Venezuelan E33A

[victorgalant]

This is the Build Thread for Venezuelan E33A. Reply below.

 

[victorgalant]

Hi guys, last week i got my 7 bolt from the machine shop and I took the time to measure the crank journals with plastigage. It wasn't very good. Here is a video. So the clearence is from 0.02mm to 0.05mm. On the journals is tighter that 0.02mm and the one in the front is looser than 0.051mm. I'm pretty worried cause the crank is already at 0.02 inch under. Hopefully it well clear out at 0.030 but i'm not working any more with this machine shop.

 

[victorgalant]

Hi guys! It's been a while. I know maybe this is not the place to share this car, but i really like the environment in this forum. As i said before this is my first project car and it's been a rough ride. Either way i just wanted to share how i feel and to say how much i love watching everyone else's projects. Gives me a whole new perspective on things. Sorry for my bad english and hoping to update some more soon

 

[Imback]

Good luck with the build. Try and post a bit more frequently to get more engagement from some others.

 

[victorgalant]

hi guys, just wanted to make a little update, rn i'm building a 1g 7 bolt i bought i while back (worst desition ever) and i saw the thrust surface was kinda trashed. I was planning to build it properly with good parts and bring them to my country, but afer this I decided that i"m just gonna build it with cheap parts i can find here and then if it breaks, I'll just buy a 6 bolt and build that one. for now i just want to get the car running cause it's in a friends house and i really dont want to bother him any longer. i was planning to do a long thread explaining my history with the car, i might do it anyways but i was having trouble with the pictures and videos so i got frustrated and didnt do it.

 

[victorgalant]

So today i got my engine back from the second machine shop. I made some videos about the dissasembly, cleaning and later measuring the crank journals. It's quite simple but i'm so stoked. This is the beginning of what will become a fun track car. Here are some videos (i live in an apartment and i'm assembling the engine in my room hehe)

 

[victorgalant]

I'll start from the begining. I bought the car in June 2023 off one of my boss' friend. it cost me 250 (i have expended way, WAY more than that and is not ready ) this is a picture the day I trailored it home

and this is when the POS got home

when it got home i called a friend, we were so stocked. It's my first project car. so he came over to check it out with me and found this

 

[victorgalant]

so after that I started to think what i wanted to do. i was broke as hell (still am) so a 800$ imported engine was way out of my budget. so i was scrolling market place as one does and found an 100$ block. BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE, but alas, f*** it we ball. here is a vid from the day i got it home

 

[victorgalant]

so, i was dissasembling the engine i bought off fb and it wasn't all bad, i was having my fun



i still had the engine with the see through piston on the car. (in retrospective, i should've taken than engine out, buying the one of the yard and send it)

 

[victorgalant]

so, i few days went by and i got my friends to take out the engine.



also, it was a 6 bolt

so, you may be asking "why didnt you rebuild your 6 bolt instead of that fb 7 bolt?"

well, first reason is that the numbers on that engine didn't match the papers. when asked the PO he said "oh yeah, i swapped the engine but i never changed it in the papers, and no, i dont have the reciept for it so you can change it "

second, it was welded on both sides, looked like it threw some rods. and third, when we got to dissasemble it we noticed it had 3 7 bolt rods and 1 6 bolt. i was looking at the 6 bolt rod and thought "this dude used an turbo rod piston". but no, that was the only rod/piston that was according to the engine.

 

[victorgalant]

bonus footage of the exploded piston

 

[victorgalant]

So! After a long hiatus we are so back! I already bought every single part, bolt, gasket that I'll ever need. Just waiting on it to get to Venezuela, idk how shipping is working rn between US and Vzla, but I think I'll have everything by mid February. When it comes shit finna go DOWN!

 

[victorgalant]

Next weekend i'll be assembling everything into the car. Good progress

 

[curt-s]

Great commitment, keep it up!

 

[Canadian_CD9A]

Cool, I can’t imagine how hard it is to get everything needed. Is it possible to ship things from Venezuela or is the difficulty just in receiving things?

