Hi all.

I am rebuilding my A15 at the moment. First ever rebuild. So far I've got a set of 40mm sidedraft Dellortos set aside and also a pair of extractors ready to bolt on. When pulling the engine apart we found that the camshaft has been previously reground and has 10.05mm lift. I've been told thats quite excessive. We are in the process of getting the camshaft investigated further. Everything else mechanical appears to be stock.

I plan on keeping the engine for long term. What I am after is an engine that will be quick on the street and will be fun for occasional track use, i.e. sprints (2 or 3 times a year). I use my ute as a weekend car for fun and for club events and car shows, etc... I don't want to go the whole hog per say, I just want a bit of zip.

My budget is around the $750 - $1000 mark. I will also try to do most of the work myself (where I can) to keep the cost down.

Knowing that some of you have been down this road before, what upgrades and modifications would you suggest I consider in my rebuild?

Cheers.

This sounds like a good build! Look forward to reading what some of the gurus have to say as I'm wanting to do the same very soon!
I would go to your local mechanic/machinist first to see how much everything is going to be, ie. Balancing rods,pistons,crank etc. Have the head skimmed, flywheel machined (just a freshen up if you're putting a new clutch in. Should be able to get a std replacement from Exedy for like 100-120.) Altogether this won't be cheap but I highly recommend it.
Then a top and bottom VRS gasket kit. ( see my profile for auto surplus, they can get all of this for you including consumables.)
Flush the radiator with some hot water and give it a clean...
I would (depending in what's new and what's not) replace the consumables, oil filter, fuel filter, points, leads, rotor button, airfilter or in your case new socks/ ramflows for the carbies.

Also if you're stuck looking for something conscious member bige, he builds a series's race motors, he knows his s**t.
Otherwise keep posing questions here, I look forward treading this as I'm preparing to do the same thing. I'd love to fuel inject one but unforunitely I can't do it all myself and it's not bloody cheap! Haha
Good luck, keep us posted!

Thanks Stocko.

Also forgot to mention I'm running a 60a Series 5 speed. I plan on using an A12 flywheel instead of the heavy A15 one :)

I got an extreme organic clutch kit for 380 and that was cheap

Ceramic clutch was nearly 500

Expect to spend 3 to 4 grand on a long motor

Mine was 2700 for machine work ,bearings ,rings and cast pistons

Not cheap. Considering you will need to tune it and uprade the ignition then do exhaust Carby kits ect ect

On an a12 fly you can get HD vanette clutches cheapish. They do the job and under the 150 mark.

Make sure you have the tools to diy too. As I found last night with a torque wrench that doesn't click on low torque settings

Why not just throw the carbs and extractor on your engine and leave it stock? A high lift camshaft is good for racing. Even the stock clutch will work.

With twin sidedraughts and extractor it will sound awesome.

If the bores are ok, just re ring and bearings - just get it breathing well with that Cam

My suggestion is to do it all properly so you never have to pull motor out again

Local engine shop rebuilt A15 bottom end for me for $1600
Head rebuild was just over $300

You may be able to do assembly yourself but don't cut corners by not getting everything replaced/machined

I never have to pull the engine again with mine -- and I only machine where it is needed. I never machine parts where it is not needed.

First, by all means measure everything, if the various parts are with in the service limits such as bore, pistons crank etc then yes I'd leave them alone. Simply replace bearings, rings and gaskets.

Now as for the cam 10mm is not that radical, that translates to something like .375 valve lift. I had cam that I wasn't sure about, the local machine shop had a cam doctor so I spent $50 to find out the exact specs...........might be worth it. I suspect what you have is around 260-270 duration which is fine for a street car. If you can gasket match the manifold and clean up the ports do that as well. You appear to have all the parts needed for a pretty good motor. My guess would be around 110HP at the flywheel which will make a 1200 go pretty well.

Now if you need any machining that will clobber the budget very fast, what was going to be just bore the cylinders and balance the rotating assembly ending up being that plus a sleeve, deck the block and turning the crank....................$925 later.