Man, this build took a relatively sharp turn south. Haha. So, let?s back track.
I ended up getting the car back together suspension wise and I was hyped. So I started it and I had the infamous lifter ?tick? single cam ka?s are known for. So me being me, I pulled the valve cover and debated on whether or not I should replace just the problematic one or just all of em. So, I found a full set of 12 oem rockers so just went that route.
I then noticed the driverside timing guide was missing a chunk. So then it dawned on me and decided I?d pull the front cover and oil pan off and do the timing components.
You can see the rubber expansion plug I made due to the fact that once I assembled everything something was style making noise with engine speed. It sound like the timing chain so drilled a I believe 2? hole in the front timing cover to ease the removal of the tensioner. I swapped to my old one which made no difference. So I then opted for an even more expensive ?ratcheting? tensioner to see if maybe it was somehow slack in the chain.
What was weird was that the motor ran smooth and normal at idle but above it you could hear what sounded like timing chain slap. Upon this inspection, I realized my oil pressure was reading funny. It always has been pretty low at idle when hot like 6-7 psi but the dummy light never kicked on(yes it works) but this made me more concerned because even with the new pump, the oil pressure wouldn?t rise past 3k rpm. Max it would see was like 40-45 psi cold and drop from there and when revving it it would sometimes go down?? Unsure if my gauge was accurate so I hooked up a mechanical gauge to the sender and gave me the exact same readings.
So I yanked the motor...
Painted my bay with really shit prep but I didn?t care too much as long as it looked better then it did.
Stitch welded a few spots nothing crazy at all but just to help with some of the flex.nothing to sneeze at.
Here?s some stuff I blew out of the crank...
Bearings were scored pretty nicely on some of the journals so I?m chalking the oil pressure up to worn bearings from pieces of the timing guide being circulated throughout a engine I beat on regularly.
I was torn in between rebuilding the single cam after buying all this oem shit for it and I even went on to trying to hone the block myself with a stone hone. Didn?t really get the desired crosshatching I wanted so I tried to get in contact with 4 machine shops all being atleast a month out. Wasn?t enough time for me to make the last event I?m probably driving this year.
Then, I hit my homie up who?s a machinist and he recommended me a guy that seemed like a really solid candidate but it fell through and I was at a complete stand still.
So I was at a Stand still with what I wanted to do. So, without much time I was looking at the dual cam i mostly assembled awhile back and I didn?t want to swap it because even with machine work I felt the single cam would be a bit cheaper due to the fact I had sold off a bunch of dual cam stuff and for whatever reason it?s seems to be expensive around here for parts. Hell, a dude I know just sold a 1 owner, mint hatch he had for $32k with a single cam on bat.
Anyway, made the decision to just swap to the dual cam because it was my best option at this point.
Specs on the engine are pretty simple
Oem gaskets all around
All new exhaust studs
Oem head gasket
Hone
New rings and standard clevite bearings
Decked head
Arp headstuds
Osk timing set
Then this happened. Broke a stud somehow on the very last torque sequence. All the others were fine and the included fastener lube was utilized. Managed to get it out and replaced
Thought I was a machine shop
New clutch setup
Picked up some parts from a buddy
Most of the bay back together. Remounted setrab ps cooler, got rid of the stock ps lines because I kinked the hell out of my high pressure line so just ended up getting the isr kit. Got the body harness plug swapped out and put in a dual cam cluster I had laying around. Throttle cable swapped. New clutch line as well
Current state of affairs. Distributor mounted, timing chain installed, oil pan and rear main and housing. Yadda yadda you guys know the drill I?ll spare you the details.
Signed up for Halloween bash again this year so let?s hope I can have the car together and everything goes smoothly. I?m very close to being able to put it in just have to get the flywheel/clutch on and the pilot bearing swapped out. The knock sensor needs to be mounted(in the mail)still and since I deleted the factory
Pcv intake tree thing I have to figure out a way to tie the the factory pcv in or running a catch can since it needs to see vac I believe to function being that it?s a check valve. So that?s pretty much where I?m at currently with this stupid thing