Another build thread - Project Black - S13 Shell

[airman86]

Just screwed up the title, ignore it. Meant to be "S13 Hatch"

Anyways - at the moment I don't have a shell, so this is going to be a short update. The engine block has been at the machine shop for 2 weeks and I just got it back.

The goals:

KA24DE for now. The block is bored .020" over and cleaned. The head receives new valve seals, valves ground and resurfacing. Pistons have been ordered, Wiseco .020" over 9:1 pistons. I will be sticking with stock rods for now.

Once I find a shell, hopefully it will be pretty simple - the engine will be ready to drop in. I'm going to try to keep it as clean as possible. It will be turboed about 6-8 months down the line from initial completion in order to secure enough bank to make sure no corners have to be cut.

The progress:Parts I have received are ARP Head studs, Clevite rod and main bearings and a full gasket set. As stated above the engine block was finished being at the machine shop today.

On the ride home - buckle up

The head in the garage:

Block on the engine stand and primed, painted with semi gloss black.

Engine paint to tie into the high-gloss brackets and other stuff. This is only about half of them.

That's all for now.
Modified by airman86 at 4:19 AM 6/4/2009

[airman86]

trying to get this pipe out from what i'm guessing is the EGR tube from the exhaust manifold. as you can see i've tried with a set of big pliers, but i haven't had any luck. I've let wd40 soak on it for about 30 minutes.

My vice grips went bad, but I'm thinking i might be able to drill a hole through the part that sticks off and turn it with a large screwdriver. It'd be a pain but I don't know what else to try. I'll be blocking it off with JB weld and a nickel

[blacksrjdm]

Why not buy a plug and plug it with what should thread in there? JB weld and a nickel.............

Also, pistons are the weak link I believe. If you are gonna turbo, then get rods. The stock rods are not gonna stand up too long to the abuse of the turbo.

[airman86]

Hah, shameful - I know. That would work as well :P

Yep, rods will come in when the turbo does. That's one reason I'm just doing pistons for now, because i need them since the block was bored in the first place. I could have done rods now too, but I planned on doing this in two stages, n/a rebuilt/etc then turbo 6-12 months from now.

[Idahos13]

looks good so far man, on some of threads in the KAT section they say that stock ka rods can be ran with a turbo setup, and do last with boost. But if you are not cutting corners I would definately get some forged rods like Eagles or BC rods. But it looks very good so far man I will be watching this build!

[xX RB Xx]

stock rods hold up too 400hp

[airman86]

stock rods hold up too 400hp

this i understand, however i would like to be able to boost past that, eventually.
Modified by airman86 at 8:28 PM 6/5/2009

[Logan76]

Use a small pipe wrench on that fitting, easy.

[Fibre guy]

stock rods hold up too 400hp

Until you hit the red line...

But seriously, for any setup, if you like being in the high end with the KA you need stronger rods. The long stroke will put one through the side of the block.My old KA's EGR tube was blocked off with just a penny. It smashed the copper in and sealed really well. (previous owner did it)

[airman86]

@logan, i've gave that a shot. That's why the sides are all scarred up :P

My old KA's EGR tube was blocked off with just a penny. It smashed the copper in and sealed really well. (previous owner did it)

I saw one where someone has physically tigged a nickel in the opening, which is what gave me the idea.

Pistons are on backorder till the 19th from wiseco. I'll try to get some pictures installing the crank when i get time, probably monday or tuesday.

[airman86]

Oh i forgot to ask - as I said i received the clevite bearings, however a few of them concern me:







should i send these two sets back? they weren't packaged correctly so the bearing surfaces got scratched by the sharp end of another bearing...
Modified by airman86 at 3:19 PM 6/7/2009

[pancho y onions]

Id return those bearings back for sure.

[airman86]

Id return those bearings back for sure.

i don't know whose fault it would be. the main bearings were good because they were all shrinkwrapped together to where that wouldn't happen.

i'll call them monday.

[kouki munster]

Super nice shell and its local to you.

zerothread?id=425790

[Fibre guy]

I'd definably argue for a return on those bearings. You don't want to have any doubt when building up a motor. To get more into detail on how he plugged it. He used the old pipe end nut to smash the penny in. I later upgraded the manifold and used an old spark plug with the top shaved off. Looked much more clean and 100% guaranteed seal.

Edit: Looking closer those oiling holes on the bearing don't look to good either.

[airman86]

Super nice shell and its local to you.

zerothread?id=425790

eh, $1800 is a little much for just a shell. I've had luck spotting them for $400-600 around here. the silvia front looks well done and I'd probably go for it, but not for $1800 and no interior.

[kouki munster]

It has a very nice condition black interior(minus headliner, carpet and back seat) and I'm not set on that on $1800 I just through it out there as a starting point.

[airman86]

if it was as clean inside as it is outside, it had a transmission and the paint didn't have issues on the bumper the max i could give would be like 800-1000...i just don't have the money to spend any more than that on the shell.

