The new engine is in and running

The blocking plates showed up the day after the last post, so I was able to install those and get started on the engine installation over the weekend.

 This is the blockoff for the EGR valve on the back of the head.  Below is where the valve was located.

 The tube that went from the head to the intake nanifold had to also go away, so here is the plug for the hole in the head.

 And the plug for the intake manifold side.  I did cut off some of the extra tubing that went into the manifold (the longer part on the right.)

 

 

The EGR valve also had a water line going to it, so that also got capped off.

I thought I had a good picture of the blocking plate for the PCV valve on the side of the engine between the head and block, but can't find it now.  In any case, it is a beautifully machined piece similar to the EGR valve blocking plate, but larger.

By getting rid of that valve, we'll no longer have oils, etc. going into the intake and through the throttle body.  So we'll now have much cleaner intake tract.  This also allowed us to get rid of the hose that went between the valve cover and the intake. I will be putting a catch can in place to take care of the bad stuff coming from the valve cover, and then on the intake side, I purchased a cap to go over the inlet into the intake.

 

 

 

While I was installing the new engine, I decided it was time to upgrade the motor mounts, so I ordered up a set of AWR mounts.  These feature 95 durometer polyurethane, and should stiffen up the drivetrain quite a bit.

 





I also chose to replace the major coolant hoses while everything was being cleaned up/replaced.  Big thanks as usual goes out to Mazda Motorsports here, as they got these to us quickly and now the engine compartment looks incredible.

So, a little more about the engine.  The rules in DP allow a lot to be done, so the motor has new cams, forged pistons with the allowed overbore, a forged crank, and updated just about everything else.


The break-in procedure for the new engine is to start it, let it run for a minute, then do 20 minutes at 2000 rpm.  Let the engine cool, and repeat twice more.  Tonight started the first of these sessions, as our break-in oil from Maxima finally arrived.  Between the more aggressive cams and the much stiffer motor mounts, the car sure does vibrate a lot more!

The first events will be this coming weekend, so we'll report back after that.





Time for more power!

I'll be documenting things fairly soon here, but after waiting 4 1/2 months, our new fully built motor showed up today.  It's been a bit of a struggle getting it, as we were supposed to have it right around Christmas, and here it is now March 6th and it finally got to us.

In any case, it should be a very nice upgrade.   We'll get it all installed, do some tuning and take it back to the dyno to confirm what kind of improvement we have ended up with.

We'll be deleting some of the emissions equipment with the install of this new engine, so watch for more information on that.  Going bye bye are the PCV valve and system, as well as the EGR system.  The engine builder is supplying block off plates/plugs for those systems along with a catch can system.

Also on the agenda is switching over to E85 (in a strict sense of the numbers, it would be 85% ethanol and 15% gas.)  For the most part this should be pretty simple as the stock injectors theoretically have enough headroom to flow the higher amount of fuel needed when running E85.  That just leaves getting the tuning done for the higher flow.  Because E85 burns cooler than straight gas, timing can be run more aggressively without worrying about detonation.  It effectively is as if it was a super high octane race gas, but the beauty is that E85 is significantly less expensive.

I'll try to get some good pictures this weekend to post.