Time to start 2008's thread. Maybe this will force me to get off my ass and work on the car.

I'm still teetering on whether to upgrade the turbo. I've got two 14b center cartridges coming from a guy at work so I should be able to get it running pretty cheap. I've been looking at 16, 18 and 20g upgrades on the boards and ebay so we'll see what come out of that.

The other path is to drop some more weight, throw in some cams and see if I can get in the 11's on the 14b.

This weeks plan is to finish tearing down the bottom end and checking bearings as well as getting the head ready to go back to the machine shop.

I do have the first version of a t-shirt I will be getting for this years Bracket Season

THAT'S FREAKIN SWEET LANG!

HAHA!

I thought the picture is representative of what happens at my house...especially if you ask my wife!

I would buy one of them shirts

I could maybe arrange that Would anyone else want one?

I'd wear one.

Well maybe when I put in my order, I'll see if anybody else want to buy one.

Was looking through ebay the other day and came accross Punishment Racing 16g which got my interest because they have a good reputation. This is a discussion on Tuners about it.

I'm not really big on ebay turbos, but if it has a decent warrenty and IF there's a rebuild kit it might be an option.

Finally started working on the motor again. Pulled all the crank caps and rod caps. The bearings look pretty decent. I'll probably post some pictures later for a second opinion.

What the best method for cleaning an alternator? Is spraying it down with brake cleaner ok? Mines pretty greasy and I have a backup in the shed thats worse.

Also, what's the general opinion on water pumps? Do aftermarket pumps do OK or is OEM the way to go. Mines got 130K on it, I might replace it since the engines apart.

I would think that brake cleaner would eat away the 'Varnish' or whatever it is on the windings.

As far as the water pump, I would recommend NAPA or the OEM. I've had bad luck with AutoZone and AdvanceAuto pumps. They come with a lifetime warranty, but you get tired of reinstalling free waterpumps after a while.

Also if you need any spare stock size mitsu bearings. I think that I've got a whole set of crank bearings and 3 out of the 4 rod bearings still in the wrapper.

As with my past rebuild, anything that comes off the car gets cleaned and painted. This is the last of it, there's a couple small boxes of painted part in the car.


Here's what I could use some advice on. I pulled all the caps since I had it out. Some dirt in the bearing surfaces but they don't look too bad. Comments??

Here's the main bearing (L to R) #2 main, #1 rod, #1 main


Here's the thrust bearing (L to R) #3 rod, thrust bearing, #2 rod


Here's the main bearing (L to R) #4 main, #4 rod, #5 main

I've been looking at different bearing options,. unfortunately Kick's can't find the bearing he had. Thanks anyway man.

Anybody used ACL Bearings ??

I searched around and there seems to be a good following to them. $100 for a ACL full set vs $155 for OEM (JNZ price).

What other bearings have you guys used in your builds?

I've used Clevites in the stroker engines. They work great in V8's, so I'm sure it never was the bearings fault. They just never lasted in my mitsu blocks.

I prefer OEM bearings when possible. Then again never tried ACL's.

Not much help here.

I have ACLs in my 2.3, no problems thus far.

Then again, it only has a thousand miles on it or so.

Wort, where they the tri-metal Race bearings?

No, I have the plain 'Duraglide' bearings, which are a slightly softer tri-metal bearing.

Well I guess I have a plan.

ACL Bearings from EBay. These are the Tri-metal Race bearings

All the necessary gaskets fro JNZ Tuning...as usual.

I'm going to burn my AMS gift certificate I won on DSMCentral day on a Stock Mitsu Composite Head Gasket I think this should hold up with the ARP studs, even if I upgrade to a 16g. And that's a big if at this point.

I've got 2 14b center sections coming of ebay that hopfully I can rebuild with a kit from G-POP. The kit worked well before so I'll try it again.

I hope my car with the 16g runs near as well as yours did last year with the 14b.

