Motor Rebuild – (hot-to-trot)

[Doc Fizzix]

Well, thanks for the fun

The part is on the car so now my cars value should go up

I will try starting her up today

[Ekapol]

Insert Also Sprach Zarathustra OVERTURE theme HERE .....

[Doc Fizzix]

Ekapol, I like your new Avatar, it kind of looks like Dougs old car

Just took the intercooler off and cleaned it out with about two cans of WD-40 (let is soak for a couple of hours then pour out the WD, spray out with compressed air, then vacuum). About 10+ years of oil and gunk in there that I did not want goinng into my new motor. I am ready for start-up

[Doc Fizzix]

All is good. She started right up with no problems, first crank of the key with the inertia switch turned off. The tappets pumped up after about 10+ min of reving the car to 3000 rpms. Checked the timing and by luck (or by talent) I had the timing set to exactly 16 degrees advanced. No leaks and everything sounnds good. The only problem is a little whiney noise from the timing belt bearing, I guess I got the belt a little to tight

I am going to check her over and then take her out for the first drive.

[Paul.P]

Well done Doc, must be very satisfying !

[Doug]

new belt whine is common so I'm not sure it is a sign of the belt too tight -- just check it is tensioned right and then cross your fingers that the noise goes away slowly over a few months of usage.

[Doc Fizzix]

new belt whine is common so I'm not sure it is a sign of the belt too tight -- just check it is tensioned right and then cross your fingers that the noise goes away slowly over a few months of usage.

It is pretty loud and it sure sounds like the tensioner bearnings. I got the engine mount and cover off at the half (I am watching the Michigan - Ohio State game right now) After the game I am going to check and lossen the belt a bit, I think it will help.

[Doc Fizzix]

I was a bit nervous taking her out for the first run today. I have done a ton of work and I had to think about a lot that could have gone wrong, here is a summery of all the work I have done to the drive train:

- Rebuilt motor (and everything that goes with that)
- Rebuilt the trany and then put in the limited slip differential
- Put in a new steering rack
- Rebuilt the LH drive shaft (I did the RH before I removed the motor)
- New aluminum radiator
- New front wheel bearings
- Cleaned out the intercooler

With all this on my mind I was worried that something would go wrong but everything went well and there are no links of any kind. I am going to try and take her on a long drive this coming week and we will see what happens then

[Doc Fizzix]

Ok, the game is over so I went to work and adjusted the tensionin the timing belt, now she is as quiet as a mouse.

Here is the only problem I have now, the engine light is coming on but when I check the code it flashes 12 so I am not sure what is up with that, I wonder if bad gas can cause the knock sensor to go off, I think the gas has been sitting in the car sinse January

[Dave M]

Hi Doc. Glad to hear she's running and the whine was easily fixed. I wouldn't be surprised if the gas is a bit iffy. I'd top off with some fresh 93 or 94 (whatever you have there - sorry Cali...we get the good stuff) and see how that helps. Bet you feel good about getting her out after all the time and work! Way to go, man!

Good game, huh? We've got a Michigan / Ohio State split flag hanging out front right now. I'm a lifetime MI fan (growing up 20 minutes from Ann Arbor) and my mother-in-law is an Ohio State grad. The tension is lighter in recent years around the house, but we've had some interesting days surrounding the games in past years.

[Doc Fizzix]

I was rooting for Michigan since I am a Texas fan but it was a good game.


Ok, as for the code 12, I did not wait long enough (3 flashes of code 12 before the error code) so now I have a code 13! I am thinking the gas is bad throwing off the O2 sensor so tomorrow I will drain the gas and see if the fixes the problem. If not, then I will buy a new O2 sensor, maybe I fowled it up According to the manual, if that does not work then it is the ECU ----HELP If that is the case then shoot me now

I find it had to imagine the ECU went bad, most of the day she was running good.

As far as Texas goes, we get the good stuff 93 ~ 94 octaine

Might need the octaine help since my pistons are more than the 8.5:1, they are more like 9:1

[Doc Fizzix]

Ok, I am an idiot!

I was getting error 13 because I forgot to hook-up my O2 sensor when I was done adjusting the timing belt. Hooked it up and all is good

[Doc Fizzix]

Now a new question for Dave_M, here it is:

I notice that the motor oscillates a lot more at an idle than before the motor rebuild. I am thinking that the lighter flywheel might be causing this effect. I am thinking the the computer has to work "harder" to keep the motor at a constant idle speed.

Dave, did you experience the same effect with your lighter flywheel?

OR

Could the computer be in a learning mode and slowly adjusting the idle through the IAC based on the sensors until it has finished "learning"?

[Monty]

Doc,

Well done in getting u`r project up and running.

Don`t think that would be the fly as it should be balanced and Dico has the Assco fly in his engine doesn`t move abnormal.
Check all the engine/gearbox mounts, especialy the middle one at the back going to the gearbox.

Either that or it` s bad idle, are u`r rev`s rock steady on the gauge?

[Dave M]

We've chatted in the meantime, but I'll answer here too in case anyone else comes across it. Like Monty said, I wouldn't think the flywheel should change things. My new flywheel seemed to make the car run smoother if anything. I might think it is your #2 option as my car ran different after the engine work for a while (even after the break-in). Considering your engine isn't truly broken-in yet, that's an option too. I'd wait and see how things are after another 100 miles or so.

[Doc Fizzix]

We've chatted in the meantime,

Thanks so much for your help

I am going to try a small 50 + mile trip today and then see how she is doing. Last night I took her out and got on the boost a bit to help seat the rings, she really wants to run and when I am on the boost she does not miss at all, very smooth. Now the problem is at the idle, today when I backed her out of the garge she was running at about 950 RMP and then started to fall to about 400 RPMS then jumped back up, to say the least the idle was not smooth this morning We will se what heppens after the 50 mile run

[F1 LOTUS]

We've chatted in the meantime,

I took her out and got on the boost a bit to help seat the rings,

Yeah, right

[isuzuimark]

Man that is the nicest build I have seen. Good work and I,m glad I could help by taking that turbo and pistons off your hands. When you upgrade your turbo, (I know mabey a little too soon to talk about), you should look into My buddy Jess at www.turbinetech.ca for a nice shiney manifold. The only prob i could see between the lotus and the impulse is if there is enough room between the turbo and the rad. If you want i can measure the distance from my block to rad and you could compare to see if there is enough room.
http://turbinetech.ca/ go to manifolds then the hypertext "hall of fame" in the first paragraph.



Steve

[Doc Fizzix]

My buddy Jess at www.turbinetech.ca for a nice shiney manifold.

Very nice link! This might save me some time and work, I wanted to make a new down pipe "US version of the Stiffy" I will contact them.

Took the car over to my mechanics and after we sat and looked at how nice the motor looks sitting in the car he asked me what oil I was running, I told him that I was running Moble One 10-30 synthetic. He told me to go home right now and get that oil out, he then told me I should be running a non-synthetic for the break-in.

I am going to take her out again tonight this time with a non-synthetic oil. My tech tells me that the rings will not seat as well and as quickly with a synthetic oil, so we will see what happens later tonight

[nitroman]

Bypassing the break-in issue... I used to run Mobil-One 10W30 synthetic in Florida, as it very rarely dipped below 50F. But since it commonly gets into the 20s here I now use Mobil-One 5W30 synthetic. My engine thanks me. 10W30 is fine when 3 or 4 months of the year the temp is 75/95 consistently for the low/high; but now unfortunately, I live in the "real" would... and it sucks! You really do get used to & spoiled by the tropics. After a while you start growing plant DNA (no, I'm not talking about my hydroponics secret room, ahem).