Project C - Also not 56k friendly!

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:13 pm

no problem there toby.

always a pleasure to help a fellow sx owner do the right thing by his engine!!!

i was a bit concerned to see that engine lift jack contraption - looks like an ankle breaker for sure...

thats why there was an engine crane behind you!!!

anyway, sorry i couldnt stay longer to help, lemme know if there is anything else i can help with!

ChemCool · Post by **ChemCool** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:45 pm

Stripping and removing surely is easy, but respect for those who can assemble it properly. Must admit I know just enough to know that I know nothing.

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:27 am

Hey good progress there mate! Now the fun begins!

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:06 pm

Nice work Toby! And its great to see everybody helping out.

and in other news, my headgasket has gone and failed me. Time to pull out my engine too, and hopefully one of the 2 i have will get a full re-build. I believe its long over due that i have an SX reliable enough to start joining events again.

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:24 am

sounds good to me daniel

vlade - the fun begins!!! damn straight. i enjoy this part of the project too!

chem - reassembling is not that difficult!!! just remember my golden rule. always keep the hammers out of the engine bay!

and smoking and chocolate nesquik were once my favourite bedtime snack!??! oh well...

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:04 am

hey toby,

whats happening with project C????

give us an update broo!

Toby · Post by **Toby** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:59 am

Apologies for not updating! Yes, things have been happening on this project, albeit very slowly. I'll upload pics hopefully this weekend.

With Vlade's help, the crankshaft has been sent for engineering (to fix the keyway, plus they said that although it's within spec, it's almost out of spec so they will grind it). They cannot fix my crank pulley.

I've also spent a lot of time cleaning the block, pistons and other innards. All the iron bits are very easily cleaned using oven cleaner (no scrubbing required!!), however, the aluminium bits are much more of a challenge. I also made the mistake of leaving the pistons with conrods to soak in clean grean overnight - rust started to develop on the conrods! It's all been doused with Q20 now

And finally, I've sprayed the first coat of paint onto the tappet covers. Boy was the previous paint job badly damaged. I am using "signal red" to keep the original look, but getting rid of the "pink" shade of red that the tappet covers had taken on.

Pics will follow soon!

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:08 pm

sounds good man.

a little surface rust never hurt anyone, try to avoid it, but it can be cleaned easily!

i dont know about that oven cleaner - i hope its not too corrosive. i still maintain that petrol is a good grime remover, and quite cheap (R6 something per litre) and evaporates without residue!!!

aaaaannnnnnnnyyyyyyywwwwwwwwaaaaaayyyyy...

post pics soon.

VC

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:56 pm

it doesn't look corrosive... just works like a bang!

widowmaker · Post by **widowmaker** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:10 pm

yea, but sometimes the parts the look metal has a thin varnish kinda thing over it to stop corrosion - stove cleaner eats it and makes it really ugly

i had a bike once that i made the engine really, really ugly by mistake

Toby · Post by **Toby** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:16 pm

That stuff (oven cleaner) is corrosive, but you only leave it on for about 10 minutes then you wash it off. Unfortunately it really tarnishes aluminium, copper and brass, so you have to be careful. However, it works like MAGIC! Grime becomes gel and simply washes off. Engine cleaner, cleen green, etc. also work but are FAR less effective and still require you to scrub off tough grime. I wish I could find something as powerful as oven cleaner for aluminium. I'm going to try petrol next.

Toby · Post by **Toby** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:22 pm

Photos of my progress on Project C have been uploaded: http://200sx.za.net/cars/200sx/gallery. ... 2007_02_18

Click Click...

Toby · Post by **Toby** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:28 pm

It's been a long while, but things have been progressing (or should I rather say regressing) on Project C.

Previously, I had cleaned my alternator. Now it seems a bolt of something has worked it's way into the alternator, causing it to jam. We (Vlade and I) tried in vain to open up the alternator (the FSM says we need to use a 200W soldering iron to melt one of the bearings loose!). I have yet to fix this - will probably send this to Bosch.

Recently, the crankshaft and exhaust manifold were sent in for engineering. The crankshaft, although good, was re-grinded as it was almost out of spec. New bearings were bought. Also, the keyway was fixed. The crank pulley could not be repaired. The exhaust manifold was skimmed. The cylinder head was sent in for servicing - fitting of new valve stem seals and valve guides, re-doing the valve seats, cleaning, and skimming.

We finally got to work on the block. Using a cylinder honing tool, we re-honed the cylinders, only to find deep scratches in the cylinder walls (which we had hoped the honing would remove). We stared at that for about an hour, then decided to send it in for a professional hone or re-bore. We were hoping not to re-bore so that we could re-use the pistons.

So we decided in the meanwhile to clean out the pistons. So we dismantled them, cleaned them and re-assembled them. I noticed that one of the pistons was very tight against the con-rod. Upon inspection, it became clear that by hammering out the gudgeon pin, we had warped the bearing on the con-rod. This means getting new bearings put in by the engineers. Might as well, since we later found out that I will need new pistons too, 'cos they have to re-bore my cylinders. As Duane "The Calibrator" would say: "School fees"

The rest of the time was spent cleaning all the aluminium parts that weren't yet cleaned. I use oven cleaner sparingly (only for the hardest of grime), preferring to rather use Cleen Green and boiling water. Look at the result on the oil cooler!

After ChemCool's recent problem with his turbo, I considered overhauling mine. However, after inspecting my turbo (thanks ChemCool), we came to the conclusion that it's still good. I prefer to do as few things as possible to the engine, to reduce the number of possible failures when it's put back together, so I'll stick the turbo back as-is.

Check out the pictures here, including sneak previews at what the engine might look like once put together:
http://200sx.za.net/cars/200sx/gallery. ... 2007_03_17

All in all, this project has gone way more complicated than I had originally imagined, as well as being quite expensive. Excluding the work still to be done on the block, cost of fixing my leaking injectors, cost of fixing my alternator, and the cost of new pistons (and any other school fees we have yet to pay), it's already cost about R4500. However, the good news is that I will end up with an almost brand new engine which should be good for another 10+ years of normal driving.

Thanks to Vlade for all his hard work so far, and to Veecee for his patience while he waits for me to return his engine frame and hoist!

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:35 am

So Toby.....when you finished with yours you going to start cleaning mine?

Cool stuff man...I hope to see you driving in your sx soon!

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:30 am

Yeah on that piston disassembly... I went home and RTFM'd the matter... they mention that the piston must be headed to 60 degrees before disassembly, did this on one of my old ons... Works like a bomb came loose easy assembled easy. I tried to replace the bearing without a Press managed to F that one up too, so was no use trying any further.

"If you got the TOOL use the TOOL, I no have TOOL, me no DO"

I'm still waiting for engineers to come back to me, will probably hear today.

Ooooh Toby I got a present for you in my boot - Hope you can use them.

PS: RTFM = Read The F#cking Manual

Those in IT might be familiar with it.