It has begun...temp rebuild in progress

[XMasta19]

As most of you already know, I blew my rings/headgasket hitting 12psi. I decided to get OEM replacement pistons and rings as well as new headgasket, vc gasket set, and tty headbolts for now since I just don't have the money for a complete forged rebuild. The work has already started: turbo, manifold, downpipe, oil lines, and some piping were removed. Then the valve cover, intake plenum and manifold, and all connectors. Need to get the cams out then remove the head, but didn't even get to work on it today.

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Good to see you've started my friend! I hope everything goes swimmingly for you and your rebuild!! You're like my 420A turbo brother, seeing as how we turbod pretty much the same day haha.

Keep us posted

 

[XMasta19]

woohoo brothers

yeah, I hope everything goes well and smoothly too.


EDIT: man this timing stuff looks like it's gonna be a PITA, and help or advice as where to go from here would be greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[BigRand]

woohoo brothers

yeah, I hope everything goes well and smoothly too.


EDIT: man this timing stuff looks like it's gonna be a PITA, and help or advice as where to go from here would be greatly appreciated. TIA

Yeah just come back on here when you get to that stage.
Get not much room in the engine bay of our cars with the turbo and shit there right? Yeah well just do the damn thing and get that car back on the road.

 

[XMasta19]

Yeah just come back on here when you get to that stage.
Get not much room in the engine bay of our cars with the turbo and shit there right? Yeah well just do the damn thing and get that car back on the road.

haha, well that's where I'm at now...I can't just take the cams out w/out removing all that timing shiznit first. My buddy has a slide hammer I'm gonna borrow just to see if I can get it to work. If not, I'm gonna have to try and find a 3-jaw puller, then something similar or equivalent to the tool needed when removing the cam gears. I'm really hoping I can get that timing nonsense off, then the cams and head, so I can finally knock those old pistons out and git'er done. The machine shop I'm headed to isn't open on the weekends, so I was really hoping to get to them by tomorrow or friday morning the latest. That way...I could possibly have her back on the road this weekend

 

[BigRand]

Did you try loosening the tensionor pulley, should help the timing chain slide right off. When I was doing my friends headgasket the other day on his LS motor the hardest part was getting the timing chain back on (on the right teeth).

I'm guessing your talking about that plastic shit on there, If It were me, I'd just cut the top half off and call it a day, but I do understand the benifits of a timing cover.

 

[redeclipse7782]

$805. for JE Pist 8:8.1 and rings, and Eagle H-beam rods, from concept illusions. Do it right the first time. Keep the car off the road for a week if you have to, trust me its worth it. It would be a shame to blow the engine in a week and all the work and cash on oem parts be down the drain. 12psi on stock internals is ballzy i blew my pistons on only 10psi.

 

[XMasta19]

How bout under $250 with machine shop doing rods/pistons. umm...I didn't hit 12 pounds on purpose Read the other thread..."It's on like donkey kong" for details.

Well, headed out to the garage now to see what kinda progress I can make

 

[XMasta19]

Update time: well, the slide hammer didn't really work out as I hoped haha. So, I'll be renting a 3-jaw puller tomorrow morning. Got the motor mount taken out and a couple of other minor things, but that's about it for today.

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Good to see you're still getting things done as you can Rita should start having her effect sometime tomorrow, so once she blows over i'm going to do a compression test on mine to make sure it isn't the rings. If not I will buy the new turbo and slap her on! Goodluck with the rest of your car. If I don't talk to you by tomorrow afternoon. Then i'll talk to you in a day or two!

Josh

 

[dr1665]

Slide hammer? Cam gears? What the hell?

Got to Autozone and rent the Chrysler Harmonic Damper puller. It will have your crank pulley off in no time and it's a free rental.

You can leave the gears on the cams. There is no need to remove those gears if you are reusing the cams. (Bear with me if you aren't, but it needed mentioned, imo.)

