1991 RC recovery mission - "Rebel Scum"

underscore

Well-known member
I tossed in a new reverse-pole Civic battery and took it for a drive, I've also ground the balljoints down a fair bit now so I've nearly eliminated the contact with the brake rotors near lock so hopefully I'll be able to AutoX the car this week. I stumbled across the alternator cooling duct so I put it back to protect the new alt as well.

Also I pulled the System 10 amp since only some of the speakers worked and not overly well, and it turns out the RC and select JDM GTFours came with a different amp than all the others, so the two spares I have are now useless to me. I popped it apart and some caps are definitely fried so we'll see if I can refresh it a bit.
 

underscore

Well-known member
I've got a bit of a to-do list on the car this winter when I pull the motor, so I'm posting it here to keep track of stuff

- Thermal coat hot side of turbo, downpipe, manifold
- Relocate fog lights
- Clutch
- Cams
- Oil cooler/filter relocation
- Meth kit
- Launch controller
- Shifter bushings
- Clutch line
- Clean/match fuel injectors

Need to buy parts for:
- Replace turbo oil lines viewtopic.php?t=14032&start=30
- Rebuild PS system viewtopic.php?t=30077 P/N 04446-35050, viewtopic.php?t=28221
- Rebuild brake master
- Timing belt
- Water pump P/N 16110-79115
- 98+ oil pump P/N 15100-74030
- Lower grille mesh P/N 53102-20030
- Gauges
- Clutch master/slave
- ABS delete viewtopic.php?t=32688
- Inner/outer tie rods
- Vacuum lines
- Coolant lines
- Rear caliper rebuild
- Gasket kit (main seals, etc)
- Sensors

Questions:
- For the non-pressurized PS lines, Toyota doesn't seem to list a P/N. Is there a generic type of hose I can use? A few of them seem to be weeping out the ends.
- Where's the best place to get a mostly complete gasket kit?
 

underscore

Well-known member
Some of the stuff isn't as much of a priority, but I don't want to deal with pulling the engine more than I have to so I figure I may as well get as much of the stuff in there done in one shot as possible. I've only got the next three and a bit months to do it in though so I'll need to hustle.
 

Redswan

New member
Dude, your car is awesome! I am trying to do the same thing for mine with restoring it and and installing as much OEM stuff as I can, Great work.
 

underscore

Well-known member
After contemplating a bunch of stuff I decided that putting only 6000km on the car in 4 years wasn't acceptable and that I don't have the time to get the car to where I want it in the timeframe I want it done in, so I brought the car down to my buddy Kyle at Classified Motorsports to get most of the work listed above taken care of. It's going to get dyno'd before and after doing everything so we'll get some solid data on the impact of the 3g cam upgrade + exhaust timing adjustment.
 

underscore

Well-known member
After some hiccups we got the car on the dyno today for a few pre-mod pulls, it peaked at 202.8 FWHP @ 5850 RPM, 191.1 ft•lbs @ 5400 RPM, at 13.1 psi with no load. With 10% load and a little bit of heatsoak it hit 199.7 FWHP @ 5800 RPM, 187.3 ft•lbs @ 5600 RPM, at 12.4 PSI. We sprayed the intercooler a bit and hit 200.0 FWHP @ 6000 RPM, 180.6 ft•lbs @ 5550 RPM, at 11.9 psi and again at 10% load.

According to the dyno that last run works out to 230HP/207.7ft•lbs at the crank, which is not bad all things considered. The teardown begins next week and then we'll see how it does with the new cams and timing adjustments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz-V-iSqnbw

The no load runs, I'll have to scan the sheet of the 10% load pulls but they give you an idea of the curve.

10633145_10155415899955193_1376161135119521516_o.jpg
 

underscore

Well-known member
So the shop has the drivetrain pulled, we're replacing all the gaskets, hoses, pumps, etc and they're wondering if I want to do the headgasket and studs as well since it's already this far apart. I'm thinking if the head is coming off I should probably do the rings and bearings as well, but this motor only has 180k on it and perfect compression. I don't really want to crack open a perfectly good motor but at the same time I'd hate to have it pop something right after all this work.

Thoughts? It'll be getting driven fairly hard but only at stock boost, with scramble to 16psi on the stock turbo.
 

CSAlltrac

New member
You're already this far, I would either do a full rebuild or get a low mileage engine to do all the basic items and head studs.
 

underscore

Well-known member
That's what I figured as well, it's going to the machine shop today or tomorrow to be torn apart and checked out. Depending on what they find it'll either be some bearings and rings or all new rods, pistons, etc. I'm hoping for the former as I'd prefer to stick to OEM parts but the machining costs for some of them could reach nearly as high as forged parts.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Alright now I'm in a sticky spot, the machine shop has the original RC engine and supposedly they started tearing it apart today. Now a friend of mine who owns a performance autowreckers just got in a JDM MR2 that was in a front end crash, 101k kms on it and 180-185 psi across the board, has a sticker for a timing belt change at 89k. He's asking less for the longblock with the oil cooler than what forged pistons alone would cost me if my original engine has to get bored out. I'm really tempted to grab this and just chuck my head on it with a TRD headgasket and some ARP studs and call it done (maybe rings/bearings too) since I'm not too keen to spend a pile of money on forged parts that are way beyond my goals.

Thoughts?
 

entrax

Member
underscore":2t5elui6 said:
Alright now I'm in a sticky spot, the machine shop has the original RC engine and supposedly they started tearing it apart today. Now a friend of mine who owns a performance autowreckers just got in a JDM MR2 that was in a front end crash, 101k kms on it and 180-185 psi across the board, has a sticker for a timing belt change at 89k. He's asking less for the longblock with the oil cooler than what forged pistons alone would cost me if my original engine has to get bored out. I'm really tempted to grab this and just chuck my head on it with a TRD headgasket and some ARP studs and call it done (maybe rings/bearings too) since I'm not too keen to spend a pile of money on forged parts that are way beyond my goals.

Thoughts?

depends which jdm mr2. if 93+, still keep in mind that it does have 100k of use on it.
maybe put the jdm motor in, just do a minor maintenance on it, all seals/gaskets etc, then build up your RC motor over time with quality parts while keeping the budget workable. with the jdm motor at good compression, i wouldn't even take off the head...save the trd HG and ARPs for your RC motor..
 

Dan McBoost

Member
underscore":omhemdxr said:
Coilovers are in my living room! I almost don't want to install them because of how clean and shiny they are haha

Which coilovers? The photos are not working.

Car looks great as well man!
 

underscore

Well-known member
Thanks! Looks like photobucket went and blew up everyones links a while back, they're BC Racing RAM Type. They aren't perfect but they suit my needs quite well.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Alright so the machine shop finally pulled everything apart, the good news is the crank doesn't need any work, bad news is according to them I need valves and springs. I really didn't want to touch the valves since that means machining the valve seats, and the RC seats are different from regular 185's so this is no bueno for my goal of keeping all the RC-specific stuff intact. I should be hearing back today on what the cylinders look like since I'd prefer to stick with the OEM internals and just do bearings and rings if I can.

Fingers crossed.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Did more digging and new valves should be okay with my restrictions, the machine shop finally checked the bores and there's some taper (not surprising after 186k) so we went ahead and ordered the following:

Brian Crower valves, springs, guides and keepers
Mahle pistons
ARP head studs
crank and conrod bearings

Crank and rods show no signs of wear or damage so they'll stay OEM. New brake lines for the ABS delete are also on order, so far the most urgently missing piece left is the ORC throwout bearing.
 
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