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Wow! After a 3+ hour battle the engine is out. My god that car did not want to let go of the engine. I even tried to ratchet straps on either side hooked to the block to the forward cross member and that didn't work. I eventually used a pickle fork, a piece of aluminum bar stock and rocked the engine back and forth, and with a bang and sparks flying the engine came out. At first I thought the dowels were holding it in place, but the engine was able to rotate free from the bellhousing. My only guess was that the clutch was stuck to the transmission input shaft.
Make sure you have a support under the transmission when pulling motor! I had a spare car jack that worked perfect with a screw height adjustment.
Pulled the clutch and flywheel off and damn they are heavy! Well it's the original LUK flywheel and Valeo pressure plate with all the GM stamps. They look in great shape, but after this much work I might as well throw a new one in.
I have the engine on a stand rotated with #7 verical with Marvel soaking into the rings. I have to decide if I'm going pull the piston up or down though the block, or just let my machine shop deal with it.
With the creative fuel lines I am wondering if I can just cut them short and run AN fittings with braided lines for the few inches I need to hook them up.
The next adventure I am mulling over is the gas tank with 21 year old mixture of gas and water. I pulled the cap and noticed some surface rust on the inner fill neck. I have not dropped a C4 gas tank and I hope I don't have to pull the rear bumper or subframe. I'll do some forum searching.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll pull the bottom end apart and get ready to deliver to the machine shop.
Last edited by mcguirjf; 12-10-2015 at 10:22 PM.
Reason: Picture
Nice! Pretty sure it would take me a lot longer than 3 hours to pull a motor since, you know, I've never done that before. Good to see this car getting the attention it deserves. Keep it up man.
Pull motor. Will have to do rings at least. If that cylinder cannot be borded out, then I'm going to have it re-sleeved. If can be bored, then pistons and rings. If I'm tearing down this deep, might as well do bearings and seals.
My next to do is find fuel lines for the fuel rails. Seller mangled the lines and I don't know if I can braze in new ones. What year fuel rails are interchangeable with the C4's? There are a couple of TPI set ups for sale near me, but I don't know what I can use. I need the two lines that mount to the front of the intake. One runs to the fuel pressure regulator, and the other runs to the passenger side fuel rail. I also need the tubes from the plentnum to the intake base as they were heavily dented.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
That cylinder may not clean up with a 30 thousands overbore, you may have to go 40 thou or even 60 to get past the rust, but hopefully you can get by w/o needing to have it sleeved.
It took longer than usual because I couldn't rotate the crank for access for the remaining Pistons.
Off to the machine shop on Monday.
If they can't sleeve the other option is going LS1. The only reason holding me back is that everyone wants $2500+ for a 100k motor. It will cost at least another $1k for rebuild and adapters.
If anyone has a lead on a LS1 for $1k I'd be interested. I've done numerous swaps including the 2.2 Impreza in our 24 hr of Lemons Chevette, but the key thing is cost.
Head gasket popped 20+ years ago with coolant in cylinder. Not good way to store a car.
Hopefully machine shop will have good news for me when I drop off tomorrow. If a bore is needed, I'll order a forged piston rebuild kit from summit and call it done.
Here is a picture before driving piston out of the cylinder. I used a piece of wood (1ft long 2x4 cut in half lengthwise) and a BFH. If anyone runs into a similar condition, make sure to drive on the underside of piston and not the connecting rod. I'm hoping the connecting rod is still good for the rebuild.
Last edited by mcguirjf; 12-13-2015 at 10:31 AM.
Reason: Add picture
I created a holder for all the lifters to keep them in the same orientation for reinstall. I noticed that on one side of the lifter there is an oil passage. The strange thing is that there appears to be no set direction that the factory used. Some oil passages point forward while some aft.
The challenge with this setup is how am I going to soak the lifters before install without loosing orientation? Should I care?
Hi pologreen1,
My plans are a two way road with this build.
I want remain b-street for autocross next year.
I just sold off my 1992 Miata that was an automatic, 100hp! It was a great momentum car, but as soon as you lost momentum you were done. I did manage a 2nd place win in novice with it. It had 200k miles and only a set of Direzzas. I had an ride along with a veteran and noticed the wheel hop from the blown shocks.
The lesson I have learned from lemons is that if you want power and reliability, stay stock. The more you play (putting it nice) with things, the reliability goes to hell and you wind you wind up hating the car.
I have done multiple engine swaps and the LS path is great option, but everyone wants way too much for them.
I am thinking get it to run stock, enjoy it for what it is, and then move on to my initial intent which is a C5 Z06.
The mileage of the car is what had me sold, 56k miles. I figure just getting it to a reliable driver is a great win and not a huge loss of money.
man, the rings and landing on # 7 look really bad and remind me of the broken rings from my old pick up. Great post and please keep it going as I am sure many ,like myself, are following.Oh, the lifters, I don't think it matters which way the holes point.
Last edited by ghoastrider1; 12-13-2015 at 09:17 PM.
I am having a lot of fun with this build. If there was money in this field I would consider it as a job. For me it's a hobby and hopefully help others in their builds.
Ive never autocrossed, but you definitely got a good car for such a purpose. And you dont NEED more power necessarily since the torque (plenty from the l98) and quick steering are the standouts in that setting. Stock rebuild would do just fine i think.
Actually, that reminds me of an archived article I read from 1989 pitting the corvette z51 vs the porsche 911 club sport. The porsche was actually the faster straight line car and faster through the slalom, but the vette ate it up both at autocross and the track and did it with the extra weight from amenities. Better max grip, more stable at high speed, precise handling, corner exit torque advantage.
Visited my friend Rich who owns Accurate Machine in Middletown, CT. He done great work for me in the past. Plan is to go .030 over on cylinder #7 and see if it cleans up. Hopefully machined and balanced before Christmas. Goal would be to turn the key by New Year's Day.
I received 2 PMs on a new fuel rail assembly. My other option was to cut off the mangled mess and run AN fittings. The issue is that the fuel regulator line is .300 diameter which is under sized for a 5/16 AN fitting. That under sized line then runs to the 3/8 line that goes to the tank.
I also stopped by Joe's Electric to have the alternator repaired. That crip nut was so tight that it destroyed the + terminal anti rotational feature. Here is the result
Visited my friend Rich who owns Accurate Machine in Middletown, CT. He done great work for me in the past. Plan is to go .030 over on cylinder #7 and see if it cleans up. Hopefully machined and balanced before Christmas. Goal would be to turn the key by New Year's Day.
I received 2 PMs on a new fuel rail assembly. My other option was to cut off the mangled mess and run AN fittings. The issue is that the fuel regulator line is .300 diameter which is under sized for a 5/16 AN fitting. That under sized line then runs to the 3/8 line that goes to the tank.
I also stopped by Joe's Electric to have the alternator repaired. That crip nut was so tight that it destroyed the + terminal anti rotational feature. Here is the result
12-08-2015, 09:06 AM
Good to see this car getting the attention it deserves. Keep it up man.