A nice trick to getting that sadistic motor mount bracket out of there is this (and I just figured this out within the last couple weeks after a LOT of four letter words and busted knuckles):

1. Lift engine up up until you can get the top bolt out of it.
2. Lower the engine down as far as you can get it. Get that lower bolt out until you can't get it past the frame rail. If you don't have a buddy to push down on the engine, stand up and use your left hand to pull on the lower bolt while you repeatedly, but firmly, shove the engine downward. It will slip free for you.
3. Raise engine up and back out that one bolt (anyone who's done their own tBelt on a 2GNT knows which one I'm talking about - that third one in the back) as far as you can get it. Then slide it back in so you have clearance past the vacuum hard lines there.
4. Line that bolt up with the gap between the hard lines by lifting/lowering the engine.

HERE'S THE ULTIMATE TRICK!

5. There will be a hard line above and below that bolt, now, when you pull it back out. Follow the one above it to the front of the car. You will see that it follows the strut tower. At the top of the strut tower, slip a larger slotted screwdriver under it and *gently* pry that hard line up about a quarter inch.
6. Now try working that bracket counter-clockwise (when viewing from the top) and slipping that bolt head out along the strut tower where you just made the room by prying that hard line out of the way.

I stumbled onto this idea and got that bi*** out in 30 seconds once that line was moved.


Also, I'd set that VC back on the head to keep dirt and shit out of the valve train while you're taking it all apart.


Once you have the crank pulley off, drop the oil pan and remove the one 10mm bolt that holds the access panel over the bottom of the bellhousing . (You will have to remove a couple brackets, but they're no biggie.) This will give you access to the four bolts that hold the flex plate to the clutch assembly. At this point, you can hook up your cherry picker to support the engine and begin to lift her out. *This assumes you've already disconnected the wire harness, et. al..

Have fun. My buddy and I got the last one out in three hours from hood pop to block on the ground. Yeah. I'm kinda proud of that one. We were kicking all kinds of ass that day. Wo0t!

 

[XMasta19]

Yeah...I was giving the slide hammer a try cuz there is no autozone up here Well, I really hope one of the parts stores rents out a puller cuz I don't feel like paying for one. So you're saying I don't have to take the gears off in order to removing the cams? BTW...I am not removing the engine. I will continue my progress until the head is removed etc, and I'm able to knock the pistons out They will then be taken to a machine shop to have the rods pressed out and put on my new pistons.

 

[DNA666]

woohoo brothers

yeah, I hope everything goes well and smoothly too.


EDIT: man this timing stuff looks like it's gonna be a PITA, and help or advice as where to go from here would be greatly appreciated. TIA

Why not leave the head on and just pull the motor?

It's alot easier to work on and then you can just drop it back in when finished. Total PITA to add all the little things when the engine is still in the car.

 

[dr1665]

Why not leave the head on and just pull the motor?

It's alot easier to work on and then you can just drop it back in when finished. Total PITA to add all the little things when the engine is still in the car.

This is exaclty right. By taking it all apart like that in the bay, you make your job a LOT more difficult.

You do not need to remove the cam gears to get the cams out. Get an 8mm socket and pull the cam retainers (the little guys that go over the cams along the head. Just remember they are numbered and go in a specific direction, so pay attention to their orientation when removing them.). Then you just lift the cams right out.

Even if there is no Autozone near you, that puller is less than $40 if you buy it. I just kept it last time we rented it. You basically buy it and get a full refund when you're done. It's good stuff.

So just leave the cam gears in place. Pray you didn't #### anything up by using that slide hammer on them. You very well may have.

And seriously, pull the block and at least pop the $50 to have them hot tank it and hone it so those new rings will seal up tight. You don't want to put it all back together and find you still have shitty compression.

Good luck. Wonderful learning experience, though, isn't it?

 

[DSMcrazy3]

He was trying the slide hammer to take off the pulley

Josh

 

[dr1665]

He was trying the slide hammer to take off the pulley

Oh! The crank pulley! My bad. I thought he meant the cam gears. That's a pretty scary thought, wouldn't you agree?

For further information on the cam retainers (just in case - since I was in a hurry to get the hell out of the office at the time of my last post), if you look at this picture below, they are the little guys that go over the cams themselves.