Well my parts started coming in last week. First was the head gasket from AMS. It came with the original Mitsu package open and some damage. Misc scratches in surface and sealing rings, oil return area warped and a dent. Maybe I'm extremely anal.... AMS says it's normal and I should just use it.





Got the bearing a few days later. Package looked like it was rolled down a stairwell. Company (Eristicgaskets on EBAY) stepped up and immediately sent me a new set of bearings and well as a UPS shipping number to return ship the original set. All their cost!

Last shipment was from JNZ tuning. Came packaged safe and sound as usal and really quick. As far as I'm concerned one of the best shops out there!!

Update...AMS is sending me another head gasket to replace the first one.

Kicks got me hooked up on what looks like a good 14b core to rebuild. Thanks!
I'll tear in apart tomorrow and see what we have.

Hopefully the nice weather this weekend will allow for some quality garage time and I'll start putting the motor back together.

My pleasure. That's how this is supposed to work.

Got some quality motor time in. All main and rod bearing came in .0015 to .002 oil clearance.

Can anyone confirm my notes from last time on torque numbers, torque in 3 steps with oil on threads:
Main Caps 47-51 ft-lbs
Rod Caps 36-38 ft-lbs

Shortblock is together! Finally progress!

Anybody got any hints on how to remove the the compressor side blades on my turbo?? I removed the nut but cannot get the blade of the shaft. It seems to be seized to the shaft. I've soaked it in PB Blaster for 4 days, lightly tapped it with a dead blow hammer and I tried a 3 jaw puller (very light torquing of the puller bolt).

Hmmm...race you this year? I'm not so sure about that. The car is NOT where I want it, and it was hastily thrown back together last time, so some TLC is in order. I'm keeping the car for sure, but the amount of time I'll have to work on it will be in question.

I should have all my "extra duties" finally settled down by the middle of the year, and after that I'll be taking off for multiple Air Force schools. I doubt I'll get to the car this year, but maybe next. Maybe.....

Good thing this damn car doesn't eat anything!

Yeah, I figured I see if I could get you going. Don't worry I'll wait!

Well at least you get to keep the car and good luck getting the "extra duties" settled!

Got a water pump from NAPA and put it on today. I LIGHTLY grey siliconed both sides of the gasket and torqued to 132 in-lbs.

Then I remembered reading something about it being bad to silcone both sides of a gasket....what do you guys do?


Got my GPOP turbo rebuild kit today....but I still can't get the compressor of the shaft after a week of soaking in PB Blaster!!

I ALWAYS coat both sides of gaskets for coolant... and use hardly any sealant on any other gaskets.

Finally got the turbo apart! I finally said the hell with it and use a 3 jaw puller to press off the compressor shaft. Cleaned everything up last night, looked OK visually. Hopefully I'll get it reassembled this weekend.

Got the shortblock done also, just need to get the redrilled head back from Mullvains and I should be good to go.

Well crap...put the rebuild kit in the turbo and and it still has some shaft play. Probably could still use it as is, but it'll bug me. Looks like looking over my collection of four centersections I have, that the bearing start spinning in the centersection and adds shaft play.

Anybody ever seen factory rebuild instruction for a 14b or 16g? I found one for a Holset that had shaft play min-max. I'm curious what the specs (shaft diameter, shaft play, bearing diameters etc) are on the MHI turbos.

I haven't Chris.

Put the head together today.

With the cam on the bottom of the base circle (no lift) the valves don't close on any of the cylinders. Are my lifters pumped up?? I just dipped them in a container of oil and put them in the bores. If they are too full of oil, how can you bleed them down?

I'm afraid they'll him the pistons if I started the motor like this.

I think you need to put a paperclip in the end of the lifter and there is a button you hit that will relieve the pressure. There is a vfaq on it. Hope it helps.

http://www.vfaq.com/index-main.html

Steve

Nevermind....I let them sit for 3-4 hours and they equalized and the valves closed themselves.

