Sounds like you're on the right track. Just from personal experience I'd recommend installing forged products into your rebuild since an OEM rebuild and a forged one is surprisingly not too different in price if they are done right. I'd also recommend an mls head gasket while you're at it regardless of the route you choose. Best of luck!

hollywood_ikr said:

Sounds like you're on the right track. Just from personal experience I'd recommend installing forged products into your rebuild since an OEM rebuild and a forged one is surprisingly not too different in price if they are done right. I'd also recommend an mls head gasket while you're at it regardless of the route you choose. Best of luck!

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How much would that impact my compression. The MLS gasket is twice the thickness of the standard gasket. That would bring compression down. Would it still be safe with the lower compression?

Smoke issue is most likely what you had mentioned, valve seals. It will smoke worse when sitting idle due to vacuum pressure pulling oil past the seals. Once you hit the throttle, the oil will be burnt off and you will smoke out the car behind you. Welcome to the forums, and good luck with your build.

KilleRabbit said:

How much would that impact my compression. The MLS gasket is twice the thickness of the standard gasket. That would bring compression down. Would it still be safe with the lower compression?

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If you doing a rebuild you're going to resurface the head which will compensate for the MLS thickness.

OP, what are your goals for the car?

I'd strongly recommend NOT using a MLS gasket. There's literally zero reason to unless you're shooting for astronomical power goals. And, unless you're planing to resurface the head and block, you can't use a MLS gasket anyways.

Use an OEM or Fel-Pro composite gasket. Either will work just fine.

Good build it took me years to accumulate parts and planning but things always change on the quest for better performance and boost is addicting.

GST with PSI said:

OP, what are your goals for the car?

I'd strongly recommend NOT using a MLS gasket. There's literally zero reason to unless you're shooting for astronomical power goals. And, unless you're planing to resurface the head and block, you can't use a MLS gasket anyways.

Use an OEM or Fel-Pro composite gasket. Either will work just fine.

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I just went with a fel-pro kit. head and block did not exceed serviceable limits, no machining needed so no MLS for me yet. I feel like machining perfectly serviceable parts is a bit of a waste right now. I am not going to start removing metal unless it is necessary. In the future if I start overheating and need to replace the head gasket again, or if I decide to start playing musical internals, then I will have the block and head machined at which time ill switch to an MLS.

An update on the car:
-A couple of the motor mounts were in pretty bad shape. I ordered new OEM mounts but a buddy of mine said if I buy the materials he will Poly-fill them. Turns out that's way cheaper so I will be doing that and returning the mounts when they come in.
-The turbo had some in and out shaft play. Ordered a rebuild kit for now. I plan on upgrading the turbo, but I don't have the extra money to throw around to get everything I need to upgrade to a larger turbo at this point so I will be buying those parts slowly over time and run the stock turbo until I have everything I need.
-Found an oil line cross threaded coming from a port just behind the oil cooler assembly by the filter. I cant tell if it was leaking while running but there is no static leak so I haven't removed it yet. (I will tackle this once the head gasket set, timing kit, oil pump, and motor mounts are in and ready to go.
-I got a gauge pod that fits in at the bezel by the instrument cluster but don't like the way it covers almost every important small gauge... So that is going back and ill get a pillar pod holder...

Thats all for now...
Most of the parts will be here tomorrow so ill be spending the day working on her once they come in.

Okay so I am going to vent for a moment here but I will include the good with the bad...

So the I must give credit here the cylinders are in beautiful shape. I'm not sure when this block was machined last but there are still very obvious crosshatching marks in the cylinders from the last time it was machined. Absolutely gorgeous. Good on the last guy who broke this motor down for getting everything machined properly.
Now here is where I curse this person (or people who contributed because I find it very hard to believe that someone who would spend all that money on proper machining would cut as many corners as I found to be cut on this engine).
First of all I used to be an aircraft mechanic so I am a torque nazi and this car was all kinds of messed up. Cam Gears were over-torqued to the point that I still haven't been able to break them loose and will probably have to take them to a shop to have them removed so that the cams aren't damaged, exhaust and intake manifold studs and bolts were either over torqued or only hand tight in a very random manner and I still dont know how there was no exhaust leak. Every other bolt removed from the engine was not properly secured.

