xWrathChildx

WEll my jspec should be here soon, turns out it was an s4, even better, I'll have the car running by february, not april. Anyways, what are some good things to do while I have the motor out and stuff? Should I strip it down and such? What do you all use to REALLY THOROUGHLY clean a motor? Ya, that's it for now, thanks all tons.

Logan

apreludem

i hear that jspecs should be rebuild....i think i read that somewhere but i cant remember where....

SDrotary

If they motor has been comp tested with in spec there is no need to rebuild it.

jimmyv13

While the motor is out, I'd clean and paint the engine bay. Remove everything from the bay and clean each item thoroughly and paint it. You'll be happy to open your hood with everything cleaned up & painted nice.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Not necessarily true. Since the true mileage of all J-specs is unknown, it could pop at anytime. Rebuilding now means that you know the condition of the engine, and it's far less likely to throw a seal and damage housing/rotor/turbo.

But it's not like you have to rebuild it. Many people just install them and run...

As for the original poster, I would clean everything up (I use Castrol Superclean) and give the engine and bay a nice coat of paint. Doesn't have to be fancy, just clean. Clean is good.

xWrathChildx

But I'd have to strip the engine bay of all the electronics and stuff, which seems like quite a pain. What pain should I use in the engine bay? Is simple green good for cleaning the engine up? looks like I'll be spending quite a bit of time with a tooth brush in my hand :-)

Logan

JasonL

If you have abs and it's leaking, chances are your frame rail paint is missing, clean it up and repaint that parts at least(I've seen a few of these) before it rusts.

Strip down the engine to a shortblock and clean everything up(as Aaron said, Castrol Superclean)

Also take a pic of you standing in your engine bay

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

How to prep a J-spec for installation=full rebuild.

xWrathChildx

so what paint should I use for the engine bay?

Logan

Mr. Gadget

And this is becasue why?

I thought aaron handled the question very well.

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

The engine's status is unknown. All the seals could be bad. They could be perfect. Do you know? nope Do I know? nope. I see it as a better investment to at bare minimum tear it down and inspec every seal. If they are all within spec then just buy the gasket set with the rubber seals and re-assemble. Knowledge is power. Knowing what the deal with the engine is is peice of mind for me. He doesn't have to do anything to drop it in. he could just run it no problems for the next 100k miles. On the other hand it could lock up on the first revolution and you ruin a housing or two.

x2delight

where did u order your engine from and how much was it?

JonEQuest

I just got my Jspec in today and I was happily surprised to find that mine is an S4 after all too. I was worried I would have to get all S5 stuff. Anyway I used engine degreaser, a toothbrush and my electric pressure washer (the cheap WalMart kind), to totally degrease everything after covering the turbo and other intake holes of course. I have no plans to rebuild mine either unless I have to. If it aint broke don't fix it. What if you take a great motor apart, and during the expensive reassembly of buying gaskets etc. you do one little thing wrong....then you will ruin a housing. From what I have read on the forums it seems most Jspecs are ready to go and out of running cars. If I have to rebuild I will but I am not going to rip apart a perfectly good motor just to find out if I can make it work again. I personally don't have the many hours and money to do that right now. If I ever take one apart it won't be to put the same old stuff back together, I will be replacing basicly everything and doing some porting at that point. As for engine bay paint, you can use cheap enamel from the hardware store if you want, the key is that the surface MUST BE CLEAN enough to eat off of or the paint will peel. Since there won't be much sun or rain under your hood the cheap paint will hold up just fine for the few years you have the car. But while its out clean everything since nothing looks better than seeing every little wire, nut and bolt in a spotless engine bay. Clean looks beats a few chrome or polished goodies on a dirty motor everytime.

xWrathChildx

Thanks JonE quest. Where'd you get yours from? I got mine from fc3s.org. Ya, I'm pretty excited, but I'm not sure if Im actually gonna paint the engine bay, just clean it up real nice like. When I get this darn thing running and such, I'll post pictures. *fingers crossed* I hope to have it on the street as my new daily driver by mid-end of february. All I gotta buy now is a cai and 3" turbo back corksport exhaust.

