answers! wahay! and thank you!
im currently runnig the AGG bottom end (same as 2e?) with a home-ported EV(k-jet) head and a piper or kent (cant remember!) 276 degree cam, with a mildly bodged kjet system and nasty kjet type dizzy, still got a few mods to go on this motor but its actually not bad at the moment, ran a 15.6 second pass at santa pod last year which is nothing incredible i know but ok for what it is.... anyway the point is im only after an engine with ports on the front of the head because i accidentally bought some throttle bodies on ebay thinking they would only be fit for the mantlepiece (fair enough at the price i paid) and theyre like new-result- and im planning to take my time building the engine and getting the bits i need to do the swap.
i would just look for the head and bolt it to my block + repeat existing mods but it would be a shame to split this one when it would be ideal for a polo sleeper or a caddy or something, which was what led to the engine mount question, although if i buy an engine and they dont fit i could just buy another agg bottom end for cheap and mate it up to that- how far different is the oil return? is it offset a bit or in a completely different place? ev oil return is on front of head between 2+3 cylinders iirc although i may be getting confused (took a LOT of stuff to bits last year- dont ask!)
have to say i was expecting you to have found a bit more than 130hp..... is it a newman cam youre using? i tried one and it was great for torque but killed the revs dead at about 5,200 rpm, tried everything and ended up with a lumpier bump stick which helped, but only a little, carried on tinkering, like you do, and the last thing i could think of to try was waisting the shafts in the throttle body to increase cross sectional area/decrease turbulence..... and..... it worked, brilliantly, pulls hard all the way to 6,300 ish now and flowed enough extra air to need another fuel pressure increase/ mix adjust dont know what manifold/ throttle body combo you're running but try reworking/enlarging if possible, the head may flow better but if the manifold doesnt it wont make any difference at all (just look at the bmw 323/328s, shocking!)
not trying to tell you how to suck eggs or anything but it workeed wonders on my counterflow even with the stock manifold on....
http://www.atpower.co.uk/atpower_gallery.htmlthats where i got the idea- those throttle bodies actually use the throttle plate as the shaft (look for the pic pointing down the bore) obiously you have to leave the screws in and enough shaft for them to go int but theres still lots to go at, i can whip my intake off a post a pic of mine idf you like?
gas recycling ports... ooer! i know what egr is but never actually worked on a motor with it fitted, how different are the ports?
and the abf, my mates got one in his mk1 and i love it, its the next option if i decide against the crossflow.... but.... as it stands ive yet to be put off it, ive read hundreds of arguments on the 8v vs16v argment and the fact is a 16v will always make a car faster than its equivalent 8v, but im sticking 8v for a while for 2 reasons, 1) once ive got a suitable management system im going to be tuning for economy at part throttle as much as power at full throttle as i cover lots of miles (parents live in france about 12 hours on the motorway) and the swirl/tumble characteristics of any 8v make this easier to achieve than with a 16v and 2) stupidly, i just like 8valves- reasons/excuses/bullsh!t aside, i just do. i like 16valves too, i just sort of default to 8valves, i think modern so called eco cars should be 8valve too but i digress....
anyway thanks again for the answers, and sorry for asking more and banging on for ages