The turbo is nightmare to take apart. I have been soaking the exhaust housing in pb blaster for over a day and a half and it still wont budge. Patience will be my friend here I'm guessing so im putting it off a little longer.

Had to order a cam spring compressor since I cant fit the universal one I rented from autozone into the head without damaging anything from forcing it in there.

So I went to pull the balance shaft and crank sprockets off yesterday and ran into a bit of a problem. I have been using the Haynes manual and it has you remove the balance sprocket bolt with the belt still on but when I attempted this the belt snapped in two. This is a prime example of the issues I have been having with improper torques on this engine. Well when the belt broke the damn thing went spinning and now I am sure it will be out of phase... How do I set the balance shaft phase if it is out? Will it be in phase if I just ensure everything is set TDC prior to patching it all up? This is my first experience with a motor that has a balance shaft.

I put in the new clutch slave cylinder this morning. Turns out the "OEM Replacement" is not exactly the same as the stock part. The stock one had the banjo and the bleed valve on the same side. The new one had them on separate sides. Not only that but when I went to mount it up they were on the wrong sides, this wasnt a big deal though I just changed them out being careful not to lose the spring loaded bracket that goes under the banjo fitting. Mounting the new one was a bit of an issue though due to the angle the banjo on the new cylinder and not quite lining up properly to the hydraulic hard line. So here is where my being an aircraft mechanic previously really helped in this situation.
Step 1: Once all fittings are in proper spots remove banjo fitting and start threads of hard line fitting into banjo.
Step 2: Orient cylinder in proper direction and start the threads of the banjo fitting (dont forget the washers)
Step 3: tighten hardline fitting into banjo securely
Step 4: With banjo fitting still loose on the cylinder push the assembly into place making sure pin is properly aligned and start bolts. (this will take some effort and can be frustrating but it does fit in there nicely I promise)
Step 5: Torque Bolts and banjo fitting
Step 6: bleed and test
The factory hard line can be used and it does work (I tested it) and functions as it should.

Alternatively go get two feet of steel braided AN3 teflon core hosing AN3 10mm fittings and two elbows and replace the factory hardline with steel braided line...

While it did work, I still wasnt comfortable with how close the hard line rides along the actuator so I went with the braided line in the end.

Safety First!

So I went to put my new front case on today...
Alas while trying to remove the castle plug on the old case I must have marred up the inner balance shaft bearing. Balance shaft won't spin smooth so I'm going to go pick up a stub shaft from a 92 mirage from mitsu later today, I'll probably have to have my dealer order it. I would get it online but don't really feel like paying for shipping.
I am leaving the other balance shaft in and just leaving the belt off as I do not have the resources to pull the engine at the present time.
My question is this:
As long as I am using the mirage shaft and not pulling the other shaft I shouldn't have to rotate the bearings right? The shaft that's staying in should block the journal and the new stub shaft will either block or port off as necessary for the oil pump side right?
I just need the engine to function so the car can be driven and enjoyed while I build another motor for it.

I cracked my exhaust mani yesterday

So it has been a while since i posted an update and that is mostly out of frustration to be completely honest.

I got the motor together finally and found that the crank seal on the new front case was garbage so I had to pull the timing belt back off and replace that seal which other than consuming time wasn't really all that bad.

After the seal and reassembly I found a couple of hoses that needed replacing and a vacuum leak. I fixed all that up and got the car running nice and took it for a drive. I drove around for about 45 minutes and idled it for 15 minutes upon returning home so I could check for any other leaks that may have sprung up. No leaks, but there was some smoking from the bay from all the cleaners and fluids that were used throughout my process of working on the engine. Shut the car off and went to take a shower and change (roughly 30-45 minutes pass in this process). Go back out and start the car up to drive it over to a friends house and it is blowing smoke out the tailpipe.
FANTASTIC!
Narrowed the issue down to the turbo... Oil in the intake piping. My fault 100% I'm sure.
Order a different rebuild kit from a different company and rebuild the turbo (again). I will be installing it back in tonight if everything goes as planned.
I have decided that if it blows oil again that I am just going to wait until next month and buy a turbo upgrade. Probably a TD05H 16G but im open to suggestions, I'm trying to keep the turbo and installation kit price at around 1200 for everything so keep this in mind when making any suggestions.

Other than that I still need to wire in my gauges and speakers, as well as call mitsu to get the code for the factory radio as it has locked me out since reinstalling the battery.