Took the camshaft out because I was going to pressure wash the block before rebuilding it. Looks like the cam bearings are pretty worn so I'm gonna call the local machine shop an see what they will charge me to have the block hot tanked and new bearings put in. $$$$$$$$$ Support your local businesses I guess. Should probably get the cylinders bored cause there are some marks on them even after honing but I already bought standard sized piston rings and really getting tired of throwing more and more money at this not to mention getting the heads tanked, valves lapped, valve stem seals replaced, block decked, etc, etc.
True, dropped it off this morning at the machine shop and asked if they typically remove freeze plugs when tanking a block. He replied "We do it however you want it done." Gee maybe I should ask the professionals how it should be done. If only there was a performance engine machine shop around here somewhere with someone I could ask... I don't think either of us had drank enough coffee yet hahah.
Thanks Spadesluck, not off to a good start so far. Was checking ring gap this morning and the first two were abou .015-.016 in which is within spec but people running more boost or smaller pulleys have gone with around 0.025" from what I've read and this seemed more comfortable to me in case want to run a smaller pully and e85 down the road. Searched all around town and couldn't find a ring filer and didn't particularly want to do them all by hand. Walked by a shelf and my lanyard caught on a container holding a half gallon of oil and spilled that everywhere. spent an hour almost cleaning that up. Plastigauged the main bearings and all were within spec. Number 1 was on the upper edge of the tolerance but I think it will be ok. When I got back from the store I found my roommate cutting and grinding stuff in the garage with my engine sitting uncovered on the other side of the garage. No time like when someone is rebuilding the bottom end of an engine to start cutting metal. Covered the engine, he decided his project was more important i guess and continued grinding stuff. Went to the lake to blow off some steam. Will try again tomorrow and hopefully can at least get the main caps on and torqued. got a solid 4 out of 60 things done today that I wanted to get done. Hopefully there aren't too many metal shavings in my engine. Maybe will get up to a whole 4 digits on miles before this one blows up
Got the main caps, cam, and timing chain installed last weekend. My buddy was nice enough to let me use his LS7 lifters he had laying around that we wasn't going to use and only have a few thousand miles on them. Gapped the rings and installed them on the pistons. Ended up going with 0.020" on the top ring and 0.022" - 0.024" on the second rings as suggested by Intense Racing here: http://www.intense-racing.com/techtips.shtml and was just on the high side of the specs I had looked up from service manuals. All of the second rings were already 0.023"- 0.024" so didn't need to file those.
Going to head up to the Heartland Fieros show tomorrow and then hopefully get the engine together on sunday and monday. Just need the flywheel bolts to come in and I will have all the parts i need.
Also think I would have easily won the award for most time spent working on a Fiero this year at the show but wouldn't have felt right claiming it without even having my car at the show
Primed the oil pump with a drill pump, started right up, made oil pressure, ran great, after 5 minutes of ring brakin keeping rpms between 1500 and 3000 it started shooting oil out the front main seal again. Brand new main seal again. Either some how the harmonic balancer is messed up or I am just cursed. If anyone has suggestions let me know
Tonight on Brendan Complains: (If anyone is still reading this)
I bought a new harmonic balancer hoping that would solve the leaking issue. It didn't. It leaks worse. Was able to confirm that is what is leaking though and bought a third new front main seal. Maybe the old harmonic balancer that had a small ridge worn on it damaged the seal? Idk any more but I don't know what else to try and fix if this doesn't do it.
Part 2:
Found out that the brand new clutch slave cylinder with 200 miles on it has completely seized..... Wouldn't move at all. Bled some brake fluid through it and the master cylinder pumped fluid through still so its gotta be the slave cylinder. Ordered another one of those.
Tune in tomorrow night to find out what else could possibly go wrong
Still reading this... and feeling your pain. Wish I could offer some advice about the main seals but alas I can only cheer you on and hope. Just remember when it gets on your nerves and you are tired Mr. Hammer is NOT your friend.
Thanks guys. Trying hard to get it driveable to a car meet down the street this weekend. Thank god for autozones free next day shipping or that would not even be thinkable. Usually hate autozone but thats coming in clutch.... get it? CUTCH? Cause i ordered a clutch slave cylinder.
