99GSX

[r3dmak]

So back to our sheeps, I planned to deal with the motor in the next year, but why wait if you can do it sooner. I tore the block apart some time ago and while it was sitting in the bin it started to rust, so picked up all the parts and dropped them off at machine shop. I had no history of the motor except that it ran with no issues and was covered in oil grime all over. To my green eye the block looked pretty good and all the bearings were in relatively good shape too.

While it was on the stand I smoothed the oil passage

Also to kill two birds with one stone, I dropped the head to the machine shop as well. When I took valve cover off it was all yellow inside, that led me to believe that previous owner probably didn't change oil regularly.

 

[r3dmak]

Well, building an engine proved to be not an easy task. I was looking for a shop to do my bottom end and the head at the same time but shops were just not interested in doing work, they either price high, dont return your calls, busy, lasy or any excuse you can think of. My first shot was unsucessful, I found a shop, we agreed on the price and scope of work and then silence. Everytime I call a shop it was "you are next in line", after 6 month I picked up my parts just the way I dropped them off . So now I'm on my second shot and its a little pricey but after 2 month my block at least got cleaned .

In the meantime I worked on the front axles, they are original to the car and were quite rusty. I got them sand blasted, painted and packed with new grease. The boots were a problem, oem are made of out hard plastic and were discontinued, so I went with rubber mevotech for the inner and decided to leave oem boot for the outter end. I also tried EVO 8 boot, but they appeared to be smaller than dsm ones.

from left to right: inner rubber mevotech, outter oem evo 8, outter rubber beck

Next, I ceramic coated exhaust manifolds I had laying around and EVO3 O2 housing. I believe the top is made by GTConcepts and the bottom is the australian GTPumps mani.

And finally got a full house of the OEM stickers, you can easily spot the difference between the copies I picked from ebay

 

[bettfootball]

Where in the world did you get those OEM decals??!!

 

[r3dmak]

Journal update: I got my bottom end assembled finally but upon inspection the end result was a bitter sweet. My build was a base OEM standard bore with stock 2g Nippon pistons and rings coupled with beefier Scat rods, original 7 bolt polished crank and Kings coated bearings. The shop provided a sheet stating all the clearances, ring gaps and end play were within manufacturing spec and if I wanted complete blueprint I would have to pay more. They also omitted my request to replace oil jets, freeze plugs and other water jacket plugs stating there is no need for that. I had no interest in dealing with the block any longer so I took it as a compromise and moved on.

 

[r3dmak]

Update 2; the head work was also done at same machine shop that did the block and later was transferred to my friend's shop for the final inspection and assembly. Just like with the block, the machine shop skipped my request to replace all the head plugs deeming that its not needed or necessary. Once that ordeal was over my buddy picked up everything and finished the semi long block assembly. The list of new parts that went in: ARP head studs, composite OEM mitsubishi head gasket, Melling aftermarket intake & exhaust valves, GSC valve seals, EVO8 springs, EVO8 retainers, updated OEM mitsubishi lifters, HKS cams 264 intake / 272 exhaust and all seals/hardware. Cleaned and reused parts: 2g valve seats, guides and rocker arms. I also picked up an old HKS cam gears for early evos to supplement the hks cams. Stay tuned for part 3