Aaron Cake

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OK, so I have received a number of emails from people asking "what the hell's up with your car?". It seems that a bunch think that the engine is blown, some think it's running 9s, and others are just way out to lunch. This post should help clear up any confusion, and also provide a little entertaining reading...

This years winter project is basically a continuation of last winter. There are some shortcomings in the current turbo system, and I simply want more. This, we have the following list:

-rebuild and bridgeport
-tranny rebuild (noisy bearings)
-improvements in the turbo system
-wiring/engine bay cleanup
-emissions removal

Yes, I said bridgeport. I will be doing a half bridge over the secondary intake ports, and opening up the exhaust quite a bit as well as removing those stupid diffusers.

This is a little more then a winter project. Because my spare time is very limited, I have decided to simply work slowly and continue this until roughly the summer of 2004. This will insure everything is done correctly, and not rushed. While it is not a lot of work, breaking things into 1 or two hour work periods significantly slows any progress...

So, let's get to the pictures.



First step was transmission removal. The front seal had failed, causing it to run low on fluid and contaminate the clutch. The result was a madly slipping clutch, and a noisy transmission. The clutch will be replaced with the ACT 4 or 6 puck, and the transmission is currently being rebuild by a local shop.



You can see the mark left by the leaking fluid. Filling up a tranny with Amsoil synthetic every week gets expensive...



Clutch components removed. Check out that NASTY flywheel. Definitly will need a good resurfacing. I don't want to go to a lighter flywheel due to drivability problems in traffic.



Clutch components. Totally dead.

Aaron Cake

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Time to prepare the engine for removal. Upper intake was removed to get at the wiring harness for the injectors.



Solenoid spider gone, hopefully never to be reinstalled.



Pushed the car out onto the driveway, and ready to remove the engine.



The stripped engine, all ready to be hoisted out.



Engine out of the car. Came right out. An engine hoist and an extra set of hands makes this process very easy. Thanks Snrub!

Aaron Cake

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Engine removed, various views.

Aaron Cake

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So empty. Ready for cleaning and tidying up. Plans are to deal with the mess of wiring near the battery, clean up various rust spots, and perhaps give the by a nice shot of metallic crimson paint to roughly match the rest of the car. Honestly, it's an engine bay, so the prep work will be minimal with the result a basically "presentable" job. I have no need nor desire for a show queen type finish as on the rest of the car (basically...a few problem areas due to accidents, and the interior needs some work).



The problem: how to get a 300 LBS engine down a narrow flight of staires.



That's my neighbour Art. Having a fresh brain to think over things helped greatly after a pretty long day.

Aaron Cake

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The solution: slide it down on an old toboggan. Speed was regulated by Snrub and Art slowly letting out a long rope while I walked in front of the engine and guided it down the staires. Now that I think of it, the whole process was very dangerous. Again, thanks to Snrub for putting up with me! Getting it up will be easy...I will use a winch.



It's about 7:30PM, and I have just deadlifted the engine onto the work bench. Holy back-pain batman!





The block was stripped, and moved to the floor for flywheel and front eccentric bolt removal. Oh, and the workbench was starting to collapse under the weight as well. I reinforced the bench with several 2x4s to combat this problem.



Eccentric bolt was removed, and thus the front hub and cover. Removing this bolt was easy. A 18" beaker bar was used, and the flywheel was locked in place with a piece of chain between a clutch bolt and the hoisting bracket. Bouncing a few times on the breaker bar broke the bolt loose.

Aaron Cake

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Oil pump and related drivegears removed.



Once the flywheel was removed, the engine block was relocated to the bench. Flywheel removal was not hard. The block was placed on the floor, and a 2x4 between it and a roof rafter to keep it in place. This braced the engine solidly against the floor. The monster 2 1/8" flywheel socket was used on an 18" 3/4 drive breaker bar, and a 6 foot piece of pipe was placed on the bar. A few bounces and it broke free (I should hope so, considering that arrangement would allow me to put nearly 1000 FT/LBS onto the nut!).



The 18 tension bolts were removed, and the rear iron broke loose.



Once the rear iron was removed, it was time to remove the housing and the rotor. Check out those clean innards! Remember, this is an NA engine with 250,000+ KM on it, that was boosted regularily to 10 PSI. It's taken a few hard pings as well. The housings are nearly mint, as are the irons. Show this picture to those who doubt the effictiveness of the stock metering oil pump.



Rear half totally removed. See how clean everything is. No signs of lack of oil, coolant passages in perfect shape. Though there is serious carbon on the rotor (at least a MM) that is fairly normal.

Aaron Cake

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Removing the intermediate iron. The eccentric has to be lifted up about an inch. This was accomplished by proping it up with the monster flywheel socket. Still, this is best a two person job.



Front rotor "money shot". Avatar anyone? Front half is just as good as the rear half.



The completely disassembled engine. Ready for cleaning, porting and reassembly.



Another view of the disassembled engine. That is the last pic I have so far. It is several months old now. Since then, the engine has been cleaned up in a parts washer, and is ready to be ported. Inspection shows that all parts are basically within tolerance, though there is some slight chrome flaking on the rear housing (normal) and some scratching/grooving on the rear iron (again, pretty normal).

The plan over the next few months is to streetport the ports on the intermediate housing (there is not a lot of space for porting), streetport the outer ports, and bridge above the secondary (5th and 6th) ports. The exhaust will also be opened up quite a bit.

One weird thing is that my engine seemed to lack 5th and 6th port sleeves. Some previous owner of the car removed them. Go figure. Now wonder it was always down on low end and had a slightly lopey idle...

BDoty311

Looking good, nice pics. Keep us updated.

Sen13

nice pics!

DC350

Right on aaron. Looking good

More pics more pics more pics! hehe

Ciao, Evan

Mark'sMazda

Guess we can't race at the revlution then, huh? What the hell kind of horns are those?

Aaron Cake

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No, unfortunately the car won't be done for Revolution....Not a big deal for me becuase I'd rather take my time then rush and make my trip to Revolution the break-in (*shudder*).

silverrotor

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Shame on you for using Motomaster Oil Filter. Good proposed setup Aaron. I look forwad to seeing It.

Turblown

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Cool!

Drifter101

Really nice man, good work

dr0x

Whats wrong with that?

pip

wow I had always just assumed that you did a rebuild when you did the conversion. That engine is a model for where good maintenance will get you with a rotary.

Snrub

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Absolutely nothing, it filters 92% of particles.

Aaron Cake

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Well, in the original turbo-NA conversion posts, it doesn't show that I rebuilt the engine. And nowhere did I ever mention that it was rebuilt. This is where rumours start.

Damn straight! Beat me to the reply...

Oh, BTW...Those are just generic air horns. Princess Auto, $30. Quite loud, perfect for driving around Toronto...