My 86½ N/A Project Fiona

[thinhman]

Here are some pictures that made me decide I needed new pistons.
All what you are about to witness is indeed mold, rust, and corrosion.

(Note that this is AFTER I degreased them and washed them)

 

[supraguy@aol]

As far as I know, the ONLY differences between the Cressy and Supra blocks is the oil pump and pan. people use the Cressy engines all the time for NA Supra use.


PS- I've used the NPR pistons before and had no issues.
I would recommend having the rods resized while your block is at the shop. It's cheap insurance.

 

[thinhman]

Cool thanks man. That's what I wanted to hear. And yep I'm getting the rods resized as well. Everything is still in the shop at the moment; still waiting for everything to get back.

Yeah I hope I don't come across any issues with NPR as well; pray that all goes well lol. I did my research and I was fairly satisfied.

What I'm having done at the shop:
3-angled valve job with new seals
cam polish and adjustment
head surfaced
block decked and honed
oil drive shaft bearings replaced
con rods resized and cleaned
crank polished

I was going to replace my freeze plugs but my machinist said they're stainless steel and still in good condition. What do you guys think about that?

That's about it for now; just waiting for everything to be done.


EDIT: Is the turbo oil pan the same as the oil pan from an NA? Reason being is I have an extra oil pan lying around I picked up from a turbo.

 

[thinhman]

Got everything back from the shop. Can't wait to start putting everything back together.

This is going to be fun :biglaugh:

 

[Sideways_bob]

wow that is what I want to do to my 7mge engine. keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming.

 

[thinhman]

So I measured my crank's clearances with a micrometer today and these are my results.

For my main rods I got from 2.0460 - 2.0465.
But for my main journals I get 2.3515 - 2.3517...I'm about .001 off from spec.

I'm planning to go with STD bearings so where do I stand now as clearance wise?
Would I just have to run thicker oil in my case? To make up for the gap I have in my clearance?

I plan to try some plastigauge too just to triple check everything.

 

[thinhman]

Here are some pictures of my clearances with plastigauge (sorry for the quality).
I came within range of clearance so I was satisfied.

Then we got to putting the crank in and torqueing it down by the TSRM sequence. Thank god we had a printed version, saves like an hour of laptop time :biglaugh:

Getting the pistons ready

And lubing the vah-jay-jay :naughty:

We get ready to compress the first piston...

And snap the compressor breaks.

So back to the store to get another one; this time the cylinder one.

Finally first piston sits snug in cylinder 1.

As we rotate the block to torque down the first rod...the stud goes out on us!!11!! :cry::cry::cry:

So...we called it a day and I called around for local shops with ARP rod studs.
Now we have to cut the bolt off...

At the end of the day we got some foood....mmmm *drool*

 

[thinhman]

Okay so I've been doing research about copper spray and the MHG and what not and I've been a little skeptic about everything.

I have a brand new HKS MHG so I know I should install it dry without any spray of some sort; but my thing is my block has some imperfections. There are some scuffs and a chip or so...should I be worried? Would everything seal okay? I read that for an imperfect surface I should use the copper spray instead...?

Anyone want to chime in on this for me? I will post more pictures of the surface when I get home tonight.

 

[CyFi6]

It depends where the imperfections are and how bad they are. Lay the gasket on the block and check if the gasket is over the imperfections, if its not then you dont need to worry. I would stick with the stock coating on the MHG, it is probably a better choice than stripping it and using copper spray. Why didnt your machinist machine out all the imperfections?

 

[thinhman]

Well...it's not really THAT bad. There is a really really small chip by one of the cylinders. And there are some small scuffs near the front of the block. I tried taking pictures but they won't come out that well. And yes they lay below the gasket.

 

[thinhman]

GRINDERS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!!! :evil2::evil2::evil2::evil2:

This is the damn rod stud that went out on me so we had to cut it off.
Sent in my rods and got it back the next day with these bad boys on

(This was the paper weight my con rod machinist had on his desk) I thought it was awesome so I snapped a shot :naughty:
The picture does no justice; that thing is HUGE! There was a picture of a gigantic, long ass crank....but I forgot to take a picture before I left

Anyways lol.

Decided to paint the block and some misc parts before putting everything on.

Something to snack while I wait.