My M20 Swap

[Deutschman]

Sounds good. Thats about exactly what I was thinking. Do you have a part number for that "exhaust in a box" from Summit? I cant find it. Just saw all the individual tubing parts.

[Lorin]

Two glasspacks will certainly be loud. In a straight through muffler , the volume between the core and the shell largely determines its sound damping capabilities. Small outer shell= loud, large outer shell= quieter.I would suggest a small dia. glass pack res. and a 6 inch round magnaflow or similar in the back. It will still make noise but be a little more classy sounding.

BTW, Im LJ851 on r3v, im down to 1 '02 at the moment a '68 1600 that is getting a 6 cyl as well. Enjoy your threads and thought i should introduce myself. Best of luck on your project.

[Deutschman]

Thanks! Ill look you up on R3V.

Yeah. I looked it up some more. I think I will go with a glass pack Borla combo. I like the sound of Borla exhausts.

Now for some updates. I got the rest of my chambers did up today ; )

1. Original

2. Grinding stone

3. Sanding wheel

4. Hand sand 220, high and medium abrasive buffing wheels

^

Those are not the valves I am using ; )

Finished product. Might need some buffing compound.

I also did one of the exhaust ports today. Ill do the rest tomorrow. Not sure if this one is quite done yet. You can always see my learning curve from one side of the head to the other. I always find my self going back over my work to equal it out.

Updated work space picture

My good friend Olek (polish sheep dog) and my new work boots!

[Lorin]

That sounds like a great solution for your exhaust.

[Guest]

If you can fit it(either way you'll probably have to cut out part of your spare tire well) use a Dynomax Superturbo muffler. I'll find the link later, but some hotrod magazine ran a comparison and it was in the top 3 in noise reduction, price, and hp output. It produced ~5hp more than the other mufflers which had a similar noise reduction and was the second quietest out of the group. Flowed about 1% less than the race "mufflers" which were 20 something decibels louder...

Like this, but in 2.25" obviously.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WLK-17749/

[Deutschman]

oooohh sounds great! i plan on cutting the rusty tire well out and welding in a blank anyways.

[Lorin]

True words. But it is a very effective muffler especially on a small bore engine. Even without a res. it will be pretty quiet which is ok but you need to know....

[Deutschman]

My new valves and springs are here!

[Deutschman]

Got the rest of the head cleaned up today. Nice and shiny, and ready for the machine shop.

Found this on the head?... Did the head get work done in 2002...

The head with the 272 cam stuck in it.

272 cam stuck in it.

[Lorin]

Machine shops put those discs on a head after they rebuild it. The disc will melt if the engine is overheated thus proving the machine shop is not liable for the damaged engine.

[Deutschman]

Thats very nice to know.

[Deutschman]

I dropped my head off at Morgan's Machine and Marine in the East Bay today. A few hours later I got a disappointing phone call from Time, the machinist, saying that the valves I received were "what you expect from over seas."

I got the valves from Ireland Engineering. I did not get them because they were cheaper then others, which they are, but because I bought my cam and springs from them and thought there valves looked nice as well.

It is not the first time I have been disappointed with their products. The sway bar bushings for the rear of my car I received from them were WAY to big, and they paint on the sway bars is removable with a finger nail.

Sad, because some of their stuff is really good, and they make some really cool stuff.

Maybe they try and cut corners for cost. It will ketch up with them in long run. Better to sell better parts and charge a few more dollars to cover the difference.

I sent them this.

Hi

I just ordered a set of stainless valves from you guys for my m20. I dropped my head off at my machine shop, Morgan's Machine and Marine in Walnut Creek, and got a disappointing phone call from the machinist Tim.

He told me that the valves are low quality sub pare parts, and in his words "look like the kind of stuff you get from over seas." Needless to say I was disappointed.

I have ordered a lot of parts for my e30, and 2002 from you guys and am almost always very happy with them. How ever I have received a few parts that did not fit properly or showed signs of fatigue fast then normal. I have also read complaints about some of your products on forums such as the 2002 Faq, and R3VLimitted.

I know that balancing competitive prices, good parts, and profit is hard. I am no business man, nor am I an expert in automotive parts, but I would think people would not mind buying parts that cost them a few more dollars if they knew they were of the highest quality.

When everything boils down I think you guys do a great job. I just wish that some of your stuff I receive was of a bit higher quality.

Thank you for your time and services!

Jeremy Nugent

I also had to order some new valve guides seeing as the ones in the head are a bit loose. An email has already been sent to Blunt.

I will update later with pictures of the head, and a few other things.

[tinkwithanr]

Sorry to hear about the valves. I too was contemplating who to get them from, but after reading a (large) majority of negative reviews on IE's engine parts for the m20, I decided to go with the VAC pieces. I can say they were very high quality, not that I have much to compare them too. Are you still looking to run the IE valves in your engine? If not which ones are you going to go with?

The swap is coming along very nicely. I wish mine was this far along!

[Deutschman]

Just got another phone call from my machinist. Now he is saying that he strongly believes that if I am going to spend this much money on engine work, that I should return the valves from Ireland and get a new set of valves all together. What a pain in the ass! I really thought that if I had any problems at this stage it would have been with my work on the head.

Oh well. I guess I am calling Ireland in the Morning and returning the valves.

I am not sure which valves I will use. I will most likely just order stock valves from Blunt. Ill check VAC's valves as well.

[AceAndrew]

Sorry to hear about the valves. I too was contemplating who to get them from, but after reading a (large) majority of negative reviews on IE's engine parts for the m20, I decided to go with the VAC pieces. I can say they were very high quality, not that I have much to compare them too. Are you still looking to run the IE valves in your engine? If not which ones are you going to go with?

The swap is coming along very nicely. I wish mine was this far along!

Do you think it's a bit one sided? Ever hear from Ireland Engineering in most of those threads? Or for that matter someone providing another viewpoint? There are always two sides to a story.

I've tried to get onto R3v and E30tech for quite a while (latest attempt was this past weekend with still no response from my emails) to help answer any questions/issues, but have thus far been unable to register using a couple of different (non gmail/hotmail) addresses I have ( Am I refused because I simply work at IE?). It appears a bit of a bandwagon effect has taken place on those two sites in particular, if you go to... say.... spece30.com, here on FAQ, or any number of other forums you'll see the general consensus is that we make some pretty good stuff, and do our best to help with customer consulting. I mean how many of us have learned a thing or two from Jeremy?

Yes we have a few of our parts made over seas, the only time we have something made over seas is when it would be cost prohibitive in the extreme to get it produced here. We test fit/inspect parts before shipment to reduce the china/ebay heebyjeebies. Yes, there has been products that have needed revisions (as with Anyone who produces Anything.), and we do constantly try to update parts as time allows.

To answer your machine shop's comment as you heard from Jeremy today, the Valves ARE NOT made in the Western Pacific region of the globe and IE has sold MANY sets without any problems whatsoever. Please email me wherever you've come across bad IE Stainless Steel valves, I'd genuinely like to take a look. It appears that this is the opinion of one machine shop as compared to the many who have actually run the valves and have been very happy to have a good quality, cost effective alternative to the more expensive options.

Hope this provides a different perspective for you, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck on the rest of your swap.