6bolt hunting at the junkyard

[MountainDew]

Well if you've read my other thread, I'm pretty sure my motor is toast. Since it's going to be 60 degrees tomorrow, I'm thinking about going and picking up a 6bolt at the junkyard. I know there are plenty out there. Basically I'm just asking, how should I determine which one would be the best one to grab?

I'm hoping to find one where I wouldn't need to rebuild much, if anything at all. But I know thats rare.. Obviously I know to take the valve cover off, inspect all that and to turn the crank. Obviously checking the timing belt is good as well.

For the most part I'll probably just pick up an N/T 6bolt and put turbo pistons in. Or 2g pistons, whichever ones were bigger. I would go forged, but I'm probably just going to get the car running and sell it. I'm hoping to get the car running for under $500. I know its a longshot, but it is definitely possible. Considering I can pick up the whole motor for $135.

Any other things to look for? I also thought about getting under and looking at the block for holes or anything. It's really too bad you can't compression test them!

Also a 2g head would work on a 6bolt block right? If I remember right, you just need to redrill the holes on the head? Or was it something else? I can't remember.

I've had some experiance. I pulled the head and rebuilt it myself over the summer. I haven't pulled the whole motor though. How hard is it? Is it just a matter of disconnecting everything and unbolting the motor mounts? I see a lot of people at the junkyards use seatbelts to pull their motors.

Sorry for not searching much, I'm just kind of in a time crunch. Any help or input is greatly appreciated.

 

[marsh63]

ok well see if they have a motor already out of the car. most of the junkyard dsms i have seen have jumped timing. so the valves are toost.if they will let you bring a 10 mm allen and a breaker bar and remove the head to check the motor for cylinder wall damage.

a 2g head will work but the head bolt holes have to be milled out like 1 mm if i remember correctly.

as far as taking the motor out you have to disconnect the transfer case, motor mounts, tranny bolts, ps pump, alternator,drain all fluids, id take the intake off. drop the exhaust down a little too. if i was u also remove the radiator. its like 4 bolts and makes it have alot more room. then yank her out.

to chose the best one find what car the motor is from(if its out and see if it looks like it was taken care of. a good motor will mostlik;y come from a nice looking car. but if i was u id pull the head. and crank the motor by hand to see if its seized. also check for cracks, holes, and leaks.

 

[93'colttsi]

Yes, to put the 2G head on a 6 bolt block you need to enlarge the holes for the studs

 

[MountainDew]

Will 7bolt ARP studs work on a 6bolt block? Or would I need 6bolt ARPs?

Also, marsh63, all the junkyards I go to are "Pick-N-Pull" or "U-Pick It". So you do everything yourself and pay like dirt cheap prices for their stuff. My main concern is pulling the motor out and hauling it back with a wheel barrow haha. I know I've seen one of the junkyards with a engine puller before.

Car still won't start though. Really wish it would so I could further diagnose if it needs a motor or not. But I think I'll pull a 6bolt anyways just for the re-assurance. Nice weather and it'll be fairly cheap. Hell if anything I could make money just parting stuff out and selling the block/head.

 

[marsh63]

u will need the 6 bolt studs since they are bigger than the 7 bolts.

oh our junkyard is a pick and pull but most of the time the good motors they are already pulled. and they also pull alot of the good stuff off.

as far as your motor right now why wont it start? you got fuel, and spark? what about compression? have you done a leak down on it?

 

[meliketoball]

Just pull a the whole motor out for 200 bucks then rebuild everything. Piece of cake if you gots da cash monay!

 

[MountainDew]

I don't have the "cash monays" though. I'm hoping to get it running again for $500 or less. Like I said I know it's pushing it but it can be done.

As far as not starting, I think it was locked up. It finally started, then went BANG and knocked real bad. Motor is definitely gone.

 

[meliketoball]

Well, the money and time is well worth it rather then a cheapo 500 dollar engine overhaul and swap which came from the yard.

 

[MountainDew]

Well, the money and time is well worth it rather then a cheapo 500 dollar engine overhaul and swap which came from the yard.

I'm 17 and in high school. Even if I wanted to, I can't even get the loans and debt to get it done that way.

And what's wrong with doing that? Everything will be replaced and machined and what not.

 

[meliketoball]

I'm 17 and in high school. Even if I wanted to, I can't even get the loans and debt to get it done that way.

And what's wrong with doing that? Everything will be replaced and machined and what not.

Ask Mom for money. It works.

