DYNOBUSTER

i have a grampa 1 owner 97k engine and it is unfortunatly a S1 block and it doesnt have the oil drain but worst of all it doesnt have the alternative twin cam idler area on the front of the block I know if you dont have the machined face you can smooth it over with some devcon type of thing (I have the MOROSO epoxy used for building up intake ports etc just for this purpose) but I was thinking of this idea you know how you drill and tap a new position for the tensioner above the water pump whats stopping you from drilling and tapping a new hole on the other side like my pic and my engine guy balances my engines to .01 of a gram (ChrisMiltonED)

three pics one of the head one of the VCT head with a RB30e gasket overlaid and one where I coloured in the bits the gasket doesnt cover the gap between the water gallery and the outside of the engine is 4mm are these good enough for the guide??

you are right about the 33 34 VCT gasket will not give you any more sealing area I checked it the block is the problem well I built one without welding it (the head) and it seems to be OK but I will probably weld a bit in there on the next one just have to get the head faced for 40bux thats not going to kill me

your right about the region arount the front part of the head where the VCT is and the water gallery is there is only a small amount of metal where the gasket seals with the RB30e head gasket but I have thought of another way to solve this issue what do you think of using a R33/34 VCT head gasket on the RB30 block.. the gasket from the R33/34 would have more material in the gasket there and I would think that that would solve the small sealing area because it would match the coolant gallery? has anyone tried that secondly has anyone had issues with coolant leaking from this position using a stock RB30e headgasket and if it did fail the worst case senario would be external water leakage.... its a bit of a dodgy thing to say but nothing a bit of chemi weld woudn't solve (use it all the time on the "other" engines I work with being solid gasket CHEVs when they leak using special threebond for head gaskets the O'ringed blocks seem to cause external coolant leaks occasionaly) or... what about if you got some good quality ThreeBond and filled in the bit where the R33 gasket would go and rather than relying on the RB30e gasket to do the sealing the ThreeBond will easily cope with that ThreeBond mmmmm

heres another pic of the engine I built it today THIS ENGINE USES A R33 RB25DET HEAD this is a big claim but hopefully it can be substansiated by others I checked the R33 and R34NEO heads today and I have come to the conclusion that the oil and water gallerys are the same this was determined by placing a R33 RB25det on a R34 NEO and I have a RB30E head gasket and checked that on it too and all holes lined up excepting the usual VCT oil supply on the RB30e the only difference I have noted between the R33 and R34 head are as follows *coil pack mountings are different on the R34 having 2 small bolts and the coils being seperate and the R33 having alloy brackets and 12mm bolts holding it all down *the VCT solenoid has a different end on it but appears to operate the same but has a check ball in the end and is modified to not require O'rings on the R34 *the R34 on the end of the intake cam the VCT acuator has a 12mm allen head screw as opposed to the R33 plate with 4 bolts and a O'ring *the oil drain which is evident on the R33 head on the front of the block on the exhaust side is ommitted on the R34 visable in the attached photo because this engine uses the 33 head *the R34 has shim on bucket lash ajusters as opposed to the R33 hydraulic lash ajusters and I have had a read thru the posts and it seems that many of you suggest to weld up the VCT oil gallery I decided that it was a better idea to drill and tap the VCT oil feed with a M8x1.5 hex head grub screw easier and I dont have to weld and re-machine the head face it didnt make any difference to me because I have an alloy capable TIG so getting somthing alloy welded was no problem I just dont see why you would weld a head for no reason

The turbo will clear the rocker cover only verry barely i will check the NEO head very carefully and take photos for you

hi my first post I am building a RB30DET with a R34 NEO head I have taken a few pics if anyone sees anything glaringly bad please tell me yes I know the VCT solenoid is from a R33 I have a S11 R33 oil pump too I got this exhaust manifold its one of those chinesey Ebay things but it seems good just gave it a quick touch up with the die grinder and im happy with it I have heard stories about these craking but I think as long as you keep the weight from the exhaust hanging off it I dont think I should have any trouble <_< it has the RB30E pistons in it and I am using a COMETIC head gasket the engine came out of a 1 owner grampa VL calais with a very gentle 97k and is immaculate just looked at it and everythings brand new the engine is going to be fitted with a 3n71b jatco and go into a R31