Project Demon: Doh - the little things get me everytime

I will update this with what has been done and completed:

Completed:

-Replaced clutch
-Replaced timing belt & idlers
-Replaced HFH x 3
-Replaced Oil pump
-Replaced Water pump
-Replaced Valve Cover gaskets
-Replaced Distributor O-ring
-Replaced vacuum lines
-Replaced all rubber hoses
-Replaced Charcoal Canister
-replaced Rear & front main seals
-replaced oil pump seal
-replaced stock f/w with Jun Ultra light f/w
-VC hex bolt conversion
-replaced all the missing bolts/brackets
-rebuilt power steering pump
-replaced axle seals on trans
-Tune-up and refresh fluids
-replaced oil pan gasket
-replaced Turbo return hose
-braided clutch line
-Speed source mounts
-Extended slave cyl push rod
-shifter bushings
- Added Lotek 3 pod pillar
-Added boost/oil pressure gauges
-KO DP
- LED Knock detection mod
- Intake

Hello All,

I have been reading everyone's project threads and figured it was time to make my own. It has been cold and snowing so took a week off later in the month to tackle the items below... that and not have to worry about waking up at 3:30 am the next morning to go to work

Current plans:

Replace the following:

-Replace clutch
-Replace timing belt & idlers
-Replace HFH x 3
-Replace Oil pump
-Replace Water pump
-Replace Valve Cover gaskets
-Replace Distributor O-ring
-Replace vacuum lines
-Replace all rubber hoses
-Replace Charcoal Canister
-replace Rear & front main seals
-replace oil pump seal
-replace stock f/w with Jun Ultra light f/w
-VC hex bolt conversion
-replace all the missing bolts/brackets
-rebuild/renew power steering pump
-replace axle seals on trans
-Tune-up and refresh fluids
-replace oil pan gasket
-replace Turbo return hose
-braided clutch line
-Speed soruce mounts
-Extended slave cyl push rod
-shifter bushings


Future plans:

A/F guages
Motoria exhaust
New rims
re-tint the windows

Future Future plans:

V6 conversion
'01 1mz-fe
'04 Rav4 trans/xfer
add forced induction

OR

GT3071 .63 a/r
Hydra EMS (since KO is local)
Aeromotive FPR
Wolfkatz rail (preferably top feed)
Walboro or supra pump
264 or 268 cams - leaning more towards 264
cam gears
Intake Manifold
FMIC/exhaust goes without saying
Block/head will be freshly rebuilt
800cc injectors (top feed)


So I have been hording parts and picking up deals here and there for the 'trac.

So far the parts sitting in my garage/around the house:

Jun lightened flywheel freshly turned - this & the clutch were a steal

Clutchmasters FX300

T-belt & idlers
Front & rear main seals
Hoses from hell

MR2 BPV

AFM extender


As some of you know the girlfriend and I have been focusing on some credit card debt of hers so the 'trac has been on the back burner for a while. For my birthday she got me the dealership parts with a homemade card that is priceless (sorry for the owner of the alltrac pictured - hope you don't mind she found it on the internet)

front page

second page


Couldn't help but laugh. My parents got me another gift I have been needing for a while (ain't the best, but it will do just fine):


I also finally brought some of the other equipment/parts that had been sitting at the parents house:



You would be amazed how much you can fit in the trunk of my galant.....
5s block, 2 heads, engine stand, a couple heaters, car ramps, misc tools and the ever faithful skateboard.

Here my 'trac is the day I bought her:



Here is where she has been sitting for longer than I had intended:




I have the BGBs and my little notebook with notes of items that will need to be addressed.... oil sending unit missing, but oil pressure light not on? (previous owner had aftermarket oil press guage hooked up); charcoal canister hose on bottom poorly siliconed with orange gasket; various routing diagrams so that way once it goes back together there should be minimal issues.


So that is the start of it, hopefully it makes some sense, in case you can't tell I couldn't stay focused too well.


-Terracar :smokes:

yay! tear-a-car has a project thread now to read up on!

i'm not familiar with that one motor you have laying around, is that the 5s block?

haha makes me laugh that you got it on a skate board lol

i look forward to more updates buddy!

Yeah the two in the foreground are 5sfes and the one in the background is a complete 3sgte - it is using both my movers so the trusty backup had to step in. :evil:

Hoping to have the motor dropped this evening - just have to disconnect the driveline and the last two mounts and presto. Hoping it doesn't get much colder - hovering around 40 degrees right now - almost not worth it to wrench.