 

[victorgalant]

Cool, I can’t imagine how hard it is to get everything needed. Is it possible to ship things from Venezuela or is the difficulty just in receiving things?

Man, I struggled to get everything i needed in here. The pistons are from a local company called PC pistons, I'm kinda happy with them but i think i would rather have used TIK or TOTO pistons. I know all those brands sound like gibberish to y'all but is what we can source out here. The best case scenario is to get some NPR pistons and rings but you can only find the counterfeit parts. So yea, i'm lucky enough to have some people up the states and they got me everything i needed and send it. Rn i'm looking for a flywheel bolt that i forgot to buy and dude, it has been rough. Either way that MFer will start no matter how. I'll try to post more, i have some videos up in my instagram, but now is the come back to the forum

Edit: i talked all that shit and never answered the question. Getting good parts in a store is almost impossible, but we can receive shipments.

 

[victorgalant]

SO! the engine is in the car and it turns.


I have to put the side mounts and buy a new inyector since I sent them to he cleaned and 1 came back leaking. Progress!

Edit: I do have to say that it turns really slow and the starter sounds like shit. But i'm still glad. It didn't do this:

 

[victorgalant]

Hi boys, long time no see. Since last time that i put the engine in the car there has not been much progress. After seeing that the engine turned i went on to change the fuel pump for a new one, and oh my, was i in for a surprise. Just take a look



So yea, i stopped everything i was doing and didn't know what to do. In the last weeks i sent the tank to be cleaned. They Cut it open and tried to take out all the gunk in there. I have to say i'm not convinced with the job. (It was 140$, I'm so f***ing mad this mf is draining me) and i had to buy a new hanger for the fuel pump. Guess what? It didn't work. So I will be saving the original hanger of the tank and putting it back in. Rn I really dgaf, I just want the car to run and have it on the road.
(I Don't know how to put multiple videos on a same post so i'll make a few post uploading all the videos)

 

[victorgalant]

So this is how They opened the tank. (Sorry for the bad quality, i don't think my guy had an iPhone )



So you can see it was full of some black goo. Someone told me it was bc of old gas. Smelled like absolute doodoo too

 

[victorgalant]

Here you can see it looks actually pretty good. This is after they cleaned some of the inside.



The problem is that was the only part they cleaned to the metal

 

[victorgalant]

So here is the tank opened up

 

[victorgalant]

So then They welded the tank and painted it

 

[victorgalant]

So as I said, I was not satisfied with the end result at all. But then again, I don't care no more . After getting the tank i bought a new fuel pump hanger and a gas level sensor (I don't really know how to call it). The level sensor worked perfectly with my tank but the sending unit did not. It was a little too tall for the tank and it wouldn't close. Here are the old and new hanger. Fortunately the guy who sold me the sending unit is going to return me my money.




So next week I will be cleaning the old hanger with some nuclear level degreaser and the using my drill with a brush. If that don't work idk wtf imma do.

In other news I have to cut up the front engine mount (the one close to the radiator) bc it won't fit with the engine bolt.

Ik some of you may think I'm kind of a hack mechanic, and tbh u might not be wrong. I like to do thing by the book but this car is so f***ed up I had to just fix it with whatever I had in hand.

 

[victorgalant]

Also I have to talk about a problem. When we were trying to start it, it would not have spark. I thought it was the coil since 1. It was full of old oil, and 2. Bc in my mind it has to show resistance when I measure it on the leads. So i went and bought a new coil and I have not tried it but i really think it won't work. I do have the coil signal cause I made sure but idk, if anyone wants to chip in I would be greatful.

 

[victorgalant]

So some friend told me to put the sending unit in clorhydric acid and I did. It removed all the rust from it. Then I washed it with sodium bicarbonate and after that the parts that were not reached by the CA got cleaned with a brush. This is the end result. I'm actually quite happy

Maybe tomorrow I will be putting it all together in the car and filling it up with gas. THEN SOME CRANKING TILL IT STARTS