Calan
DSM Wiseman
- 7,250
- 399
- Jan 16, 2007
-
OKC,
Oklahoma
A few weeks ago I decided to replace my radiator...which led to needing a new fan and wiring. After staring at the wiring for a minute, and knowing that a recent compression and leakdown test had shown cylinder #1 to be low, I decided to put the car on stands, maybe pull the head and do a "few" other things to it over a couple of weeks.
Well as it usually goes, one thing led to another and that project has now turned into a complete rebuild of the entire front clip
. I want the car to run well, but I also want it to be the cleanest and best maintained street car I can build. So I decided to strip everything down to the bare metal from the windshield forward and do it right. I plan on it taking quite a while, as I'm limited in both free time and funds at the moment. So my plan is to just pluck away on it a little at a time, and spend a few bucks here and there and save for the big stuff. (or maybe sell half my house for fundage 
)
Here's the basic game plan:
1. Rebuild and reroute wiring harnesses. A total PITA, but worth it in the end.
2. Motor rebuild - lots of goodies for around 500awhp
3. Tranny rebuild - Or a new one; I'm tired of screwing around with this one.
4. Every bolt, bracket, etc. completely cleaned, stripped, painted, or coated.
5. New brake and clutch master cylinders, and replace rubber lines with SS.
6. Remove cruise control and A/C (temporarily...it may have to go back on next summer
7. Fabrication - Aluminum coolant overflow, weld nuts for WAI pump, straighten some frame dings, better routing for IC piping, fill and sand all non-necessary holes. Possibly reroute PS lines.
So... let's get up to date...
*****
Here's some "before" pics...I won't spend too much time here (or with the actual teardown) cause you've all seen a dirty engine bay and can probably take stuff apart:
View attachment 294
View attachment 295 <<< those lines aren't all supposed to be black
Front clip, bumper, IC, and radiator are gone. Starting to pull and disassemble the wiring. What a mess!
The engine wiring harness is going to be relocated lower down on the firewall, and various bundles will be rerouted. The injector, CAS, O2 sensor, water neck, and TPS wires will come directly from the passenger side, rather than routing behind the IM and then back around. I'll be running the injector and TPS wiring through the mannifold with high-heat loom. I'll post more detailed pics later once I actually start soldering and rebuilding it.
View attachment 296 View attachment 297
Engine's out and started tearing into it. (nice carbon build-up on the pistons
).
View attachment 299 View attachment 300
View attachment 301 View attachment 302
Uh ohh... looks like we found the source of cylinder #1's compression loss. Yes boys and girls, that's a broken ring land on piston #1. Fortunately the cylinder still looks ok. There is also some slight scarring on the rod bearing, but not a lot. Looks like this project got started just in time
View attachment 303 View attachment 316
*****
I waited a bit long to start this blog, so these first few pages won't be quite as detailed as the rest should be. I'll try to take more pictures and be more specific in certain areas.
The block and head will be off to the machine shop for measurements and analysis in a few days, and I'll be working on the engine bay and wiring as time permits. In the next part I'll get into stripping and cleaning the engine bay, and mocking up the new locations for firewall components.
Well as it usually goes, one thing led to another and that project has now turned into a complete rebuild of the entire front clip
. I want the car to run well, but I also want it to be the cleanest and best maintained street car I can build. So I decided to strip everything down to the bare metal from the windshield forward and do it right. I plan on it taking quite a while, as I'm limited in both free time and funds at the moment. So my plan is to just pluck away on it a little at a time, and spend a few bucks here and there and save for the big stuff. (or maybe sell half my house for fundage )Here's the basic game plan:
1. Rebuild and reroute wiring harnesses. A total PITA, but worth it in the end.
2. Motor rebuild - lots of goodies for around 500awhp
3. Tranny rebuild - Or a new one; I'm tired of screwing around with this one.
4. Every bolt, bracket, etc. completely cleaned, stripped, painted, or coated.
5. New brake and clutch master cylinders, and replace rubber lines with SS.
6. Remove cruise control and A/C (temporarily...it may have to go back on next summer
7. Fabrication - Aluminum coolant overflow, weld nuts for WAI pump, straighten some frame dings, better routing for IC piping, fill and sand all non-necessary holes. Possibly reroute PS lines.
So... let's get up to date...
*****
Here's some "before" pics...I won't spend too much time here (or with the actual teardown) cause you've all seen a dirty engine bay and can probably take stuff apart
:View attachment 294
View attachment 295 <<< those lines aren't all supposed to be black
Front clip, bumper, IC, and radiator are gone. Starting to pull and disassemble the wiring. What a mess!
The engine wiring harness is going to be relocated lower down on the firewall, and various bundles will be rerouted. The injector, CAS, O2 sensor, water neck, and TPS wires will come directly from the passenger side, rather than routing behind the IM and then back around. I'll be running the injector and TPS wiring through the mannifold with high-heat loom. I'll post more detailed pics later once I actually start soldering and rebuilding it.
View attachment 296 View attachment 297
Engine's out and started tearing into it. (nice carbon build-up on the pistons
).View attachment 299 View attachment 300
View attachment 301 View attachment 302
Uh ohh... looks like we found the source of cylinder #1's compression loss. Yes boys and girls, that's a broken ring land on piston #1. Fortunately the cylinder still looks ok. There is also some slight scarring on the rod bearing, but not a lot. Looks like this project got started just in time
View attachment 303 View attachment 316
*****
I waited a bit long to start this blog, so these first few pages won't be quite as detailed as the rest should be. I'll try to take more pictures and be more specific in certain areas.
The block and head will be off to the machine shop for measurements and analysis in a few days, and I'll be working on the engine bay and wiring as time permits. In the next part I'll get into stripping and cleaning the engine bay, and mocking up the new locations for firewall components.