-Terracar

You just gave me an AWSOME idea for what to use my skateboard for ! lol thats awsome .. whats the specs on the tank ? .. im using a moderate one dont know how it compares but it has yet to let me down ..

17 gal.
1.1 hp pump
oil free
3.3scfm@90psi
4.3scfm@40psi

5 tools i have impact gun , air ratchet , die grinder , 90o die grinder ,and 90o air drill .

Just a cheap one from Harbor freight

26 gallon
4hp oiless
4scfm@90psi
6scfm@40psi

Haven't stocked up on air tools yet - I just borrow them from my dad for now.

-Terracar

Well I got an hour of free time and the garage was somewhat bearable. The motor is ready to be dropped - just have to convince the g/f to give up her garage parking for a day or two.

A few pics (not much), pulled the bumper cover off - it will need to be re-painted on the bottom and perhaps a strip of aluminum strapping to allow the bolts to hold the bottom of the bumper - the holes have all broke. Was also missing some of the pieces that secure the bumper cover to the support.

Will need to sand and paint the bumper support with some por or rustoleum to prevent the surface rust from getting any worse. Also found a few things that I am not happy about - pulled the plastic piece from the PS pump and reallized the bolt hole on the tranny right there was busted - doesn't appear to be a big deal - but always hate that. Found some missing bolts in the fender so that explains some of the rattles - easy fixes . Oh and broke the middle tab on the fake CF grill piece; still have them so hoping to be able to fix it without any probs.

After mentioning the part from the Ps pump - you know the one I put in the "special spot" so that it won't get broken by mistake - yeah now I have no clue where the spot is... just looked and can't find it..... hopefully it will reappear before I put the motor back in lol.

Rattles - gotta love them



Busted holes - think this was a design flaw in the ST18x bumper



Lil bit of surface rust on the support - should be an easy fix.



-Terracar

lol nice MS paint pics, keep up the good work bro

and what fake Carbon Fiber piece are u talking about?

Well I had wanted to drop the engine tonight, but ended up working on a friends '07 taurus and doing some overdue maintenance since he is clueless about cars. It just smashed any notion that people have said the newer ford cars were any better than before - they rank right up with GM cars (most midsize & smaller)- crap, cheaply built, afraid it will blow up on me POS.

I did finally grab a scale to weigh the Jun flywheel since the guy who sold it to me was unsure if it was the Ultra or just the lightened. Happy to say it is the Ultra light weighing in at 10.2 lbs

OH! OH ! and I almost forgot my B-day gift finally arrived - and they/it Fing ROCKS. (Yeah I am stoked)

Here you can see the lot of the items (and you can see the chairs that I was refinishing earlier last year in the background)

A better shot of them



and the stickas - yeah can't really tell but they are teh alltrac.net decals 8,10, 12 inchers - not sure where they are all going to go yet, but will figure it out sooner or later.




-Terracar

haha yeah the white pieces of paper really are decals... :roll:

haha jk...i guess its hard to take pic's of those suckers, nice beer glasses btw

and 10.2!!! very very nice! i want a lightweight flywheel so bad!! how much did u spend on yours??

I picked up this one for $50. Once in a while a few good deals come across on the MR2.com or MR2oc.com boards and you can talk them down.



-Terracar

that is fucking cool man(pardon my french) but that is a deal right there! if u spot another one lemme know :wink:

Well it was decent out today and now that I no longer have 5 kids "vacationing at my place I can get away to my own paradise - the garage .

Dropped the motor today and as I suspsected a spring blew out of the clutch plate. I was a little pissed off as it turns out the former owner or previous mechanic stripped the alternator lift hook bolt threads in the head out. I used the Alternator bolt as the attachment point - it held better than I thought as it did not flex one bit - this was my weak link so I kept a constant eye on it.

Ever since the first Clutchmaster clutch I purchased i always wondered if they weighed more than the stock clutch - my concern was that even with a lightened flywheel the heavier clutch would basically equal the stock setup; well I am happy to report the worn "stock" clutch weighs 14.2 lbs and the "new" clutchmasters FX300 weighs in at 14.2 as well! So if wear is taken into account the stock clutch just might weigh a tenth or two of a pound heavier than a FX300. Couple that with a Ultralight Jun flywheel - it brings the new clutch setup in at 24.4lbs vs the stocker at 29.5lbs +/-. So roughly a 5 lbs savings at the flywheel - decent enough for me. Granted the actually effect may vary since where the weight is removed makes a difference in the rotational mass removal (if more is removed from outer edge vs inner edge).

