Playing with my head
 

Man, I didn't even think of this! I have an extra 99-00 head w/o cams. Someone needs the bare head because his is fuxored. So, can I literally swap the guts of the 99 head into a 1.6 head? What would be needed, new lash caps? Or would the 99 ones still work?

This makes me want to actively persue a spare 1.6 head, DIY port it, and pop in the solid lifters and webcams. Since the FM stuff I got isn't going to work out, I'm again going to go for the greddy record before it's pulled. Might even get the compressor upgrade (is that considered cheating LOL).

talk to Brian (neogenesis2004)....it's what he did on his head to convert it to solid lifters. It's not as simple as I'm making ti sound, and I didn't pay enough attention to exactly what he did to be able to regurgitate it.

I didn't realize that he swapped in newer oem stuff. Hopefully he'll duck in and set me straight.

I put in shim UNDER bucket lifters from mazdaspeed, not the nb shim OVER bucket lifters. However they are essentially the same thing as far as clearances are concerned.

Your first steps are this. Remove cams from 1.6 head, remove all 8 lifters, install a single nb shim over lifter into a bore, install 1.6 cam, measure clearance at base circle, disassemble again, take the shim off the lifter and measure its thickness with a caliper, add measured clearance to the thickness, subtract needed clearance. You now know what general thickness shim you need. They will all be slightly different or alike, but using this number you can see if a shim is available in the thickness range you will need.

If shim sizes are available then repeat the operation for all lifters and order your shims. Voila, you are done. You now have a solid shim over bucket lifter conversion.

This same operation is slightly more complicated with shim under. And grinding over the shims for "under" is required making its a tedious, LENGTHY task.

Also, many argue that you need cams ground for solid lifters because they require different ramp rates. Also with HLA cams on solid lifters you will be missing out on a lot of low/mid lift at identical durations. HLA cams have very fast ramps (sides of lobes look flat), I believe this to be required to prevent the HLA from squishing during lift. With a solid lifter you don't have to worry about this affect.

Anything else need clarification?

Brian

I get it. Thanks Brian. Doesn't sound like it's a good idea w/o proper cams then. I'll just throw in the webcams and go with it.

I might also just trade the guy my 4W head for his. His has a ton of work done to it and +2mm ferrera valves, but needs another $500 to make it right. Mine is fine, but lacks cams, and he has a set of OTS integrals.

Ya, I know the guy you are talking about. If you do get that, make sure you get a machine shop with extensive import cylinder head experience to to the align bore.

Yeah, I'd send it to the cat that Randy Stocker recommended. I figure if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

I keep tellin the guy to tough it out and finish up his head. It's beautiful in the pics I've seen.

Also, I'm skeptical that +2mm valves can be installed on stock seats. Personally, I'd research places myself and not take anyones word for it. After all one of randy's machinists said a 4mm overbore was ok on stock fe3 sleeves. Ask rob how that motor ended up (I personally believe the cyl crack was from too much bore on stock sleeves).

Cam journals are one place that HAVE to have a dead on centerline.