Hi Team,
So I've had a few Kp's in the past and have done pretty much everything with them except for opening up the motor an attempting a rebuild. I Decided recently that I wouldn't mind trying to build a hot wee 4k in the shed through winter and as natural progression follows, finding a kp rolling body to dump it in when the opportunity presents itself.
We're not going for a crazy build here, this is an opportunity for me to tinker in the shed and try my hand at building an engine from the bottom up on the work bench. Street driven, peppi town driving and passing a few mazda demios on the highway haha.
Basic run down of the build as I see it rolling out: Feel free to interject
Completely tear down the engine
Send the head & block off to be acid washed/cleaned
Head skimmed
Block resurfaced/cleaned up
Honed/bored out 40thou for acl pistons?
Build spec:
Pistons
Mild cam 270 Deg?
Main bearings
Frost plugs
Head gasket
Timing chain
Valve spring set
webber 32/36 downdraught
lightened fly
Extractors
Electronic dizzy
My Questions:
When it comes skimming heads, resurfacing blocks and the thickness of the head gasket... My knowledge begins to disappear. Remember, we're ultimately building this in the shed for 1. Me to learn 2. to have a bit of fun 3. to not break the bank. But with that in mind I'm happy to spend money where necessary as I want to make a good solid job of it. Basically, my question is this.. Should I be skimming to make higher compression or should I just get the head & block resurfaced so we can slap it back together. If the answer is skim for higher compression, what else needs to be considered when upping the comp? when we start talking about measuring cc's and all that jazz I'm all out of ideas.
Should I send my factory cam away for a regrind or go with something aftermarket?
Valve springs.. Kelford performance valve springs?
Balancing the engine, Is it necessary?
OEM Headgasket or go with a metal head gasket?
Thank you for taking the time to read and help out, I have done my research through various forums but I can't seem to find a dumbed down answer for my application.
I plan on picking the motor up this week and firing into the methodical and well organised tear down.