As for brand of the "stock" clutch I am unsure I am unable to locate any marker identifying it - so I assume it was replaced with a generic aftermarket clutch at some point in it's life. I would really like to find out as this brand appears to not be a very good one. All the springs were loose in their perches with two of them having the "tabs" that held them in place broke; at least three of the ones left in the clutch plate were making contact with the pressure plate.


I do have to say that the tranny bolt behind the transfer case is a beotch! - I have broken all my flexible extensions and my 14mm flexible socket is lost - so had to resort to a wrench - kind of nerve racking with both motor and tranny in the air and your arm below. Was originally resting my head on the leg of the engine hoist then the mental image of a freak accident where the bolt head breaks and the tranny flys off of the output shaft and lands on my head severing it from the rest of my body 9or the hoist completely failed) - then I decided a broken forearm would be better and switched positions.

Here are some pics of today:

Dropping the engine




Getting high with the engine removed



Engine and tranny on the move



Engine and tranny on the breakaway aka divorced



I have been sprung!




Springs wearing on the the pp fingers




Some of the broken tabs and wear on the springs



Stock clutch on the scale



CM clutch on the scale




So now that I am officially done with dropping the motor, I need to get it up on the stand and cleaned - both the engine and tranny are worse than I thought. If you thought Darthriply/Justjoe's were bad - oil is pooled on the tranny - not sure if it is from the MBC or if it is from the distributor as both are covered in oil. So I will be ordering a kbox dist rebuild kit.

After careful review of my funds and after a few unexpected vetrinarian visits (roughly $400 more than expected - damn my pets are lucky they are cute and lovable) I have elected to hold off on the oil/water pump. Oil pump I can check wear on so waiting to check that before ordering it. The water pump I will most likely replace anyways but at this point want to get a few other things done. Will get pics up of the nastiness that is my motor tomorrow. Even the cam seals appear to be leaking as the lower half of the upper timing belt cover is saturated in oil - glad I ordered the cam seals.

At this point tear down and clean up will begin tomorrow - hopefully will be as nice of a day as today.

Now to go refill my drink as the vodka is now gone and the rum - so much for another bloody mary. At least I have tequila, jagermeister, and most of a half rack of Blue Moons left. I have to live it up during my week long vacation - it is already Tues.

More to come

-Terracar

haha you certainly are living it up on ur vacay, damn wish i had a week off, stupid servers never gimme a rest, that or the people who think its a good idea to watch porn at work :doh: ...ugh.

but yeah but to the point, your posts are starting to look like mine, nice and visually photographed/documented! haha but it is always such a rewarding feeling getting that engine out finally lol....granted i have only done it once but still never will forget, and then getting the engine back in...ahh...the memories. lol

still wicked jealous of that flywheel. :roll: hehe

those clutchs are lighter than i expected...hmm thats kinda cool to know their exact weight

well keep up the good work bro! look forward to seeing more progress!

wow looks like your oil leaks are even worse than ours!

your distributor is definitely in need of a rebuild seeing all the oil everywhere on that side of the motor.

has the valve cover gasket(s) been replaced?
since you have to do the cam seals you would want to do the v.c. gaskets at the same time.

your cam seals were leaking more than ours too - ouch :shoots:
be sure to check around the oil pump pulley as well ... there is a seal behind it (looks like a smaller cam seal) & a seperate gasket that goes to the smaller part of the oil pump that you can remove without removing the whole oil pump (hope that makes sense)

if you replace the water pump be sure to also replace o-rings that go in the backside of the housing. these are only a few bux a piece.

if you need any help with part numbers just PM Joe since we've ordered so many silly seals, gaskets & o-rings recently.

the Jun flywheel is very pretty - congrats on a great deal

good luck with all the cleaning up, that's an exhausting job onto itself.

darthripley":16yo5o2m said:

wow looks like your oil leaks are even worse than ours!

your distributor is definitely in need of a rebuild seeing all the oil everywhere on that side of the motor.

has the valve cover gasket(s) been replaced?
since you have to do the cam seals you would want to do the v.c. gaskets at the same time.

your cam seals were leaking more than ours too - ouch :shoots:
be sure to check around the oil pump pulley as well ... there is a seal behind it (looks like a smaller cam seal) & a seperate gasket that goes to the smaller part of the oil pump that you can remove without removing the whole oil pump (hope that makes sense)

if you replace the water pump be sure to also replace o-rings that go in the backside of the housing. these are only a few bux a piece.

if you need any help with part numbers just PM Joe since we've ordered so many silly seals, gaskets & o-rings recently.

the Jun flywheel is very pretty - congrats on a great deal

good luck with all the cleaning up, that's an exhausting job onto itself.

