Starting engine project

[RedPath88]

Good Job

[88pathoffroad]

Just dump some nice 89 octane in on top and call it good.

 

Good work, it runs! Woohoo!

[Earth1]

I drove it around for a while today and it's running pretty good -- but I have some bugs to work out. Man am I glad I didn't gloat yet.

 

First and worst is painful. An oil leak at the tranny. It's not gushing but definatlely leaking; actually more than my old motor. I'll have to pull the tranny to find the leak. No way around it. I can't imagine why my new seal is leaking but it is. I can live with it for a while maybe until my suspicious transmission bites the dust. Or, I may just get right to it.

 

Exhaust leak. The triangle joint at the header collector on the passenger side is leaking at one bolt. It's leaking enough to feel it with my hand. Just in that spot as far as I can tell. I've progressively cranked the bolts down to the point the washers are cupping and it won't seal up. I'll take that piece off and check the flange and gasket. It may be effecting the compression too; I am definatley missing power. I was thinking of using 2 gaskets on that side. I can hear a hint of nice sound, but mostly just a crappy leak pretty loud throught the floorboard.

 

The idler pully is bent. I may have tensioned the belt before tightening the center bolt. Can't remember. It makes a nice little whine, Ryan actually caught that one for me. I just happen to have a spare and I'll be sure to do it right this time.

 

The gas gauge was all over the place for about 20 miles but it seems to have settled down.

 

There is a definate lack of power. The exhuast leak may be most, if not all of the cause. I need to make sure the throttle cable is adjusted right, something I forgot to check. I still haven't touched the distributor -- Going with the obvious stuff first. 85 octane could be contributing too.

 

Nothing is toooo awful, if it weren't for the oil leak it wouldn't be a big deal. I expected some issues but that one hurts. Back at it tomorrow...

Edited May 4, 2006 by Earth1

[Slick]

don't feel bad.. my rear main seal (brand new) is leaking too :furious: due to my little hiccup of the bolt too long hitting the timing pulley deal.. yah.. anyhoo... mess with the distributor.. if your timing is out that can cause the lack of power just as much as anything.

part the collector and reseal with LOTS of gasket sealer and a new gasket. that'll fix the lil bugger good.

sounds like you got it pretty much goin now tho.. and that's the hardest part over with!!!

 

do you have an autotragic??? i fergot

Edited May 4, 2006 by Slick

[Earth1]

Nope justa finicky manny tranny.

[Slick]

Nope justa finicky manny tranny.

bet yer RMS is leakin.... i am disgusted mine is leakin but due to my little minor technical hitch i am not super suprised it is leaking..... more crap to add to the pile of sh!t

[Earth1]

I'll just give it a few days and get my other probs smoothed out. If It's leaking too bad I'll pull the tranny and get to it.

 

If I ever were to do this again, I'd plug all the oil lines before installing and dump some oil in to see if there were any leaks. Can't believe I didn't do that. :X :X

[Slick]

I'll just give it a few days and get my other probs smoothed out. If It's leaking too bad I'll pull the tranny and get to it.

 

If I ever were to do this again, I'd plug all the oil lines before installing and dump some oil in to see if there were any leaks. Can't believe I didn't do that. :X :X

it prolly would not have shown itself until under pressure for a couple days.. mine was fine the first week or 2. beware.. my last clutch was fried due to a leaky RMS... that is why i KNOW i have to change this one soon grrrrr

[Earth1]

Now I've found another leak. :oops: Looks like it's coming from the oil pan seal. Great. Can the oil pan come out with the engine in place? It looks like it would be a challenge. This is so depressing.

 

For the exhaust I'm only finding flange gaskets that have a metal crimp ring around the hole. Besides the shape, they're nothing like the Thorley gaskets. It doesn't seem like that ring would do much considering the flanges have those raised welds. I would think a softer gasket would do better. I found some high temp paste that cures hard for patching exhaust. I'm gonna try it bettween the flange and gaskets.

 

Changed the idler pully and the sound stopped. I effed the bearing in the other I guess.

 

it prolly would not have shown itself until under pressure for a couple days.. mine was fine the first week or 2. beware.. my last clutch was fried due to a leaky RMS... that is why i KNOW i have to change this one soon  grrrrr

So I can expect it to get worse here real quick. SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

 

I need a beer.

Edited May 4, 2006 by Earth1

[k9sar]

I could not remove the pan while the engine was in place. You may be able to remove the crossmenber and get it. Try first, then start disassembly

[Earth1]

I may have diagnosed the oil pan leak wrong. I think (fingers crossed) it may be just power steering fluid. It was looking dark, but I think it was from dirt on the outside of the engine. The nut on one of the lines on top the pump was loose and definately leaking.

 

The main exhaust leak has been fixed. The gasket on that flange blew out already. It was missing a layer for about 1". I guess Thorley gaskets do suck. I could see the carbon from the leak on the flange. I replaced it with the ring type seal and I can't feel a leak anymore and it sounds better. I still smell exhaust though. Maybe I'm just not used to the sound of the headers, but it sounds leaky when I give it gas. Not a tick like the old manifold leak, just kinda raspy. It's not what I expected it to sound like. Does an exhaust shop have a way to test for leaks? I can't feel it blowing out any of the joints.

 

I gained a little more power by fixing that gasket issue, but it still doesn't feel like a cam & header modified engine. I didn't mess with the timing yet today. It idles low and lumpy kinda like a Harley, not so low that it dies but way differnent. It will be interesting to see how it responds to a higher octane gas. I wasn't expecting a drag car, but I'm not seeing the results I was expecting yet. I will try reading the ECU tomorrow.

[kingair_pilot]

http://search.epnet.com/

 

Someone else posting this site in another post - might be helpful. Covers pretty well all vehicle repair manuals. Sorry, but I don't remember who's post I found it in - but if it is helpfully all credit goes there!

 

You need a user name - fl2823; and the password is horn

 

Cheers

[Earth1]

Thanks kingair. It looks mostly like the info in the factoy service manual that I'm using -- but an excellent link for anyone that doesn't have that book. :cool2: Also a great way to get pages from the manual printed rather than tugging around and greasing up my manual.