Green Machine 1g n/a to turbo

[blktalon3]

This is the Build Thread for Green Machine. Reply below.

 

[blktalon3]

A buddy of mine found this 92 talon GS sitting in a field with another beat up 1g that he was gonna sell some parts off of. Being that it was mostly complete and not rusty, I offered to buy it off him. I was gonna get it running again and drive it back and forth to work.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

The car would run but the motor was knocking. I tried a few things but quickly came to the conclusion that it was gonna have to be rebuilt. I didn’t mind this so much. I got the car for cheap and had never rebuilt a motor before but wanted to try. So I figured this was the perfect project.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

Let me back up for a minute though. The car was really complete, except for one thing, the gas tank was gone. I didn’t know this until I took possession of it and I can only guess the why it ended up being replaced. Now I kick myself for not taking pictures of the set up he had going on. The stock tank was completely gone, he put an aluminum fuel cell in the hatch, not bolted down but sitting on some 2x4’s. Then the return and the feed were plumbed out the drain holes in the hatch. And to top it all off, the pump was mounted under the car held on with one self tapping screw into the underbody and had a direct wire from the battery to a toggle switch in the center console and then to the pump. It was a engineering wonder, that I couldn’t believe hadn’t sent the car up in flames.

 

[blktalon3]

The same friend that found the car happened to have a fwd chassis with a tank in it that he let me buy from him. It was in pretty good shape and I was also thankful the previous owner hadn’t cut any wiring or fuel lines. While I was replacing the tank I added a walbro 190 pump. I had every intention of keeping this car n/a in the beginning but figured at some point would put a turbo on it and also knew if I did it would never be anything more than a 16g car. That’s why I chose the 190.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

I did have to cut the stock flex section off for reasons, but had some spare an fittings and hose that worked good enough, someday I will get different fitting that allow a shorter hose but this will do for now

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

Quick note while I was diagnosing the engine knocking noise the downpipe broke

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

So the next step was to pull this thing and figure out what was going on

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

I had a suspicion of what was wrong. Didn’t think it was a rod, or main or rod bearing. Thought it might be a balance shaft bearing which turns out I was correct

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

The block ended up getting beat up pretty bad and as you can imagine, there were metal shavings everywhere. For a quick second I had thought about just doing a balance shaft delete, washing the bottom of the motor out as best I could, slapping it back together I saw what happened. This would have been a big mistake, not just from the amount of shavings everywhere but some others things that you’ll see later on. In the second pic you can see the block has a crack in it from the balance shaft beating on it. This was the rear BS so I didn’t to worry about bearing not fitting anymore cause there are no oil galleys to plug. It’s gonna be a reoccurring theme on this build, being that this will never be more stockish power and I don’t have a lot of money invested, if I think I can get away with it I’m sending it.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

So the more it came apart the more I realized I made the right choice. Metal everywhere, oil pump gone, bearings in bad shape.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

So I said I was planning on keeping it n/a initially. I didn’t want to do any machine work unless necessary. The wrist pins were tight on the rods. I soaked them sprayed them for days trying to loosen them up but no good. Not sure exactly what was up with them. So I decided to replace the pistons, but nows the question. Turbo or non? I didn’t want to use turbo pistons and then not turbo it and didn’t want to use new n/a pistons and then turbo it 6 months later. So I decided it’s good as a time as any to just go ahead and turbo it now. So the crank was polished, block was honed. That’s the only machine work I had done on the motor.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

The head was a mess. You can see in the pics a few of the oil galleys were completely blocked.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[dwb]

The wrist pins were tight on the rods. I soaked them sprayed them for days trying to loosen them up but no good. Not sure exactly what was up with them.

They are press-fit and I believe the rod ends need to be heated to successfully remove/install the wrist pins.

 

[blktalon3]

I miss wrote that, I meant the the pistons not the rods. I’m not sure if junk had got between the pin and the piston or what but they weren’t moving freely. The pins have to pressed out of the rods.

 

[Dericsh]

My motor failed the same way. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be following along.

 

[blktalon3]

I stripped the head down and took the pressure washer and degeaser to it.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Took out all the oil galley plugs and cleaned the oil galleys with brushes.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

Where the cams rode in the head got a little chewed up. I just hit them with some fine sand paper and scotch brite pads to knock down the high spots. Then cleaned up the valves, rocker arms and springs, got a new set of hla’s and valves seals, did the oil port mod, fixed a couple stripped bolt holes and started reassembly.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Forgot to add, I also measured all the valve springs and replaced any that were out of spec with some from another set.

 

[Dericsh]

Do you have any before pics of the damaged cam journals?

 

[blktalon3]

Do you have any before pics of the damaged cam journals?

It wasn’t the cams themselves, it was the where they rode in the head, the cam bearing surface I guess? I don’t think I do. I tried to remember to snap as many pics as I could but sometimes just got too caught up in working on it. I read quite a bit about it. If you search on the forums you should find some info and some reputable people saying that the surface where the cams ride has to be pretty messed up to be unusable. And if you smooth them out they should be fine. The motor I’m working on in the journal is already done and I’ve put 13,000 miles on it at this point so it can’t be hurting much. Just remember the cams are riding on a layer of oil not the surface itself.

 

[blktalon3]

Ok. So new pistons on the rods, and everything cleaned up. Time to start putting this thing together. The bearing clearances all ended up being a little wide as well as the ring gaps.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

I got a used oem oil pump with straight cut gears from a short block I bought. It was pretty rough and barely in spec, so cleaned it up, installed new seals and put it on

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

Then came the the rear main housing with new seal, a new turbo oil pan, timing brackets.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[blktalon3]

Then came time for the head. I had a set of manual trans turbo cams that were in good shape so they went in. Also I had a spare set of arp head studs so got used as well. A stock composite head gasket sealed it all up.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[DreamChaser7]

My motor failed the same way. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be following along.

I had sort of the same tapping sound when I parked mine, but it went away if you revved it a little. Wonder if I’ll find a bearing in my oil pan too..

Then came the the rear main housing with new seal, a new turbo oil pan, timing brackets.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

How did you do the main seal with it on the stand? I was wondering how people went about that when I finally got mine on the stand. Seems like the one thing you can’t really get to properly.