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Eight of them line up with the holes for the spark plugs. There is one large one that goes over both cams on the gear side and two at the opposite end. Be sure you carefully clean those surfaces before reapplying fresh anaerobic sealant (which you can get at Napa by Permatex, next to the rest of the thread lockers) under them according to the directions. Also, in case you didn't know, it's a good idea to keep your lifters and followers in fresh oil while they're out of the car to keep them slick and ready for action.

Not that I think you need it, but just in case, we have a copy of the FSM up on az2gnt. Might come in handy in the future if someone finds this thread in the search.

 

[XMasta19]

hahaha, yeah...the slide hammer was used in an attempt to remove the crank pulley I know what the cam retainers are and what not, I was just under the impression that removing all the timing stuff to get the head off would also include removing the cam gears. You guys tend to forget that I'm in Alaska and EVERYTHING is way more expensive up here...if they even have it at all I have a copy of the FSM overhaul already printed out in the garage I got a 3-jaw puller today because it was the only thing that looked like it would work. They didn't have the Chrysler Harmonic Damper Puller, and the "universal" Harmonic Damper Puller they had was way expensive and wouldn't even have worked considering it didn't even have jaws So, tonight when I get home from work I'll give that 3-jaw puller a try and hopefully it will work. Then I can continue on my way to getting the head off. I know it's much more difficult to do the work while it's still in the car, but I don't have a cherry picker or engine stand and no I couldn't rent them

 

[DNA666]

Someone in FBX has one. Post in the main forum of AKMS.

 

[dr1665]

Someone in FBX has one. Post in the main forum of AKMS.

That's what I'm talking about. Most bases I was on, growing up, had a "Hobby Shop" where you could work on your car in a bay with a lift and check out all the tools you needed. A buddy of mine is always at the Hobby Shop on Pendleton fabbing up things here and there.

If you don't have a machine shop where you can get things tested out, you should at least do your best to clean up that head while it's off. Maybe use some Seafoam and a toothbrush to scrub things down.

A final suggestion for you: strip the block and get a buddy to help you lift it out by hand and then put it back in after you've cleaned and painted it. You'd be surprised what a difference it can make.

Before.
(Almost) After.

 

[XMasta19]

They banned me from AKMS (Alaska Motorsports)

I borrowed the slide hammer from a buddy in north pole, then I went and rented a 3-jaw puller from schucks. They're policy is that you pay the full price, then get refunded down to the rental price when you return it....I LOST A PIECE TO IT!!! I don't know what the hell I did, but I lost the little foot looking piece that all the jaws attach to I guess the puller is mine now Anywho, my pal is coming over tomorrow morning and we're gonna give that pulley another go using mix and match parts from the slide hammer and jaw puller Yeah, they're is a hobby shop on base that I tend to go to, but didn't really see the need for it this time around cuz she woulda been there for awhile haha.

 

[XMasta19]

.....

 

[BigRand]

 

[selmerguy]

have ou tried heating the pulley before you go cranking on it? it might help. my pulley was a pita too. it's kinda good in a way that you broke it now you can get a light balanced one from obx or whatever.

 

[XMasta19]

don't have anything here at the house to heat it with, but that's definitely the next thing to try...yup yup, underdrive pulley here I come

 

[greenmeanie99]

They banned me from AKMS (Alaska Motorsports)

I borrowed the slide hammer from a buddy in north pole, then I went and rented a 3-jaw puller from schucks. They're policy is that you pay the full price, then get refunded down to the rental price when you return it....I LOST A PIECE TO IT!!! I don't know what the hell I did, but I lost the little foot looking piece that all the jaws attach to I guess the puller is mine now Anywho, my pal is coming over tomorrow morning and we're gonna give that pulley another go using mix and match parts from the slide hammer and jaw puller Yeah, they're is a hobby shop on base that I tend to go to, but didn't really see the need for it this time around cuz she woulda been there for awhile haha.

My second engine had trouble with the pulley. My mechanic was going to change the TB and broke the pulley extractor on the pulley and I can remember how much of a PITA it was

Good luck X