Brand new L series head anyone?

AliK

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
From what I understand, they are doing a production run in Japan and with computer modelling and modern techniques they are coming pre-ported!!! Oh and better water jackets / cooling.

First prototype will be ready in Augusta and fitted to an engine.

We just need @Woody928 whose income is all disposable to get one for the rest of us to envy!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7KndBN0f6DU


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Translation of the text on the photo ...

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Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
SeanDezart said:
Why not make an LY instead that people covet ?
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Because a reproduction LY would require a mind-boggling lineup of complimentary parts apart from the main head casting itself.

Just off the top of my head, here's what you'd need to produce:

*Main cylinder head casting
*Cam cover
*Inlet manifold & cooling log/thermostat housing
*Exhaust manifold
*Camshaft
*Camshaft drive gear and chain
*Rocker shafts x 2 (and spacers)
*Inlet rockers x 6, Exhaust rockers x 6 (steel forgings)
*Rocker adjusters x 12
*Inlet valves x 6, Exhaust valves x 6 (don't forget valve seats, springs, collets and keepers)
*'Clocked' transmission bellhousing casting
*Engine mountings
*Sump and matching oil pick-up to suit 'clocked' engine mounting angle.
etc

...and that's before you even get into custom semi-hemi piston forgings and the rest.

The advantage of producing an optimised 'normal' L-type head casting is that all of the usual stock and/or aftermarket bolt-on parts will still fit. Kameari have recently gone through the process (including permission from Nissan) of casting reproduction S20 cylinder heads, filling a gap in the market caused by damaged/unrepairable originals, to the same principles.
 
SeanDezart

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Albrecht said:
Because a reproduction LY would require a mind-boggling lineup of complimentary parts apart from the main head casting itself.

Just off the top of my head, here's what you'd need to produce:

*Main cylinder head casting
*Cam cover
*Inlet manifold & cooling log/thermostat housing
*Exhaust manifold
*Camshaft
*Camshaft drive gear and chain
*Rocker shafts x 2 (and spacers)
*Inlet rockers x 6, Exhaust rockers x 6 (steel forgings)
*Rocker adjusters x 12
*Inlet valves x 6, Exhaust valves x 6 (don't forget valve seats, springs, collets and keepers)
*'Clocked' transmission bellhousing casting
*Engine mountings
*Sump and matching oil pick-up to suit 'clocked' engine mounting angle.
etc

...and that's before you even get into custom semi-hemi piston forgings and the rest.

The advantage of producing an optimised 'normal' L-type head casting is that all of the usual stock and/or aftermarket bolt-on parts will still fit. Kameari have recently gone through the process (including permission from Nissan) of casting reproduction S20 cylinder heads, filling a gap in the market caused by damaged/unrepairable originals, to the same principles.
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Ok, point taken and the S20 cylinder head I can understand, especially to fill the void between available parts and cars but there are thousands of L-gata heads still around and available ! From the price, are they expecting to sell50-ish ?

LY, the Godzilla of Zs....how many in Europe do you think Alan ? 5 ?
 
SeanDezart

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
franky said:
It’s great isn’t it. 50 odd year old engines having new heads designed.

How much does it cost to get a decent head, have it fully welded/worked/ported/flowed. Then still have an older casting with less ‘meat’ on its bones.
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A lot, lot less.
 
AliK

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
franky said:
It’s great isn’t it. 50 odd year old engines having new heads designed.

How much does it cost to get a decent head, have it fully welded/worked/ported/flowed. Then still have an older casting with less ‘meat’ on its bones.
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Ignoring delivery, this new head at today’s XR comes out to about £3.6k. I don’t know the going rate for a P90 but let’s say £1k. Assuming welding, lots of machine shop and porting time with a proper flow bench etc brings it to somewhere between 2-3k. It’s still worth it to me and I’m pretty sure to those with budget enough to buy Datsun Spirit engines! Frankly what’s another couple of K on top of £10k and change :p
 
Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
SeanDezart said:
A lot, lot less.
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In Japan? You must be kidding.

These guys are not targeting the market you automatically seem to think they will. They are likely to be targeting a relatively small cohort of like-minded Japanese individuals who see the value in such a project and are willing to pay the cost to own and use.
 
johnymd

johnymd

Club Member
From what I gather "good" head work for those serious about performance would be a few grand so not cheap.
 
tyroguru

tyroguru

Club Member
I think that ~4K GBP (unfortunately + import duties + tax) seems excellent for a brand new head when you consider what you are getting and how much it seems to cost to have a head reworked well by a quality machine shop. For those that have little to no mental problem spending a lot of money on their car then this seems a great thing to do. You'd be the secret envy of everyone even though they'd publicly moan about how much you'd spent on it.

It's surely got to beat the kids getting hold of your money?! EXTRA:D
 
jonbills

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
I think it depends what the characteristics of the new head are. Does it say? chamber cc? port and valve sizes? open or closed?
I mean, if its just a brand new e88 or even p90, you're still going to have to so some work to compete with our hypothetical welded and ported head.
 
Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
jonbills said:
I think it depends what the characteristics of the new head are. Does it say? chamber cc? port and valve sizes? open or closed?
I mean, if its just a brand new e88 or even p90, you're still going to have to so some work to compete with our hypothetical welded and ported head.
Click to expand...

I'm told by friends in Japan that the team behind this are trying to maximise its potential for what they call "full tune" use, focused especially on the small (but perfectly formed) L-gata drag racing scene and the 'ultimate' street performance guys like Tatsuya Sato. So they are moving the cooling passages around to allow them to both re-shape the ports and leave some scope for further porting/shaping by end-user, as well as mitigating some of the long known cooling issues, for cylinders 5 & 6 in particular. Combustion chamber will replicate a typical 'welded' head, but - again - leaving scope for further work by the end-user.

Quite tricky to do all this whilst ensuring that standard specs for bolt-ons still conform, I'm sure.
 
Alphabettispaghetti

Alphabettispaghetti

Club Member
Albrecht said:
I'm told by friends in Japan that the team behind this are trying to maximise its potential for what they call "full tune" use, focused especially on the small (but perfectly formed) L-gata drag racing scene and the 'ultimate' street performance guys like Tatsuya Sato. So they are moving the cooling passages around to allow them to both re-shape the ports and leave some scope for further porting/shaping by end-user, as well as mitigating some of the long known cooling issues, for cylinders 5 & 6 in particular. Combustion chamber will replicate a typical 'welded' head, but - again - leaving scope for further work by the end-user.

Quite tricky to do all this whilst ensuring that standard specs for bolt-ons still conform, I'm sure.
Click to expand...

could the export it without taxes also?
 
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