[ba] The Die Is Cast ...

[Buchholz, Steven]

Well, it looks as though the Woodruff key fractured on the P&P'ed 5kT solid
lifter head my ury has been wearing of late.  While this is extrememly
frustrating given all the other dead cars I've got, it is probably a good
thing in the long run since I have all those parts ready to go on the car
and should get moving on them.  I need to make a few decisions, so I thought
I would make a post to get some recommendations on moving forward.  Thanks
to any and all who take the time to help!

Let's see if I can remember all of the parts that are sitting on the shelf
... I have a bare head casting ... and was told it was the last one
available for the WX (not sure I believe it).  The interesting thing about
it is that it has a fitting to support the air shrouded injectors.  I also
have a 2-piece exhaust manifold and a set of Wiseco pistons from Javad's GP.
I have my old WX head, which should only need to have the #2 exhaust valve
changed ... and a bunch of old valves and springs from when I had the head
redone back in the late '80s.  I already have a "tweaked" (extrude honed and
modified) oil-cooled K-26 turbo installed on the car.

My goals: #1 I want the engine to look as close to the original as possible
so as not to arouse a smog pro, and hopefully blow pretty clean.  My
secondary motivation for #1 is to have the car remain relatively stock.  I
like the dual knock sensor control system of the MC-2 engine ... I actually
have a MAC-14 ECU and am working to get the wiring harness and sensors that
go with it.  Since there is a question about mounting the knock sensors, I'm
considering a switch to an MC-2 engine ... but was not originally planning
to increase the compression ratio.  As most of you know I'm a bit odd in
that I prefer the solid lifter setup ... mostly due to having to deal with
noisy lifters on my Avant.  I think that by sticking with shims and buckets
I'm probably limiting my options regarding cams though ...

I am planning to have the exhaust manifold heat coated ... more to keep the
under-hood temps down ... and will probably opt for a larger downpipe from
the turbo to the cat ... which I would also have coated.  Eventually I'd
like to go EFI with the engine ... but I'm so worried about the smog
inspections.  I also have read through some of the earlier talk on intake
and exhaust valve sizing ... but haven't come to a conclusion on what I
think is best.

My primary motivation for posting this note here is to solicit information
on local vendors I should consider (or stay away from).  I really like Steve
Nechodom ... hopefully I'll have a couple heads for him to look over on the
V8 soon ... and I'll probably talk to him about his interest in building up
and working over the 10v I-5 head for this car now too.  If there is someone
who is set up to bore out an I-5 block for the Wisecos that info would be
useful as well.  Any local folks do thermal barrier coating?  Anybody see
any MC-2's (i.e. '89-'91 200 turbos with 10v engines) sitting in any of the
Pick-n-Pulls?  ;-)

If any of you have any comments on what I'm considering ... things that
you've tried that didn't work well, or suggestions I did not include ... I'm
open to them and appreciative of the effort.

Thanks!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)