Inlet manifolds for Z18XE

[mk1nova_rich]

Who makes inlet manifolds for throttle bodies or bike carbs for these engines?

Approx prices would be good :thumb:

[Southie]

PM Tom Reid he should be able to sort you out, you'll probably have to get a gasket to send him. :thumb:

[mk1nova_rich]

Cheers Southie, just doing some research for now to try and calculate a rough price for conversion :)

[Southie]

Bogg brothers made my old setup for my sr and they where at the time £180 for the manifold, the prices may have varied now.

Tom will be slightly cheaper though. ;)

[L14MNP]

Make it yourself? Some 12mm plate and a gasket will see you on your way. /Don't wana sound like Sloth here!

[muzzy]

Just fit a V8, it will fit no problem at all.





Bogg Brother's would be a good shout if it wasn't for the fact they seem to have bumped they're prices up quite a bit now that everyone seems to use them for bike carb manifolds.

[mk1nova_rich]

Make it yourself? Some 12mm plate and a gasket will see you on your way. /Don't wana sound like Sloth here!

I can do the flange as i do CNC machining but aren't the ports a bit of an oddball shape for creating runners easily?? :confused:

[L14MNP]

TBH mate I don't know what the ports look like on that engine.

If Bogg Bros. was going to make it for you though I doubt they'd be using much better gear than what you have access too, and from what I understand about Tom Reid it would probably be a hacksaw and a file*. lol

*Happy to be corrected! lol

[mk1nova_rich]

nothing wrong with a hacksaw and file lol

[L14MNP]

100% agree. I make a lot of my parts in a similar Heath Robinson fashion. lol

[Adam]

I dont think Tom can get inlets for z18xe's..... Might be wrong though.


Bowyer does throttle body inlets for them

[Stuart]

Just thinking about it a bit, how about make an inlet from GRP..... It wouldnt be massively hard, its not got to take that much heat and you can make it however you want then.

[mk1nova_rich]

I have no experience whatsoever with GRP, was hoping to buy a manifold off the shelf or possibly make my own but that would have to be steel or ally as thats all i have facilities for

[burgo]

Just thinking about it a bit, how about make an inlet from GRP..... It wouldnt be massively hard, its not got to take that much heat and you can make it however you want then.

thats not actually as mental as it sounds

[mk1nova_rich]

how do we go about GRP then? lol

[Stuart]

I'll have a look and think.

prehaps someone could furnish me with a decent piccy of the inlet + ruler for scale. Or simply have a play with a 16SE head I have in the shed and pass on the methods. I'm no pro at GRP but its not at hard as I was expecting it to be.

[burgo]

the only problem i can see is making them strong enough to take the weight

[muzzy]

Will be interesting to see the findings.

[Stuart]

the only problem i can see is making them strong enough to take the weight

the weight wouldnt be a problem as such, its more the linkage forces that would be a possible problem.

Still, would be fun trying.


Kevlar/Carbon inlet manifold? lol

[mk1nova_rich]

how about making an alloy flange with some sort of rods protruding from it to create 'frames' for the runners before wrapping in composites?

[Stuart]

how about making an alloy flange with some sort of rods protruding from it to create 'frames' for the runners before wrapping in composites?

That could work nicely if the composite cant take the full loading...

Thinking about it more, I REALLY want to have a go at making a composite inlet manifold.

Anyone got a carb/tb or any variant inlet near Stortford I can borrow for a few weeks? lol

[mk1nova_rich]

the linkage should be fine with some form of metal support, although to be honest i would prefer the whole manifold to be alloy as i could make most of it myself

[Count Vaux Alot]

is it the z18xe's head the same head thats on the corsa vxr? or am i thinking of another one?

[burgo]

is it the z18xe's head the same head thats on the corsa vxr? or am i thinking of another one?nope you are thinking right. gunny posted a pic of them stamped z18xe

[mk1nova_rich]

the inlet ports are the oval shape but can be opened up into a more triangular shape.

This is where the main difficulties lie in creating the manifold - producing runners with are round in shape at the carb/TB end then changing into this complex design at the head.

