@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com
Thanks Charley. For what I paid for it I'd be most upset about the time lost rather than the money (possibly due to the aching body after pulling an engine on a dirt path), although I'm not trying to waste money.
I lent my engine stand to a friend and will get it back on Monday. I will perform exploratory surgery after that.
Got it all torn down. It looks good to me but I've got an email into my builder for his opinion. I think I got lucky and the owners didn't drive it after, and I'm only guessing, blowing the head gasket. No one at the yard seemed interested so I took a chance. Glad I did so far.
Great!
Great question John and one I am still refining the answer on. I got a CAD model of the gearbox and know the distance from center of output to front face. I'm pretty sure the gearbox will fit even with the integrated oil tank but if I find out it won't I can order one without the oil tank which will shorten it up (just would have to find space for a reservoir).
The k24 is not much longer than the k20, it gains displacement in the height (stroke) or this is my understanding so should fit on the basis it does for the SR5. A rough tape measurement also shows I should be able to do it with a good margin. And the point where the bellhousing ties into the chassis is where one would expect.
Does the gearbox just hang off the bellhousing or are there rear mounts on the SR8?
For the dry sump I will almost certainly have a traditional reservoir. Above the bellhousing could be an air intake if I do it like the SR5 but I'd like to do ITBs so we will see what I come up with. A long way from that though.
Sounds like you're on the right path. The engine and gearbox are held in place by the bellhousing and front mounts, and some SR8s have a bumper to keep the gearbox from drooping. The idea is to reduce wear on the front mounts where the engine adapter bolts to the chassis.
Good to see progress on this!
That's a proper oil and water mix, were you able to pressure test it before you stripped it down? Might be worth checking that no core plugs in the cylinder head have popped out or corroded through.
What clutch and flywheel do you plan to use? Apologies if you have said further back in the thread.
Radical fitted an uprated thrust washer due to wear problems with the 5.5" clutch (was the same as the SR8 one).
The SR5 ran with a separate oil tank and a more traditional bell housing - I have found this picture online which shows it well.
I wasn't able to pressure test it unfortunately. If that head is bad I will just go pull another one. I may end up doing that anyway as the heads from the Honda CRV actually has more mod potential (more port material which can be opened up) than my current head which is best for boost.
I haven't made a final decision on clutch but the main candidate is a tilton ceramic twin disk. It is supposed to be very light. I know this has been used extensively on the k24 so if there is a thrust washer requirement my builder will know.
I've stared at that picture A LOT. Actually found someone with an SR5 that has some additional pictures they've shared with me which
I wish I could have one of those bellhousings as that would save me a lot of money but they are NLA. There is a company in the UK, SWR Motorsports that has extensive experience making bellhousings for Sadevs and has done a k24 as well so shouldn't be an issue to get (just going to be expensive I expect).
I've got pretty high confidence this is going to work. Just need to execute it.
Does anyone know if there is any difference between the sr8 and sr3 shock dimensions/travel? I'm sure the damping is different but I'm just looking for a worn out front and rear to help with a new design.
@joep, as John said, the shocks and geometry are the same but the spring rates are different.
Progress is underway. Dropped off the shortblock K24 at my builders this past weekend and put a deposit down on a build. This thing is going to be way meaner than the stock SR5 was and more reliable than the SR8 (well that is the plan) but wont be as powerful as the SR8.
The head is going to flow 400 cfm all the way up to ~9500 rpm although I don't plan to spin it past 9000. I managed to get a block with oil squirters in it which isn't required but I do like it. I will be able to rebuild it myself as well which is attractive to me.
Progress is going to slow on this though because my wife and I are welcoming our first child into the world this spring. Don't worry though, she is currently still on board with me doing this build (she just wants a new kitchen first lol).
Thanks for the update, and congratulations on your new addition! Hope all goes well!