Logan

silverrotor

iTrader: (1)

What are some good things to do while I have the motor out and stuff?

Rebuild, streetport, sandblast the freakin thing. It's what I did.

Also, I used the down time to get my FI's machine cleaned, get ALL new Gaskets and seals, sandblast both Manifolds and my entire Drivetrain. Take advantage of the bare Engine Bay now. Give It a complete wash down or paint It. You'll thank yourself later.

JonEQuest

I found a phone # for Japan Star here in a post and called them up and got a TII motor with transmission for $800. The shipping I paid here freight collect and it was only $96, so I am happy so far. I plan to do my swap in late Jan. since I have to get a custom driveshaft to mate the TII trans. to my NA rear end. I plan to have some exhaust made locally since it is cheaper that way. Right now I am trying to figure out the best way to do the wiring since the vert. ECU is turbo compatible and the harness on the motor is cut (of course).

John

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

If you were asking me I have never bought a J-spec. I doubt I will unless its for spare parts or a spare engine. I would not trust a J-spec for my beater car much less my TII. The fact of the matter is that there is NO WAY you can say for sure that the engine has XX,XXX miles or whatever. Its pure bullshit. I wouldn't trust it at all. Like I said before its a better investment to make sure all the seals are good to go. There is nothing wrong with using a seal which is within spec as far as I know. But it would re-assure me that the engine will last a lot longer with good seals or new ones. I have heard many stories about J-specs being cleaned out with chemicals(internaly) I don't like people I don't know dumping chemicals into an engine that I am buying so that it is "clean". I don't know how much truth there is to those stories/claims but hell if I am going to risk it. The best thing that I would say comes from a J-spec is spare parts. You get a tranny sometimes the turbo's etc all that stuff that you can use or sell. I wouldn't say its a good-to-go engine to drop in the car. Why? Well just call it a gut feeling about it. I have never been to Japan and seen these things nor will I ever. You can make up your own mind. I am just providing my own oppinion about them and how I feel about the matter. If you want one go buy one hell buy a couple knock yourself out with them. I like insurance. Thats why I would rebuild. And I don't think I would **** it up by making a mistake during the rebuild.

Santiago

x2delight

lol.. didnt mean to confuse u .. it was intended for the Thread Starter...


i got nothing agianst you..

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

And I have nothing against you. I also just wanted to give a better explenation for my previous posts.

JonEQuest

Many people have dropped Jspecs in and drove happy, some have had bad seals, it is the same chance as with any used motor, but for my $800 I could not beat it.

:-)

BDoty311

Santiago you do realize you can compression test, and visually inspect the apex seals with it still together. If the numbers are good and the seals seem ok, then Id put it in, well actually I would streetport it. A gasket set costs around $200, I just bought one. Thats alot of money to just take it apart and get most of the info you could have got without taking it apart. Plus time.

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

Do you realize that the metal seals are the least of my worries? You can see the apex seals just fine through the port. But what about the oil control rings? side seals? corner seals?

silverrotor

iTrader: (1)

That Is partially true, how you are able to see/feel the Apex Seals via the Spark Plug Holes. But you cannot see It's lengths entirety.

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

I was refering to the exhaust port Tony. You can see most of the seal through that hole but the others are still un-seen and could be at the point of failure.

silverrotor

iTrader: (1)

Most, but not all. Depending how meticulous you are.

As I mentioned In another thread, I was fortunate to get a JDM Motor that was In very good shape. Inspite of this, I did It right. It was rebuilt due to 3 primary reasons. In order:

1. I didn't know It's history, besides the sellers proclamation of "It Is a Motor ran less than 50,000km".

2. I didn't want to promote any further wrong doings to the Motor (should there have been any to begin with) If I just dropped It In, risking the possibility of scoring my Housings and destroying my Rotors etc

2. The Motor was not Installed just yet.