Hi all, just picked up a new project. EA SVO Ghia 5 spd with all the SVO fruit. Haven't even heard it run yet but its quite evident that there is a headgasket failure and the kays are a little higher than i'm comfortable with for longevity of a modified engine.

I'm yet to touch it. I have no idea if the head is already ported or even if it has a cam change??? Its just the original head AFAIK with 3.9 cast on the front of it. The car has a Jan 1990 build date if that helps with casting dates for the head.

Rather than waste money doing things twice (an intial patch up and then a proper rebuild) i have weighed up my options and had a look around at what parts i can throw together to get a decent combo. At a minimum i'd do a head reco or swap.

I don't want to sacrifice the originality of the vehicle (trying to keep matching numbers) so i've ruled out doing any conversions and i've ruled out a turbo in favour of low budget and simplicity. I also want the car back on the road asap.

Now i should preface this by saying i have a BA motor sitting on a pallet already. That was intended for another project (BA into XF) but the SVO has jumped the queue. I won't be doing the BA conversion any time soon but i don't mind robbing it for parts (pistons and rods) as i had intended to bin these parts anyway. Can also get a cheap EF motor for bits. I'm competent to do the work myself as i've rebuilt quite a few engines and have all the tools etc.

So the build plan is:
core parts
EA 3.9 original block
EF fully counterweighted crank
BA pistons and 6" inch rods (as removed from a low kay engine)
EF head
AU gasket and bolts
obviously new timing chain and other typical parts replaced in rebuild

main machining services
bore/hone the 3.9 block up to standard bore size of the BA (bore sizes anyone??)
linish EF crank
Head work limited to minor porting/port matching and general reco
balanced

OK so i'm not certain of the BA piston being a flat top or slight dish but i do know that comp has raised in the BA relative to previous models. Hence i'm cautious about decking the EA block unless its absolutely necessary. I'm quite sure that the 3.9 block can be bored and honed up to the stock BA piston size but i'd feel more confident if i knew the bore sizes concerned ( i know EA to be 92.25mm). The 6 inch rod may have more effect on the charachteristics of the engines torque moreso than any other change. I've always liked the EF crank in preference to the others nad i'd really only be using it because its there to be used. Crank/rods/pistons would all be balanced.

EF Head... hmm seems to be the pick of the bunch with the least work required to achieve good flow. Also i like the way my last EF motor drove (albeit in my XE ghia!). So i'm assuming the stock cam isn't too bad of an allrounder. I may just degree it forward slightly with either a vernier cam gear or the old "reposition and re-drill" method.

I believe this would be a fairly straightforward build resulting a good torque spread, high but not unworkable comp ratio, good street manners and revability (car is a manual with 3.23 gears i guess).

Critique this build. Comments welcome from experienced persons. n00bs need not respond.

Don't be too stressed about modifying it mate, SVO were an after market thing done by Mick Webb so it's not a factory build.
Very rare any of them had engine work done as there was really no development back then.
The usual was Bilstein shocks, lowered, SVO rims, front and rear spoilers, 2 tone paint work, Momo wheel.
Recaro's etc were at extra cost, but Mick just done what people ordered.
There are a fairly large range of cams available now, Wade, Crow, RPD etc, i was running a Wade 1004 and it performed well, but there are better than that around now.
With the head i just cleaned up the ports but worked mainly on the bowls, that's where you will gain as it made a big difference to my EF.
Is it MPFI or CFI?

MPFI

This is a hamburger with the lot. RECAROS, Bilsteins etc. Its all there. I got the original Dealer paperwork and books with the car. Thats why i'd prefer not to go to town on it, even though i already have other go fast gear. Managed to pick up a bit of info from the interweb and some other forums.

I had pretty much assumed that the engine wasn't tweaked. Found an article from Modern Motor in '89, scans found here under "magazines"
http://members.optusnet.com.au/santo/

Also that MM article lists bore at 91.8mm, granted i pulled my earlier figures of 92.25mm from the EBII workshop manual so that might answer my own question re bore. If the block has no ridge it'll clean up to that size with a hone.

Got pics of and more info on your porting? I might focus my attentions there.

IIRC the EBII got the 4L motor so i would be assuming that you have to rebore the 3.9

is there any real benifit with fitting the EF head, according to my manual i (*think*) the 3.9 one has smaller combustion chambers, the rest is the same... (apart from rocker gear + cam) can some one confirm this??

