My new car!

[chickenwafer]

Big thanks to Eric who drove all the way up from the Springs to help me yank the motor yesterday afternoon!

Luckily, Matt and I had most accessories disconnected and out of the way so the work was minimal getting the engine out. I think from the time Eric and I actually started working to when the motor was out was a total of 2 hours if even, not counting all the bullshitting we did haha.

Engine awaiting the hoist:



Engine chained up being lifted out:



Up, up, and away!







And out (please excuse the bags of trash in the driveway, my landscaper came by on Thursday and decided not to haul the bags of waste with him....)



Eric was happy...(this is Eric's happy face)



Engine was then bolted to the stand with the Pineapple engine stand adapter:



And now I'm left with the filthy, oil soaked, grimmed-out engine bay I need to degrease:



And how it sits now, the engine on the stand in front of the car:





And check out that wheel gap now that there's no motor to compress the suspension!



I will break down the long block here sometime this week. I'm changing up some ideas as far as finishing options so polishing the manifolds may be out, we'll see.

Again, BIG THANKS to Eric for coming all the way up to Loveland to help me out!

[speedjunkie]

That's my happy face? Hmmm, all this time I thought it was different. LOL I also think I see where you punched me in the head haha.

BIG THANKS to you and Melissa for BeauJo's pizza!

[chickenwafer]

Of course you don't know what your own happy face looks like...do you carry a mirror with you and check every time you're happy? I think not!!!

BeauJo's Pizza is de shyt (if you're not Sunni you're not Shiite, right?)

Matt came over today with his pressure washer so I rolled the car out into the driveway and sprayed the engine bay down in concentrated Simple Green first before I got the aggressive stuff out. Let it soak and foam for a few minutes and then 1500psi of water pressure took care of the oil and grime covering the PPF and engine bay.

It took a few passes and a good 45 minutes to get the engine bay "clean". There is still some spots I need to soak and go over again, mostly the underside of the PPF and the chassis that got oil all over them.

Will have some pictures up soon.

[speedjunkie]

I always carry a mirror actually. LOL And if you're Sunni you AIN'T Shiite. LOL It's actually a true statement haha.

[chickenwafer]

Forgot to upload pics but I took some of the freshly cleaned engine bay and I started to breakdown the long block and took pictures as well.

[chickenwafer]

Haven't had time to get pictures up, but I started breaking down the longblock last weekend.

I got the turbos off and inspected them and they aren't bad looking at all. The compressors spin freely by hand and shaft play is minimal. This is leading me to believe the turbos weren't the source of my oil problem...further confirmed after I got the manifold off.

I peered into the exhaust ports and as I turned the engine over by hand, the apex seals are passing over the exhaust ports, along with about 3-5 tablespoons of oil on each face/combustion chamber. It's almost like the apex seal is squeegeeing oil. Every time I turn the motor over by hand it's puking oil out the exhaust ports, every combustion chamber, both rotors.

So this almost 100% means failed oil control ring(s) and/or seal(s), requiring a rebuild. I wasn't planning on doing one, but now I kind of have to. So stay tuned for more update and pictures.

[speedjunkie]

At least you'll get the rebuild out of the way now.

[chickenwafer]

True, and I can do some porting as well.

From what I can see inside the the motor through the exhaust ports, the housing look to be in excellent shape. I can't see the most typical problem area (spark plug holes) but everything else looks to be great. I also pulled the LIM off and the side/corner seals that pass the intake port look to be in great shape as well.

[yoojeankim]

awesome progress ! can't wait when ur back up & running

[chickenwafer]

Haven't updated in a while...keep forgetting to upload pictures, although there isn't much to look at to be honest at this point...

The shop I was originally going to go with for a rebuild has unexpectedly raised prices to the point I would rather just rebuild it myself, which is what I originally wanted to do in the first place. So that's the route I'm now taking.

I'm still going to outsource the porting as I don't want to risk destroying useable housings with my die grinder, so it's best leave that to someone who knows what they're doing. But I will disassemble, clean, inspect, spec, and assemble everything myself.

Aside from powertrain stuff, I'm also focusing on the interior. Although I want my FD to be stupid quick, I'm not about sacrificing all creature comforts in order to do so. I have already deleted power steering, not for power or weight, but because I feel it interferes too much with the driving experience, giving too much feedback.

I'm going to get my worn out tan leather seats redone in black leather, the door panels are getting upholstered in black Alcantara, along with all trunk plastics, and the center console. I'm also going to drop the headliner and put up a black one along with black sun visors, etc, and new black carpet to complete the black interior. As a small touch of luxury, I'm also doing dual element seat heaters (butt and back) for each seats, since they'll be apart anyways.

[speedjunkie]

Seat heaters...baller! lol I like the alcantara door panels too. I still want to do that with mine.

[Operator]

So is the eta for completion next spring?

[chickenwafer]

Seat heaters...baller! lol I like the alcantara door panels too. I still want to do that with mine.

You know how I do! Haha

So is the eta for completion next spring?

My self imposed deadline is my birthday, so the end of March, 2012, but a real deadline is around July, but it should be done well before then, pending any major hickups.

[iani1.1]

Damn talk about a ballin interior

[speedjunkie]

My self imposed deadline is my birthday, so the end of March, 2012, but a real deadline is around July, but it should be done well before then, pending any major hickups.

I think you should keep the deadline at March, that way we can all go to DGRR12, RIGHT?! lol