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Anyways, about 3 weeks ago I dropped my block/crank/heads/rods/pistons off to Comptech/Penny Racing Supply for some checking the block/crank, honing, 3-angle valve job and other stuff for a basic rebuild. They found the #1 exh valve was cracked (replaced for $12 - cheap huh?) and the crank needed to be turned as it had some minor damage. They had a shop turn it and provide a crank kit (resized crank w/bearings. Came with ACL 'ALUGLIDE' mains & "DURAGLIDE" rods. For the price it was well worth it, even though I would prefer OEM bearings these should be just fine. I got everything back about 1.5 weeks later and ordered up the other parts necessary (gaskets, oil pump & pickup, etc).
Tue 2/3 & Weds 2/4: I start assembling (w/Robs help) & finish the bottom end along with bolting up the head. Here are a few pics:
Plastigauge'd all my bearing clearances. (Important that they are right!)
Once those were checked it was a go for assembly. Don't forget the lube.
Be sure to clock the rings correctly and WD40 (or other light lubricant) the cylinder walls when installing the rods, pistons & rings.
Installed the new oil pump (w/front crank seal) & pickup. The rear crank cover plate & seal, windage tray, and oil pan (painted flat black). And also the cylinder head w/TRD .8mm metal headgasket (hate the OEM graphite impregnated pos).
At the ends of Weds night I dropped the cams in and measured valve clearances. Since with a valve job a small amount of material is removed from the seats & valves and needs to be compensated for. Ordered Thurs 2/5 morning, and they were set to arrive on Fri 2/6. Now we're getting into crunch time, as I was feening like a crack head after some crack rock, itchy blood and all
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No pics from here on out (too busy for them)... but here's how it went.
Thurs 2/5: mount the external parts: water pump, outlets, lines, mounts, brackets, studs for exh manifold, intake manifold, TVIS, wiring harness, fuel rail & injectors. My hope was to slap the clutch/flywheel & trans on and have the motorset sitting in the car. Got the flywheel on and unfortunately here's where we I hit a snag. The one item I forgot to order, a pilot bearing for the input shaft of the trans. Fuck. We'll there goes that plan. It was pretty late so I went in and crashed out since there wasn't anything else I could do at that point.
Fri 2/6: Fortunately I had the foresight to ask for atleast a half-day off, thankfully it happened. So after work I went to pickup the shims for the valve adjustment... and find out 2-3 of them DIDN'T arrive. Oh man, one small thing after another (typical BS). We'll I have 2 spare cylinder heads, so I leave with the hope of finding or reusing other shims from the total of 3 cyl heads... back to the story. I stop by a Kragen after that to grab that pilot bearing, and they DIDN'T get the pilot bearing in by 12:30 like they told me, so I had to drive to another store to pick it up. When I get there they can't locate it either, so I wait 10-15 mins while they search around. Turns out their manager pulled it off the outgoing counter and threw it in a bin to have it reshelved
. But now I've got it, and I book it home to get to cracking. Jon comes over to help out while he can, and it ends up that Rob due to unforseen circumstances is around to help as well. Installed the pilot bearing, clutch & pressure plate. Installed the trans and dropped the motorset in. At this point it's 2 in the afternoon and Jon & Rob take off as they need to grab a trailer for Rob's car. While they're gone I hook up the wiring, fuel lines, grounds, starter, egr, etc. I also set the valve clearances I can and start measuring the spares. And that's when Jon gets back to help some more. Jon takes care of the exh under the car, driveshaft, clutch slave and motor mounts. After that while I install the exh side of the cams, Jon helps with some measurements of shims off the last cyl head and finds the last shim I need to set this thing up right.
Whohoo! There is some hope of getting this done for Sat 2/7 & the full track drift event!
Jon takes off for the evening. Big thanks to both him & Rob for their help.
I keep on going with the install, button everything up and fill with fluids around 9:30 pm. After it's filled I start checking for leaks, and damn it if they're isnt one. In pretty much the worst place possible, the water pipe outlet on the back of the waterpump which is under the intake manifold, blocked from the front by the alternator and pretty much a total PITA. I'm not sure exactly why it was leaking, but after contorting myself and loosening it up and shifting the pipe a little bit. I tighten it back up and get the gasket to seal.
Hook up the battery around 9:50 and start priming. Notice a fuel smell, what else? We'll the copper gaskets for the high pressure fuel line are leaking, I have some spare new ones (as they did this to me before!) install those and it's good to go. Fire it up, it starts on the 2nd or 3rd rotation cranking. Kinda rough but the cylinders had a little gas in them from cranking it over to prime the pump. Idles up fine and I start rechecking for leaks, thankfully this time there were none. Install the hood (was off for easier access & motorset install/removal) and put the car on the ground.
Took the car out and broke it in hard
. Got home and changed the oil, took a shower and went to sleep around 12:30. Got everything done JUST in time to make the event. It was worth every second of it!It was a real blast to follow Calvin Wan around a few corners and I actually learned something from following his lines. Wish I had more power to keep up but oh well. At least I was sideways!
Andrew
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