[kouki munster]

Thats cool I'll keep an eye out in the area and ask some friends if they know of any for sale.

And definitly get thoes bearings replaced, I can forsee all kind of bad things happening if you run them.

[airman86]

i sent them an email, went like this:

Quote »Hello, I ordered a set of rod and main bearings for a ka24de from you. I received them last wednesday, and didn't open them until Friday. I would like to share with you what half of these bearings look like, see attached. The paper separator that's supposed to keep the bearings from scratching each other was not correctly placed. I would like to send them back ASAP. These are from order #2761.

From what I heard, the pistons that I ordered on #2855 are on backorder. I do not have time to wait. Please cancel this order too.

Thanks,Me[/quote]this is what they responded:Quote »"The paper separator that's supposed to keep the bearings from scratching each other" These bearings come sealed from the factory in shrink wrap plastic which keeps them spaced apart from damage. Havent seen on single set get damaged in shipping since weve been open. Package is insured, you may want to contact Fedex to file a claim i this is the case.

Let me know if you have any other questions or need further assistance![/quote]whoever this is, they're calling me a liar. i snapped more pictures of how they were packaged and not just the bearings themselves. i can't believe they're saying this is fedex's fault. the shipping box was unharmed.

[kouki munster]

Typical response, most companies will always try to blame someone else for their f*** ups. Keep after them, as I don't have much hope for fedex doing anything to rectify the situation.

[airman86]

hell no. fedex would be 10x harder to get anything from. I mean, it's only $20 worth of bearings (if you divide it up 10 bucks per set), but i'll call up there tomorrow and get this situation fixed. I'm not going to put up with them giving me the runaround.

[240life]

wow those bearrings look horrible

[airman86]

here are the pictures from today - turned out the package of plastigage i bought from autozone was empty, so i had to run back up there this afternoon to pick some up. it was a HOT day especially with no a/c in the DD.

with just me doing this build and no extra hands it's hard to take pictures while my hands are covered in grease and i don't have a cheap camera (digital slr) and i'd like to keep it clean.

I started off by wire brushing and thoroughly cleaning all the bolts:

Sanded off excess gasket to ensure a smooth surface on the oil filter assembly:

Crankshaft in:

Head studs in:

I'm pleased with the bore and hone-job:

Oil filter assembly on:

What do you folks think of it so far? I think the paint job turned out well and I am pleased with it.

One thing that concerns me though, according to the FSM, the crank bolts must be torqued to 46-58nm. I plastigaged and torqued to 53nm just to be in the middle. I undid the bolts and took everything back off and the plastigage on the 2 bearings in the front was showing about .001 instead of .002. So i made adjustments and in order to reach the .002 mark, but that meant the crank bolts had to be torqued to less than 35nm. The crank would not turn freely when a couple of those bolts on the front were torqued past that. Any ideas what may be causing this excessive tightness on the front two bearings? I torqued them down in order to ensure even tightening.

Also a matter of opinion: in the last picture, you can see the front cover sitting on a shelf in the background with some other parts. It's a dark pearlescent blue. It's a nice color and looks good, but I'm not sure it will match with the black pulleys and the black motor. I might try to find some aluminum-color paint to make some contrast between the pulleys and the front cover. What ya'll think?
Modified by airman86 at 6:33 PM 6/8/2009

[airman86]

also, cimotorsports is exhanging my bearings. I finally heard back from them in my email. I'm going to see if they can reimburse me for the shipping cost to send it back to them. I don't feel like it's my responsibility to cover that.

another thing - here's more of my attempt to get that fitting out of the manifold:



i tried drilling a hole through one part and twisting it out with a screwdriver, and it just tore up the metal. i took another stab at it through the bigger, meatier portion of it, and ended up breaking a drill bit and a screwdriver in the process.

my next plan of attack is to grind off the part sticking out, take a small cut off wheel aka dremel and take out a little more than 1/8" out of the remaining threads/etc and pry the rest out. i know that's a sure way to get the thing out but if someone can come up with an easier way i'd be glad to hear it.
Modified by airman86 at 7:25 PM 6/8/2009

[240life]

grind it down and weld a cover over it...the rest looks nice, good thing you got reimburssed for your bearrings

[Fibre guy]

Looks good so far.That nut is really fudged up. I'd cut it as short as possible and then tack weld it shut.

[airman86]

That nut is really fudged up. I'd cut it as short as possible and then tack weld it shut.

haha yeah, thanks to me. i'm gonna try to stay away from welding as I don't have a welder nor a friend with one.

[airman86]

got the front cover and chain in today.

oh also - i ground that fitting off the manifold. now to see about getting a small cutoff wheel in there and yanking it out.

[airman86]

can anyone make a suggestion about the crank not turning freely when torqued to factory spec?
Modified by airman86 at 6:46 AM 6/10/2009