Home Made Cylinder Head - Kinda (Kawasaki ZXi 1100 Cylinder Head Build)

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Actual description: In this video... I bore out some holes in my OEM cylinder head, turning it into a cylinder cap, and build o-ring replacable domes for my 1100, from scratch.
Note to all, and note to self: When I started this project, the idea was to get the compression up to 155-160 PSI ... However. Designing the dones takes a LOT of intense math. Calculating the total volume then how much of that is combustion chamber and how much is squish volume ... and then cutting the chamber out with a home made tool...
In the end, somewhat accidentally, I ended up with a "design" that copied the oem head shape, but with a few small changes.

[@rideshortys]

You’re crazy, very very awesome 🤙

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Thanks ! I enjoy being crazy, sometimes...

[@JetSkiBrothers]

I’m sitting back relaxing and watching a new JA video 🍻 all is good 👍 nice dimes, very shiny. Fun video to watch, some very satisfying machining. 🥇let’s see 87 + 94 octane would be 200 octane so dang that’s some serious racing juice 😂

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

One of those rare occasions when you get to relax, haha. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sure I will have it apart again soon to check on those domes to see how shiny they still are. I'm going to try to get some high temp o-rings before I head over there to visit, as I can see these ones letting go as soon as I show up, haha. Here I am assuming that it will survive a test run or two here, before I head there... That's pretty cocky. Haha... good ol 200 octane race juice !

[@ldsk938]

thats very impressive, especially if you take into account that you don't use a digital readout on any of your machines. very cool.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Thanks ! It didn't all go 100% smoothly, but I made it happen. I take pride in being able to do a lot of this stuff on a manual mill and lathe and with pretty basic tools. I hope you don't think any less of me, but this project has helped me to decide on a major tool upgrade. I will be likely be announcing what it is soon.

[@ldsk938]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin hell no, its impressive i know i would not like to run a lathe or a mill with no readouts. there is nothing wrong with making the tool work for you. even tho i do have cnc's i have conventual machines aswell, i still love taking 12mm cuts on the manual lath, there is nothing like seeing it rain metal chunks.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@ldsk938 Right on ! Yes, it is very satisfying making large cuts... My lathe will not do 12mm on anything other than plastic tho, haha.

[@ldsk938]

JoelArseneaultKZbin I have never done plastic. But I have done Teflon and that's just a terrible thing to try and cut. It looks like you are creating a tapeworm. And do think for one moment the finish will come close to being acceptable. After seeing you mess around on that ski I kinda want to start messing around on a ski of my own now. Where I stay I have the biggest dam in the province. So getting to water is a 10min drive.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@ldsk938 Yeah, I have played with Acetal and Delrin a little and they do the same. You have to use very sharp tooling, and even when you do, the finished size is kinda tricky. It's really hard to take less than .010" cut and if you cut aggressively, it can actually peal off a little more than you've dialed in. My suggestion would be to 100% tinker with a ski... but make sure that you have a back up ski if you like riding, because if you enjoy messing around, your ski will almost never be running, haha.

[@dustinwild]

Aww yeah!!

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

It will be really cool if it really works ! I may get out tomorrow. Currently downloading Fusion 360, researching conversion kits, watching videos about flood coolant, downloading DaVinci Resolve, shopping for a camera for a back up for the JSB trip... Oh... I also ordered booties from that place and they didn't have any black or blue left haha.

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

Your work slightly reminds me of Allen Millyard... who does amazingly techie stuff with common tools. Nice thing with this arrangement is now that you've worked out how to do it... you can change head profiles/compression anytime you want. Sounded good to me - are you pleased with the outcome?

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

WOW... that's a massive complement to be mentioned in the same sentence as Allen, let alone be compared to him !! Thanks ! I am very pleased with the outcome. The challenges faced in this project were substantial, but I was able to overcome. Unfortunately, both filming time and editing time (and video length) doesn't allow me to share all of the challenges along the way. You really have to be creative with every step, check your progress and see if it is doing what you hoped for / planned. In one of the photos near the end, you can see some aluminum rings... these were shims that were made on my lathe as my mill wasn't able to cut the pockets in the OEM head accurately enough. Each of these domes were custom fit, so the PTO will only work in the PTO with the PTO shim, for example. It was a lot of fun and I am super happy that I was able to pull it off. I was planning my first test ride today, but it looks like I will be waiting till tomorrow at least. Thanks for the comment !

