How did everything look when you took the pan & valve cover off? Sludge built up anywhere? oil pump pickup screen clean?

I'm just wondering what the root cause is for the #3 cylinder / rings fail.

Sounds like you work for a machine shop or auto repair shop, do you plan on checking cylinder size and roundness? You may also want to get it honed rather than just replace rings. You may already know that and are planning it, but since you did not mention it, I thought I would throw my 2 cents in. Are you planning a long term fix or just get it on the road and sell it soon?

 

Well I do work for goodyear, as general service. I have worked at a spec miata shop, and one for porsche 24 hr races. So saying all that I have pulled engines and rebut some, but this is the most difficult one I've ever done. I plan on doing the rings and possibly the rod bearings, depending on how it all looks. I mean im relatively inexperienced with the internals of an engine as my experience has more to do with the head and drivetrain replacement.

Being the case, im trying to do this to basically get the car able to pass smog, and be able to drive around without spewing oil. I want a manual anyway, and I noticed my turbo I bought back in February has shaft play. So, im going to try to get a replacement one with my warranty that I can swap out while the front end if off. If I cant, I might just end up selling the car, and getting a manual or an s4. Not really decided yet though.

 

So figured out today that it was a 6point head bolt after goign and getting a triple square that didnt fit. I went back to napa and got a set of torx bits, took a t55 and tapped it in with a hammer to make sure it was snug and got all the head bolts off. head came right off after that, and I got some pictures so you can finally see how taken apart the car is.


First night of dissemblely:




Head off:


Head:


All the parts:

Dumb 240 kids:


Cylinders/ block:


Oil pan:


Valve cover/intake mani:




Me, and my friend shawn. Im on left.:

 

I've done some more work in the past few days, got a new turbo through a warranty from the other one I got. I went ahead and put that in today.

Also, I took the pistons out to do the main bearings and the rod bearings. I still have to finish the mean bearings before I can put the rings back in. The head is at a machine shop getting the valve seals replaced. Im glad this is finally past the half way point.

Anyway today when I was working on the turbo I noticed a cracked plastic piece. Does anybody know where I can find this?







Some more build pictures.

 

Looks like a GT2X turbo, tearing things apart is the best way to learn, reading a book doesn't compare to experience. How did the valves look on cyl #3? Did you make sure it was the rings and not the valves? Did the cam lobe/s look ok?

 

Well, I sure am learning from this, thats sure.

But from what I saw the valves on 3 looked just fine, I just went ahead and redid all the valve seals so I don't get any oil leaking.

I looked and the head and cams look just fine no problems there either.

The only thing I'm worried about at this point is the reassemble. Dosen't look too fun.

 

Well, I've been really busy the past week between work and my family. Plus waiting for all my parts and the head was fun too.

But to the good stuff:


-Got my valve seals replaced and my head surface checked. Heads all shiny now. Still have to put it back together. Not looking forward to that.



-Pistons are cleaned, have new rings and rod bearings, and are in the block. I ended up messing one up because I forgot to put the bearings on before I put the pistons in and ended up doing them from underneath. I guess on on #3 didn't seat right and I couldn't turn the crank. Took # 2 and #3 back out to see the problem, and threw a new bearing on #3.







-Oil pan is shiny clean and on the car. Took way less time to put it in then the 4 hours it took with 3 people to get it out. Its a lot easier with the motor mount on the drivers side out of the way. Still have to get the motor mount connected back up but thats not too hard.







Got a new breather hose for the one that I cracked, and my intercooler came in the mail. Pretty excited about that, and all the new parts that are coming in the next few days: Adjustable fpr, fpr gauge, Forge Splitter, and A mounting bolt for my turbo I stripped. This is me for the next week after work every day:

 

Looks like you are doing a great job so far. Nice to see all the pics. After all this have you changed your mind at all about getting rid of it or are you still on the fence?

 

Well since Ive put so much work in it, I'm probably going to keep it for a while. And Ill be a lot more confident about running the boost I want to. I just wish It was manual. No big though, the luxury part of it is nice.

I also like to take a lot of pictures, as I haven't in the past with my swaps or projects, and then wonder how I did things, or cant show someone something to make a point.

 

I have a tip, but im saving and going gt30r I hope!