I finally decided to start a major performance mod/project. I was originally was planning on turbocharging the M20 motor, but decided against this due to the cost, labor of installation and question about reliability.

My next consideration was to replace the M20 motor with an M50, S50 or even an M60. After doing quite a bit of research on the M60 swap and talking to others who had done the M50/S50, I decided against it. The main reason being due to getting an engine with a questionable history, and the cost/effort involved with the fabrication that needs to be done.

After looking into the other options, the stroker motor became quite desirable. There is no added weight, so the handling would not be affected. There is no fabrication required, with the exception of some exhaust work, due to adding headers. I also know the history of the engine (59K original miles and no problems), which gives me some piece of mind.

There are several companies that offer stroker kits, and they can also be fairly simple to piece together yourself. There are also several sizes to choose from, ranging from 2.7L to 3.1L. I decided to go with the Ireland Engineering 3.0L kit. The reasons being that they are located in California, I have heard good things about the products, and Jeff has always been very helpful in the past. The 3.0 kit seems like it will have good power potential, and will hopefully still be a smooth engine. I plan to go with a 9.5:1 compression ratio, due to the generally crappy gas here in CA.

About the kit:
The kit includes a new (e36 M3?) crank shaft, light weight forged JE Pistons (+1mm), piston rings, high strength wrist pins, and main bearings.

There are a bunch more parts needed besides the kit itself, which I detailed with prices and pictures on this parts page.

The process:
Once I pull the engine, I will strip the block down and send it in for a +1mm bore, hone, have them balance the engine with the new parts, then have the short block assembled.

I will send the head in for a rebuild, match porting, flow work, and have them install a new Schrick 272/272 cam. I will also be adding +1mm stainless steel valves, which works out to be a sizable difference in surface area. The existing seats can be ground to accommodate the increased size.Here is a comparison of area for the valve sizes:

While the engine and tranny are out of the car, the engine well will get a thorough cleaning/degreasing. I will also see what I can do about getting the cosmoline off. With the transmission out, I will replace the input/output shaft seals, shifter rod seal, etc., then replace the transmission fluid with Redline MTL. I will also be replacing my leaky steering rack with an M3 steering rack.

When I receive the engine back, I can finish assembling the motor and begin the reinstall. New components will include clutch, aluminum flywheel, motor & tranny mounts, Extrude Honed intake manifold, headers and ignition components.

With the increase in torque, the 4.10 gear ratio that I had would have been too tall, so I decided to go back to a 3.73. I located a good used 3.73LSD, and decided to use it as is. I did however, install the M Coupe cover and used some new Redline gear oil. I will eventually look into getting the diff lockup increased to around 50%.

I received the throttle body back from Ed Mazula, and it looks awesome! I decided to install it before changing anything else, to see if it made much of a difference. It did seem as though the car had better throttle response and mid to high rpm acceleration, but it was not a huge difference. I did not really expect it to be very noticeable, but I am sure it will help, especially after the head work and cam is done, the EH manifold is in, etc.

Day 1
I put the car up on stands and removed the wheels, skid plate, lower engine cover and exhaust (except the manifolds). I removed the hood and started to disconnect some of the wiring and engine components. I removed all of the intake manifold nuts, although it is still holding firmly in place. It is likely both the gaskets, as well as some of the hoses still connected. I'll figure that out in the morning.

Day 2
Well, the engine and transmission are now ready for removal. I ran out of daylight, so I will do this in the morning. The day consisted of draining the fluids, removing the intake manifold, a/c compressor, p/s pump and alternator. I also disconnected all the wiring and cooling system hoses from the engine, and separated the driveshaft and shifter from the transmission.

Day 3
The engine removal was actually quite easy! There were a few small things that I had to do first (remove the fan and the driveshaft), then the rest of it was pretty quick. There is plenty of room for the transmission, so I definitely agree that it is best to leave the tranny attached when pulling the engine. I started to break down the engine, and clean some of the parts. The head is ready to go to the builder, which will hopefully happen tomorrow. I'll probably spend the rest of the day breaking down the rest of the engine, so that the block can go in to the builder (Don) on Wednesday. You can see what the condition was of my passenger-side motor mount. I had no idea that it was broken, so I was quite surprised to see this.

