How to rebuild your 6 bolt front case

[TuRBoTaLooN]

Since I had to rebuild my front case/oil pump, I decided to do a quick write up on it. I wasn't sure if it was worthy enough to go in the tech article section, so I figured I would just post it here. If you guys think its ok, please feel free to move it.

First things first, let's make a list of the parts you should order. Or at least these are the parts I ordered...

MD175762: Front case/Oil pump 6 bolt
MD125361: Straight cut oil pump driven gear
MD121120: Straight cut oil pump drive gear
MD149370: Oil filter housing gasket 6 bolt
MD149393: Front case gasket 6 bolt
MD125376: Star plug (castle plug), front cover
MD041021: Star plug o-ring

Now you may or may not need some other parts. For example you may need a balance shaft elimination kit if you plan on doing that. You may also want the gear and nut that goes on the front side of the case where the timing belt goes. I chose to re-use that from another front case, and I actually had a new BSE kit lying around believe it or not.

Additionally, you will have the option of purchasing straight cut or helical cut oil pump drive and driven gears. In general the straight cut gears are more durable, but the helical cut gears make less noise. For someone like me going for a ~450-500awhp car with a walbro 255 and 3" exhaust, noise was not an issue and durability was.

Now I won't cover removal and installation, that would make this a LONG writeup. So let's focus on rebuilding the front case....

Tools needed:
Ratchet
Torque wrench
12mm socket
14mm socket
Adjustable wrench
Red loctite
Blue loctite
Red loctite cup & core
High temp RTV
Hammer
Flat head screw driver.
Lithium grease.

Let's start out with the parts. Here's the new stuff I got to do the rebuild.

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Here's a pic of my old front case. The reason its cracked is because I tried prying it off the block without removing one last bolt. Totally forgot about it!

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The first thing I did was remove the oil pump cover from the old front case to get to the gears and stubby shaft. You can re-use the stubby shaft for the BSE kit, but I had a new one, so I used that. however, I needed the bolt that attaches the driven gear to the stubby shaft. So I used an open ended wrench to hold the stubby shaft end, and a 12mm socket on the bolt, like so...

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So I took that bolt and used it to attach the new driven gear (smaller one) to the new stubby shaft. Apply some red loctite to the bolt. Use the same method of holding the shaft end with an adjustable wrench and torque down the bolt to 18 ft/lb. Make sure the bolt goes IN the lip. One side of the gear is flat, the other side is recessed. Make sure the bolt goes in the side that is recessed.

Now before you assemble the oil pump gears, you'll need to install the new castle plug since it sits behind the gear on the front side of the case. Use red loctite on this as well. Slide the o-ring on the castle plug and hand tighten it on the case. Now you don't want to OVER tighten this as the case will crack. (Thanks Tom!). So I held the case down with one foot and used a flat head screwdriver and a hammer to torque it a little. You'll feel when it's seated correctly.

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Now on the reverse side remove the 5 bolts holding on the oil pump cover.

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Now take your drive gear and driven gear and lube them up with some lithium grease. Here's a picture of how they are assembled in the oil pump case:

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Now its just easier to put the gears in the front case so you can get the oil pump cover on. Here's how it looks in the front case

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Now with the gears in place, you can slip on the oil pump cover over the alignment dowels. Use a mallet to lightly tap it flush to the front case. Use blue loctite on these 5 bolts and torque them down to 30 ft/lb.

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Here's the front side with the gears in place

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Now here's where you will need the gear from the front side of the case where the timing belt goes over and the nut that holds it to the gear. I did not order new ones of these, but re-used them from another front case. Slide the gear over the shaft protruding from the front of the case. You'll notice a flat side of the shaft matches a flat side of the gear. Use some red loctite and thread on the nut. Use your adjustable wrench to hold the stubby shaft in the rear and use a 14mm socket on your torque wrench and torque this down to 30 ft/lb.

