G63B rebuild kit

[Ramit]

Thinking about rebuilding the old 2.0 this spring. Looking online at some of the different kits (pistons, rings, main and rod bearings, all gaskets, etc.) offered by a few companies. Has anybody ordered and used one of these kits and what were your thoughts on them? Does anybody have a different path they took like ordering different parts from different distributors? I'm looking at keeping it pretty much stock with the exception of the Weber carb (new kit still in the box) and getting the head match ported. I know from replacing the head a couple of years back that #3 cylinder has a scratch in it deep enough to grab a fingernail with. Does that mean I will have to get the cylinders bored and go with oversize pistons? What other "must haves" should I do in the rebuild process? I have never actually rebuilt a motor before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[manorchurch]

I would not use an MCA-Jet head, but that's just me. Agree on the match-porting. Might want to investigate induced turbulence techniques on the intake side, since you lose swirl without the MCA jet. I don't know what's available for matched valve springs in the 72 - 80 lb. range, but that's worth investigating. No MCA, plus a bump in the spring-rate should up the red-line usefully.

The 30-over pistons I got are better than stock. I don't remember exactly ... seems like around $100 for the set?

[Ramit]

I already have a non-jet head on it. The factory jet head had several cracks in it, so when I took it to the head shop here in Nashville, he sold me a rebuilt non-jet head but I forget what he said it came off of. I've been running it for a couple of years now.

[camoit]

My self I would pull all the tin, covers, and the head off. Then take the head and block with the crank and pistons to a shop and ask them how much to build the short block / long block. Then you get a warranty and all the parts will be correct. It never hurts to ask. If there a decent place they will be clean and will let you look around and ask questions. If they hide in the back or give you the old insurance does not cover customers in the back bs then go to the next place. They should have nothing to hide.
You might want to look into the link section. You might be able to get a used engine and trans shipped to you for half the price.

[Ramit]

Did a little research on induced turbulence. Interesting concept. I see where it is being done in the combustion chamber, but not on the intake side of the manifold. Do you have any links or hints on where to go to see more on this idea?
I would not use an MCA-Jet head, but that's just me. Agree on the match-porting. Might want to investigate induced turbulence techniques on the intake side, since you lose swirl without the MCA jet. I don't know what's available for matched valve springs in the 72 - 80 lb. range, but that's worth investigating. No MCA, plus a bump in the spring-rate should up the red-line usefully.

The 30-over pistons I got are better than stock. I don't remember exactly ... seems like around $100 for the set?

[ikeepzitclean]

My self I would pull all the tin, covers, and the head off. Then take the head and block with the crank and pistons to a shop and ask them how much to build the short block / long block. Then you get a warranty and all the parts will be correct. It never hurts to ask. If there a decent place they will be clean and will let you look around and ask questions. If they hide in the back or give you the old insurance does not cover customers in the back bs then go to the next place. They should have nothing to hide.
You might want to look into the link section. You might be able to get a used engine and trans shipped to you for half the price.

x2 on this..

[manorchurch]

Did a little research on induced turbulence. Interesting concept. I see where it is being done in the combustion chamber, but not on the intake side of the manifold. Do you have any links or hints on where to go to see more on this idea?

I googled to try and find what I originally read about it, but no luck. At the time, I had included "Dodge" in googling, since I have a Ram 50 truck. Anyway, a while back I turned up a cylinder polish/port article written about a Dodge 2.2 engine -- I think it was the one in the old Neon? This guy uses a die-grinder to carve parallel grooves in the intake manifold in front of the port transition area, which, like you might figure, disrupts the laminar airflow and tumbles the mixture into the cylinder. Made sense to me -- moreso than just polishing the surface to increase flow and count on piston dome or other surface to make turbulence. This was turbulence specifically, not "swirl". Also, you only need to do one surface of the basically 4-sided intake port -- this guy had done some analysis that showed how the airflow follows the channel and sticks to one side.

Here's another wrinkle: he filled the upper valve chamber (the stem recess) with epoxy (not totally, but at least half) to increase velocity -- and volumetric efficiency (I assume). I forget what he did to prevent stem binding on the epoxy, but it was an interesting idea.

[pennyman1]

For the work you are going to have to do to get something close to the desired amount, the gain will not be worth it. Either leave the jet valve head on(which will not do anything if you replace the factory carb with a weber) or use the non jet valve head. The MCA-Jet was the first production motor with a working swirl port combustion chamber. it will take a lot of trial and error to get it right, and the chance to render the head totally useless is very high. Think about the throttle body spacers that claim to cause a swirl or turbulence in the intake - if the cut is wrong, you will get standing waves that can block or even reverse flow. 95% of the spacers make your truck or car run worse for this reason.