Day 4
I took the head down to the Bob McKray, who will be doing the head work. I asked him if the cam/valve combo was going to be good, or if he thought I should switch to the dual pattern cam. He stated that he feels the single pattern will be a better way to go. I assume this is taking into account the flow work that he is planning to do with the head. I am looking at about a week and a half for the work to be done (install new cam, install larger valves, match port, polish and flow work), which should run me around $700. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the parts and getting the engine ready to take to Don. I will be taking it down as a short block, so it is now ready to go. This will happen hopefully on Monday. You can see in the pics that I disassembled the oil pump to clean it. This was easy, although I would not recommend taking out the relief valve as it is a real pain to get back in. I also replaced the relief valve seal that is on the oil filter housing.

Day 5
I spent the day cleaning up some of the old parts, and preparing some of the new parts for installation. Things like putting new injector o-rings on, installing the thermostat, etc. I also took some comparison pics of the manifolds. It is amazing what difference the Extrude Hone process makes!

Day 6
Unfortunately my laptop crashed/died (now it won't boot) so it may be a few days before I can add some pics (the computer I am now using does not have the drivers for my digital camera). I ordered some final parts, and the aluminum flywheel finally arrived. Since there was not much else to do with my car today, I spent some time working on Marni's '68 Mustang :-)

Day 7
I pressure washed the transmission, drained the fluid and then started to replace the seals. The selector rod seal was really easy. I pulled out the throw-out bearing shaft and input shaft seal, but did not replace the housing since I did not have the proper sealant. I'll pick some up tomorrow. I went to remove the nut that holds the flange at the output shaft, and realized that my 30mm socket was too shallow to work. I was able to modify the socket to remove the nut, but will need a deep socket in order to reinstall it (so I can torque it). The output shaft seal was rather difficult to remove. I put the new seal in, but can't do much more until tomorrow.

Day 8
I got a 30mm deep socket, but had to grind down the outer edge slightly since it was a little to thick to fit inside the flange. I finished installing the seals and re-sealed the small check valve spring cover. I installed a new clutch release arm, pivot pin and retainer spring. I then filled the tranny with some Redline MTL, so it is ready to go as soon as the engine is done. The new (rebuilt) steering rack arrived, so I pulled the old one from my car. The new rack already had new inner tie rods and boots, so I just need to swap out the tie rod ends (ball joints).

Day 9
Well, I finally got the engine to Don, who will be doing the block work/engine assembly. I dropped off all the parts, and he said he would call me when he is ready to start the assembly, so I could come over and watch if I was interested. Once I get the head, he said he wants to check it over, so he is comfortable with using it on the engine he is building. He also said he would be happy to install the head, set up the timing, etc. After dropping the engine off, another friend match ported the intake. There was actually quite a bit of metal removed. He also smoothed out some of the area just inside the ports. The red stuff is a dye used in the porting process, which I will wash off when I clean the manifold.

Day 10
Today was the super exciting "clean the engine compartment day." :-)
It was actually not that bad and it already looks much better. I'll probably spend some more time on it tomorrow. While cleaning the base of the steering column, I realized that it had dropped out of the upper portion. This made it much easier to clean, but I hope it is not difficult to get back in. I also pulled the oil cooler so that I could flush out the old oil and clean out the fins.

Day 11
Today was the even more exciting "removing cosmoline day!"
I used the Castrol Super Clean along with a stiff plastic bristle brush, and the cosmoline did come off with some scrubbing. I am really happy with the results and feel the work was definitely worth it. I still have some more to remove on the inside front of the hood, but I think the engine well is finally finished.

Day 12
I installed the new steering rack today. The install was fairly simple, although I spent a while making sure the steering wheel was straight. I cleaned the cosmoline off the inside front of the hood, which is hopefully the last of it. I cleaned and added water to the battery, and will stick it on the charger so it will still be ready to go when the engine is in. I installed new delrin shifter carrier bushings, which I got with my UUC short shifter. I was never able to get the old pin out, so I was waiting for an opportunity like this (transmission out) to install them. I also removed and cleaned the brake rotors, since the hats had started to oxidize from the recent rain. I'll put some hi-temp silver paint on them tomorrow.

Day 13
Today was basically painting day. I put several coats of paint on the rotors, but did not bother masking the rotor surface as I assumed it would be easy to sand off. Unfortunately, it was a major pain. I guess I put on more paint than I realized. I decided that the black part of my wheels could use some new paint, so I picked up some gloss black paint and put on a coat on both the inside and outside of the rim. I'll let them dry overnight, then put on another coat tomorrow. I also refinished the valve cover, since it had taken a fair amount of abuse during the engine removal. I also cleaned up the suspension components and painted the center of the hubs to keep them from oxidizing. I'll get some pics of that in the morning. I am still waiting on the head, but it should be done tomorrow or Monday.

