Street Build: 95 GSX - Day 1

[952g63t]

So after an almost disastrous journey to and (car carrier dropped a leaf spring on the way back) from MA, I have begun the process of stripping her down.

Didn't get too far today. Was only able to move her to a clean area in my driveway, organize some tools and throw away most of the trash in the car. Did start to dismantle a few things. It started to rain so I had to cover her up and call it a day.

Major issues:

Blown piston ring
Smashed drivers side window
No intake
Snipped plug wires?
No battery
Mold (I think it rained during the break in or soon after)
Scratched up paint - Door keyed
Right front q-panel needs replaced
Trunk lip is scratched and dented
Missing gauges from pillar
17 years of mucky muck
Wheels were sold or stolen - on temporary wheels
God knows what else...

If anyone has any suggestions on things to double check, things to eliminate etc. please feel free to make suggestions.

Thanks,

More pics will be in my profile

[Moonlight GSX]

Joined this month, well good luck and happy building on the your DSM. Welcome to DSMtuners!

[liquidsilver]

Does she run? What are your plans?

[sypherzero]

Sounds like it could be a good start to a kick ass build! What are your goals with it? Good luck to you, and more pics please!

[952g63t]

@liquidsilver & sypherzero

Haven't tried to turn her over yet. I want to pull the head off first and take a look at the pistons. Plans are to completely strip and rebuild.

Have more pictures here, having trouble getting the seat bolts out. Wondering if there is a way to access them from underneath. I briefly looked and could only see a floor pan where the bolts would be. Also, the shock mount seems to be mounted off camber to the king pin seat. Is that normal? Noticed a crack in the passenger side strut tower. Opened up the fuel pump access plate, barely any rust

Edit: Got the passenger seat out. The drivers side is proving to be more of a challenge... Found some sort of plug on the passenger side floor, it almost looks like an old school main board connector. Might be from the ABS? Pans are in great shape. So freaking relieved.

More pics;

Looks like a new head

Removed most of the paneling
Removed the seats
Removed (trashed) the carpet
Cleaned out most of the loose gunk with a Dyson
Removed rear low riser
Removed mouse nest in the windshield cowl
Removed the metal panels that the ABS controller mounts to
Removed at least 20+ pounds of stereo wiring

So far, pretty happy with the condition. Only one small rust spot near the rear windshield washer reservoir. Shouldn't be too difficult to patch up. Any suggestions on what to use?

Hopefully sometime tomorrow I will be removing the sound baffling material, the rest of the sub box that's glued into the spare tire hole, and the rest of the old stereo wiring. Lucky for me, the baffling **** is hardened so i can just break it apart.

Pictures;

[tom_and_case]

good luck with it! As for the plug on the passengers side, was it under the seat? do you have pics of the plug?

[manny402]

Is that steering wheel a evo 8 steering wheel?

[1998dsm]

Most likely the plug is for the stock amp, I have one in my 98 gst should be the same.

[DSM's 4 life]

why are the spark plug wires cut like that? just curious

[952g63t]

@tom_and_case
In the picture above, its right underneath the cordless drill

@manny402
Its a MOMO

@1998dsm
I believe you may be correct

@dsm's 4 life
I'm not exactly sure why the plug wires were cut. The previous owner claimed one of the technicians at a shop it was parked at broke into it and stole anything that was easily gotten.

[tom_and_case]

for the plug I was thinking exactly that... plug for the stock amp. It is in the right area.

[952g63t]

Had work related things to do most of the day so I didn't have much time to spend on the DSM.

Started to remove some of the sound baffling
Removed the exhaust manifold and valve cover

Discovered 2 broken/stripped studs. One just pulled right out, the other is still sticking out partially, so I might get lucky and just be able to back it out with my pliers. May have to re-tap at least one where the mani bolts to the turbo. Didn't feel any play in the lifters/cams. The lifters/springs look new. The cams are definitely not.

Pictures; Sorry for the bad lighting, it was dark. Comments welcomed

Day 4

So much to do, so much grime....

And this dumb sub box is an abomination. 50+ wood screws going into the hatch pan. Sealed in with some sort of black tar ****.

Must carry on

Did a lot of detailing on the inside
Finally got most of the sub box out
Removed body kit (needs new mounting hardware)
Removed front wheel well covers
Will prob need to replace the right front qp

More pictures

[952g63t]

Finished cleaning out the wheel well (took 4-ever)
Inspected and finished stage 1 of the porting/polishing of the exhaust mani

I'll prob do at least one final port/polish. Not going to spend a ton of time on it, will eventually get replaced any ways.

