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Fast Trash - The wagon that refuses to die

Interstice

New member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Location
Louisville, KY
Good afternoon friends,

Welcome to my build thread. I wanted a place to catalog my adventure, and figured this would be my best bet, as I'm sure I'll have a few questions along the way. I'll be updating this thread with a few more photos soon, as my parts pile has grown quite a bit.

The plan: Build a quick wagon for general use (hauling parts mostly...), local shenanigans, Some autocross, and a few track days at NCM here in Kentucky.

What I have so far:

-K Cast junkyard block, looks to have been rebuilt at some point
-B230 Parts Engine (Aux shaft, Distributor, K Cam)
-Distributor relocation parts (Assuming I'm going to go the DSM CAS route, but this is up
for debate)
-M46
-H Beams from Yoshifab
-Holset HX35
-Random 44mm (I believe) Tial knockoff external Wastegate
-****ty eBay tubular manifold that is probably going back on eBay in favor of the stock
piece. What a disappointment. At least it's a template for something else I guess...
-Haltech Elite 1000 or ECUMaster Black (Up for debate)

And... a few dreams. I'm not sure how the M46 will hold up, or if it's even good (junkyard haul) but I'll have to make it last until I can source something else.

Remaining items and questions:
Is living at 7500RPM too much to ask? Aftermarket valve springs, seats, et al required?
Which Camshaft is ideal for the B230 with a HX35?
Will the stock turbo Pistons survive?
DSM CAS or crank trigger with no dizzy?
Source a T5? How long can I make the M46 last?
Rear end concerns?
Suspension

The Shaggin' Wagon:
HkdFejN.jpg


I purchased this car in mostly stock form from a friend who bought it thinking he was going to use it. The problem? It ran incredibly rich. Pig rich. Required an oil change before I could drive it home to prevent fuel washed bearings rich. After a week of troubleshooting, we found out the flywheel was installed incorrectly.... This became my girlfriend's (at the time, single now, RIP) daily driver for about 4 or 5 years, until the B230 literally came to a screeching halt in our driveway one day. I pulled the engine and replaced it with a 90k mile junkyard drivetrain, and put it back into service for myself the same winter. Pro tip, lying on the ground in junkyards sucks in the winter. Big thanks to dad for handing me tools.

It's been my truck, camper, shooting platform, and all around the best car I've ever owned. It's taken me all over and back, so I figured it was high time to do something special for it, since it's served me well for almost 10 years now.

I've been hoarding parts for this car for the duration I've owned it, always having the intentions of doing something more fun with it, but it always got put on the back burner as I needed old faithful for daily use. Over the past month, I've been slowly whittling down my parts list... and here we are. This will be my first real piston engine build, as everything else I've done up to this point (outside of working on my own daily drivers) has been Rotary related; I have a nasty RX7 habit.

The plan is 400+ WHP.

Any tips, criticisms, hate, or recommendations to crush it are most welcome.
 
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M46 will likely blow up around 225 - 250 hp. And a lack of traction won't help it much, since 3rd gear is the weakest.

Some people like to stick with the 8V heads, but at that HP goal, you're probably better off looking at a 16V swap. You might be better off with a better flowing head.
 
M46 will likely blow up around 225 - 250 hp. And a lack of traction won't help it much, since 3rd gear is the weakest.

Some people like to stick with the 8V heads, but at that HP goal, you're probably better off looking at a 16V swap. You might be better off with a better flowing head.

Thanks for the information John. I suppose I'll accelerate my search for a suitable T5 and plan on buying an adapter. I would very much like to stick with the 8V head. If that becomes a limiting factor I will simply have to be content with the power I make inside of that constraint until I can source the parts required to do the 16V swap. I've had no luck finding a head locally thus far.
 
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