3.9 head has a 'swirl' ridge.
THAT's where the smaller chambers come from.
If Webb has done headwork to your SVO, chances are he would have grinded the swirl ridge out.
And before someone says it, putting a 3.9 head on your 4L to get more comp isn't cool

I'd try and make a decision cam-wise before deciding on what head/headwork you are going to go for.

edit: just also adding to that, fordz, different ports between every casting pretty much. Ef heads (94ABs?) are 'said' to have the biggest ports, I can't comment either way, never compared one personally, I'm sure someone out there has much much more knowledge then I re: casting differences between heads.

sounds like a good plan but to use the BA Rods and Pistons you will need to source a AU Crank as the Journals are different compared to the E-Series stuff.

Nope. Not only is the big end the same ea-bf but an AU crank can not be fitted to an e-series block.

where did you concentrate your port work in the bowels

not sure if I am right or not but isnt a 2/98 on EL I6 got an AU crank? or EL/AU hybrid motor, might be worth looking into. Sure its been mentioned in a few forums before regarding the differences.

au crank wont fit ea-el, ure actually better off getting an EL crank caus these have better counter weights than the ef

Going a bit off topic guys. Go back to the combo i've listed and comment on that. Would there be anything that you'd do significantly different?

I'll be trying to get an EF motor with 94AB type head. I can't remember exactly but i do think that is the casting that my last project motor had on it and that hammered in stock form with straight gas and a T5. (i can call the new owner and check?)

I'm prepared to do the porting myself but it will probably just extend to a clean up of the castings and port matching. Before hitting the die grinder it'd be handy to see or hear from those who have sucessfully ported their own heads.

Walker can you dig up some pics or give a full explanation of the bowl work you did? I would have thought that work around the stems and the transition to the exhaust are pretty important in these heads. I don't plan on going to oversize valves or anything.

I'd have to cc the chambers and compare that with the crowns on the BA pistons as i'm not sure if they have a dish or a flat top. As the CR is increased on the BA i'd hoping that the dish is minimal so i can keep the CR up around 9.5:1

Cam choice can come a bit later but as stated i'd be pretty happy with just advancing the EF cam around 2-3 degrees to start with. I haven't even bothered to look into any of the cam specs yet...pure laziness. Part of this is just keeping the build on the cheap too.

I'm happy to entertain some small and inexpensive mods. I've recently just had some automatic gearbox parts isotropically finished (basically micropolished and surface hardened in lamens terms). Its expensive to the public but i'm getting it done through a mate on the cheap who puts wuite a few things through. I'd be considering doing that to the oil pump and valve springs. visit http://www.xtremefinishing.com/ if you want to have a read of that.

Unfortunately i never took pics mate, but i chopped the crap out of the bowls and just basically cleaned the surface of the ports.
The ports are already big in these heads so there isn't much need to go crazy on them.

Now, there is a guy here who posted a pic of head porting a couple of months back, it was more of a diagram than a pic, it points out the areas to concentrate on and it's pretty well spot on.

I'm sure he'll see this thread and chuck it up for you. I done mine almost 2 years ago and it's hard to explain via text, easy to do in person.
When you remove the valves you will see how much restriction there is.

isotropical finishing is the s**t....id be getting engine internals done too

Yeah i don't do things by halves!

Isotropic finishing is primarly used to reduce heat and stress on components, hence why i'm trialling it in an auto i'm exprimenting with as autos are prone to heat. Reduce the friction and thereby reduce the heat.

As far as the engine goes i think valve springs, oil pump and maybe the secondary shaft (or oil pump drive gear) would benefit the most. The crank costs $450 to get finished on top of the linishing/casting clean up/balancing. Although apparently helps with slinging the oil off so if i can get it done at a reasonable price then i will. Otherwise i'm less concerned about the crank. Just a "nice to have".

On another note i got the car running yesterday. Took 2 seconds to find the fault. Starter solenoid wire disconnected! Pulled the plugs prior to start up and found a droplet of water on #6 plug. Still runs fine so i have some breathing space to get the rebuild parts organised. Will probably get it rego'd as is and work on it in January when everyone is back on deck. Its a pain getting things done at this time of year!

Aaron