Would require a lot of head-scratching to do these on a CNC :confused:

[Count Vaux Alot]

nope you are thinking right. gunny posted a pic of them stamped z18xe
In that case i have one here (and its for sale lol)

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/forsalefeb2010vxrfund020.jpg (http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/?action=view&current=forsalefeb2010vxrfund020.jpg)

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/forsalefeb2010vxrfund021.jpg (http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/?action=view&current=forsalefeb2010vxrfund021.jpg)

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/forsalefeb2010vxrfund022.jpg (http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/Count85/Parts%20for%20sale/?action=view&current=forsalefeb2010vxrfund022.jpg)

[mk1nova_rich]

wouldnt mind a scrap Z18XE head so i can tinker about with designing a manifold to fit R1 carbs, although 45s are a possibility too

[Stuart]

stutter lol

As its only 4 runners, just go from the DCOE flange for 40's/45's and most ITB's or whatever the bike TB/Carbs want to a close approxomoation of the port shape and then fettle by hand to match

[mk1nova_rich]

i will have to get hold of a cylinder head before i can really figure out best way to do it, then get busy measuring lol

[peester]

bowyer inlet
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/peester/DSC00120.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v11/peester/?action=view&current=DSC00120.jpg)
takes 2 mins to fit job jobbed.

[mk1nova_rich]

and how much is one of those?

[Stuart]

Bowyer stuff = big money lol

[mk1nova_rich]

i know lol thats why im swaying towards making my own or a cheaper manifold from the likes of Tom Reid

[tom reid]

My cast ones are in progress, although they are taking longer to make than expected, I hope they'll come in at around the 150 quid mark.
I'm having them cast as my hacksaw blade is blunt,lol.

[mk1nova_rich]

that sounds reasonable Tom, are they to suit the R1 carbs?

[tom reid]

that sounds reasonable Tom, are they to suit the R1 carbs?

Yes

[Adam]

i know lol thats why im swaying towards making my own or a cheaper manifold from the likes of Tom Reid
Yes they may cost a fair bit, but when you think how important the inlet is, its worth it...

A poor inlet might rob quite a bit of power/torque that your engine could of potentially made....

[Sloth]

carbon wouldnt be too hard, as its quite easy to mold and sets hard, plus you can wrap steel pegs into it, to stiffen it. my missus works with it daily. she rekons your onto a winner.....

[mk1nova_rich]

Yes they may cost a fair bit, but when you think how important the inlet is, its worth it...

A poor inlet might rob quite a bit of power/torque that your engine could of potentially made....

if i was planning on spending hundreds on building a big power engine i would invest in something like the Bowyer kit, but the plan is to fit R1/DCOE carbs and a 4 branch manifold to an otherwise standard Z18XE just for a quick reliable car, so squeezing every last horsepower out of the engine is not a priority :p

[mk1nova_rich]

carbon wouldnt be too hard, as its quite easy to mold and sets hard, plus you can wrap steel pegs into it, to stiffen it. my missus works with it daily. she rekons your onto a winner.....

what about the flange? how would this be made? (with particular focus on the stud holes and tightening nuts onto carbon etc)

[Sloth]

get a gasket, nip to a cnc machineists and get em to cut one. then mark where your support pegs will go, and drill and tap, and possibly epoxy them in. et voila ready for some black sexyness.

[mk1nova_rich]

get a gasket, nip to a cnc machineists and get em to cut one. then mark where your support pegs will go, and drill and tap, and possibly epoxy them in. et voila ready for some black sexyness.

so making the flange from carbon or alloy?, im a bit lost now lol i do CNC machining so not a problem either way

[Sloth]

just talked to the missus (shes been to the shop) she says that you will struggle to bond carbon to the metal flange, and that a fully alloy one is best. tbh alloy tubing once warmed up (annealed) slightly can be squeezed to the port shape. the litttle lump at the top of the port would be unused with carbs as thats an injector space. as for grp funk knows....

[mk1nova_rich]

looking like alloy then. I will see what Tom Reid's are like but i would like to make my own. I can make the flange for the cost of material but the runners will need to be formed and welded on by someone else which is where the costs will rise. Depends how much that will cost as to whether its actually any more benefitial than buying one ready made from Tom :confused:

[Stuart]

In a dull assed training course today I worked out 90% of a composite solution.

a nice thick 'flange' but with steel or brass (or even carbon) tube inserts to take the bolting up 'crush'. Making the tubes would be easy, but getting them all into the two clanges would be a little complicated to get a really good bond. But its all very doable.

Once I've finished making my heater for the vx I'll look at manifolds :d

[mk1nova_rich]

sounds very interesting Stuart, it will be good to see how you get on. Hope you plan on posting your results and findings :thumb:

[Sloth]

agreed stu, if you need any carbon advice the missus is happy to answer mate.

[mk1nova_rich]

i will invest in a scrap head and gasket and start working on an alloy inlet manifold and see how this goes