It's done!

[Hijacker]

After a ton of waiting on critical engine parts, the motor is finally done. I buttoned the oil pans on last night. The last few things I need to do is attach the manifolds, put the front main seal on and crank pulley, and attach the flywheel and clutch when the flywheel arrives later this week.

I haven't taken a picture yet of the motor yet. But i will take my powdercoated valve cover over tonight to grab some glamour shots. In the meantime, here's a few teaser pics from the DIY: Build a Motor thread I'm working on.

Notable upgrades:Cosworth 1.1mm headgasketMahle 86.5mm pistonsFidanza lightened flywheelExedy Stage 1 clutch (same as what I've been running on my old motor)

[IanS]

Well done sir, cant wait for the build thread.

[slik_s13]

looking good. our builds are pretty simular

[duffman1278]

Nice work, it looks so tasty lol. Keep the pics coming.

[Hijacker]

I snapped a few pics of the finished block. I still need to bolt the intake and exhaust manis on and put the water pump on it as well as the CAS. But a few of those things are coming off my current motor, so those will have to wait until I'm swapping motors.

That was the valve cover before I sent it off for paint.

The finished product.

I find it funny that this project started off with nothing but a blown bottom end block and I pieced it together with parts I've bought off of board members and ebay.

And you would never notice that the head came from a car that was on fire. The shop checked the head and it was perfect, so a hot tank and valve job later, it looks marvelous.

[Slipstream]

What were you placing in the lifter? Purpose?

[duffman1278]

Damn, can't believe the engine caught on fire!! Wtf?? Looks soooo good now props to your new engine!

[Hijacker]

What were you placing in the lifter? Purpose?

That was a demonstration for bleeding the lifter.

Duff, only the head was in a fire. The rear amp in the donor car lit the rear seat and the whole car went up. The block is currently running around in a car up in Maryland IIRC. The block I'm using came from an S13 blacktop from a guy in Richmond who had bought it with 3 holed pistons.

[sbanzer123]

is that a cosworth hg?

[Hijacker]

Notable upgrades:Cosworth 1.1mm headgasketMahle 86.5mm pistonsFidanza lightened flywheelExedy Stage 1 clutch (same as what I've been running on my old motor)

[david200095367]

That head gasket does look good! lol

[Hijacker]

Fidanza flywheel came in yesterday. I've got a few more things to tidy up and then the motor should be ready to go in this weekend.

I've rebuilt so many motors. I'm excited to actually get to drive one of them for once.

[homeslicej2]

Can't believe I missed this thread at first. Awesome! i'm glad it's done and that you'll soon be driving it. Look forward to the build thread!

[Hijacker]

I've got the beta version of it up in test. I named the thread "Don't mind me" (just postin' in a locked thread)

[homeslicej2]

^awesome. i just glanced at it. It's funny that you bought the Exedy clutch from Sil80jesse. I went to go see if it was still available bc I'm tired of the harsh 6-puck I have.

[Hijacker]

Jesse supplied a few parts for this build IIRC. I really should go through my email reciepts and total up how many members I bought stuff off of.

I debated doing an ACT 6 pucker, but after some debating and looking at my end power goals, the Exedy should hold what I'm looking for and still offer good driveability. I've been rocking a stage 1 with my current setup for 3 years and love it.

[homeslicej2]

My 6-puck is drivable and I like how it holds, but it really isn't good for DD'ing or city traffic (engagement is pretty harsh unless you ride the piss out of it). I want a full face and plan on only upgrading to ~300whp, but that is years away, so I figured an Exedy stage 1 is fine. Plus, the guys at TopHat apparently decided to not change my TO bearing when installing the new clutch It's squealing like crazy when the clutch pedal isn't depressed

[Hijacker]

The motor is in and running. And I have to say I love the setup so far. The rings are seating in nicely, and the motor pulls strong. The timing's still off a few degrees as I haven't gotten everything sorted yet.

When we were getting it started, we ran a compression test, and with absolutely no miles on the rings to seat them, it was pulling 125-130psi of compression across the board. Not bad!

It really does make me excited about when I start getting everything assembled for the GT2871 I plan on putting in later this year.

[duffman1278]

Must be nice to have a basically brand new motor. That was a pretty fast assembly as well.

Does this mean you finished the write up for the engine rebuild?

[Hijacker]

I'll finish the writeup in a few days. I have all the pics downloaded off my camera. I've just been lazy to format them and upload them to photobucket.

[slik_s13]

does she pur like a tiger? i bet! hey i forgot to ask. did you use a torque plate when filing your piston rings? those bitchs are expensive!

what kind of oil are you using for the break in?

if you need some pics from my build that you dont have let me know. you can use which ever ones.

[Hijacker]

No torque plate unfortunately. It would have been nice, but there just wasn't access to one.

For the break in, I'm just using good old Castrol GTX 5w30. Name brand dino oil is what I typically run through a block for the break in. Once I'm done with break in, I'll go back to Mobil 1 synthetic.

If I turn up needing pics, I'll email ya. But as of now, I've got all my bases covered. I took a metric boatload of pics.

I love freshly rebuilt SRs, they pur so nicely. No lifter tick or any of that obnoxious ish.

The more I drive it, the better it feels every day.

[slik_s13]

no lie, my hla's were ticking like **** when i first got the engine. and after bleeding them when putting the engine together, they feel real solid. i cant even push them in at all.

whats your reasoning for going with a non-synthetic engine oil for the break in proccess. i was thinking of using castrol 10w30 syntech for mine. but im not too sure whats the best for a freshly rebuilt motor.

[Hijacker]

My mechanics mentor has always used dino oils for break in procedures. So I'm going off of his recomendation. He's been at this for 30+ years, so I tend to take his suggestions with some weight. I'll ask him tonight why, though.

[slik_s13]

i heard of some peeps that primed there oil pumps before their intial start. did you do this also?post up an engine bay shot if possible. for kicks..

[white90esex]

pretty sweet lookin.

[Hijacker]

i heard of some peeps that primed there oil pumps before their intial start. did you do this also?post up an engine bay shot if possible. for kicks..

I prime my pumps by stuffing them with either vasoline or grease. You want a petroleum based product that will dissolve into the oil, but is thick enough to stay in the pump to help give it suction on initial startup. Then to help really get it primed, we crank it without spark plugs (less load on the engine) to help get the pump to circulate the oil before we crank it over for real.

I'll get some engine bay shots soon. I've been enjoying driving it more than taking pics of it

[IanS]

whats your reasoning for going with a non-synthetic engine oil for the break in proccess. i was thinking of using castrol 10w30 syntech for mine. but im not too sure whats the best for a freshly rebuilt motor.

During break in, there needs to be some wear on the bearings and sleeves, they seat in to each other, and there are often some metal shavings in the pan at the first oil change. Synthetic oil does its job too well, it does not allow that initial wear to happen. Dino oil also helps the piston rings seat properly. I use specialized break in oil additive whenever I rebuild a motor. I used to use normal dino oil for break in, but due to the reduction in ZDDP in all API certified oils I feel the extra security is worth it.

[homeslicej2]

^ah! Beat me to it. The current standards for ZDDP levels is also why I'll be running Mobil 1 extended performance in my SR from now on.

[Hijacker]

Thanks for the reasoning guys! I usually ask "why" when I start doing things, but dino oil for break in was just one of those things I just did without asking.