Originally Posted by
Clint I'm sorry if my post offended anybody & I meant no disrespect to Kesi or Jun. If this engine had bigger valves & a custom intake I would have been as stoked as everybody else. We should have the right to make an observation and question without getting flamed or development stops.
I made the observation that I did partly because Reg Cook who rebuilt my shortblock purchased a genuine complete BTCC Primera race engine & put it on his engine dyno & it made between 285 & 290 hp at the crank. That is less than this build.
My high compression engine was built in early 2005 for Amdeman & was possibly the first VE in the world to run modified SR16VE pistons, the compression is slightly over mid 12s. I personally know 3 other people in my immediate circle who are running this setup & there is another getting built here as we speak.
Aussies and NZ guys usually have their heads on right. Big props.
The first incarnation of the engine I have now had some very mild headwork & ran Franklin Stage 4 cams. My latest build has stage one headwork (standard valves) done by Kevin Ban from Kelford. In 2007 I contacted Kevin about the VE & we decided to co-operate on developing a new cam grind which is what you get now if you order a 184-C. My part in this was to supply him with a untouched VE cylinder head so that he could experiment on it & then I was to test the cams once they were made. Kevin would occasionally contact me for information & I would get it & go back to him. Kelford had the head for 8 months before I got it back. I have recently contacted Kevin to ask if he would like another VE head (at my expense) to cut to pieces so that he can learn even more about porting them & to assist in cam development. I have spent $7,000 of my own money fulfilling my commitment to Kevin & have not yet finished. Shortly before the shortblock was rebuilt I acquired a Tomei 91mm crank but had to forgo building my dream big-bore engine because I had promised to test these cams on a 2L for Kevin.
Call Kelford & tell them of your plans to build a 290 crank HP engine using an untouched VE head & you will hear laughing in the background just before the phone goes click in your ear.
The Kelford guys are good at what they do, period. They have made cams for a number of race winning cars I have tuned.
At the same time as doing this, Paul (AKA The Alienprobe) & I were working with Lucas Oldfield to make the Bikirom work for VE in a P11 ECU so that it could provide a stand-alone like tuning tool for those down here for 1/3 the cost. A couple of the guys in Australia were doing the same for the Pulsar. I also have sent Lucas a VE ECU so that he can develop the Bikirom to run in that. Paul has supplied Lucas with files & information to assist in this.
PLMS has a daughterboard that works. And the Nistune software is phenomenal. Pete at PLMS is truly a great guy.
In this latest build, I first ran a Burns collector welded to the Fuji secondaries & then shortened Fuji secondaries to see if we could make the Fujis work better. I sent all of the measurements etc to Vince at Burns & he agreed that it was a viable option & worth a try. Credit where credit is due, Charles originally suggested doing this. This involved cutting up headers that have a $1,800NZ replacement cost here. Amdeman was the first to shorten them as he tried that & I tried the Burns to see how they compared.
In October last year I organised a VE dyno day & we got 17 different VE cars with different mods on the same dyno on the same day and as far as I know that is a world first.
Perhaps now the folks who accused me of being a hater & a follower could post up what you have done for VE development?
You aren't a hater at all and your input is both well written, realistic, and helpful. There is a "kink" to the XX Tuning packs and it seems JR has used it to display how awesome he is. If you have knowledge of using and operating the packs I'll be happy to share.