 

[iwannagofast89]

Haha not if she hates the car. I've tried that alot

 

[absolute_DSM]

And what's wrong with doing that? Everything will be replaced and machined and what not.

There is no way you can machine and overhaul an engine for under $500 with quality parts and labor.

 

[MountainDew]

There is no way you can machine and overhaul an engine for under $500 with quality parts and labor.

It's possible. It'd probably be closer to $600 or $700 though. I've already got quite a few 1G parts and my car already has a 1G CAS setup on it.

As for asking mommy, no can do. My dad was unemployed for 5 years up until last month. They are in no position to help me out with anything unfortunately. Worst case scenario, I graduate in May.. so graduation money haha.

I also make real good money buying parts at the junkyard and selling them on ebay. Made about $1000 profit since August doing it.

 

[Stainbox12]

There is no way you can machine and overhaul an engine for under $500 with quality parts and labor.

What do you mean by that? The last engine rebuild i did ran for about 100 bucks in parts. I bought pistons for 8 dollars each, brand new compression 7.8:1 the brand was something called TDK, Main bearings and rod bearings were like 10 for rod bearings and 20 for main bearings, The piston rings were like 15$ if i remember correctly, and the headgasket, i bought a brand new hyundai 4g63 gasket for 20$, that is basically the same thing than the mitsubishi one. Guess what? I've boosted this engine 15psi no problems. I bought a block from a yard for 225$, it had the crank, oil pump, balance shafts, mains, rods, and n/a pistons. I used my cheap 8 dollar pistons into the rods and i called it a day. I gotta mention, that i live in a country were everything is very very cheap compared to american prices. But you can find, all these parts in the U.S and even on Ebay for similar prices. The only thing, worth buying mitsu genuine part is the head gasket, and myself personally, would not buy it. Heck, i even bought a brand new head gasket here in my country for 5 bucks, but didn't used it because it was made of black graphite, and i heard they are not good for boosting. Im using a n/a block, without oil squirters and im just doing fine. The secret, when you rebuild is how you build it, how much patience you put into it, and how you break it in. Trust me, a 10$ rod bearing pack, would be the same kind of crap than mitsu ones, as far as you have a good oil pump and good oil pressure, you are good to go. Nowdays, i do believe the term "cheap" is opened for debate, since there's a lot of oem stuff that works exactly the same way, than original parts. Things you might wanna take a look at, are cylinder bore, crankshaft, rods, pistons, oil pump. So yes!! you can make an engine rebuild for 100-150 in parts, if you are going to do it yourself and considering you have all the regular engine components in good shape.

I forgot to mention, that during my engine rebuild i broke a head stud inside the block, in which i had to take to the machine shop to get it out, that was 20$, polishing the crank 20$, checking the rods 2$ each. And it is a very reputable machine shop in my country. Ahh!!! gotta love this place.

 

[absolute_DSM]

Let me say that again.

There is no way you can machine and overhaul an engine for under $500 with quality parts and labor.

Im sorry, you can put whatever parts you want in your engine and Ill use what I think works. No problems.

 

[marsh63]

ok well in the place we are(America) you can not even come close to building a motor that cheap. i have alone just in higher quality parts for my head 500 with out labor. and for my motor ill have about 1500 in to the bottom end. sorry mountaindew this is not probably going to happen to you.

as what i get out of this you absolutely have to have a car working right? well maybe you should sell this as is and get a more reliable car. but if you chose to keep the car we are here to help. but its going to cost over a 1000 in rebuilding to where it will last long.

 

[MountainDew]

I still think I could get it all said and done for a little over $500. Keep in mind though, that I am more then likely using my 2G head.. Also keep in mind I already have a 1G CAS on the car. I just rebuilt the head in July, thats why I'm leaning towards using it and just getting a new headgasket. I'll probably get a new timing belt as well even though the one on there is only 2 years old. Might as well replace it now.

I've also thought about grabbing a 4g64 crank or buying a stroker kit, but financially I don't think I could swing it right now. Hell if I end up keeping the car, I'll probably build another motor. But more then likely I'll sell the car once it's running. Either that or finance something else that could be a daily driver. My sister offered for me to take over her payments on her 04 Stratus because she wants an SUV. Hell $150 a month isn't much at all to have a good dependable car.

 

[bastarddsm]

keep pluggin man i put a 6bolt together for $100 an ran it for 12k miles at 22psi. pm me nd i'll tell you mroe i'm to shitty drunk to tell now..

