Project D - 1 DEC 2007

I want the sx parts that wont break and doesnt rattle of ur old motor.
Mine just went booooooooooooooom
😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢

Charl sorry to hear about your motor... 🙁

On a different note... I managed to finish mine today

Its actually been complete since Monday, I have just been finishing off small little issues and things, and these little things take time.

Firstly I was advised by JR Cylinder head services to bleed my lifters before putting them back in, the reason being that I might not be able to get decent compression with rock solid lifters. I reused my old lifters from my Jap engine as they where in a good nic.

Bleeding lifters is actually very simple but a very timely process. First you need a bench vice, a nice socket that will fit behind the lifter and a piece of wood to protect the face of the lifter, what you do is you slowly compress the lifter in the vice to squeeze out the oil, this have to be repeated a couple of times, and you will find when releasing the vice the lifter will compress again with oil... I found that shaking most of the oil out first, and then squeezing is way faster... It takes about 10min a lifter 😉

Slowly bleeding the lifter

After bleeding the lifters its good to refill them with fresh oil, to do this you heat some oil up and you place the lifters in the hot oil, they will then soak up the oil and wont be so noisy when you put them back in, or for such a long period. I heard that it can take up to 50km for them to become quiet.

Cam belt on, all aligned perfectly, check if you can spot a very important missing part (we all use it very often) this required me to remove all the belts and pulley's again 😢

After the cams where in, I got to put my turbo on, now with the new manifold I ran into a small problem. I never actually thought about it, but the new manifold didn't have any studs to mount the turbo on. I went to 2 bolt & nut places close to me to source some studs and both where out of stock :x This really stuffed me around, I then tried removing the studs from the old manifold, I only succeeded with two, the rest of them where in just too tight. My last resort made my own. I had some 8mm threaded rod so I made 4 x 35mm studs.

The new studs I made 8mm thread and 35mm long

The manifold from Rezlo is already tapped so it was easy just to bolt in the new studs. I then ran into another problem... The tapped holes in the manifold where skew 😈 So the turbo wouldn't go on with a straight fit. Some action with a hammer and I bent my studs into position 🙄

With the turbo in place I could fit my braided hoses, again not so easy they where all custom and some of them where a little tight, but after squeezing here and there they fitted nicely.

Turbo in place, and the braided hoses

The engine is now 99% done, I need to add some very small things, this will be done at a later stage, I need to get working on the engine bay and the front suspension bushes.

Completed engine

I have noted something about this post, is that there isn't any negative feedback or advice for me... Does that mean everything I'm doing is correct :?: If you do have advice or point out problems please do so... I won't take offense 😀

Merry Christmas, I'll be way busy with the car next week, so more to come soon

If i see correctly from the picture, I notice your oil pipes for your turbo are horizontle. I was told that it has go in from the top othrwise there isnt enough lubrication.

So when I had my turbo off recently doing the gaskets, I took the bolts out the turbo and swivled the centre piece of my(not stock, but yours should be able to do it to) turbo, so now my oil feed is at the top. it was about 45 degrees before. When my air gets dumped now, it sounds very different. Not shure if its because of this, or if I just nocked some dirt out the dumpvalve. Even so. I feel more confident about the turbo lubrication.

I'd say ur work is excelent. what amazed me most is ur sand blasting box. That was realy cool to me, building and doing it yourself. it might not be such a big thing, byt you've got my respect!!! keep it up!

Charl wrote:

If i see correctly from the picture, I notice your oil pipes for your turbo are horizontle. I was told that it has go in from the top othrwise there isnt enough lubrication.

Those pipes u see there is the water pipes not the oil 1's. The oil pipes are vertical and must still be fitted.

If you look on the side of the lifter there is a small hole inside this hole is a one way valve which consists of a little ball and spring. If you take a thin piece of wire and GENTLY push it into the hole it will allow you to compress the lifter with your fingers and let the mucky oil oit.

It will also allow the new oil in easily without heating,however you DO NOT want to completely fill the lifter with oil as it will hold the valves off the seat and if you rotate the engine immediately after fitting the cams you can bend valves.

Do not ever reuse exhaust studs on a turbo exhaust manifold.
Those studs you made are going to snap gauranteed. The metal is crap quality and by bending them you stressed them. With heat cycles they will snap.

Remove the manifold and tap the threads so the studs are correctly aligned you can also drill the turbo holes slightly bigger. There is a lot of expansion and contraction especially with stainless steel so a tight fit is a no no.

Get some decent quality studs Wurth comes to mind and make sure you copaslip all the threads when assembling. This way the nuts will come off relatively easily.

The above is the difference between no comeback and stripping the thing 4 times before its right.

