Project: Laser Rs

[braceyoself777]

Whats up guys,

I'm new to this fourm but I'm not new to a fourm. Just wanted to introduce myself and what I got going on here. I recently picked up a Plymouth Laser AWD Turbo rs for $900 off a guy who was moving to Seattle. The only major mods were in suspension goodies, he had coil-overs installed on all 4 corners and also had the 2g calipers put up front. The engine remains stock except for a K&N cone filter and exhaust. Why so cheap? The timing belt threw and ripped a bunch of teeth off the belt. His mechanic did a compression check w/ a new TB and there was zero compression in all 4 cylinders (words from seller). I went ahead and bought a brand new head w/valves & cams so I don't have to do a full head rebuild. So I rigged the TITAN and went up to Norcal and picked up this rare car and its awaiting to be towed to the local community college Automotive Technology center. Here the car will get full compression test, leak down test, and all the other goodies to make sure its running right. I'll post pics later as the project progresses. Anyways, Thanks for letting me be a part of this fourm. -Mike G

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[braceyoself777]

Well, I didn't get any pictures cause I was soo into the project that I forgot about it. But anyways, we finally got the head off and suspected major damage done to the pistons and head. Found out, the pistons had NO cracks and just had very small dings where the valve hit it into the head. As far as the head goes....its history. The exhaust valves are fried and imbeded into the top of the chamber. With a little finess, we cleaned and fixed the pistons of the hard carbon and prepared the intake manifold to be hot-tanked tomorrow. While we were taking off the head bolts, we noticed that there was one stripped bolt, but carefully, we got it off. Looks like I need to but some new head bolts. Some more pictures will be uploaded. Stay tuned.

 

[supravw]

Well, I didn't get any pictures cause I was soo into the project that I forgot about it. But anyways, we finally got the head off and suspected major damage done to the pistons and head. Found out, the pistons had NO cracks and just had very small dings where the valve hit it into the head. As far as the head goes....its history. The exhaust valves are fried and imbeded into the top of the chamber. With a little finess, we cleaned and fixed the pistons of the hard carbon and prepared the intake manifold to be hot-tanked tomorrow. While we were taking off the head bolts, we noticed that there was one stripped bolt, but carefully, we got it off. Looks like I need to but some new head bolts. Some more pictures will be uploaded. Stay tuned.

You should use new head bolts anyway... Is your instructor doing any instructing?? Get some ARP's as the cost about the same as stock OEM sets. And I'd make sure to check that drivetrain on the car after towing it like that.

 

[braceyoself777]

You should use new head bolts anyway... Is your instructor doing any instructing?? Get some ARP's as the cost about the same as stock OEM sets. And I'd make sure to check that drivetrain on the car after towing it like that.

Yeah, I asked around about that and it looks like I'll have to put it up on the lift and drain the fluid from the transfer case to see if I got some metal coming out with the fluid. As far as my instructer, yes, hes the one that told me to get new bolts anyways.

 

[HighBoostLaser]

cant wait to see the outcome

 

[braceyoself777]

Heres some photos of what I been up to. Its been taking awhile cause I'm trying to clean the friggn old gasket off the I-manifold and it sucks. But Everything is looking bright so far and I'm just taking my time putting everything back together.

THE BAY

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Yes, I'll clean that junk in the way. Its from my fingers when I checking for shaft play.

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The new head

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The OLD busted head....look at all the exhaust valves.

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The ride....

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The last bolt holding the head down.....stripped....lots of skill to take this thing out.

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[braceyoself777]

I'm alittle pissed right now cause I bought a rebuilt head from a guy and we tried putting it on yesterday and it was teter totting on the studs. So my teacher brought over his counter sink (too make the head slip in correctly and straight edge (to check for warpage.) Well today, we check the head surface for warpage with a feeler gauge, and service limit specs are .0012, We were slipping in .0016 just to get the feeler gauge tight between the head surface and straight edge. I was a little pissed, sad, and depressed. Then my teacher referred me to a guy that is surfacing his heads for him and would give me a nice deal. It is $48 bucks to get the head surfaced, cleaned, and washed. It should be done by tomorrow, so I'm looking forwards to getting this thing running by the end of the month....hopefully.

 

[supravw]

Keep your head up.. We've all been there. I just installed a motor in my colt only to have #2 piston destroy itself after 20 miles while cruising at 60. Now I just wait for money to rebuild and try again.. Keep up the determination!

 

[outkastracing]

yeah definetly keep your head up one suggestion is while your in there replace all the timing components!