In the latest stroke of bad luck the harmonic balancer I got from autozone was made wrong so that part of it blocks one of the holes used to remove it from the crank shaft. Have spent 4 hours trying other ways of getting it off with no success. Might have to break off the plastic cover on the back of it to try an pry it while also using the tool to get it off. Cant really use a jaw puller cause I can't get behind it. Then probably try and get a refund idk. Then wait for a new one to come in. Just want to drive it.
Thanks guys. Trying hard to get it driveable to a car meet down the street this weekend. Thank god for autozones free next day shipping or that would not even be thinkable. Usually hate autozone but thats coming in clutch.... get it? CUTCH? Cause i ordered a clutch slave cylinder.
I'm losing my mind
Rushing things typically causes mistakes, which in turns causes more frustration and chances for mistakes to occur.
I'd suggest plugging away at the car at some slow and steady pace that will eventually see the car running and driving correctly... just not this weekend.
My Fiero doesn't run yet, but that doesn't mean my automotive social life is on standstill; I just attend meets with my daily driver.
For the balancer, can't you drill and tap it? (I don't know, I'm guessing as I'm not a 3800 guy)
Basically, I weld upside-down bolts on the object to be removed. I slide a (harmonic balancer/steering wheel) type puller onto the bolts, and then I screw on some nuts to retain the puller. Sometimes the weld can break, but I just redo it if that happens.
[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 09-11-2019).]
Thanks for the tips, wasn't able to drill and tap it cause the hole was only half blocked and it was blocked by a thick section of cast iron. No way to really get a drill bit in there or get it to bite to get through the cast iron, kinda hard to explain. Will post a picture of it later. Was able to weld piece of steel to a bolt in the shape of an L and get it to hook inside the outer hole of the balancer and get it off. Got the new seal on and balancer back on now that I have a way of getting it off I decided to put it back on. Ran it for a while and let it heat up and it hasn't leaked again yet so fingers crossed. Ran brake fluid through the lines to get the crud out and installed and bled the slave cylinder. Clutch wasn't disengaging though and car wouldn't roll when in gear with clutch pressed. Called it a night and gonna mess with it another time.
As for not rushing things you are 100% right. But that's hard. "Give me patience Lord, but hurry." - spoon rest in my parents' kitchen
[This message has been edited by BadNewsBrendan (edited 09-12-2019).]
Ridge on old balancer that is apparently enough to cause oil to absolutely shoot out of the main seal.
Got the clutch bled and worked out. Still some play in the makeshift slave cylinder mount but bought an OEM one off someone on here as well as some rear deck lid struts and new AC delco parking brake cables from another member. Ended up making it out to the car meet and saw some cool stuff. (It was only about 5 blocks from my house.) Car is running ok for now, working out more kinks here and there. Heres a couple pictures from the car meet.
Full on caged rally Corolla (?) that this guy also drives around town. So cool.
Right hand drive supra
[This message has been edited by BadNewsBrendan (edited 09-16-2019).]
On a side note only had one person at the show telling me why they catch on fire but didn't realize it was engine swapped so that wasn't too bad. Then had another guy tell me tonight at autozone that they stopped making Fieros because the fuel tank was right behind the driver and would explode. Told him I was pretty sure it was actually because they started getting better than the Corvettes. He replied with a laughing get out of here with that and then said he used to have one and walked into the store. Some guys in a big diesel truck also drove by and yelled hell yeah at us. These conversations are almost the most entertaining part about owning a fiero so far
You may want to do a few pulls on the highway to get the rings seated into their bores. Now is the time, before the surface finish of the bores smooths over.
Then, change the oil+filter; you want to remove the pieces of metal from the break-in, and your buddy grinding metal while your engine was exposed. Changing the oil+filter is cheap insurance that may prevent some piece of crap from lodging itself in a bearing and starting this saga all over again.
For my build, I'm planning on changing the oil at 100, 500, and then 3000 miles.
[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 09-17-2019).]