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Now the last thing you need to do (if you have balance shafts eliminated) is to install the plug in the top left corner of the front case. First you'll need to remove the seal for the balance shaft here. I just used a flat head to pry it out. Since it was new it came out very easily. Now use some red loctite cup & core in here and use a mallet to lightly tap in the plastic cap.

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Now to make sure this didn't leak, I decided to use some high temp RTV around the edges of the cap to make sure no oil poked through. I'd really hate to have to do this again.

Now you're new front case is ready to bolt on!

Please feel free to comment and/or make some constructive criticism.....or just tell me if I did something stupid, haha.

 

[TSIfreek]

You want to fill the gears with some kind of engine assmebly lube to get instant oil pressure at start up. The amount of grease you put on the gears is no were near the amount of lube you need.
Its best to use engine assembly lube like the lucas brand or the clevite bearing guard as that mixes with the oil well and sticks and stays in the area of the gears and shaft areas. You cant use to much of it.
I would not use the grease as it will plug your oil filter.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

I had just assumed that if I prime the pump (before starting the car) that should get me oil pressure. Will this have the same effect?

 

[lacroixdp]

You can prime it before assembling the timing belt. I just take the brake booster vacuum nipple off the intake and put it on the oil filter housing, then pump it with oil. Spin the oil pump cog afterwards to make sure it is primed.

 

[TSIfreek]

I had just assumed that if I prime the pump (before starting the car) that should get me oil pressure. Will this have the same effect?

The way you prime the pump is packing it with lube. The way you have done it above you may have some wear issues from the case /gears meshing as there is not enough lube there to protect them.
If you mean you are going to turn the pump with a drill you are still not going to have the lube there causing premature wear as its just about dry in there at this point . At this point you can put lube in the oil pick up hole and turn the oil pump buy hand the opposite way so the lube will enter the gear areas.. This way you wont have to dissassemble anything.
You will feel what I mean once the lube is in the gears as it gets a nice suction.

 

[TSIfreek]

Here is the lube you want to use. The torco and lucas lube are also excellent as well.
Clevite Bearing Guard Assembly Lube, Assembly Lubricant

 

[blcknspo0ln]

Here you are sir:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/151349469-post31.html

 

[matt98eclipse]

Hey tom im a little curious. How come in your write up you say to tighten down the 5 bolts to 18 ft/lbs and on here it says 30 ft/lbs? Me personally i did 18 ft/lb in my front case as well. I think 30 is a little over kill and might strip.

 

[snowborder714]

You 6 bolt people are lucky as you have 5 bolts and not 4 bolts and a screw

 

[tommyp]

I packed my OP gearset and the channel going to the pickup full with standard grease. It was messy because it oozed everywhere. Standard grease usually dissolves in oil. It took less than than 10 seconds of spinning the pump to prime it up. I'm sure you can use the fancy greases too, but standard grease worked for me.

 

[twicks69]

I normally use Petroleum Jelly (Vasoline) and completely fill the gear case by forcing it through the oil pump pickup inlet until I can spin the gears and it comes out as a continuous run without large air bubbles. Sure, it is messy, but when you use gloves and are smart about it, it goes pretty quickly and easily.

I have never had a priming issue by doing it this way, and the petroleum jelly quickly dissolves in break-in oil (or standard oil). I change my oil after the initial startup and a few miles of driving. Oil pressure is perfect and you get instant-prime on a fresh (or freshened up) oil pump assembly.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

Hey tom im a little curious. How come in your write up you say to tighten down the 5 bolts to 18 ft/lbs and on here it says 30 ft/lbs? Me personally i did 18 ft/lb in my front case as well. I think 30 is a little over kill and might strip.

My bad, that should have said 18 lb/ft

 

[matt98eclipse]

My bad, that should have said 18 lb/ft

Yea thats what i was thinking cause 30ft/lb would easly strip out the threads in the case.

