My ghetto rebuild - any thoughts?

[soldave]

As some of you might have read, I went through piston 3 last Thursday night (see here) and so am in the market for a rebuild. Given the complete lack of any 4G63 engines in Okinawa that aren't riddled with crankwalk beyond saviour, I'm going to have to hope there isn't any big damage/scoring to the cylinder walls.

Due to my slightly precarious work situation and not knowing if I'm actually going to be in Japan in another 4 months, I have decided to do a slightly ghetto rebuild. Here's what I'm thinking:

Evo 8 or 9 pistons & rods (hoping to get a set of slightly used ones from somewhere in the US cheaply)
Mitsubishi MLS headgasket
ARP rod bolts (thinking of using these or stock ones)
ACL bearings
Brian Crower springs

Along with these parts I already had:
Ralliart engine mounts
Fuel filter
GM MAF & MAF Translator II

Depending on the headwork cost, I may also look into sneakily putting in the following:
GT35R
OS Giken twinplate

I know I should replace oil pump/water pump etc but am really trying to keep costs down on this thing. If it blows up you can all tell me "I told you so". Anyway, let me know what you think about the setup, good or bad.

 

[toofast82]

Really depends on your budget. From the parts you are listing it doesn't sound very tight though
Most likely 3 of the 4 cylinders are still good. You'll have to wait till you take it apart before you can measure the bore for straightness, but you may need some machine work in that cylinder? You may have some bad valves too in that cylinder along with the piston/rings?

 

[soldave]

Yeah, I'll find out a lot more once my tuning shop actually gets into the engine and sees what the condition of it is. Hopefully not too much damage but could get hold of another block relatively cheaply if it comes down to it. Other things like cam gears would be nice too but they will have to wait until I blow something up again and find out if I'm going to be here long-term or not.

 

[toofast82]

Are you taking the car back with you? If you are, I would buy "the good stuff" for it. If you are just going to sell it, i wouldn't put much money into it

 

[soldave]

Most likely not taking it with me. If I can't find work in Japan I'll be back to the UK and you get financially raped for owning a car that can go anywhere with any decent speed. But hoping to stay here if I can.

 

[lacroixdp]

Can't be any worse than trying to bring a car into Denmark - 200% tax on cars ><

 

[soldave]

I'll just do what I do when I send things to people from Japan: mark it as a gift and put the value as $10!

 

[lacroixdp]

Hahaha that's what I did to get around VAT when I lived in Europe. Hope you get your engine fixed on the cheap man!

 

[soldave]

Am assuming you guys think I am crazy for not replacing the oil & water pumps on an engine that has done 200,000km? Should add that the engine was "reconditioned" 30-40,000km ago but to what extent I don't know.

 

[lacroixdp]

If you're just going to drive the car for a few more months, and this is just a patch to get it back on the road as cheap as possible, I'd say go for it and reuse em both. If you have even a remote chance of staying and being able to keep it, I'm sure you know what you need to do then

 

[soldave]

If you're just going to drive the car for a few more months, and this is just a patch to get it back on the road as cheap as possible, I'd say go for it and reuse em both. If you have even a remote chance of staying and being able to keep it, I'm sure you know what you need to do then

Forged internals with a HX-52 and a 100 shot of nitrous?

Good point though. Strange - I was saying to someone a couple of weeks ago about their car, "Do it once and do it right". Should really heed my own words.

 

[lacroixdp]

Everyone has to remind themselves of that quote occasionally. I have to say man - that car is absolutely beautiful - you're a very lucky guy. I'm going to Japan next spring and I'm hoping to get a chance to drive an Evo I.

 

[soldave]

Everyone has to remind themselves of that quote occasionally. I have to say man - that car is absolutely beautiful - you're a very lucky guy. I'm going to Japan next spring and I'm hoping to get a chance to drive an Evo I.

Thanks man. Appreciate it. Come to Okinawa on your Japan trip and if I'm around you can get at least a ride in it! There might also be an Evo I getting close to 8s in the 1/4 mile here too. We don't actually have a 1/4 mile strip here in Okinawa (don't ask!), but that's beside the point.

Car is OK, apart from a bit of typical rust starting to show near the sunroof and a couple of other areas. Was hoping to not spend as much money as I had recently on it, but this rebuild is going to take even more cash.