 

[absolute_DSM]

I still think I could get it all said and done for a little over $500. Keep in mind though, that I am more then likely using my 2G head.. Also keep in mind I already have a 1G CAS on the car. I just rebuilt the head in July, thats why I'm leaning towards using it and just getting a new headgasket. I'll probably get a new timing belt as well even though the one on there is only 2 years old. Might as well replace it now.

As marsh63 just backed me up in saying - rebuilding an engine from the ground up is not cheap.

Were already assuming you have all the engine parts needed to get the engine together.

What we see are things like a full engine gasket kit, piston rings, head & main studs, timing belt and tensioner, rod and main bearings, new front case, crank seals, etc. Then on top of that you have the bill from the machine shop for decking/boring, micropolishing the crank, balancing the rotating assembly, hot tanking, assembly, etc.

See how things add up?

 

[Stainbox12]

1000, 1500 for an engine rebuild? you guys are getting yanked from behind for sure. I've build dsm's from scratch several times, and all i can say is, that you can buy per example rod bearings and mains pretty cheap, they don't need to be a big brand name, as long as they work, trust me on this if you are going less than 400 crank hp, bearings are most likely all the same. As far as piston rings, you can use NPR, they are cheap, and a very good brand. All this build have lasted a long times, with a lot of stress and high miles on them. Obviously, taking it to the machine shop, to do extra work, will add things up. Inspecting a block is not that expensive or it should not be (once again, i live outside the U.S, thank god) you just need to make sure the block and the head have a good sealing surface, inspecting the crank, and polishing it, as well as checking the inside block cylinder for clearences. Once again, im comparing the prices of my country with the ones found on ebay, and yes, it is not accurate and you would probably say, that ebay sucks, but most engine rebuild kits and parts are generic nowdays, exlcuding a few things like an oil pump, headgasket, belt tensioner, timing belt, etc. Good luck with whatever you choose, and remember, there's a lot of people out there, that have built dsm's with "quality parts" and those engines don't last very long. If you think that with 500$ you can do a rebuild, i would back you up on that, and i did it myself with a lot less than that, so it can be done, and working very well.

 

[MountainDew]

Someone replied to a WTB ad on a local forum.

"I've got a 6 bolt turbo block and crank. The blocks been bored .020 over but it has not been used since that. The crank is in good shape, may need a micro polish before being used, but it doesn't have any spun bearings.

$75 for both, "

It has also been honed, bored and heat soaked. So most the machine work is done. All that would be left is mainly depending on what kind of pistons, bearings, etc. I use.

He also said it's OBO, he just wants it out of his garage. So I may just offer $50.

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[tkelly27]

That's a pretty good deal. Why not find a running 6bolt car with a blown transmission? Should be less than $500 and you'll get a bunch of goodies to go along with it. Also, junkyard long blocks are $100 in my area. Doing a rebuild for $500 with all of that would be pretty tough, but not undoable. You'd have to skip a bunch of machine work though.

 

[MountainDew]

That's a pretty good deal. Why not find a running 6bolt car with a blown transmission? Should be less than $500 and you'll get a bunch of goodies to go along with it. Also, junkyard long blocks are $100 in my area. Doing a rebuild for $500 with all of that would be pretty tough, but not undoable. You'd have to skip a bunch of machine work though.

Well most the machine work is already done.

I also looked at the junkyards yesterday and couldn't find anything really. Found two N/A 6bolts but they were pretty rough. I can still go grab the 6bolt parts I need for the swap though for real cheap.

 

[MountainDew]

Also I've been researching and the Magnus link doesn't work. Now I will be using my 2G head on the 6bolt block. I understand I will have to buy a 1g water pump and modify my 2g oil pump. I don't know about the tensioner though. Would I use a 1G or a 2G one? When I did a head rebuild my 2G tensioner seemed like it was fine. I'll check it according to the manual once the motor is out though.

Also I'm thinking about changing my clutch because its a stage 3 with nearly 60k miles on it. If I did, can I change the clutch once the motor is out?

Also upon removal, would it be easier to pull the head off first and then the block? Or pull the motor all together?

Also how are the rebuild kits on ebay? There is one for $305 shipped that has bearings, rods, pistons, rings and a timing belt. If I got that, an OEM water pump and all the other stuff I need, I could have it all done for around $6-$700.

 

[tqmx1]

Why dont you just rebuild the 7bolt. It will cost you the same if not less it will save a lot of jury rigging and the worst thing you might have to look for is a crank&rod if it mangeled them. If the piston rings are fine dont even hone the walls and put it all back togther. If the ballance shafts took a dump put a BSE in it and be done.