So. I think my rod bearings look good. I'm just a little worried about those two pistons that were slapping. I'm hoping that the marks hone out of the cylinder walls. I could definately use other opinions. Oh, is my block dirty enough Does anyone know which ECU that is? I got it for nothing. I also have two of the sensor bundles from the shock tower. They aren't the same. I'm wondering which one I should hang on to.
Eagle H-beam. Forged 4340, two piece forging, 3/8 ARP 2000 bolts, etc. I think they should do. Now I'm saving up for pistons, either CP or Arias. I've got someone local to balance the rotating assembly when I get to that point.
I think the rod bearings look suspect in a few cases
if you are paying for new rods and pistons it makes little sense to put in old bearings
the cylinder walls don't look too bad but I would have them measured by a shop for bore size, eccentricity and taper
if I were putting it back stock I might consider reassembling it as-is, but with money spent on new rods and pistons, I think a professional clean-up on the cylinders, and a check of the crank (and posisble clean-up there as well), and new bearings, is in order
one man's opinion
also it is much better to clean the crap out of the engine before you start
I wasn't going to reuse the rod bearings, I just thought they look decent for over 100k. I'll be taking the block to a shop to get checked out, honed, and hot tanked. I just hope I don't have to get new sleeves. The pistons only rubbed on the one block half. I already had the crank looked at and was given the ok. I'm going with Cobb rod bearings, and am looking for a good engine kit. I've been working with Archer Racing on my Formula SAE car at school and Russ over there said he has a good guy to balance the rotating assembly. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, which includes a gt2871r with my own rotated mount setup.
Ya, I thought about how I should have pressure washed it after I had it apart. DOH!
That turbo is the stock turbo that came with the motor, ie. from a '91 SS. There is no axial play in the shaft.
I think I need to clarify something. As far as the bottom end is concerned, all I'm reusing is the block and the crank. I'll be getting all new bearings, seals, water pump, oil pump, etc. I just left the main bearings in there to look at. I've since removed everything from the block and got alot of the gunk off at the car wash. I covered myself in bits of that shit in the process.
I understand that, I'm saying that you should use brand new, OEM bearings and not Cobb's bearings.
The Turbo Legacy bearings were different than the N/A bearings, and they were really well designed. There is no reason they can't support whatever you could possibly throw at it.
ok. I guess I can be a sucker for marketing. I just don't want to cut ANY corners with this project. You don't even want to know what I have planned beyond the bottom end with what I have access to at school. We just need to fix the TIG welder. That with the vaccum bagger, I've got some grandiose ideas.
Carbon Fiber intercooler piping. Carbon hood/trunk. That kinda stuff?
I will always use OEM bearings and such. Why? Because, not many aftermarket manufacturers have the same tolerances as OEM. If the crank is built to OEM spec, why wouldn't you use OEM bearings?
Good point. You guys have alot more experience with this motor than I do.
The main thing I'm gonna do with carbon is some ducting to evenly distribute air across the 9 or 10 inch tall intercooler that will sit up high in front of the radiator that is shifted back an inch or two with some thin FAL fans or the like. I'm going to cut those mounting tabs off the headlights and just put a mesh grill in front to get more airflow. Oh, and the intercooler will be flat black. I'm going for total sleeper status.
I wouldn't mind making a new hood and decklid out of carbon with a kevlar or aluminum honeycomb. The problem with most of the ones people buy is that they are just molded after the sock hood as opposed to optimized for carbon's properties. Maybe next summer I could come up with something and sell them to everyone on the board, I dunno. Carbon fiber can be had for about $8 a square foot, at least thats what I've been able to find.
My friend is actually looking at doing some filament winding with carbon for his senior design project. It would be sweet if he could come up with a carbon driveshaft.
The cylinders look similar to mine. If you have it rehoned, it may change the bore size slightly, which may affect tolerences. I don't have mine running so I don't know if the overages in tolerences is going to affect things or not.
The only difference I can see between those two sensor bundles is that one of them has the white 4EAT dropping resistor on the back. Is that the only difference?
If it is, and if you have a 5-speed, it doesn't matter which you hang on to.
"Just reading vrg3's convoluted, information-packed posts made me feel better all over again." -- subyluvr2212
The one with the dropping resistor is missing the top sensor, so I thought maybe there was a difference between the two. Good to know.
I also got a MAF out of an older 300ZX turbo, and I'm hoping I could maybe find the transfer function for use with the LegaCU(fingers crossed). I have no idea what its range is. It is a 6 wire unit though. Hmmm.
As far as the cylinders go, I'm hoping it will be fine. I can very slightly feel a couple of the marks with my fingernail. I'll get the block checked out anyways. This will be a slow buildup process. I'll possibly be able to order some pistons in a couple weeks. I was quoted $150 apeice from Arias. Anybody deal with http://www.importperformanceparts.net/ ? Wiseco pistons for $459 sounds pretty reasonable.
How beneficial would a 3 or 5 angle valve job be on our stock heads? We have this big goofy grinding machine at school and am looking into using it on my valves. I'd like to do some port work, but I don't know if I've got the balls.
if you bag yourself some piping or anything that will be near heat, some salient points:
room temperature catalyzed epoxy has lousy heat resistance. All those parts you see on F1 cars, etc are made with heat catalyzed epoxy or other more exotic resins, and thus have temperature resistance of 300F at least, without getting exotic. Epoxy like West, etc set without heat will become sticky and fairly flexible as low as 150F, and certainly a mess at 200F. Also keep in mind that black is a bad color when exposed to radiant heat - line-of-sight from really hot parts like turbos and exhaust manifolds and it will heat up fast
several of my friends have found this out to thier cost - their slalom skateboards made with roomT epoxy became soft and weak in the sun, and snapped or buckled under them. the heat was just from sitting in the sun, which can generate 180F on a black surface, which is about what your entire engine will be.
vinyl ester resin is better at temperatures but only 50 degrees better at most
if you want to get serious about making under-hood stuff, you need to use pre-preg carbon, or heat catalyzed epoxies. this means you need to think about building large ovens for curing, or using heat blankets.
I guess I hadn't taken that part of dealing with a composite into account yet. I'm just looking at it being near the intercooler. I'm confident that I could come up with some sort of rubber or foam insulation. Also, I'm not looking for a whole lot of rigidity. As far as a hood goes, if I could ever get around to it, would have a reverse hood scoop in some form or fasion to keep the underhood temps down. Stressed members are a different story. I might be laying up some tubes for the SAE car with room temp epoxy, but we'll be doing those under pressure, and they won't be near any heat.
Does anyone know which ECU that is? I got it for nothing. I also have two of the sensor bundles from the shock tower. They aren't the same. I'm wondering which one I should hang on to.