 

[turboglenn]

Hey, i'm dead tired and giong to bed, but i have a set of 1g NT 4g63 pistons and rods and i belive the 1g NT rods are the same as the turbo ones. If so i'll do you what ever you need to pay with shipping included and i'll let em go on the super cheap because i have grown up military and know what it's like living out of the states and not being able to get parts... other than that I have 3/4th's of a set of good 1g turbo rods (one bent, the other 3 survived) If any of these parts will help you, I don't care if i'm giving them away if they'll help you get back on the track/street. I follow your threads and have a lot of respect for the time you take into tuning and analizing data to make your changes in mapping and get every last ounce of power you can from the setup you have. I've also been impressed with your reults, so i'd be more than glad to get you any extra parts i have for what ever you can afford to give for them if they will help you out I even have a set of 3 good pistons left on that one set of rods if it will help. PM me because i might forget to check this thread. Work's been hectic and although i'm always logged on, I rarely even see the PC

The words "ghetto rebuild" lured me in love the "on-the-cheap" must have builds as i've been there too many times, i hope i can help, let me know!

 

[soldave]

Hey, i'm dead tired and giong to bed, but i have a set of 1g NT 4g63 pistons and rods and i belive the 1g NT rods are the same as the turbo ones. If so i'll do you what ever you need to pay with shipping included and i'll let em go on the super cheap because i have grown up military and know what it's like living out of the states and not being able to get parts... other than that I have 3/4th's of a set of good 1g turbo rods (one bent, the other 3 survived) If any of these parts will help you, I don't care if i'm giving them away if they'll help you get back on the track/street. I follow your threads and have a lot of respect for the time you take into tuning and analizing data to make your changes in mapping and get every last ounce of power you can from the setup you have. I've also been impressed with your reults, so i'd be more than glad to get you any extra parts i have for what ever you can afford to give for them if they will help you out I even have a set of 3 good pistons left on that one set of rods if it will help. PM me because i might forget to check this thread. Work's been hectic and although i'm always logged on, I rarely even see the PC

The words "ghetto rebuild" lured me in love the "on-the-cheap" must have builds as i've been there too many times, i hope i can help, let me know!

Turboglenn = Legend

 

[snooopy365]

sorry to hear that you blowed a piston like your going fast and faster storys

why not using stock pistons? do stock 2G piston fit? they are damn cheap!
and get new oil and water pump, IF needed! so check them when you have the engine apart!
if they are still good, who cares the milage?

btw. if you have friends in england, maybe they can get you Galant GTI and Eclipse GS parts?

The main question is: whats your goal?
Getting as much power as possible for as low money as possibel?
Get a set NT pistons from europe, they are 10:1 (2G) or 10.4:1 (1G)
than you E85 or metanol injection and just keep your turbo like it is.

that thing will produce massive power! A friend is running 10.4:1 NT pistons with a 14B @0.5Bar
Car is producing 200hp and massive tourqer with just "98 Octan (eu rating)"

 

[soldave]

Another thing worth noting about any potential rebuild is this: Okinawa has no machine work shops that offer anything like decent quality. I think there is one main machine shop and they do the machine work on a damn lathe! Someone just did a BMW rebuild and used this shop and the blowby they have is ridiculous. So most people who are rebuilding decent engines send their stuff up to a big machine shop in mainland for a proper job (neither quick nor cheap). I'd be looking at doing the same or even sending it over to the States for work to be done.

I suppose my two further options are this:

1. Pull the sump off, get to the pistons and replace just the bad piston with an early Evo one lying around. I'd get poor compression in that cylinder, but it would be working and would be cheap and simple. I'd then beat on the car like it was my wife(!) while I got parts together for a real rebuild.

2. Try to do the rebuild myself. Now I have little experience of engine internals but one of my buddies has taken engines apart and the other knows most things about engines and has done rebuilds before. We've got the plastigauge, micrometers and a honing tool if anything needs honing. Only worry about that is that I've heard doing any work o the head can be a real pain without real specialist tools.

Any thoughts given these updates?

 

[soldave]

Well, this weekend I've been in Tokyo but things took a turn for the better this afternoon. Due to a good bunch of friends who deserve a couple of beers each, I've managed to pick up a 4G63 from an Evo III, along with a transfer case and tranny (the 5-gear type, not to be confused with the ones that look like Amy Winehouse!). The engine is reported as being in "good" condition, but this is Okinawan and that could mean it is riddled with crankwalk, but will find out when I get back to the island.

At the very least I can use any parts from it, or I could throw this one into my car and use the engine that's currently broken and in my car as a project engine build.

 

[airmail96]

Gotta love having good friends .

 

[soldave]

Awesome - I just called Mitsubishi and found out that Evo I pistons are on backorder and could take over a month for them to get any. So it looks like my plan to replace the melted piston with a new one is screwed up. Looks like I might have to go uber-ghetto and put in a used piston from a friend's Evo I.