Re: my new project
 

Well Paul and I dig into the car a little tonight. It was a shorter experience than I was hoping for. Once we got the timing cover off we found that my oil pump is seized up. We put a 24in breaker bar on it and it wouldn't budge. So before I go any further i have some phone calls to make tomorrow and see what i can find out.

Time for me to change attitudes. Thinking positive. The crank turns over, the cams move, looking inside the valve cover there were no metal shavings, the one cam lobe we could see looked good and smooth, the tops of the pistons don't looked damaged.

So it could be worse

Re: my new project
 

Do u have ur balance shafts deleted? If so with the stub shaft or the actual race shaft?

Re: my new project
 

Yes they're deleted and I'm not sure. Whatever map uses on their stage 2 shortblock

Re: my new project
 

Hmmm ive seen a couple of those stub shafts fuck up pumps and lock up thats why all mitsus beuilt at my work get the race shaft id look into that

Re: my new project
 

That's a good idea. Something I will definitely consider

Re: my new project
 

So last weekend I pulled the oil pump. I found that it appears that the stub shaft locked up causing the oil pump to lock up. There was some metal in the oil but it was very minimal. I'm going to try and get the 1st rod and main cap pulled tonight to double check the bearings.

If the bearings are good the plan will be to replace the oil pump and put a new oem timing belt on and do a compression test and leak down test to see how the valves are doing.

Re: my new project
 

Wow that sucks. Hopefully you don't have a lot of damage.

Re: my new project
 

Yeah it is what it is. Preliminary inspections are looking promising. I'm hoping for just a T-belt and oil pump but there is a good chance there is valve damage and maybe bearings too

Re: my new project
 

So I pulled the first main cap and the #1 rod bearing cap so they could look better and they could look worse. They feel smooth when you run your fingernail across them lightly. Realistically they are probably useable. I'm not 100 percent sure what I'm going to do with them yet. Anyways on to the pics. Feel free to share your opinions on what to do with the bearings.

Re: my new project
 

I am no expert but that looks similar to ones I see online of people replacing...

Like I said, no expert and take it with a grain of salt. If you can't feel the scratches I am sure it will work but might be better off replacing I guess.

Re: my new project
 

God, bearings are one of those things that are so hard to tell the condition by pictures. You almost have to see them to tell.

Re: my new project
 

They look pretty nice I saw them I'd reuse them if it were mine

Re: my new project
 

Yeah i agree. But these only have 600 miles on them. It sucks lol. I dunno It's kind of a crap shoot right now

Yeah i agree. I dunno lol.

I just tend to be overly paranoid.

Well onto some positives. The cylinder walls look just about perfect. the rod and main journals on the crank look perfect. So i dont know what to do with the bearings right now. My overly paranoid self wants to just replace them but I don't want to pull the engine and replacing them in the car looks like a biotch to do.

Right now I'm just sick of working on the car, I'm sick of spending money on it, I'm just plain burnt out on the car right now. I just want it working . Idk I guess we'll see.

Re: my new project
 

Rod bearings are easy and cheap enough to replace, and those look a little worse from pics compared to the mains. But as goodhart said, really hard to tell from pics. Maybe check all the mains and make sure they're good and just do the rod bearings?

Re: my new project
 

That's a good idea. The rods are easy enough to replace

Re: my new project
 

The other thing I never thought of did u take one of the upper rod bearings out? There usually the ones that take the worst beating the upper rod bearings and lower mains

Re: my new project
 

From the pictures you posted, you are still on the first layer, for most of the bearing surface on all the bearings in the picture. It safe at this point to just reuse all the bearings.

Re: my new project
 

I have not. I can check the next time I'm over there

I hope so. So far quite a few people have said they are useable. So I'm either going to replace the rods and use the mains or just reuse the rods and mains for this summer then pull the engine and replace all of them next winter.

Re: my new project
 

I agree with simulated. It looks like the break in coating is worn off. Not sure what you're paranoid about. Especially if you can't feel anything with your nail.

Run a good, heavy oil if you're worried.

Re: my new project
 

paranoid that the will cause a problem. I just over think things. Bearings will be reused. And it will be using to a good heavy oil.

Anyone have any opinions on switching to synthetic before 1k miles? I'm thinking about switching to synthetic when I get it up and running. Is 625 miles too soon?

Re: my new project
 

My current motor build I ran normal oil til 3k to be safe. My first motor build I switched at like 1000.

I would go longer but I have nothing to back that up. I think Gosh told Danny at DB to try using the regular stuff longer the second time around.

Re: my new project
 

Hmm yeah map recommends 1500 miles. Most say at least 1k. I'll probably just find a good heavy conventional and run that until 1500 or so

Re: my new project
 

Valvoline VR1 non synthetic is probably your cheapest safe bet. Throw in a break in additive if you're keepin with the paranoid theme.

Re: my new project
 

Thanks! I'll check that out. I ran amsoil break in oil for the first 250 miles so right now I think I'll stick with a regular conventional.

Re: my new project
 

Re: my new project
 

That's a good read! I think I've heard about that but never actually read it. I will definitely be using one of the oils off of that chart.

Re: my new project
 

Remember when I mentioned using 50 weight V-twin stopped my rod spinning issues?

;)

Re: my new project
 

I do! And that is exactly what I'm planning on using. :-)

Re: my new project
 

VR1 racing 10-30 looks like a good buy.

Re: my new project
 

Indeed! I will worry more about oil when we are closer to starting this thing up again

Re: my new project
 

I'm still running non-synthetic VR1 20w50 in my car. All I can say is it works fine in my motor. It's relatively cheap and you can buy it pretty much anywhere.

Re: my new project
 

Good to know. I will keep this in mind.

Re: my new project
 

If you change oil enough I'd run non-synthetic.

Re: my new project
 

Well if this thing ever runs for more than 200 miles at a time I plan on changing the oil probably very 2 to 3k miles whether I stick with conventional or go synthetic.

Re: my new project
 

I'd say find a good non-syn with good zinc and phos. then if you get to that point switch.

Re: my new project
 

I hope everything goes good for ya, its crazy how similar your car looks to mine in that video.

Re: my new project
 

Thanks! That must be one nice looking car then!

Re: my new project
 

So here's a little update. Haven't done much with the car but I have an oil pump and timing belt on its way. Hopefully it will be here sometime this week. Then the plan is to put that stuff in and re-time the engine and do a compression test. The if the compression test is bad (I'm assuming it will be. I find it hard to believe there won't be bent valve) I'll do a leak down test to find out where we're losing compression. Then we'll go from there

Also once the car is ready to be fired up again before I do my going to tow it to my work and do an engine flush. My work has a machine that hooks up to the oil filter housing and where the drain plug goes and runs an oil based cleaning solution through the oiling system. Hopefully that will remove any metal left in any oil passages.

Now I just need some motivation to work on this thing lol

Re: my new project
 

Hang in there man, just think 700hp is just a few more tear downs away haha, just kidding!! Im very excited to see this beast put down, ive been following this thread for quite some time

Re: my new project
 

Haha with my luck it will be a few more tear downs before things go well for me lol. Well hopefully things go well after its back up and running! You and the people on this site have definitely helped keep motivated to keep working on this thing! Thanks!