Hi there. We have a project running at the moment concerning the developement and production of Aluminium L series blocks. These will be cast to look identical from the outside to a standard block but will have the obvious benefit of much less wieght and good wall thickness to allow for 89mm liners to be used for the 3.1. I already have a significant interest in the UK and am just gauging the states to see if there would be a demand for this over there. Other projects are being looked at with regard to the further developement of the L series engine. cheers ben
ps type in janspeed 240z into youtube to see how my current 3.1 performs on a 1/4 mile

 

Which aluminum alloy is being used? And which L series block are you modeling it after?

 

yeah^^^^ and what would the shipping be to get it to the states, and how much these blocks gonna run?

 

i am interested, mostly governing the purchase is the price. and will the stock internals fit into the al. block, or will a new stroker crank be offered as well, as these seem to suck to find at a good price. msa's kit really doesnt tickle my fancy enough to get it.

 

o.k i just watched the video too, wow, whatcha running, i wanna know, dont gotta give all the dirt, just some stuff, bore, n/a-turbo etc.

 

well... i can tell you one thing that in there... a super charger... and he is chirpin 3rd.... nice... adn is that with the block you are talking about reproducing in alluminium

 

hi there thanks for the interest.
The aluminium will be the right spec. The company that are doing this have a good track record for this type of thing.
The block will be modeled on the turbo block but without the extra oil filter casting
Shipping costs are not available at this moment but I will advise as soon as we know
Cost of the block assembly I should be able to give an idea by the new year. Depends to a certain degree on the quantity that we produce in the first run.

It is invisaged that the block will take standard internals with piston size from 84 to 89 mm. However there will be available a steel crank and rods for the 3.1. however it should be appreciated that these items are custom made and will not compare favourably with a LD crank. These items are aimed more for the engine builder that wants to build a serious engine for the track.
Full price details will be available hopefully in the new year but I need to guage how much demand there might be for this block in the states.

The video shows my car with the 3.1 engine built on a factory big bore block with an LD crank, standard rods and forged 89mm pistons. It is normally aspirated and runs a throttle slide assembly with 6 injectors, distributorless ignition with a coil on each plug. The DTA engine management system is fully mappable on both ignition and fueling and also has data logging and traction control(not used in the video). We are running over 11.1 compresion ratio. This has been the first full season of use in hillclimbs and is still running a mild cam and state of tune (it is back on the dyno this month to work some more magic) With 200ft/lb of torque at 2000rpm peaking at 270ft/lb @ 4000rpm and revving to 8000 I am quite pleased with how the engine has worked this year. There is more to come yet!
The video was shot for a japanese tuning magazine shootout on an airfield and out of 2 runs at the 1/4 mile the times were as below
0 to 60 4.2 secs
0 to 100 10.46 secs
1/4 mile 12.79 secs

Hope this answers the questions so far but feel free to ask further

this is a link to another vid clip of the local hillclimb to me

http://www.brayspeed.co.uk/assets/be...n%2006%20f.wmv

 

dayum..... NA huh.... i thought i heard.... damn..... nice car hope to hear more about you aluminum blocks its a neat idea.

 

HEHEHEHE, i love it, n/a all the way, just the way i like it. one day i too will be able to do that, im aiming for 250 rwhp from my n/a, so under 50 hp to go!

 

I cant tell if its the tranny or the rear end, but something doesn't sound stock in that department. You can hear the gears (probably what snw thought was a supercharger). But holy-shyte that thing is quick. It just shot off the line I give it two thumbs up in the 'it'll put your butt in the seat just from watching the video' category

 

straight cut close, interchangable ratio internals crammed into the internaly modified 240 casing gives it the quick gear change. Thanks for the comments. wiat till we finish tuning this engine then stick the ali block motor in the car. It will be quick then. cheers ben

 

I'm definitely interested in following along with the development of the aluminum block, and the whole car in general. Keep us updated with how things progress.

 

Thats badass, I would get a alluminum block, as long as its not like 10,000 USD lol. Maybe look into getting a duel head to, I saw some people on hybrid Z working on em, iunno how far they got though.

 

I'm sure you noticed but just in case, when you reach higher speeds your hood, lifts up, it lifts up! That is crazy!!!!

Definitly keep updated.

 

aerodynamic mods in progress over the winter. The hood is a lightwieght experimental unit that I am making but that is the mk1 version. mk2 is in the mould now and work on the rest of the car has started. cheers ben

 

I remember nissan approached cadillac about producing aluminum vg30 blocks in the 80s but don't know if anything came from it.

My question on the L28 block is whether there will be an option for front sump setups.

 

Over on HybridZ he said he's most likely not going to market them to the US. An exact aluminum duplicate of the cast iron L-series wouldn't really work anyways. If you look at dedicated aluminum engine families you'll see all kinds of extra webbing cast into the blocks to add rigidity. An iron block doesnt have any of this. And it generally doesnt need it. But aluminum isn't nearly as stiff or strong as iron. An aluminum block is a good idea, but not an exact replica of the current L-series block. It'll be prone to failure.

 

exactly... and not like are cars weigh sooo much any ways... i have a feeling it would be rediculous to buy one and ship it though $$$$$$

 

Not sure if it's possible, but more so than an aluminum block I'd like to see things like aluminum cranks and valve train. The lighter the rotational masses in the engine the quicker it will spin up.

 

sounds expensive, why dont you just supercharge it? hehe!

 

you just love supercharging everything don't ya??? do you have a SC setup?

 

Not that it would be in my price range, but a redesign of the head to move the intake valves to the passenger side would be awesome. Retaining the same cam and exhaust flange would be key. What Blake machine is doing with the KA heads is awesome, but the custom cam, intake and exhaust will most certainly skyrocket the price...

 

True, but it is really cool to see. Maybe they can make a replica of the head once it's built then mass produce them and the cams and we can all have an aluminum dohc head.

 

Maybe someone should see if they can get the giken head molds tooling.