BASSNIANO

Before I begin with questions I'd like to say few things. I am new here and very happy to be part of such a great club. Have been on this web side few times in the past but now i can finaly join since i got my love. Plesure is all mine to be here sharing thoughts. I am looking forward to wondefull times with my baby that I call "MIRA", great discutions, and bringing the true beauty out of my love. Little about her. Mira is 1987 t2 that has been to hell but soon to be restored. I bought it here in upstate New York with no engine or trany( blown by previous owner than sold). The body is in great shape. New pain job and not even buffed out yet . She is beautifull already but needs a lot of work. I will post some pics of her asap. Couldn't take full shots just yet because of her location.
I guess this is where my first question comes in. Plans are to fit Mira with j-spec t2 long block and trany. Should I go with s4 or s5 engine? Future plans are to add aftermarker turbo, front mount intercooler, more fuel, engine managment ,etc, and hopefully push 350-450 horses to the wheels. Furdermore her engine bay is very dirty . It's oil from turbo I think and it's almost like glue on there. What can I clean this with? Again thanks for your help and all of the future assistance. Please help me save her. One fc3s at the time we can do it together. I have all winter to fix Mira and will need the help of this team. Thank you once again.

rotary downshift

i personaly would recoment the s5 motor only because its from an s 5 ... that says it all ... s4's are great but the all around quality of an s5 is better .. for performance anyways .. witch from what i can tell is what ur looking for ... so thats my opinion .. but hey ... to each is own

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

Cool, sounds like a fun project.

I don't know for sure which series you want since I'm not a turbo guy, but the S5 turbos seem to be in pretty high demand and should be a bit more refined then the S4 powerplant but one of the turbo guys will have to give you a definate answer there.

The oil stuff can be a pain. I had a similiar problem because one of my oil cooler lines was leaking and over the last 10 years it must've been dripping it left a pretty hefty coating.

I got it out by covering all the electrical things (you'll probably be taking all that out to get it restored bit by bit anyways) then using a foaming de-greaser on everything. I let it sit for awhile and sprayed it out w/ my hose on the jet setting. After a couple of passes everything was all clean and sparkly again.

BASSNIANO

WOW. Hey thank you for such a quick responce. I was thinking s5 is the better choice also, but someone told me that s4 engines are better when you port them and upgrade seals. I guess something about the rotors being better in s4??????? The oil problem is deffenatly going to be anoying job.

rotary downshift

the only reason the s 4 engins internals would appear to be better is because its a lower compression engine it runs cooler and all that other less hp stuff ... its like any engine the lesser the power and compression the stronger the components will appear ... i learmed a little saying when i was younger and it has proven to be true more often than not ...... "no matter what uve got it will only perform as well as ur worst peice of equipment" ... that apply to any machine particularly drivetrain or power train .. and especialy anything electricle ... forgive the spelling lol ... but yes .. an s4 engine would probably be the cheaper bet but the s5 would be the i guess most hp for ur buck id think neways

SpiffyD

well if your going to rebuild the engine or swap it then before would you just clean the whole engine bay before putting in the new engine? but ya S5 welcome to the club and im pretty sure you can achieve your HP goal with a upgraded turbo and fmic

BASSNIANO

you know i was thinking of painting engine bay in gloss black to make engine stand out more later on ( u know polished pices,etc) but i would still have to clean it first. i can't seem to get these pics up of the bay area ( it keeps saying it's too big) but the oil coat is thick it's like glue . i hate it . i'll try few of the products to desolve it but i'm afraid for the paint. then again who knows what is under there

rotary downshift

if ur woried about theo crazy solvents then just get some hot *** water ... a compressor and some dish soap ... and ull be doing fine .... after all its just oil ... and if ur thinking of repainting then dont worie about the engine bay ... blast the **** outa it with some water ..

Schmitty

iTrader: (11)

Sweet Deal... Where are you located in CNY?

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Here's a good site to help you with your decision on whether to switch series or not: http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/ Hit up the "tech" section. There's write ups on both swaps, so you can decide what you want to get into.

I can help you with the bodywork side:

Since the engine is out anyway, now is the PRIME time to paint/prep the engine bay. Here's what you want to do:
-Remove anything you can from the engine bay. Radiators, fuse boxes, battery tray, EVERYTHING. Go to an eletrical supply store, and buy a roll of "numbers".. they're about 10 bucks, but it's 10 small rolls of numbers, that you can rip off and stick to the elctrical connections, so when you put it back together, you'll be able to remember where thigns went. Any bolt that you take out of the bay, put in a ziplock bag labelled with where it came from " passanger side - firewall forward, firewall, radiator forward" etc..

-Now, since you're planning on respraying it, don't worry about using something "too harsh".. MAKE SURE YOU MASK THE QUARTERPANELS AND SURROUNDING AREAS.. I don't know if that went through okay, so lemme try that again for clarity: MAKE SURE YOU MASK THE QUARTERPANELS AND SURROUNDING AREAS. Now, go get some industrial grease and grime remover. The good stuff. Scrub that **** in, and really nail it.. Get it all off. If you take some paint with it, "meh".

-use some rough sand paper (like 150 grit), and soth brite pads to scoff up the surface good. Use a high quality rattle can paint (I'm assuming you're rattle-canning it, which looks great for engine bays), like Rustoleum. You buy the $1.50 can of paint, you get the $1.50 worth of finish. Prime the whole thing as well as you can, probably using two coats. After that, at least two layers of your choice color, and then at least two layers of clearcoat.

This should hold up for years, and be rather resistant to grease and oil, after it sits for a week or more.

Welcome to the club.