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin Hey, you're welcome. Hope the test ride goes well.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@monkeybarmonkeyman Thanks !!

[@lanceulbrich6249]

Tip of the day if you put the correct Allen in a drill you can drive your cross slide with it gives a more even cut

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Hey Lance ! What's up !? 🤟 I have seen that done before. Don't think I've ever tried it. Not sure why.

[@lanceulbrich6249]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin what's up! I had an unfortunate industrial accident about 10yrs ago my right hand and wrist just ain't what she used to be so I try to use power tools when ever possible. Besides those tiny knobs on the china lathes are impossible to turn quickly. I have the grizzly equivalent of that lathe.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@lanceulbrich6249 Right on... I know that off by heart ... It's the G0602, haha. Tiles... "Industrial accident" is never a good thing. I don't always work smart ... using a power feed, of any sort, when practical, is smart, regardless. I'm hoping to get a tool soon that will allow me to do a lot less knob turning.

[@lanceulbrich6249]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin g9972z it's the next one bigger but pretty much the same thing. What you getting? 🤔

[@lanceulbrich6249]

If it's numerically controlled knob turning I may be able to give you some tips I do a fair amount of that.

[@xshok]

87 + 94 octane = budget race fuel

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Hey Shok, How have you been ? Anything with the name "budget" in it, that's for me, haha !

[@AdrianWall-k9d]

Hi mate, that was an amazing experience to watch, It turned out great , how much better does a polished head compare to a standard one, Cheer's mate

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Hey Adrian ! I'm glad you enjoyed that. The new polished head had 45 PSI more than the OEM head, so it should add a fair amount of performance. I hope to get out on Monday to test it... I just checked and it's already 5:30pm there in Australia, and it's 1:30 am where I am. haha.

[@AtimatikArmy]

Didn't know there were both metric and standard degree units lol! What did you do to keep the water jacket sealed so the water cooling doesn't leak around the spark plugs? Oh yeah, I'm an idiot. 440/550s do use labyrinth seals between the cylinders, duh... I just didn't know that those were actually labyrinth seals, but yep, that's what they are!

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Haha... it's a little known fact... Metric and SAE for everything. I think at the end of the video I show that there are o-rings around the spark plug holes ... I had to cut SO much from this video... It was about two weeks of work, on and off, and I filmed it as tho it would be a documentary, haha.... but that is of little interest to most people. I did have to use glue around the water jackets on the head mating surface, but the domes are all sealed up with o-rings. You don't have to be an idiot to overlook labyrinth seals in an engine. They aren't terribly obvious and you never have to deal with them, unless you are rebuilding cranks... so they don't get much thought.

[@jasonskibrothers2192]

Got it, CATastrophic! HA!

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Nice... Dad jokes r us.

[@donalhoward2962]

Fantastic video, I run my 750 at 175 psi, is there a resaving for running the triple at a lower psi?

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

Thanks for the comment ! My end goal for compression is 160 psi (suggested by Group K) , but I didn't go there for a few reasons. The main one being that the math is really complicated to change the volume of the combustion chamber, maintain a 50% squish area, achieve the desired squish angle and squish clearance. These domes are basically a copy of the OEM head, but with a few small changes. As with every project that I embark on, I never expect it to be successful, haha... So my thoughts are "do it like this, and improve on the next version". With all of the things things that could have gone wrong, I'm surprised that it worked !

[@donalhoward2962]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin ahh ok that makes sense thanks, especially with having the removable domes. I like the idea of the o-rings. I might try it myself

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@donalhoward2962 Yup... I will do some testing on these ones, then decide where I want to go form there. Having o-rings on there is nice. Unfortunately, I still need glue for the water jackets and without a gasket, I can't limit or redirect flow... I have some testing to do before I know if this is going to work well ... or be a disaster.

[@donalhoward2962]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin is there a disadvantage to having too much flow to the head, if you had access to a cnc mill and a laser cutter you mill the head and lasee cut a custom "o-ring" to suit

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@donalhoward2962 There are two issues with not controlling cooling. First is that the engine being too cool is not good for making power. and second, if the flow passes really easily through the front cylinder (as an example) the rear cylinder may not get enough and get too hot.