I was also advised by my Cyl-Head guy to bleed off the lifters. I found the hole on the side but by inserting a nice sized needle I could not feel anything like a ball or something springy. It just goes in and I can even jiggle it around. So back to the same method in the vice. I have however found a way of doing two at the same time. I used an old valve spring and found two fittings to fit snuggly on each end. I then place a lifter on each end and compress this lot in the vice. The spring also acts as a cushion so that there is no full positive force on the "movable" part of the lifter.
Tip to remove old stuck gaskets:- Tap the surface of the stuck gasket using a small ball-pien hammer. This action will cause the gasket to split and in so doing shift itself off the surface.
I have also used "cheese-head" allen cap SS screws for my tappet covers. I found that they can be tightened properly and dont get loose after a while. I will also be changing the two little Phillips head screws that hold the FPR onto the fuel rail, with allen cap screws. I wanted to change this at some stage and found that I would need to remove the inlet manifold to do this as there is about 3mm clearance between the FPR and the firewall, and one cannot get a screwdriver in there. So just for the future, if it needs coming out, no problem getting an allen key in there.
My 2 cents

Charl wrote:

If i see correctly from the picture, I notice your oil pipes for your turbo are horizontle. I was told that it has go in from the top othrwise there isnt enough lubrication.

Basically the turbo and the feed pipes are in the stock position as Slade said those vertical ones are the water feeds and the top one is still the oil feed, in the picture I haven't fitted the oil return.

The Calibrator wrote:

Those studs you made are going to snap gauranteed. The metal is crap quality and by bending them you stressed them. With heat cycles they will snap.

After thinking about what you said, it makes sense... Will try source some studs tomorrow. Rather safe than sorry. 8)

Thanks everyone for the input appreciate it. 😀

I also had a visit from Toby and Freddy today was great to share my passion with some fellow SX owners. PS: Toby your S2000 looks sweet :!:

Ok since my last update I've been pretty busy with the front of the car...

First on the table was cleaning the engine bay, I don't work with dirty crap 8) I also have a policy that if I remove something I clean it... I have seen other projects where guys go all out and powder coat parts but only to mount it back on with the dirty oily bracket... that is beyond the point 🙄

Cleaned engine bay,with the new steering bushes in place

Then off to mounting the new oil cooler, I decided to mount this on the driverside air duct. I had to cut my bumper to make it fit a 16 row would have been perfect fit, but the idea is in future when I get an AM Body kit I can mount the cooler to take maximum affect, for now a row or two is hidden but what the heck 🙂

19 Row oil cooler, using the driver side air duct

While fitting the cooler I had a small brain fart... Now Air coolers work well if air is flowing across them, what will happen in traffic? This made me decide that I will refit the stock cooler... Heck we life in SA with 30º C average temps so I can only benefit...

Oil cooler behind the bumper

Then I started on the Nismo like power brace, here is what it's for

Nismo lower power brace is designed to strengthen the chassis and improve transient response by connecting the tension rod brackets. Nismo power brace reduces movement of the tension/control arms during hard cornering where handling and steering will be improved.

So now that you know what I'm building... Here is how I did it
I took a 25mm Diameter pipe 2mm thickness and sized it to fit just so it clears the sway bar... The thing is with the sway bar, when the suspension moves down the bar will move up, so you need to make sure you clear it properly...

Bar in place, and spaced out so it clears the sway bar

A close of where it will be welded

Finished product... There is some flat bar vertically in the Tension bracket to strengthen it where the bar was welded on...

BTW: If you want to build your own, I have seen the guys on SXOC brace there Tension Rod Bracket with square bar and don't strengthen the actual bracket and having good results from it...

Next was replacing all the rubber busings with the Polly Bushes from Energy Suspension, I hear you get very good benefits from doing this but FAAARK its a lot of work, it sounds easy but it aint, I have only done the front and it took me 2 days.

Old tension rod bush, notice the tear, they are FOOKED, easiest way to remove the old bush if you don't have a hydraulic press like me is to burn them out... Becarefull the rubber boils out and then some makes bubbles and when that pops flaming hot rubber flies everywhere... Nearly lost my eye 😈

Transverse link bushes in (That is the link where you brakes and hubs go on)

Before

After

Only thing missing in that picture is some nice coil overs 😉

Aaaah all done, and torqued to spec

WOW... not much left now, think a day or two and the car will be running. There is some small things I still want to do...
* Replace my turbo studs with some decent ones... couldn't find any on friday
* Brace the manifold, read some horror stories on SXOC about SS manifolds cracking because of the weight of the turbo and exhaust... This will be a simple bracket that will go on the head and on the turbo.
* Build a heat shield for the turbo oil feed...
* Put the original oil cooler back on

This I'll do tomorrow, No I'm not going to drink my self into an oblivion tonight (well that is what I say now). Then maybe Tuesday / Wednesday motor will go in.

Happy New Year everyone, thanks for the support and help I have received so far... may the new year bring loads of sideways action

Ja my mielie tjom. Good work so far bru. Hou dit so. Eeeeeeeeeen dag sal ek verby gegly kom.

Happy new year vir jou ook.

Vlade, Well done on an immaculate job thus far. I am also doing a small time re-build...a bit on the cheap side. I am interested in finding out a bit more about your braided hoses to/from the turbo. I have sent you an e-mail with specifics. Thanks in advance.

hile fitting the cooler I had a small brain fart... Now Air coolers work well if air is flowing across them, what will happen in traffic? This made me decide that I will refit the stock cooler... Heck we life in SA with 30º C average temps so I can only benefit...