 

[keithscianna]

Just think of how it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[braceyoself777]

Keep your head up.. We've all been there. I just installed a motor in my colt only to have #2 piston destroy itself after 20 miles while cruising at 60. Now I just wait for money to rebuild and try again.. Keep up the determination!

Oh God, what a PITA! Yeah, I'm thinking of a bunch of crap that could be done before I put the head back on. There is new balance belt and water pump put on. I'm probably going to need a new T/B gasket cause the other one ripped. I replaced the fuel filter and O2 sensor also. Just small stuff to get this car up and going.

 

[boostin92awd]

Nice find,best of luck.

 

[braceyoself777]

Whats up guys, Damn, I got aggrivated yesterday. I got a call from the machinist who was going to do the work on my cylinder head and he told me the valve stem seals wouldn't hold any pressure on a pressure test! Damn it! And just for them to take it apart and clean it....labor.....$398 + new valve stem seals ($30)= close to $450 for a head that was taken apart, cleaned, and decked. I was like.....Hell NO...and took the head back, paid $48 for the inspection, and went ahead and bought me a fully rebuilt head for $485 from Kar King Auto in Ontario. I spent too much money trying to go cheap so I ignored the point that I bought a bad head, and purchased a freshly rebuilt one. I'm picking it up first thing in the morning so I can work on it later on that day and the day after. Hopefully by Monday we can start her up. Pictures to come.

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[dsmer1G]

Hey, cool car, I just bought a 92 laser awd a couple weeks ago, i have big plans for it.

 

[braceyoself777]

Hey, cool car, I just bought a 92 laser awd a couple weeks ago, i have big plans for it.

Looks like you and I are in the same page....only problem is that my car doesn't work. I'm putting the head back onto tomorrow.

 

[braceyoself777]

Great news. We finally started to put the head back on. It seated really really nice! After that, we torqued the bolts to specs and started bolting stuff back up.....trying to figure out which vacum hose goes to what. It was kind of self explainatory but the tricky part was getting the timing belt on and making all the marks line up. A tip on hand here, make sure the oil sprocket weight is on the bottom...not the top. If the sprocket tends to spin left or right easily, then its not balanced....the weight is on top. The weight needs to be on the bottom, so when the oil sprocket is turned alittle, it goes back to the timing mark, then you know you got it balanced correctly. I didn't have any of the special tools, but looking around on the fourm, I found alot of other ways to get the timing tension right. I used a allen wrench, and a wrench to hold the auto tensioner bolt, and the allen wrench to adjust pin holes to the left top quadrant of the pulley. It took several hours to do it right, but we got the hang of it, and finished it. We were starting fill the radiator with coolant, but since I have an aftermarket aluminum radiator, its was advised to put distilled water for the mixture. Tomorrow hopefully I can start the engine for a couple minutes to make sure everything runs fine. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[braceyoself777]

Well today was the day, we started the engine and it sounds awesome! One bad thing is that it idled really rough. The reason might because of the water pump belt not being hooked up and not providing pressure to the idle regulator in the TB that coolant runs thru. Another thing is that there is alot of ticking in the lifters. Its not kissing valves but I just hear it very distinct when the car is idling. Any help? I'll do a search but future assitance will be helpful.

 

[braceyoself777]

Today was one of those days that I felt like I didn't do anything, but acctually did alot. First thing in the morning I did a compression check on the motor with the head. All across the board was 160,160,160, and the last cylinder popped out a 155. Remind you, this car has 140,000 miles on it.....very good for a turbo car this old....and the previous owner also raced it. Several weeks back, when we were taking the old head off, when taking the exhaust manifold off, we accidently broke one of the turbo bolts and left it in the turbo exhaust flange. We spent the rest of the day trying to punch it, heat it with a torch, drill it, and nothing would work. Worse case scinerio, we are going to just use a stud and bolt the bottom and top. But anyways, I finally got to put the pulleys back on....and the belts are next. Its just the smallest things seem to set back huge potential....like a broken bolt.

 

[braceyoself777]

Well, we tried solving the idle problem but we ended saying, lets take it for a test ride. The car ran good, the turbo spooled just right but the idle is rough. But we drove it and it drove like a gem. I'll keep you updated.

 

[braceyoself777]

Hey whats up guys. I finally found out what the idle roughness was about. With my research, I found out that it was "Idle Surge" and finally solved the problem. I opended the taps on an open straight and it was the first time I ever WOT the car. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Somehow when I came back to my driveway, the car was idling at 750rpms....nice and smooth. All the lifter ticks went away and the car sounds like new. I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys at some meets. Now all I have to do is put the splash guards back on. As for a test, I'll be doing a road trip to Bakersfield twice in one week. I'm for going to have fun on them long straights!