alright, so im gonna pull the a14 out of the coupe, and slowly build it up while the coupe gets panelbeaten, painted etc.... its a fairly newish jdm a14 (oval port head). I want it to be pretty strong and rev high and make a fair bit of power (not ridiculous though).. what should I do? I was thinking of the usual stuff, cam, electronic ignition and fuel pump... what work should I do to the head? what cam grind should I get? anything else I should do? I've got a set of fresh 40mm dellortos, so carbs are sorted... thanks for your help guys.

i say you get a nice port and polish, some extractors, get an elec fuel pump, elec fan and water pump so it takes less power from the engine the ignition is agood idea. cam i'm not too sure and was going to ask the same thing soon aswell.
thats what i can think of at the mo'

oh maybe a lightened flywheel, dunno anyone got any better ideas?

i have the same blank canvas

Electric pump & fan draws less power from the engine?
Let me see if i can get this straight.
The electric pump & fan run on electricity which is produced by the altenator, which is in turn run by the engine.
Just for the exercise, allow your engine to be running at idle when all warmed up. Next, just turn on the lights, high beam will be good. Notice that the revs drop? Thats because the electrical load is carried by the altenator, which passes this load to the engine via the drive belt.

If you are running a competition car that does not charge the battery when running, then electric pumps etc. will save power, but if you run an altenator, then just remember, there is NO FREE LUNCH. The power to run the electric motors comes from somewhere, & it's the engine that ultimately supplies it.
Chris

a mech fuel pump shouldn't cost much bhp to run, and I agree with dodgeman that an elec fuel pump will not net any gains there, but it also will not draw enough amps to load up the engine via the alternator as the headlamps do.

The advantage of an elec fuel pump is that is does not conduct heat to the fuel. And in higher volume pumps set up properly with return lines, by constanly recirculating the fuel while the needle and seat is closed, there is a constant supply of cool fuel available to the carbs, especially if some thought is put into the placement of the fuel lines.

The electric/thermo fan is another story. A fixed blade fan will cost bhp to run - and most of the time the fan is not required. sure the fan will flex and straighten to some degree at high rpm, but it is still an unecessary drag on the engine. By replacing it with an elec fan that only runs when required (ie in traffic and while stationary), you should free up a few bhp. You won't see too many race cars with engine driven radiator fans.

But these are all very small gains, and I see them as essential for my race car where every little bit counts. But for a road going car, the cost probably isn't justified, and there are definitely much bigger gains to be made in the 3 C's (Cams, Carbs and Compression) and exhaust, so spend your money there first - especially if you are building a motor. Spend the money on it and do it right with a few nice little extras like a lightened flywheel and balance the bottom end, and aim for around 9.5 CR for a strong, easy to live with street motor on ULP.

The external accessories can always be added later, (as can the headwork) and I'd start with the electronic ignition myself - not so much for the performance, but for easier cold starts, stronger idle, no more messing around with points etc - just set and forget. good seconhand OEM fans can be picked up pretty cheap at wreckers, and that would be next on my list. But for now, spend the money on the bottom end.

how would I raise compression? I want to keep the head I got now, cos its pretty good?

well, there's a number of ways.

1)look for high comp pistons. The std A14 piston has a substantial dish. I've used mitsubishi pistons with a higher compression height. I think they were 4G32 pistons - but don't quote me on that, the details are all a little sketchy now as it it was around 8 years ago! The std size mitsu piston was an odd size overbore for the A14 . The mitsu piston had a slight dish, which was milled flat, and still gained about 1mm of compression height from memory.

A good look through a parts book will give you specs on pistons. You're looking for the same pin size, with appropriate bore (remember you can get various oversizes) and appropriate compression height and crown profile.

2) or you can deck the block a little. calculate your CR as the motor is now, and see if your target CR is achievable by decking the block. Just don't go too crazy with this method - as a rule of thumb, I'd limit the cut to a max of .060". This is better than decking the head, as the head remains serviceable, and you get a greater increase in CR for the same amount of metal removal, because you are taking material off the full area of the bore, rather than just the area of the combustion chamber. With an ohv motor, there is no timing chain to worry about, so as long as there is sufficient adjustment in the rocker's grub screws, there isn't much to worry about - valvetrain geometry won't change significantly.

3) if you have an open chamber A14 head, you can have the chambers built up with weld, milled, and hand finished to wedge style chambers. But that won't be particularly cheap. Better off looking around for a closed chamber A14 head (but you might already have one - won't know until you remove it).

I'm sorry for my english but I'm from Greece.
About elec. fun I think it's a good move and an elec. fuel pump will keep your carbs full of gass even in hight rpm.I have the same Dell'Ortos on my A14 and I can be sure for that.You have to be carefull with your exhaust so you can have the right power in low rpm and don't lose in hight rpm.!!!
Well good luck with tuning.

To L18_B110
You are correct in your comments about the fuel pump & electric fan, but i was alluding to the electric water pump that was mentioned by Team_Dat in his suggestions. I did not make that point clear & that's my fault.
The electric water pump will draw a fair bit more current & my comments relate more significantly to that. My appologies.
Chris