kenamond
DSM Wiseman
- 3,226
- 62
- Feb 15, 2006
-
Los Alamos,
New_Mexico
So, I had handed down my 2gb DSM to my son (Kyle, 17) on the condition that he'd get it running well. It was my DD up until 2016 when I threw in the towel and got a new DD.
He kept his end of the bargain and had it (mostly) running like a champ, but he ended up running the engine dry of oil (massive leak at the oil filter gasket, not his fault). The engine stopped this past Friday, the day before his high school graduation. Crushed him, because he LOVES this car as much as I do (he literally grew up in this car from infant to young adult). He was working on the car, learning about its various systems over the past year, fixing boost leaks, etc. Although the car should be totaled and scrapped, that's not how I roll. I LOVE this DSM, so we're going to salvage it!!! He has all summer, after all.
So we're going through triage. The car is stranded, curbside, 100yds from our house, downhill from our side street (it died pulling into our side-street, so he had to roll it back downhill to park it), but he can still ferry tools/parts back and forth.
The idea is to strip the motor down to the block just to see what the cams, valves, cylinder walls and pistons/rings look like. Trying to start it, it lacks the "thumps" which makes me think there's no compression. He got the exhaust manifold off tonight but has to drain the coolant and fuel before yanking the turbo, radiator, intake plumbing, fuel rail and IM/head. We want this to be as cheap as possible before having it towed to a shop to pull what's left of the motor - we simply don't have the room in my garage to pull the motor with a cherry picker.
We're going back and forth about whether to (1) buy a used 4G63T and rebuild it, (2) buy a rebuilt 2.0L motor, or (3) buy a rebuilt 2.3L stroker. I'm leaning for the first option. Before the motor went, we were talking about building a 2.3L over the summer - I had 140k miles on the motor and compression was dwindling, so rebuilding and upgrading made sense - but blowing the existing motor added a lot of $$$ to the picture, so we have to re-evaluate.
We were at the point of getting ECMLink, upgrading the FP and injectors and adding FMIC - that's where I was in my build progression when I set the car aside for a new DD 4Runner in 2016.
After all that, my questions are:
(1) What are the best engine build threads out there? We'd change all seals, bearings, belts, pulleys, etc., but I've never rebuilt an engine and would likely forget something - and my son learned what he knows from me. No clue what's salvageable from the top end yet - the motor was oil-starved for about a mile, but the last few hundred yards were up hill.
(2) How do we find a used 4G63T motor that we can trust to just be high-mileage but otherwise good? It's all on-line nowadays and they can lie about mileage, etc.
(3) Who are the current, dependable rebuilt 4G63T vendors, if any, or what should we look for? It's my son's time if he can do the rebuild, but he's super-new to this and could make critical mistakes. A safer option is buying a built motor...at a price.
(3) Is it even practical to consider a built 2.3L 4G63T? I haven't done the research. I think that dream went up in a puff of smoke. My son found a place that sold all the 2.3L stroker parts (crank, rods, pistons, etc.), but it was $3k, so who knows what a built motor costs.
A used motor seems to be around $2.3k. Rebuild parts for a stock 2.0L add up to a couple grand, give or take.
Anyway, we were prepared to rebuild a 2.0L 4G63T into a 2.3L over the summer. Now we're wondering how to keep this DSM alive.
Thanks for whatever knowledge y'all can share!!!
He kept his end of the bargain and had it (mostly) running like a champ, but he ended up running the engine dry of oil (massive leak at the oil filter gasket, not his fault). The engine stopped this past Friday, the day before his high school graduation. Crushed him, because he LOVES this car as much as I do (he literally grew up in this car from infant to young adult). He was working on the car, learning about its various systems over the past year, fixing boost leaks, etc. Although the car should be totaled and scrapped, that's not how I roll. I LOVE this DSM, so we're going to salvage it!!! He has all summer, after all.
So we're going through triage. The car is stranded, curbside, 100yds from our house, downhill from our side street (it died pulling into our side-street, so he had to roll it back downhill to park it), but he can still ferry tools/parts back and forth.
The idea is to strip the motor down to the block just to see what the cams, valves, cylinder walls and pistons/rings look like. Trying to start it, it lacks the "thumps" which makes me think there's no compression. He got the exhaust manifold off tonight but has to drain the coolant and fuel before yanking the turbo, radiator, intake plumbing, fuel rail and IM/head. We want this to be as cheap as possible before having it towed to a shop to pull what's left of the motor - we simply don't have the room in my garage to pull the motor with a cherry picker.
We're going back and forth about whether to (1) buy a used 4G63T and rebuild it, (2) buy a rebuilt 2.0L motor, or (3) buy a rebuilt 2.3L stroker. I'm leaning for the first option. Before the motor went, we were talking about building a 2.3L over the summer - I had 140k miles on the motor and compression was dwindling, so rebuilding and upgrading made sense - but blowing the existing motor added a lot of $$$ to the picture, so we have to re-evaluate.
We were at the point of getting ECMLink, upgrading the FP and injectors and adding FMIC - that's where I was in my build progression when I set the car aside for a new DD 4Runner in 2016.
After all that, my questions are:
(1) What are the best engine build threads out there? We'd change all seals, bearings, belts, pulleys, etc., but I've never rebuilt an engine and would likely forget something - and my son learned what he knows from me. No clue what's salvageable from the top end yet - the motor was oil-starved for about a mile, but the last few hundred yards were up hill.
(2) How do we find a used 4G63T motor that we can trust to just be high-mileage but otherwise good? It's all on-line nowadays and they can lie about mileage, etc.
(3) Who are the current, dependable rebuilt 4G63T vendors, if any, or what should we look for? It's my son's time if he can do the rebuild, but he's super-new to this and could make critical mistakes. A safer option is buying a built motor...at a price.
(3) Is it even practical to consider a built 2.3L 4G63T? I haven't done the research. I think that dream went up in a puff of smoke. My son found a place that sold all the 2.3L stroker parts (crank, rods, pistons, etc.), but it was $3k, so who knows what a built motor costs.
A used motor seems to be around $2.3k. Rebuild parts for a stock 2.0L add up to a couple grand, give or take.
Anyway, we were prepared to rebuild a 2.0L 4G63T into a 2.3L over the summer. Now we're wondering how to keep this DSM alive.
Thanks for whatever knowledge y'all can share!!!
. Just swap out the sensors and do the maintenance while it’s out. Jdmenginedepot, jdmenginezone where the two locations that we used on both dsms and Nissan engines. Recently we purchased an evo3 engine and it was in great shape(compression tested and leak down tested on site) keep the love in family and wrenches because in the future they will be great wedding stories(females) and beer talk(males)
. 
!), plug wires, coils, etc.). The car was running "properly".
