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Blocking off oil galley

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sciondan

10+ Year Contributor
123
1
Oct 27, 2011
valley, Illinois
OK, so after endless searching on the subject I have found little on this. My problem is I spun a balance shaft bearing, the upper front shaft. I bought a BSE kit and was not able to use the bearing in the kit to block off the oil hole due to the original bearing spinning in it's bore. I searched for a solution and found that Mitsubishi had a factory drilled path to this bearing. It was plugged off with a phillips plug under the exhaust manifold. So going off the two threads I found I tapped this hole and put a bolt in that blocks the oil path to that bearing. So my main question is by putting this bolt in am I only blocking oil to the balance shaft bearing, or could I possibly be blocking off more than that? Honestly after all the time and money I'm putting into this car I want to be 100%sure that when I fire it up I won't destroy another bearing due to blocking off it's oil feed. So for those that had this happen to them and did this fix please chime in. I guess the reason I'm worried is this was easier than flipping the bearing when doing a BSE with the engine still in the car, so why doesn't everyone do it?
 
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Depends on how long of a plug you used and how far you fed it into the bearing's oil feed hole. The hole is roughly three-quarters of an inch long and you don't have to feed it the whole way in there. Going beyond that you risk running into the main oil gallery which would impede flow to a couple of the mains and the head.

A potential issue with doing this in the car is risking metal shavings getting into your main oil gallerys. Other than that, it's just a matter of having the tools, confidence, and know-how.

EDIT - Picture below from: http://forums.evolutionm.net/10064648-post84.html; this person used a 1/16" pipe plug for the oil gallery and a 1/8" plug for the block.

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When I measured for the bolt I got 3/4 of an inch from the outside of the block to the inside of the balance shaft bearing. So if your saying that doing it this way would block off oil to the mains and head, then how do you do this fix? If I ran a shorter bolt then the oil hole for the balance shaft bearing would be exposed. please elaborate more as now I'm really confused. Who has done this successfully and how did you do it?

Some one that has done this please chime in as I want to finish up this motor over the weekend. Looking over the factory service manual it shows the main oil galley feeding this bearing, then two mains, two oil squirters, and finally the head. I deffinatly do not want to block all that. Only thing thats messing with me is it does not show the plug and path to this bearing were I put the bolt/plug in. So I know I'm not the only one to spin this bearing, so please help.
 
The first picture below shows how the oil gets to the bearing and how Mitsubishi created that hole.
#1 is the main oil gallery -- this is the path the oil flows from the oil filter to the rest of the engine.
#2 is the plug on the outside of the block that you need to remove to gain access to the feed hole. The cross-hatched blue area is the part you need to plug partially or fully lengthwise; the bolt hole just underneath that is an M8, making the distance between the bearing's bore and the main gallery approximately 3/4" which is what I'm referring to. The bearing deeper in the block is set up the same way, as you can see in the second picture.

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I'd use as small a plug as possible to block those feed holes.
 
Well if I'm understanding this correctly, it would be one long bolt goin from were the factory plug was through the bearing bore, and stopping right at the main oil galley. So it would block oil from the main to bearing and act as a block plug. I only spun the inner bearing shown in the second picture, so I will use the bolt method for that oil passage and just flip the outer bearing shown in the first picture to block that oil passage.
 
If you can get a long enough tap to reach the feed hole through the hole in the block's outer wall, I think a single bolt would be ideal. Be aware that there are a thousand ways this can be screwed up, too.

Remember, you don't have to stop right at the main oil gallery. You could stop halfway through the blue, cross-hatched part. All it has to do is keep oil from escaping the main gallery through that feed hole.

On a different note, have you considered ordering the oversized bearing or trying the front bearing in the deep bore? Depending on how badly the bore of the rear bearing is, you might be able to get away with simply getting a larger bearing which saves you a lot of trouble with the rest of it.

The 1mm oversized stock bearing for the deep bore is MD103723.
Since you have the front bearing already, you could try fitting it in the deep bore as well. If it does, you could simply reorder another one of those, MD040597.
Or if that bearing is too small as well, you could try your luck with the 1mm oversized version of that bearing: MD082301

Just some thoughts.
 
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Those are some options to. I will check, but doubt a 1mm over sized bearing will be a tight fit. The replacement bearing had a lot of slop and wasn't even close. I was thinking what if I ran the bolt in so it butts up to the oil feed hole without actually going into it. That way it is blocked and I don't have to risk getting metal shavings in the oil galley from a tap. I could also put a jam nut on the bolt so it could be adjustable. Say if the oil pressure is way too high I could always back the bolt off a little and bleed off some pressure. Then I wouldn't have to port the oil filter housing. I could even put a tapper on the end of the bolt so it would go into the oil hole alittle then seat. Kind of like a bleed screw in a carburator. Just lookin outside the box here.
 
I'd get a long bolt the same thread as the philips plugs, and machine the end down so that when you screw the bolt in, it only threads in the outside part, and sticks into the galley just a bit. Machine it for a tight fit and it will be fine.
 
I have done the bolt trick. I actually tapered the end of the bolt and then used jb weld to seal it and blue on the threads. I had the engine out for this during a bearing change, so I could clean all the oil from the feed hole. The taper was just enough to extend into the feed hole aprox 1/4". I then tightened it down snug in a bed of jb weld. Then I cut the bolt off flush with the outside oh the block...pretty easy. Hardest part was that block plug.
 
Fixed! All I ended up doin was putting in the new bearing with the oil hole lined up with the hole that was drilled from the factory. Took the plug out and ran a tap all the way through to the bearing and screwed a bolt in that passes through the bearing hole. This way the bolt holds the bearing in place and the bearing blocks off the oil galley hole.
 
Fixed! All I ended up doin was putting in the new bearing with the oil hole lined up with the hole that was drilled from the factory. Took the plug out and ran a tap all the way through to the bearing and screwed a bolt in that passes through the bearing hole. This way the bolt holds the bearing in place and the bearing blocks off the oil galley hole.



Did you use any sealant like RTV or JB weld between the bearing and block bore? How's it holding up? I have the same problem and looking to do the same fix this weekend.... Thanks
 
I used loctite on the threads and rtv at the bolt head. Didn't use anything on the bearing itself. The bolt was threaded through the bearing so it holds it tightly in its bore. Holding up nicely with no ill effects. Doing it the way I described I felt was easier and less confusing.
 
i spun the same bearing.thinkfuly i had a spare block to build.bse kit is a good idea for everyone i think.
 
You could always just plug the hole with a plug. Heat up the block by sitting it outside on a driveway in the hot sun, or use an oven. Chill the plug with some dry ice. Drop it right in. The hole and the plug must be the exact same size before the temperature difference. The plug can even be a CH bigger. Once in, whenever the engine heats up, so does the plug. It will never come out. You won't have to clean out the galleys from any kind of chips from a tap or spatter from a welder.
 
Did I forget to mention that using the method I came up with allows you to do this repair with the engine still in the car? Also use wheel bearing grease on your tap to hold any shavings. You are only tapping the access hole anyways so its easy to clean up.
 
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