Got the head on today and got some stuff put back in the engine compartment. Engine should be done this week.

Good to hear. Sounds like you will be done with time to spare before racing season actually takes off. Good Job!

Oh man...I hope you didn't just jinx me!

More work done tonight. Primed the motor, here's the oil flow using a 18v cordless drill driving the oil pump. Seems to be much better than before This is after Mullvains drilled out the head bolt holes. I opened the oil passage bolt hole slightly with a dremel to ensure no restriction.


Here's a couple shots assembled, I need to repaint the valve cover cause it looks like a$$.

Damn, That's huge flow Chris! Good job man.

I finally got the car pushed in the driveway in preparation for getting the motor back in.

Went well right up to well the passenger side axle somehow got hooked on the frame and snapped the trans side end off! Add $60 more to the rebuild kitty....at least the wife was in charge of watching for a problem like that while me and the neighbor pushed so I can't get yelled at for spending more money!

Hopefully I'll get the engine and trans in this weekend.

I called Gpop shop where I bought the rebuild kit for the turbo. They make oversize bearings to make up the slop from a worn centersection. So i still have to work that out. Problem is I need to find what the standard jounal bearing clearance is to figure out what size bearing to order.

Well it was a beutiful weekend for working on the car...and getting some yardwork done.

Got the trans in, it's plumbed and wired. Got the new axle in and went though all four brakes, clean and lubed and fixed the locked rear.

Rebuilt the turbo and is within the specs that I got from the GPOP Turbo shop. Has some shaft play .013-.014 but according th GPOP .012-.015 is OK.

All that left is put the turbo in, connect the downpipe, radiator and water lines!!

Damn near there buddy!

Rain, Rain go away....my Talon wants to get finished and go out and play!!!

This sucks, all I need is a few hours of dry weather to finish the car

I left work early today to get her running....

After a brief scare of no oil pressure with the engine just cranking over. Darryl talked me down off the ledge and we figured the pump was just dry after eliminating everything else. So I hand pumped some oil into the port for the pressure gauge and ta-da we have oil at the valvetrain with just the starter.

Buttoned her up and she fired right up. Got a few leaks but it was fun to take her out for some low boost runs outside of town! Been a long time....

Congrats for sure!!! So, what is the curent set-up, and what would you like to see it do? (after break-in...)

My garage is up to date but the picture are not, but here's the cliff notes version:

Ported 14B set to 20psi (for dragstrip)
Buschur Cat back exhaust
Rewired Walbro 190 Fuel Pump
Buschur Downpipe
Buschur Test Pipe
ACT 2600 Clutch
Fabricated 3" Intake pipe
Removed balance shafts
Window Welded all engine mounts
Lucas 550 Injectors
GM Maf and translator in blow through config
Supra SMIC and 2 1/2" fabricated piping
AEM Wideband
KYB AGX struts
Poly bushing-front

Looking for lower 12's, but we'll see, I ran it very hard last year and managed a 12.47. I'm going to have to dump more weight to go faster.

Hahaha...Funny and so close to my experiences! Gongrats!

I was thinking. I never retorqued my ARP since installing them.

I have a few hundred miles since installing them with a OEM head gasket and torqued them to 95ft' lbs using molly lube.

Should I mess around with retorqued them. Do you guys even bother? I did some searching and the results are either way.

I always do. It's a piece of mind knowing that the torque value is still ok if nothing else.

What do you torque them to?? The 95 ft lbs or a higher torque since there's no molly lube there now?

Hell, I've been torquing mine to around 110ft/lb's.

But, I would just re-do what you set your's at. The molly lube should still be within the threads.

Head bolts are good at 95ft-lbs

Took it out in the country for some tuning. So far so good. Boost set at 15, creeping to 17, no knock (<3 at 1-2 shift) and timing at 17-18 degrees. WB about 11.5:1.

Still have a boost leak to chase down but hopefully everything will be good for the first strip outing May3.