Yep have driven it about 15 miles on rebuild. On first start I let it run keeping it from idling for 15 minutes for ring seating. Changed oil and filter immediately after that. Checked for smoke and checked plugs for blow by about 5 miles ago and seems like rings seated. Did some light pulls up to 60 on highway. Was planning on changing oil and filter at 100 and then 3000 but 500 probably would be a good idea as well. Going to be dailying it to work for a while and of course the temperature outside goes from highs around 80 for the last month to highs in the 90s with no AC
[This message has been edited by BadNewsBrendan (edited 09-17-2019).]
For sure, I remember reading through your thread a while back especially the trans case in the dishwasher and the water injection system. Hope to see a video of it running soon, cool stuff and way more scientific than what I am doing currently
On a side note only had one person at the show telling me why they catch on fire but didn't realize it was engine swapped so that wasn't too bad. Then had another guy tell me tonight at autozone that they stopped making Fieros because the fuel tank was right behind the driver and would explode. Told him I was pretty sure it was actually because they started getting better than the Corvettes. He replied with a laughing get out of here with that and then said he used to have one and walked into the store. Some guys in a big diesel truck also drove by and yelled hell yeah at us. These conversations are almost the most entertaining part about owning a fiero so far
one of my favourite comments i got back in the day, driving through a parking lot with a bunch of younger(my age at the time) guys with mostly imports and i hear one say, "now that's how you do an MR2"
Still running good and have be dailying it. Going to be prepping to take it down to Midnight Madness at WWT Raceway in STL this Friday to race some coworkers in the 1/4. (Prepping the car and prepping myself mentally for it to blow up.)
Event was canceled because they thought it was going to rain and it didn't
Lets play guess this seal that was leaking. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I single handedly depleted the supply of these seals in this town.
You got it, it was leaking. I tried using a seal driver from autozone on the first two and a block of wood on the next two not realizing that the inner part would just bend super easy and get cockeyed. I found a post on here that suggested wire wheeling the red coating off so it will fit easier and using some rtv around the outside to seal it. Went and bought a giant socket that fit around it perfectly and it tapped right in.
A guy pulled up to me and was giving me the thumbs up at a stop light in a weird 80s hatch that I thought was a dodge colt, asked him what it was and he said it was an 82 Plymouth Champ. Goofy but super cool.
[This message has been edited by BadNewsBrendan (edited 10-13-2019).]
Instead of doing productive things I decided to live out my childhood dreams of Need For Speed Underground 2. Might be cheesy but for $35 it makes me happy.
The colors from my camera aren't exactly what it looks like but my favorite are the teal, white and purple.
Drove 2 and a half hours down to World Wide Technology Raceway on friday to a street car event. First pass both belts came off but I still beat an early 2000s BMW. One of the headlight covers popped up too. Overheated on the return road and one of the workers returned my belts. Also the engine twisted so bad it ripped out my cam position sensor which I should have given more slack. It also bent the crap out of my copper line going to my oil pressure gauge. Replaced that with the stock oil pressure light switch (or sender?) to stop it from leaking. Made a second pass but let off because it was breaking up at high rpm and i thought i lost the supercharger belt again but didn't. Didn't have time for another pass or to try and sort the issue out and my buddy in his FRS beat me cause I didn't get a good pass so I owed him dinner. Had a great time though and got my first experience on the drag strip. Drove home the next day in the rain and without an alignment some sections of the road felt like driving a RWD truck on ice. Not ever wanting to do that again.
Loaded up the Fiero and all my belongings and moved up to the Pontiac Michigan area for a new job. Who says underglow isn't functional?
Started snowing the next morning and god the fiero in the garage but it had already snowed about 4 inches and got a little over a foot total so was glad i got it in there. I guess its a garage queen for the winter.
Couldn't resist a deal that a friend pointed me to on another forum and bought some engine parts...
ZZP NIC Cam never installed Heads with 130# valve springs, gasket matched, new valves ARP Head studs and rod end bolts Double roller timing chain
All shipped for about the price of just the new cam
Heads had a little rust from sitting in the basement after being gasket matched and particle blasted but cleaned up pretty nicely with about 10 minutes of work.
Testing the new image posting from mobile. Lake by my new place.