Ran out of space for pictures...

[sypherzero]

Looks good so far man. If you upload your pics to Photobucket you can put them in your posts with the image code. You don't have to click the image button when you post a reply either. Just copy and paste.

[fatal1]

You certainly have a project on your hands. It is better this way most of the time though that way you can dedicate time to certain areas and build it to your specs since basically everything needs to be addressed anyway

[tfaulk21]

Originally Posted by manny402

Is that steering wheel a evo 8 steering wheel?

evo 8 steering wheels do not look like that. similar design but as far as the "t" shape but no.

[952g63t]

The fun factor is officially over...

Progress on the engine removal is slow going. Found a small rust hole in the passenger side strut tower

[952g63t]

Removed;
alternator
power steering reservoir
abs junction mount (keeping abs)
condenser radiator
2 fairly heavy steel bumper mounts
battery tray
various other tedious things
some other useless & heavy metal

Throttle linkage & cruise controller?


Evap can? Is this something I can delete?


Progress

[952g63t]

Didn't get a lot done, it rained for most of the day.

I spent some time disassembling the t25 to inspect and re-kit. Didn't finish that because I need some retaining ring pliers. While I was working on it I noticed 2 small cracks in the flap actuator flange and in the exhaust mount flange. Don't think its a deal breaker but it definitely hastens my need to replace it.

Removed more of the sound baffling.

[DSM's 4 life]

Your Evap can be removed safely But you have to cap all of your emission vacuum lines on your firewall and TB and get an EGR block off plate on your Intake Manifold.

[Boosted DSM 32]

It doesnt look too bad you have a good project on your hands that could have a ton of potential! just curious what did you pay for it??

[952g63t]

Originally Posted by Boosted DSM 32

It doesnt look too bad you have a good project on your hands that could have a ton of potential! just curious what did you pay for it??

$1400.00 - Its not the deal of the century, but kbb was something like 3k. Truthfully, I wont know what sort of deal I got until I open up the engine. If its not mangled, I will be happy.

[952g63t]

Alright so, I've been working on a few things here and there. I am currently fighting with an over torqued head stud that is being drilled out.

Progress has been slow lately. Should have pictures of the carnage that is my block soon...

[98zx23369]

Sucks about the bolt dude. Pretty good build though

[952g63t]

Finally got the head off.

So, what did I find? I found 1 piston with damage. It looks like it made contact with one of the valves. I'm not sure why this happened, probably a timing issue. Its almost like something was left in the cylinder like a bolt or something when someone replaced the head, they fixed that and then it piston slapped. It has the perfect indentation of a valve, and then it has some substantial scoring. That or a valve broke, and was replaced with the piston still humped up. The four valves for that piston were different than all the others. That's my best guess.

The only damage I could see was the piston head, and a small nick near the valve seats. Cylinder walls were not damaged! The head looks like it has maybe 5k miles on it. The piston heads are also very clean for a 95? Maybe it was rebuilt at some point.

Educated opinions welcomed.

[Abe'sGST]

Things don't look to bad except for the piston head where the valves hit. I would do things right and go ahead and send the head to the machine shop, and i would replace the pistons as well. Idk if there something you can do to that one piston where the valves hit, without replacing.

[mattasi]

What up dude!! I am the guy that you were talking to on youtube last week. Figured I would say what up. Build is looking good man! Here is my build if you were curious.

97 GSX Build

[952g63t]

@Abe
I will probably do exactly what your suggesting. I just wish I knew what really caused all this.

@mat
Thanks man. Still got a long ways to go yet.

[952g63t]

Alrighty people,

After completely dismantling the head and doing a thorough inspection and cleaning of parts, I am happy to report that there was no damage to any of the internals of the head other than the previously mentioned scratches around the #4-4 valve. The only repair on the head I will need to do is to file down a few very small burs, and replace the 1 stud I had to drill.

Going to be ordering new pistons and bearings soon.

Any recommendations? Just going OE on the size. Was looking at
Speed-Pro Hypereutectic Pistons, but I cant seem to find any in OE size.

More pictures tomorrow

[Arnie]

It hurts to see when the inside of the cars are empty! But love to see how they end up being built!

Good luck bro!