Building my first engine

[DelTASteve]

Alright, this might turn out to be a little long, and maybe a bit to ambitious, but I don't think it can hurt to ask. I am 16, with my first car, and as a normal guy thing, I want my car to be faster (it's already plenty fast for me, but more speed can't be a bad thing). I own a 1994 Eagle Talon TSi (FWD). After a long time pondering, and lots of looking over how much I plan to make this summer, I have decided to build my own engine. I was just going to go ahead and save up for a SB complete block, but then I would not gain any knowledge, since it would not involve any work from me in putting it together. So I decided to build my own, no matter how long it takes.

I have very little knowledge about cars, espically DSM's. Mine runs very well, and is in GREAT shape, and I intend to keep it that way. So I decided to keep the engine that is in there, well, in there, and build my own engine, so I can do a swap when it is done. Therefore, still having my daily driver to get me back and forth to work.

So what I want to know, is where should I start? I know I am going to need a block and a head (6 Bolt of course), but what comes next? If this has already been answered, feel free to delete, but I failed to find very much useful information in my search.

Thanks Alot,

Steve

 

[drivemusicnow]

Now with that said i have some questions also . Any one have a web page that shows you how to pull a engine. I can have people help me but i learn and remember where thinsg went if i did them. Also do you have a site that sells all the gaskets and seals i will need for a rebuild. Plus this tsi has 185k on it. What do you think ill need to do as far as machining goes. Now should i also buy 2g pistons 1g rods(with less miles then mine of course) or should i just order brand new stock ones from mitsu. How about replaceing hoses. Can i just go out to the pluming store and get that hose or do i have to special order it. Because if i see some hoses are bad im going to replace them.

Have you seen the vfaq?... let me introduce you www.vfaq.com go, read, don't come back until you know it by heart.

quickly:
1) pulling engine = easy. Disassemble as much as you want, then pull with a cherry picker up and out with trans attached, or down and out (if you remove the crossmember, and have the car up highenough to do this.)

I would use your 1g (as long as they're six bolt) rods, buy new pistons and rings. At most a shot peening of the stock rods would help reduce stress in them, but I'm not sure if even that is neccesary. You will have to machine this to accept the larger wristpin for the 2g pistons.

Gasket sets are sold all over. ongreenperformance, slowboy... use the DSMtuners part tech section

Machining will largely depend on the shape of your block. It's possible that you'll be able to get out with just a bore/hone/deck and cleaning. It's also possible that your block is trashed and not worth rebuilding.. won't know until you open her up. Also largely depends on whether you're going to rebuild the head or not. Rebuilding the head adds a bunch to the cost, both in machine work, and parts.

Replace all the hoses with stuff like the RRE sells. Quality stuff, and it won't crack.. Why the hell black costs more, I will never know.. but i payed it.

 

[burntheblobs]

I'm 18 and started seriously working on cars this year. The best thing to do is dive into a project that you KNOW is possible for you to complete. I'm not saying one that you know how to do near 100% at ALL. I'm saying a project that you know you have the right tools, enough money, enough guidance, and enough resouces to complete. I dove in with ALL my front engine seals and a complete timing belt job. Took me about 2 hours a day for 3 months...and I was working in a SHOP. I am much faster now, but things WILL go slow the first few rounds. The best advice I can give it ALWAYS torque bolts to spec, and ALWAYS put bolts that you have taken off into labeled ziplock baggies.

 

[steve-o_95_GST]

Do YOU feel comfortable taking on this large project? When I was 15 I wanted a 97 GST that I found at at dealership but my dad didnt want to drive 2.5 hrs to test drive a car that I may not even like, so he found me a 95 GST with a windowed block. I had no prior experience with cars at all but after ALOT of research on this board and talking to a few mechanics about the basic do's and dont's I completly built a full motor and installed it all on my own and it turned out perfect. Only thing that wasnt up to par was forgetting to put the crush washers on the turbo drain tube flange on the oil pan and got a few drops of oil here and there. Since then Ive crankwalked that motor (all my fault with a 2600 and a poor clutch adjustment) and Ive rebuilt one for a friend and a built 6 bolt for my new awd. You just have to ask yourself are you prepared to take on this big project and are you prepared for the possibility of failure if you dont do something right and could end up costing alot of money that you probably dont have. There is alot of good info and plenty of people to help on this site if you do decide to take this on.

-Steve

 

[drivemusicnow]

I'm 18 and started seriously working on cars this year. The best thing to do is dive into a project that you KNOW is possible for you to complete. I'm not saying one that you know how to do near 100% at ALL. I'm saying a project that you know you have the right tools, enough money, enough guidance, and enough resouces to complete. I dove in with ALL my front engine seals and a complete timing belt job. Took me about 2 hours a day for 3 months...and I was working in a SHOP. I am much faster now, but things WILL go slow the first few rounds. The best advice I can give it ALWAYS torque bolts to spec, and ALWAYS put bolts that you have taken off into labeled ziplock baggies.

I think the biggest "truth" in the automotive world, and this is true for all people, with all experience levels...


No matter how long something SHOULD take, it will ALWAYS take longer. With more experience, this amazing effect seems to diminish somewhat, but you will almost always run into something, whether it be a rusted bolt you can't seem to get off, a short somewhere that you can't find, a tool that you don't have..


No matter what, It's going to happen. So accept that before you start, and plan for it. Heck, I do a lot of my own work, and it still took me almost 2 hours to get a freaking cat back exhaust on my dads WRX... .... yes 2 hours. and it was a complete bolt on affair.

 

[jari8378]

I think you should do it, I started with nissan's "and the whole drift" world(240sx). I blew my first 4cyl block at age 19. From there i went to a junk yard pulled out an engine myself with 2 other buddies that didn't know jack about cars. I then rebuilt the engine with the supervision of my father(retire mechanic), a neighbor(working mecahnic), and a haynes book of the car(good ref for torque specs). I pulled out the old and droped in the new in a period of 4 months of blowing the motor. It ran perfect while i had it, also if the engine is out swaping the clutch is a must, don't be cheap about anything because it will bite you in the ass later. I then sold the car, due to too many tickets. "when a cop see's you drift across a parkinglot, thats not a good thing"
Now im 21, with my gst looking for a 6-bolt to call me own.

 

[fallenauthority]

I say buy a junkyard motor for cheap, it can be blown doesnt matter. Then bring it home, put it on a stand, take it apart, i mean completely apart, rebuild it, see if you can turn it over manually without any snags or anything, tear it apart again and repeat. I at least recommend this twice if not 3 times, you will learn the difficulties of breaking down and building a motor and the snags that come along with it. Then move on to actually building your own. Get a 6 bolt motor to use for the practice and u already have a headstart for your new motor, the block and head.

Everybody has their firsts, just usually they have more experience before they go tearing into a motor build. This practice wont guarantee success, but its better than just jumping head in to a build with never disassembling or building a motor. Have fun and good luck

 

[Smitherines]

Hey DeltaSteve, do yourself a HUGE favor and do a compression test and do a boost leak test to determine where you are at. I had the same ambitions as you when I got my Talon 6 months ago when I was 16 myself, and I did a compression test and had good numbers. Its not economical and my motor has 112k on it, and Im getting ready to start adding mods myself. If youve got bad compression, THEN adopt the idea again. The first major thing Ive EVER done on a car was rebuild the head of my engine because I bought it with bent valves, a GREAT learning experience, but dont unnecessarily rebuild your engine.