was 0.050mm on all but one which was about 0.042mm. So a bit wider than I was hoping for. I measured the width of the bearings with a mic and found they were a bit smaller than I was expecting. The specs I found on ACLs website say max wall at crown 2.004mm - I measured them at 1.992mm. So that explains that one! That leaves me with 2 options. I can go with 0.050mm clearance - it's still within the max in the engine manual and for an uprated engine like this I think you want larger rather than smaller clearances. Or ACL also do a set of 0.025mm undersize bearings (i.e. they are 0.025mm thicker). I can get some of those (if I can get hold of them) and mix them - in other words use one standard and one 0.025under bearing for each journal. That would give me 0.0125mm less clearance or around 0.0375mm. Haven't decided which to do yet!

Quick update. I have now checked the main bearing oil clearances and crank thrust clearance. Thrust clearance first, to check that you install the upper main bearings, drop the crank in and put the main caps in place with the thrust washers. No need to tighten to full torque for this one. Then you set up a dial test indicator so it's against the nose of the crank. You then lever the crank back as far as it will go (carefully!), zero the DTI (or just remember the reading), lever the crank as far forward as it will go and take the difference of the DTI readings. The engine manual says it should be between 0.020mm and 0.220mm. Mine was 0.120mm, so that's fine.

He takes credit cards from people he knows (i.e. who have ordered before). I think the trouble is the payment processing house he uses won't guarantee non-USA cards against fraud so he wouldn't get any money off them if a card was dodgy.

No we haven't. Rob said it won't need PTFE "if JIC flare" which is exactly what I just said. The fuel pressure reg gauge is a NPT fitting so will need some form of sealer. We both said exactly the same thing!

Tapered threads (i.e. NPT) need some form of sealer, either PTFE or preferably something like loctite 577. AN fittings you shouldn't use PTFE on. If it's a male thread going in to a port you need either a Dowty seal (basically a washer with a rubber bit in the middle) or some form of O ring if the port is designed for one. If it's a fitting that goes into another fitting there will be a cone shaped concave bit that the cone on the male fitting fits into. When done up tight these seal. For example, fuel connections into a pressure reg usually have a O ring. Oil drain from a turbo usually is NPT and needs sealing. Fuel rail fittings normally are designed to seal with a washer.

Actually I disagree with that. New blocks have residual stresses that settle down over time and heat cycles, which can cause it to distort slightly over time. A seasoned block is stable - all the distorting is already done. Most engine builders prefer to use old blocks rather than "green" ones. I believe for the BMW F1 turbo engines that developed crazy power they started with a used road car block and then worked from there for that reason.

Fair enough. I think if you wanted inspiration in the US you would look at something like the GT classes from the ALMS. The cars are much more similar to a Supra and somehow I can't see Porsche putting a front suspension set up like that on!

Probably because they only ever turn one way on a smooth track.

Permanent or temporary? You can get cigarette lighter adaptors from Maplin that output various voltages - pretty sure 7.5V is one of them. I have one I rigged up as the power supply for my bullet cam.

The front suspension looks completely bonkers, I'm not suprised it's being slated! Why on earth would anyone take NASCAR as an inspiration anyway? Crazy.