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Well.... I can put that theory to bed immediately as the M54 ports are WAY smaller in stock form than the M50/M52. I only know this as I have an M54 head here right now, and side by side there is no comparison. I can post up a few pictures if you would like to see, its certainly interesting, and...

The new engine certainly ripped throughout the summer at Anglesey, Cadwell and Snetterton... Although all was not well, through no fault of my own, it's now stripped to a bare block... Ill get round to updating with the details soon 🤦‍♂️

With this engine I wanted to get rid of the open ITG filter on the ITBs and enclose the whole setup. The plan was to make an airbox from two sections, an upper which matches the Jenvey backplate, with the biggest inlet pipe I can fit (5"), down to a front box containing a panel filter. I...

Flywheel, clutch and gearbox could then go back on then be lifted back into the car. At this point I decided to change the water outlet from the block to an AN style fitting rather than the OEM hard pipe that is three times the size. AN12 fitting welded onto the end and bracket made. Then a...

84.5mm bore really is the maximum possible with a stock headgasket. The head could then be dropped on and torqued down. Then the lifter trays, cams, upper chain and tensioner. At this point, I spent some time measuring the actual physical valve clearance 10-15 degrees before and after TDC...

With the rotating assembly in the block it was just a matter of bolting everything else back on. First was the oil windage tray, pump, and new oil pump chain tensioner, then the main chain guides and the front timing cover. The sump could then go on, and bottom end transferred back to the...

Yeah. Similar issue with K20s which tend to vibrate every last bolt on the head and block loose past continual use over 8500rpm. Doing 2-3 hour endurance races @ 250hp we finished with the idle control valve missing, the alternator bolt backed out and various other things on a number of...

There is a 20kg difference between alu and iron blocks. Been there done that I'm afraid to say over the years (n) Pulled both OEM threads, and pulled timeserts out, you either get lucky or you don't with them, the issue always seems to be the area around the hole, rather than the thread itself...

Tapered ring compressor makes the installation painless versus the cheap universal ones...! More soon!

Next job was to check the main journal bores for roundness with the main caps torqued down. These were fine as I expected, with the previous bearings coming out in great condition. I could proceed in fitting the new ACL bearings dry and plastigauge the crank journals to confirm the oil...

Before instructing the machine shop to remove material from the top of the block surface, I measured the 'actual' capacity of the combustion chamber in the cylinder head. This was previously original, and has only had a light skim (3 thou). 'The internet' says this should be 36cc, when in fact...

Funnily enough thinking back, the only times ive ever been taken to a weighbridge for a 'check' has been in Wales, says something that 😂 Hindsight, probably not been stopped since before any of those pictures were taken, so <2016. If you've got a shoddy looking/overloaded tow car, a shoddy...

I started towing for track days in ~2010 and thought il play the 'ill never get stopped' game. That lasted around 9 months before I got 3 points and £180 fine for it. These days, id assume its a lot more. The MAMs and limits mean nothing if you get the wrong traffic officer on a bad day...

Best mod you can do on them to be honest, transforms the car more than any power mods ever will!

Hopefully get back there at least once this year 😎

The pistons arrived a short while ago. Block has been machined to a new calculated deck height for maximum compression, bored to suit the new pistons and rings gapped. Now to assemble it 😎

Once the trays were in, the cams were installed and then clearances checked one by one. After stripping and changing the stacks a number of times, i got them all within the range of the CatCam spec, 0.20-0.25mm on each valve. At this point I was nearly ready to put the head back on the...

With the cams arriving and the valves/springs installed in the head, the remaining job was to convert the hydraulic lifters to solid as previously mentioned, and shim them to the correct lash CatCam specify. The hydraulic portion of the standard tappet was stripped, check valve and spring...

No intentions of cleaning it for a while yet 👌

The camshafts and cylinder head could now come off.. Happy with the condition of the bores/pistons and old headgasket, nothing out of the ordinary to show. I'm not changing anything there, it will just get a clean, new gasket a few other bits. Last check was to verify the actual...

Had a bit of time over the past week to crack on. Started with pulling the engine... Its always easier to work on these engines at a lower height, especially when not touching the bottom end or removing the flywheel/clutch etc. Further back in this thread, I had put together a stand for this...

Not in the traditional 'off the shelf' method, but fixed shims, yeah. Completely want to avoid the buckets and lash caps which Cat/Shrick sell, as they have an all too common problem with 'falling off' the valve stem under heavy use. Retaining the bare casing of the internal hydraulic assembly...

Received a nice delivery just in time for Christmas. Then had a couple of hours spare today to get the springs and retainers on the new head. Stripped the old hydraulic lifters and spent some time cleaning the old oil and gunk out of them. More on this soon. Finished by installing...

Hopefully some more RPM and noise with the new top end for next year 👍

Oulton Park started wet, but there was a dry line appearing after lunch, oppertunity to finish off the rear AR-1s. It was a very quiet day, near empty track in the last hour. A few showers meant a bit of caution was required, but still good to get back out for a day. After loading...

I'm not hopeful either 😂

Had a few hours on the cylinder head this weekend. Lapped all 24 valves in, put some new Supertech stem seals on, and cleaned a few other bits. Awaiting arrival of springs, retainers and camshafts now. The good news is an Oulton Park day we booked some time ago for the 12th December is...

After this we booked a few more days in September/October, for them to be cancelled or moved. I had replaced the radiator and the car was sat ready to go whenever required, but the days just were not happening for us. With nothing else planned, I had time to think on what route to take with...

Two days later, Snetterton - again, perfect conditions! Then a couple of days later, Cadwell Park - you guessed it, perfect conditions! At the end of the day, I couldn't stop the car sliding, and noticed the coolant temperature was increasing. It turned out the radiator had made a...