Click to expand...

Yeah I was surprised at the amount of leaks. Forgot to update my parts list - I have the VC and plug tube gaskets on the coffee table with the seals for the oil pump, cams seals, and distributor seal - want to check it before I "replace it just for replacement sake" since they really don't fail too often. After reviewing it yeah I am going to need to pull the pump and replace the gasket behind it as well I think - that whole area looks really bad.

Well got around to putting the motor on the stand - what a pita - the stand couldn't be worse for positioning - had to have the engine pushed far to one side just to get it moderately close to lining the braket up with the stand - wasn't just a slide in and done kind of job.

Flywheel - sucks when doing it solo. Interestingly enough I weighed my stock flywheel and it came in at a portly 16.4 lbs.


A few things of note, my TVIS vacuum line was not on the actuator and hasn't been for sometime - put it on to check if it held and by the previous dirt built up on it - yeah looks like it was forgotten at some point.




Oh and LegoDan - the fake CF piece I was talking about - no not a big break - but still a but annoying the little tab broke




A concern - see the pics below - found this part on the ground (appears to be soaked in oil) it is very small (see pic next to wire connector for comparison) it appears to be brass - no clue what/where it came from. Can anyone shed some light on what it is or does??






and here is some pics of the motor/engine bay

















more grime






All in all making decent progress for doing it one man since my friends are all working or in Iraq. My vacation has basically been me taking care of my sick g/f since she has a nasty flu/cold - so that has been seriously cutting in to my sitting on my lazy ass watching tv drinking a beer and tinkering in the garage when it warms up time. The days are nice and sunny but cold as hell. A little frosty at 6 in the morning - usually doesn't burn off until 12ish.




I started dismantling the engine but haven't got pics yet so those will most likely be up tomorrow since I will probably get ancy waiting for it to warm up and snap a bunch of photos. Seriously sucks wearing long johns and thermal shirts under coveralls and gloves under the latex gloves.

Although I must ask Darthripley & Justjoe - any tips for removing the sludge? I have purple Hd degreaser. stiff bristle brushes and an assortment of scrapers/rags.

Well time to putz around ont eh computer before I head to bed.

-Terracar

first off, may i say, damn! you have taken well after me and my extreme photograph amounts! keep it up! i have learned that they make excellent references for the future and remembering how things are set up in the engine, so that when u have the engine in the car and u need to get an idea of what to feel around(cuz its pretty damn hard to actually "see") for, you can just pop up a few pics and you are good to go

the pine needles crack me up on ur tranny, did the prior owner have this car under a tree with the hood open all the time? lol

i have seen the mystery part before, i know i have, but i cant even remember if it is car related or not....but i know i have seen one before, it looks an aweful like a spray nozzle of some sorts...hmmmm

you have some serious grim clean up to do, but once u get it done, u will DEF thank yourself in the future, i know i was fuck it i dont want to do this but then i was like i'm sure i will be thankful in the future, and hell i was right lol

yeah and frost sux nuts. i hate it. makes me miserable in the morning. ugh.

i have used this stuff before (and currently) on cleaning up grim on my motors, works well for me, i run out of the stuff fast and makes ur hands smell like diesel/kerosene/oranges for a like a long time but it gets the job done for me....

not sure but that mystery part kinda looks like one of the brass shifter linkage upgrades. check your shifter cables and see if theres one missing.

we have a little campbell hausfield auto steam cleaner that works pretty well on some grime, just filled with water only. i got it on sale before we did the 4agze swap & it's really come in handy.

i've used that gunk degreaser, 409 & just about any other kind of degreaser you can think of & they all work to a point.
i recently got some all natural non-harmful to the earth cleaner at the store on clearance & it honestly works pretty damn good, better than 409 or easy off lol.
simple green isn't bad for just plain dirt but doesn't cut the oil too hot.

unfortunately you're just going to have to scrape with a dull utility knife, use lots of cheapo harbor freight wire bristle brushes & scrub the grime off with rags especially where it's caked on.
it's the most tedious & exhausting part of the job, but worth it in the end.

oh & btw looks like your oil cooler is leaking ... we had that leak before too :shoots:

are you going to replace the rear main seal?