Removing the water/oil cooler will drop your water temps by between 5 and 10 deg. Leave it off.
The oil temps in traffic are not a problem as not a lot of heat is being generated. and there is still heat radiated off the cooler even at standstill.
The big heat comes with boost and rpm and normally there is airflow at that time.

hile fitting the cooler I had a small brain fart... Now Air coolers work well if air is flowing across them, what will happen in traffic? This made me decide that I will refit the stock cooler... Heck we life in SA with 30º C average temps so I can only benefit...

Removing the water/oil cooler will drop your water temps by between 5 and 10 deg. Leave it off.
The oil temps in traffic are not a problem as not a lot of heat is being generated. and there is still heat radiated off the cooler even at standstill.
The big heat comes with boost and rpm and normally there is airflow at that time.

The Calibrator wrote:

Removing the water/oil cooler will drop your water temps by between 5 and 10 deg. Leave it off.
The oil temps in traffic are not a problem as not a lot of heat is being generated. and there is still heat radiated off the cooler even at standstill.
The big heat comes with boost and rpm and normally there is airflow at that time.

😀 Glad I did... couldn't get all my gauge fittings in so I decided to leave it off.. Thanks

On the other hand the engine is in... I'm not a happy camper 😈 That freaking manifold is a piece of crap! My freaking imported X-force exhaust don't fit, stock exhaust don't fit WTF... I did bargain to move the ABS thats easy, but FAARK what about my exhaust now... The problem is the new manifold twists the turbo a bit more inwards, this causes the downpipe to hit the gearbox... Will speak to Rezlo tomorrow, I need to solve this ASP as I can't start the car without an exhaust, hell!

Moer hom met 'n hammer

Ek wou al! 😈

skree net as ek moet kom help more. ek sring op die fiets en kom help jou.

No major update guys...

I did about 70KM with the car on Friday, engine ran like a stallion, till I heard a very load noise (like a ball bearing bouncing in coffee can, very hollow sound) sounded like it came from the exhaust... Immediately turned off the car, toed the car back home.

I haven't found what caused it, I got compression, turbo looks fine (checked both wheels), cams and lifters look fine, also checked in the cylinders with a wire and torch nothing in there, plugs look fine.

Wish I could put a camera down the spark plug hole and inspect the cylinders.

Think what it can be is that I took my exhaust to be modified earlier on Friday and that some of the welding came of and is bouncing around in the exhaust, will check tonight if its that. I'm really clueless at the moment 🙄

Wish I could put a camera down the spark plug hole and inspect the cylinders.

I WISH TOO

OK so after a long time of no updating, I just think its fair to give you guys the low down...

I'm still struggling to find out what the sound from the manifold is, I had Duane (The Calibrator) there yesterday to give me a second opinion, he also reckons its not from the engine, which is rather satisfying. Thanks for your input man.

He pointed out some quirks that I need to sort out, once that is done I'll try and get the car to him.

Now for the eye candy...

Engine just before she went in and that is how I transported her from the workshop (Back of parents yard) to front of yard where the car is

Waited nearly a year to to fit this bitch... Yip that is an Exedy 5 paddle copper clutch! It grips so good that when I didn't ref match my gears on down gearing that my back wheels chirped 😈 but easy enough to drive and still have clutch control at an incline... beautiful

We really struggled to get the engine to mount as the ABS was so much of an issue that we could not get the engine onto the mounts... We finally decided to remove the ABS temporarily just to get the engine to fit. From this pic you can see just how close the ABS is the manifold, about 2mm spacing... NOT ENOUGH! It took 2 tries to get it to fit, now I have it about 5/7 cm away, but not sure if my bonnet will close

Engine in place, nice site... It's just sorry everything didn't go as smoothly as planned!

So now that the engine was in place and we could get her to start, some problems arise... Frustrations Frustrations , and more Frustrations .

* The freaking starter died on me... Unlike a normal starter that just goes click and does fuckall this one turns the engine twice and stops... 😈 It took a whole day of investigation and battery checking as it really really looked like a dead battery, but in the end it was the starter

Old starter... NO BUSHES!

I took some time and rebuild the starter from spares that I had... I actually first tried to fit the spares but after some time of trying to fit them I realized the don't fit, there is a difference between a FWD, RWD Auto and our starters. I also realized that my starter was opened up before as it missed some parts... WTF... Gave the starter a new motor and new bushes and replaced some other parts, greased it and walla... Now she turns like a snail in salt.

* Then as mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the oil cooler is a bitch and leaked everywhere... we solved all of it... then suddenly the hoses started leaking at the crimped connections... THIS COST ME R75 TO FIX The guy from the hydraulics place told me that he understood why I only paid R700 for the line kit... Because its true FONG KONG wonders. NUFF SAID... :x

If I can give anyone advice on buying parts... BUY NAMED BRANDS! The saying is never wrong... you get what you pay for!

Now I have a few small quirks to sort out, then I must just find out what is causing that sound in the manifold, then the car will go for a tune up. So yeah... I'm not burning the car down just yet.

Tnx allot buddy that your not gona get rid of it. U spent 2 much ours on that BEAUTY to just let it go like that.

Really tnx allot. My heart were broken when u told me u want to get rid of it.