Ion/Gone's engine build thread

[ION GONE]

I'm about to order parts, Probably mostly from zzp. My buddy's doing most of the work, but he's not really up on ecotec motors. He's been reading up on it, but I would like some help w/ what i'm buying & if I'm buying the right stuff to make my motor right or if there's smarter buys I could & should be doing. I'm not looking as much for horsepower as I am for reliability. I'm gong to list what I'm planning to purchase & if you something stupid or wrong, please let me know. I know Almclure can probably help & John Powell & any other bigwigs on here. This for the most part is going to be a daily driver. I already have Tvs, ls4 tb, 2.7 pulley, meth inj. Nitrous (if I decide to use it)
ENGINE
Forged & Coated Pistons for LSJ/LE5.
Hastings rings
Ecotec 4340 Connecting Rods
Either neutral balance shafts or balance delete
Ecotec 2.0L Main Bearings
Ecotec 2.0L Rod Bearings
Ati overdrive balancer
Machined Front Cover for Ecotec 2.0/2.2/2.4L
Arp head studs
GNPP clutch (if it is good enough for my setup
Zzp stage 1 axles

HEAD WORK
Bilabong port & polish
Zzp stage 2 cams
82# Ecotec Valve Springs w/ titanium retainers
Ecotec Viton valve seals
Supertech Valves GM Ecotec LSJ 2.0L 2.2L 2.4L +0.5mm
Lash adjusters

[ION GONE]

For the valve springs should I go supertech or are the zzp springs good enough? Don't really know if I should go balance delete or is neutral balance shafts alright? & I saw in almclures thread, he might use the stock rods cryo treated & polished don't know what that's about Alan, would I be better off buying the zzp rods? Would doing all that w/ the stock rods surfice? Also my buddy's thinking I should get the 9.0 to 1 compression pistons to keep motor pressure down cause my stock motor blew the rings & kept blowing the dipstick out of the hole. Does that sound like a good idea or should I stay 9.5 to 1?

[hnbracing]

Originally Posted by ION GONE

For the valve springs should I go supertech or are the zzp springs good enough? Don't really know if I should go balance delete or is neutral balance shafts alright? & I saw in almclures thread, he might use the stock rods cryo treated & polished don't know what that's about Alan, would I be better off buying the zzp rods? Would doing all that w/ the stock rods surfice? Also my buddy's thinking I should get the 9.0 to 1 compression pistons to keep motor pressure down cause my stock motor blew the rings & kept blowing the dipstick out of the hole. Does that sound like a good idea or should I stay 9.5 to 1?

your engine took a shit from either a garbage tune or someone beating the immortal shit out of it or both not because of the compression ratio I think your buddy needs to learn a lot more about this platform before he starts making stupid statements

before you order pistons and rings you need to have the block checked mainly the bores to make sure

1 that they are still within specs of being round
2 that there isent excessive taper in the bore
3 and no gouges are present in the bore

if any of the listed is present then you will need to resleeve the block or bore it and I wouldent bore this engine past .010 (the sleeves are only .060 thick)
if the bores aren't round and straight a set of rings will not seat

stock rods are plenty for most so that is up to you just replace the bolts stock bearings are fine and dandy as for valve seals if the zzp Viton seals don't come with a spring bucket you need to run the stock gm seals which are plenty good make sure you check the valve guides for some reason they tend to wear rather quickly if they are too loose it will burn oil

[philzoot007]

Ur not gonna sleeve The block? Get a progressive controller for ur nitrous.

I agree with ^^^^^^ compression is fine. I'd look into a good catch can pcv system.

zzp rods r the way to go.

What injectors and fuel? 93 or e85?

[ION GONE]

I definately don't beat on it & well the tune while I don't think was garbage certainly wasn't perfect, it was tuned by 0ttp for a while till 04redline tweaked on it. It always ran great, just a little rich. He already checked the cylinders & said they're good. Philzoot I really don't think I'm going to run nos, don't really want to mess w/ it. & hnbracing why can't I run the viton valve seals, they won't work? My thinking is if I'm getting into it, I feel everything should be new so I don't have to worry or get into it again for something I didn't replace trying to save money. & I live in Cali, so only have 91oct. & I have 80lb injectors. I actually have a new set of 60's too, but I think they're too small. @Hnbracing, I just want everything to work right together that I buy, I want it reliable. My buddy just said in his experience, when you're running a lot of boost, keeping the compression down will mean a longer lasting motor. & I was pushing 22 psi on a 2.9 & then dropped to a 2.7 at the end. I don't know enough about all that to know if he's right or wrong, so your input will be greatly appreciated.

[hnbracing]

some of the Viton that they sale for the ecotec don't have a spring bucket for the valve spring to set on and if it dosent the spring will wearout the head the stock seals have a spring bucket made into them and im not saying reuse the used stockers either but make sure you get the correct new seals how were the cylinders checked did he just look at them or were they measured for out of round and taper

on what your buddy said he is incorrect to a point the more compression you have the less you have to spin the blower but there is going to be a give and take and fuel is the big problem 91oct I would stay stock compression get a good tune as most of the reliability is going to come from the tune

and on the head studs you don't realy need them stock head bolts are plenty for most
zzp rods are good rods but if your not going to spin it to the moon its overkill stock rods are more then sufficant for 90% of the ecotec owners

your 60s aren't to small either you van run 60s on a 2.9 tvs

nitrous is a great if your going to run 75 or less you don't need a progressive controller

[ION GONE]

Ok I'll reavaluate some stuff, thanks. I don't plan on running it to hard, but if I do I don't want to worry. If I did nitrous it would only be a 50 shot, but really not planning on running nos at this point. Idk how much he got into checking the head, but he said everything looked fine. I'm sure he hasn't measured anything yet. He just wanted to see what happened. It only started blowing some smoke on the way to his house from the shop (a few miles) but he said it was running good just smoking. I just want to do everything up right while its apart. Thanks for the info.

[philzoot007]

i agree with everything hnb said.

just one thing. about the progressive controller. it good to have on any shot in my opinion. just less shock to the motor is always a good thing. don't be scred of the nitrous. u do not have to run a monster shot. if u have it and its wired in the car. u mine as well use it. lol a 50 shot is a nice kick in the pants.

did u say if u were going to sleeve it or not?

[hnbracing]

well if the bores are to far out of spec you will reassemble an oil burner if the valve moves in the guide lot then you need to put new guides in the head

[ION GONE]

We'll definately check it closely, just haven't yet & everything in the head is going to be new for sure. As for right now it looks like just honning is in order, but we'll see in a week or so. He just left me a message a little earlier that he found a race shop that has a built 2.0 w/ everything done from the head to the oil pan. Not sure who yet, but was going to check & see if he had one in stock & call back