z22se engine rebuild

slimvince

Finally got hold of a z22se from an Opel Speedster at the breaker's yard. The car had flipped and there was no guarantee the engine still works. The engine is from 2000 and has run 54.000 kms. The breaker said "no leakages or other visible damages on the engine" so I took the plunge. This thread is my blog for a total rebuild.

My current plan is to go as far as possible (and within reasonable cost) and still keep it NA, which means:

2.4 inlet manifold
1-2-4 exhaust manifold
SAAB-head? ported?
hotter cams
no balance shafts
electric water pump
raised CR? Might require another ECU or a piggy-back...
what else?
and while I am at it, might as well swap crank and rods if I can find them at a reasonable price (Eagle)
All ideas are always very welcome!

The plan is to swap it with the z22se currently sitting in my Opel Speedster, whenever this project is finished :roll: 8)

slimvince

I had the chance to get an F23 gearbox too, but did not get a good enough quote on it. Could have been nice to put the Quiafe LSD I have sitting on my shelf in it.

Inlet manifold full of glass shards - otherwise fine, but will be replaced by the ubiquitous 2.4 mani:

Did not include the ignition module. Alternator, ECU not included either.

slimvince

All four spark plugs looked like this:

The sparkplug holes in the engine cover revealed some probable water ingress on cyl #1:

Cyl 2,3 and 4 looked like this:

slimvince

Nothing unusual here except for a little rust @ cyl #1 (at the engine cover mounting screw hole):

Nothing strange here either. It was fitted with the smaller oil jet for chain lubrication :roll: .

vocky

looks like a nice clean engine 😃

Mark_Dj

Very clean 🙂. Keep us updated on how this little project goes on. Looking forward to plenty more pictures and mods 🙂

slimvince

Some rust on one of the pistons:

...and the head:

After a bit of cleanup:

No traces of water having entered the cylinder any other way than via the spark plug.

slimvince

Cyl #4:

Cyl #3 and half of #2

Flaky deposits on valves on cyl #1

I wonder why number 1 and 4 are sootier than 2 and 3?

slimvince

Clutch and flywheel (will be replaced by a lightened flywheel):

vocky

that's in perfect shape 😃

the rust will be condensation where the valves were open and the engines sat in rain for months without being started :roll:

it should just clean off, which it appears to have in your new pics 🙂

slimvince

Bottom end and oil pan look ok too:

Never heard about anybody suffering from oil starvation while long and hard cornering (except for somebody that had not filled the engine with enough oil in the first place). I'll leave the pan as is if nobody has any other recommendation.

vocky

the vx220 oil pan is slightly different to the other z22se oil pans anyway :?

slimvince

Some images of journals and bearings, will be replaced anyhow. Forgot to measure axial crank play when the bottom end was still torqued up.

A SAAB head is on its way, as well as Courtenays steel flywheel. Also ordered their K&N induction kit and engine mount reinforcements. Trying to figure out where is the best place to get the crank and rods, also trying to find some info on the web on high compression pistons, have yet only found standard CR and lower.

alanoo

slimvince said:
Some images of journals and bearings, will be replaced anyhow. Forgot to measure axial crank play when the bottom end was still torqued up.

A SAAB head is on its way, as well as Courtenays steel flywheel. Also ordered their K&N induction kit and engine mount reinforcements. Trying to figure out where is the best place to get the crank and rods, also trying to find some info on the web on high compression pistons, have yet only found standard CR and lower.

Wossner in Germany, does some 11:1 pistons, but I think it's with a flat dome... so not sure how these would cope with high lift cams
They are 680€ full set if I remember.

Otherwise, Wiseco can do any CR you want for the L61/Z22se.
You can contact Karo from carcustoms.net, he already provided some pistons upto 13.5:1

slimvince

alanoo said:

Otherwise, Wiseco can do any CR you want for the L61/Z22se.
You can contact Karo from carcustoms.net, he already provided some pistons upto 13.5:1

Will keep that in mind! cheers..
Having some E85-ideas too - would require higher CR to exploit the E85's higher octane rating...and larger injectors, and... Not too difficult to find E85 at the petrol stations here in Sweden. thumbup

bunji81

Any more progress on this engine rebuild? started to get really interesting :shock: drool.gif

slimvince

It has been a bit too cold in the garage and too much to do at work but today a new toy found its way to the garage - no prizes for guessing what is is...

Also - the induction kit, eagle conrods and eagle crank have also arrived as well as new alu uprights (ok thats strictly not part of my engine project). Have also replaced the engine mounts plus put the engine mount reinforcements in place on the engine that still sits in the Speedster (vx220).