Looking for DD engine build input
woodi
Wagonist
My DOHC ZC in my RT wagon is burning a quart of oil about every 500 miles so I've decided I'm going to need to so some engine work in short order. I have never built/rebuilt an engine but am fairly mechanically inclined and feel like if I read lots and take my time I should be able to get through the process. Where I am at right now is deciding what direction to go in.
My wagon is my DD driving about 35 miles round trip to and from work everyday and probably averaging 100+ miles on her every weekend. Since getting her on the road last September I've put around 10,000 miles on the odometer. That said reliability and fuel economy are somewhat important considerations for me as well as not having to run high octane fuel. I still want this car to be fun to drive but it is never going to be a track car. I mainly want to be able to enjoy driving it to work and have it be able to handle my weekend expeditions including bikes/skis/boats on the roof and the rear hatch filled with the rest of our gear. I want to build my engine with those uses in mind. I plan to keep the engine NA for the sake of simplicity and to keep the cost down. I'm thinking low end power and torque would be ideal for my uses which from what I've been reading isn't the easiest thing to do with D-series.
I currently have a complete d16a6 that's had two blown HG and has around 170,000 miles on it that I pulled from the car when I bought it (with a blown HG). I also have the complete DOHC ZC that is in the car now and as I mentioned devours oil.
I've been leaning towards rebuilding the a6 since it's already out of the car and I can keep driving the car while I build it then just pull the ZC and drop the newly built motor in and be on the road again without too much down time.
I've been thinking of just doing the mini-me swap with the a6 bottom end and y8/z6 head but don't know if I might actually be better served by staying away form v-tec and keeping the a6 head or looking for a y7 head. Danz's stroker build also caught my eye for exactly what I am looking for but I don't know if the complication of that build would be too much for my first engine. I've been playing with the CR calculators online with various engine combinations since it seems that bumping CR should give me a bit more torque like I feel I am looking for but at what point is the CR getting too high to run regular gas?
As you can see I've been reading and thinking about this a lot but really haven't come to any conclusions anyone have any ideas/input on what the best build might be to accomplish my goals?
My wagon is my DD driving about 35 miles round trip to and from work everyday and probably averaging 100+ miles on her every weekend. Since getting her on the road last September I've put around 10,000 miles on the odometer. That said reliability and fuel economy are somewhat important considerations for me as well as not having to run high octane fuel. I still want this car to be fun to drive but it is never going to be a track car. I mainly want to be able to enjoy driving it to work and have it be able to handle my weekend expeditions including bikes/skis/boats on the roof and the rear hatch filled with the rest of our gear. I want to build my engine with those uses in mind. I plan to keep the engine NA for the sake of simplicity and to keep the cost down. I'm thinking low end power and torque would be ideal for my uses which from what I've been reading isn't the easiest thing to do with D-series.
I currently have a complete d16a6 that's had two blown HG and has around 170,000 miles on it that I pulled from the car when I bought it (with a blown HG). I also have the complete DOHC ZC that is in the car now and as I mentioned devours oil.
I've been leaning towards rebuilding the a6 since it's already out of the car and I can keep driving the car while I build it then just pull the ZC and drop the newly built motor in and be on the road again without too much down time.
I've been thinking of just doing the mini-me swap with the a6 bottom end and y8/z6 head but don't know if I might actually be better served by staying away form v-tec and keeping the a6 head or looking for a y7 head. Danz's stroker build also caught my eye for exactly what I am looking for but I don't know if the complication of that build would be too much for my first engine. I've been playing with the CR calculators online with various engine combinations since it seems that bumping CR should give me a bit more torque like I feel I am looking for but at what point is the CR getting too high to run regular gas?
As you can see I've been reading and thinking about this a lot but really haven't come to any conclusions anyone have any ideas/input on what the best build might be to accomplish my goals?
Comments
I say go for a rebuild, but keep your ZC in there during your build. My first thought was to swap in a used Z6 and then do a build while that was in so I pulled out my A6 and installed not one, but two bad Z6's. Then after 3 swaps in 3 days I messed up my A6 due to not taking my time, being frustrated, and being tired. So I've been without my wagon for 6 months now. That sucks far worse than having a running car without the perfect engine in it.
Unless you have a lot of time or money I would just go with a stock rebuild of the A6. New rings, bearings, check clearances, fresh pumps and gaskets. Call it a day and have a nice fresh motor in the car that you can put 100K on w/o issues.
B series would be sweet but being as it's an RT4WD car without the huge complication of swapping in a CRV transmission I have to stay with the D.
I've been thinking about just staying with the A6 as you mentioned superhatch. I tend to get myself in over my head from time to time and hot having to do any new wiring and screwing around to get the Vtec rigged up and do lots of tuning sounds like it might be a good idea. I may have to skim a little off the head to get it flat again after being overheated twice and we'll see what the cylinder walls look like. If we have to bore them out at all I'll still be looking at a little boost in compression though I dunno if it will even be that noticeable over the stock A6.