From that one shot it almost looks like the power steering pump or lines are leaking as well . i havnt seen a mess like that since the seals for my camshafts/oilpump and water pump all went at the same time. best of luck

Well I apologize for the lack of updates, but not much has happened since I last updated. My week of consisted of caring for the g/f until thursday, spending time with the little brother on friday, wishing my best friend a safe trip to Alaska, and wish another good friend a happy birthday and celebrating with a guys night.

Well the updates I do have are as follows...

Monday:

Ordered more gaskets/misc stuff then headed out to the garage.

Yesterday after examining how to change the HFH I decided it will be best accomplished by removing the turbo. So I have it ready to drop and realize I don't have a wrench large enough to loosen the oil line that connects to the block. I wasn't about to chance it with an adjustable wrench - I tested it once and it didn't want to budge.

So down to the Sears I went for the single purpose of getting a 27mm wrench. Well a 27mm wrench, a set of 6pt sockets, a 1/2"-3/8" adapter, a bottle of air tool oil, and a replacement ratchet later I arrive home, happy to note that my guesstimation on the wrench size was perfect. I tried to get a pic of the wrench as this thing is 14"+ long, but can't get it to come out decent. So I dropped the turbo, happy that no bolts broke (knock on wood). Also noting that half of the turbo/DP brackets were missing the bolts.



So I realize I cannot get the wire harness off from either end of the motor without removing the intake manifold. So off it comes after taking a plethora of pics to show all routings/connections/vacuum lines/etc. WOW not sure where the oil cam from, but TVIS runners are filled with oil - hmm odd, as upper intake manifold is a nice dry coating of blackness, nothing like the flooding in the lower part. So I pull those off as well - need to clean even more YAY.




Since it was cold and late at this point in time I retired to the kitchen to enjoy a victory dinner satisfied that the project was well on the way.

Tuesday

I get home after hearing the news that my mom was in a car accident (she is fine - nothing too big, but dad's new car is in the shop with the right front suspension needing to be completely redone and possible tranny work) and decide I want to tear down the timing belt pulleys, cam gears etc.

So I get to it - removed the crank pulley, removed lower timing cover find that previous person who worked sheared the sheet metal that the cover bolts to apart so I had to nust out my curved needle nose pliers to hold it and prevent any further damage.

Start removing the idlers - Remove idler #1 - smooth as butter, can tell the bolt has loctite on it, but not biggie; Remove idler #2 again smooth as butter; remove the tensioner.... well apparently the last time the timing belt was done the person/shop stripped one of the bolt holes in the head that holds the tensioner on - Solution - drill it out and use a nut and bolt, oh and made sure to use a long enough bolt that it bent because of the curves in the head making it even harder to remove.



Tried removing the cam gears - stuck, don't have a 15/16" wrench -(brother borrowed some wrenchs and must have that one, since I had it before)- to hold the cams, only an adjustable wrench, but can't get enough leverage to hold the adjustable. I don't want to risk damaging the head by letting the head hold the wrench so I will up another new wrench since I called my bro and he can't find half the wrenches he borrowed.




So after a long day of hell at work, I decide I will finish the night by removing the valve cover. I was worried that either it will be a nice clean head view or one from total hell. Well turns out it wasn't too bad with no gunk build up in the galleys, just the browning - sigh of relief.



So I am waiting for the 70+ photos to upload while I am writing this so I think photobucket is going to cut me off pretty soon. Don't worry not going to put them all up here, just the pertinent ones. Most are for my reference.

I got sniped on the MROC on a KO DP too - had it all lined up for $100 and got sniped. Bastards!

A good thing is will have my accountant do my taxes tomorrow and should be getting a decent return. Bad part is half is going to g/f to finish paying off another credit card and the other half I plan on paying off my snowmobile. Either that or I might invest in some coilovers and maybe an exhaust or a CT27 and an exhaust - but think I would rather the t3/t4 if I went with an upgrade. Either way it needs to get on the road first - lol. At least now I have a few mroe things to dream about .

Enjoy for now.

-Terracar