 

[We're on Boost]

TurboTaloon, when I pick the "Link to Dyno Sheet" in your profile I get a "not found" error from turbocarz.com.
Could you post that dyno in here somewhere, in a thread? FP3150 on pump gas, that's something I'm interested in, and I don't think I've seen a dyno on one of those yet.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[TSIfreek]

I normally use Petroleum Jelly (Vasoline) and completely fill the gear case by forcing it through the oil pump pickup inlet until I can spin the gears and it comes out as a continuous run without large air bubbles. Sure, it is messy, but when you use gloves and are smart about it, it goes pretty quickly and easily.

I have never had a priming issue by doing it this way, and the petroleum jelly quickly dissolves in break-in oil (or standard oil). I change my oil after the initial startup and a few miles of driving. Oil pressure is perfect and you get instant-prime on a fresh (or freshened up) oil pump assembly.

Tim,
I did this on my first motor and worked great. Mixing assembly lube and the jelly is also another way to do it as the jelly keeps the lube more suspended like grease would as it wont run out of the gear areas.
The petro jelly is more easyer for the oil to disolve and wont plug anything.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

TurboTaloon, when I pick the "Link to Dyno Sheet" in your profile I get a "not found" error from turbocarz.com.
Could you post that dyno in here somewhere, in a thread? FP3150 on pump gas, that's something I'm interested in, and I don't think I've seen a dyno on one of those yet.

Thanks,
Gary

I'll do my best to dig up the graph and post it up again. It's been a while.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

I'll just disassemble the thing and do it right. Is there anything I can pickup at AutoZone/Advanced Auto type place to use to pack the gears?

 

[lacroixdp]

No special tools are necessary to pack the oil pump with grease. Simply take off the gearbox on the back and pack it with as much Vasoline or grease as you can - wheel bearing grease is about $2 for a big tub of it.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

No special tools are necessary to pack the oil pump with grease. Simply take off the gearbox on the back and pack it with as much Vasoline or grease as you can - wheel bearing grease is about $2 for a big tub of it.

I got a tub of this at home

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Is this good to use?

PS: Yea, Tom, I read your thread over again for a refresher. Thanks!

 

[lacroixdp]

That stuff will work just fine.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

That stuff will work just fine.

Awesome. I took off the front case again and disassembled the gears. I packed the poo out of them with the wheel bearing grease. It looked like this before putting the cover on....

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Now I gotta put in an order for new gaskets. I ripped up the old ones taking the OFH and front case off. But, after all this, I'd rather take the time and do it right now instead of half assing anything else. This SHOULD be the last piece to this build. Any more comments/suggestions???

 

[blcknspo0ln]

Nope, you should be good to go now, Jeff.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

Nope, you should be good to go now, Jeff.

I freakin hope so! Just gotta wait for new gaskets and THEORETICALLY my car will run again.

 

[GSXeclipsePSI]

Quick question about assembly lube. I went to Napa they gave me a tube of assemebly lube it says its for transmission but I told them I wanted it for engine does it matter. It says it breaks down in the oil.

Its in a white tub with green writing.. The stuff is green. Will this be ok to install my whole motor with and pack my gears with?

Thanks
Kendel

 

[twicks69]

Kenne, it should be just fine. Just do an oil change after you get it running in the first few miles. I did my first change around 20 miles of street driving and 3 heat cycles (three times of turning the car on up to operating temperatures). My Valvoline VR1 20W50 dyno oil was fairly dark within that period of time. The second oil change still used Valvoline VR1 20W50 dyno oil for 250 miles and was substantially lighter than the first change with no breakdown or foaming, etc. I have now changed over to Valvoline VR1 RACE Synthetic 20W50 at 270 miles on the new engine.

I see no issues with running a petroleum-based assembly grease as long as it is usable in transmissions or engines. I prefer regular Vasoline petroleum jelly just for the simplicity and cost.

Good luck!