i ahve just finished installing my rebuilt engine. Kevin Landers did the rebuild and did the 6 port to 4 port streetsport. It started right up today without much of an issue. I'm glad that i have a fuel pump switch though or else it would be a bit tough to start. Wow doesn't it run beautifully, idles great for the nature of the port that it has. Oil pressure is at about 20 at idle and increases perfectly as she climbs in the revs. Don't i wish i didn't have to break it in for 2000 miles she just feels like she wants to go! I'm very happy with the build thus far, and will definetly update as the breakin continues, can't wait to bring her all the way up to her new red-line! Wow this is great. . sorry for the rant, you can't even imagine how happy i am right now.
Dom

 

You got a rebuild back from atkins and you werent sure if it was going to run? Of course it was going to run! I've only heard good things about that guy's work.

I still don't understand why you need a fuel cutoff switch if your injectors are clean.

 

I thought Kevin Landers was the guy at Rotary Ressurection, which is about 20mins from me.

 

goddamnit, i get both those guys confused all the time.

Did you re-use your old housings for the rebuild or buy new ones? just curious..

 

It's a wonderful feeling getting everything back together and having it actually fire up. I finished putting my engine back in on the side of the road in a monsoon (residential road). After a few glitches (CAS off by a few teeth, starter connection not tightened, forgetting I had to push the clutch in to start it) it fired right up. The "victory lap" with the hood off is certainly memorable. Especially when you forget to hook up the power brake booster...

I rebuilt it myself, and I must say the magic of the engine is really gone after doing a rebuild. Until you've ripped apart an engine, even if you know how they work they still sort of seem like a magic complex box that makes power. After having torn your engine apart and spending hours hand cleaning pieces in a basement, the "magic" of it is gone. It's just simple pieces working together to accomplish something really nifty.

Personally, I'd like to see more "Yay, my rebuilt engine works!" threads. It's very true that you only hear the bad news in forums & such - most people never post that their rebuild works fine, so searching for engine rebuild info leads to the impression that getting one to run properly again is nearly impossible. This isn't the case, but some people (including me) have been led to believe it from searching and just watching the forum.

-=Russ=-

 

I agree i would love to see more people getting there rebuilds in and running well. I'm so happy with my car. We just got about a foot and a half of snow last ngiht and today . .and let me tell you the rex doesn't like the snow that much but she did all right. anyway, the rebuild is still doing great, i have put 225 miles on it so far. I'm very impressed it's getting pretty decent gas milage. i filled it right when the engine went in and I still have a quarter of a tank left and have gone the 225 miles. if you want to do the math that's over 20 miles to the gallon. I'm so happy with this engine, I didn't realize how happy this car made me till it was off the road for 2 months.
Dom

 

^ you guys are all lucky bastards, lol. I started my rebuild two days ago and it has 2 coolant leaks and an oil leak dripping from under the turbo.

I drove it a block and it's idle'd for about 30-40 minutes total. It feels SO crappy. So weak and ghetto...

I'm gonna compression test it tonight and see what I get. It feels about as good as my N/A did after I blew an apex seal in the rear rotor.

 

did you reuse the housings and end plates, did they get machined? What kind of apex seals?

 

That's normal. It'll be weak, slow, and feel shitty for the first couple hundred miles. The more you drive the better it'll get.... hopefully

And don't be shocked if the compression is low as recent rebuilds have pretty low compression initially.

 

ya ive got 150k on my engine and i know when it blows there is no way i could rebuild it and have it run right. i just swapped my s4 intake for an s5 and its been 6 months and it still isnt idling right. if i cant get the intake right i might as well just pay to get the engine right

 

^ it's not hard. the actual "rebuilding" of the block was the easiest part of the whole process.

Wpgrexx: I reused the housings, end-plates, side-seals etc. All of the parts have 140,000 turbo miles on them... Let's just be optimistic, lol.

The new seals are all Atkins.

 

My rebuild was done at 150k miles, housings were fine so I reused them, reused my sideseals and corner seals (but with new plugs) and used RA apex seals and springs.

Car runs great, idles perfectly, no real problems except for some low oil pressure, but that'll be resolved Friday night