Day 14
This morning I installed the rotors and then put a final coat of paint on the wheels. They both look much better now. I removed the front lower spoiler, so that I could attach it correctly. There has been a gap between the spoiler and the bumper which really annoyed me. It looks like I may need to pick up a few new clips to re-attach it. I also took a pic of the instrument cluster, to record the mileage.

Day 15
I checked to see what I need to mount the front spoiler correctly, and I just need some new clips. I had to go in to the dealer to order them, so I picked up a few other things that I needed (oil cooler o-rings, antifreeze, etc). I took the lines off the oil cooler, to flush it out and install the new o-rings. I received the flex disc and also installed a new output shaft flange lock. The first one I installed, I pushed out the lock too much, which caused it to loose grip on the flange itself. The trick seems to be just tap it in until it is flush, which will cause it to bow out in the open areas. This is all it needs.

Day 16
I picked up the new clips and reinstalled the spoiler. It looks much better without the annoying sag in the middle.

The head was finally completed, so I drove down and picked it up. Bob stated that the head checked out well before the work, and he was really happy with the way that it came out. You will notice that the ports are not polished, but actually have a machined type finish. Apparently they have found that polished is not the ideal surface, and the slightly rough surface does a much better job of allowing the air to flow properly, keeping the fuel suspended, etc.

Day 17
I took the completed head to Don, and he had some bad news about the status of the engine. Apparently JE cut the oil ring groove too deep in the piston, which would cause a problem with the way the oil ring would sit on the spacer. The spacer (which is directly beneath the oil ring) was sitting tight on the piston, which meant that only about .040" (about half) of the oil ring was contacting the spacer. Don stated that with only the inner half of the oil ring supported, it would just end up getting twisted and pulled down, causing oil consumption/burning problems. This also caused a problem while assembling them, since apparently one side of the oil ring kept dropping off the side of the spacer. He said we would have no way of knowing if they were in a proper position once the pistons were in the cylinder. After Don talked with JE for a bit, they finally realized/admitted that there is a problem with the design and stated that they will need to manufacture new pistons. They stated that it will take about a week to make the new ones and they want the old ones back before they will start.

We also are having a problem with the compression ratio being off. It seems that the head gasket that we were given is larger than what Jeff used for his calculations. There is also come confusion about the types of calculations used to determine the compression ratio, so we are working that out. Jeff is going to try to locate a thinner head gasket, and Don will be able to deck the block to make up any difference. The head gasket that we have also does not line up correctly with the cylinders, and is not made for a +1mm bore. We will see if the new gasket is going to work, otherwise we'll have to find one made for a bored block (if any exist?) or have a custom one made as a last resort ($$).

Don was also not happy with the main cap bolts, since he felt that they were too small and were not threading deep enough. A friend of his has a contact at ARP, and was able to get some new studs which will work for our application. This should be much better being studs as opposed to bolts, but are also much stronger as well.

I am really fortunate to have someone who is incredibly detail oriented and experienced, working on the engine. Don used to own an engine remanufacturing company (before he sold it and retired) and stated that he has personally assembled over 30,000 engines. He said that his philosophy has always been to never assume any part is good. A part, even a new one from a well known manufacturer, is not good until he proves it to himself. This is a perfect example of why that is needed.

I flew back to SF, since there is not much for me to do until we get these issues worked out. Once we have all the correct parts, I will fly down and finish the project. This will likely be sometime in early January. Here are a few shots of some of the parts, and the car in waiting.

On a lighter note, here are a few pictures of one of Don's toys. It is a blown '34 ford.

Day 18
Don received the new pistons from JE 5 days after contacting them. It sucks to be dealing with this problem, but I am happy with the quickness that JE addressed the issue. They did forget to return the set of rings that I sent them, so it will be a few days before we get those. We received the new head gasket from Ireland Engineering, but it was the same one that we had before. Don is going to see what he can find through some different vendors. Once we get the gasket issue figured out, I will be able to head back down to finish the car.

~document lost~
My (now old) hosting company lost about a dozen of my pages during a recent server migration. I had unfortunately not downloaded the site after a recent computer rebuild, which left me scrambling to find back-up copies of the missing pages. As far as I can tell I replaced them all but this page is not complete. I will try to fill it back in using the pictures (which I still have).
Thanks! Dave

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