ouch! yeah, I've spilt blood for my cars too!

I've thought that the 1300/capella/808/929/121/626/323 range was the ideal candidate for a MX-5 driveline transplant!

(a 4AGE almost literally bolts up in an 808 too!)

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If 4age's weren't so expensive it might be worth a look. 323's have the same engine bay as the 808 so it should fit in nicely...

I got the engine out of the car today and tipped it over for a look at the crankshaft. I checked two big end bearings and one main bearing and they are all smooth and shiny . I've got to undo the crankshaft pulley bolt before I can check the rest (Otherwise I'll never get it undone)

Tomorrow afternoon my mate and his friend who owns an engine shop are coming past to decide the best parts to rebuild with. A plan shall be hatched and I'll get it all progressing ASAP!

Just incase you wanted to know how much stuff fits in the boot... Including the set of rims

Damn, I need a wagon!

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Modern wagons and soccermum mobiles have nothing on how much a 70's or 80's wagon can fit!

spill the beans timmy, what's the go? I may have also found you a parts donor, but I can't make any promises yet...

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Yep, wagons are the bomb. I reckon I could fit 3.5 sets of rims in the boot with the back seats down (I just might try this)
Spares are always good! Picking some more bits up this weekend too hopefully..

Big new this week.. Engine parts are in!! The bill is yet to come though

I spent $61.70 today on degreaser, ring compressors, cheapy oil and some wet&dry.

Rebuild starts tomorrow afternoon!

Last night...

Crank in with new bearings and oiled up, spins like a dream!

New rings on, pistons installed and bolted up to the crank with new bearings!

More details and crappy mobile phone photos to come

Alrighty. Friday night the engine was stripped down and ready to go. New main bearings are in

Lots of oil putting the bearing caps on

Pistons in. The shop that I got the parts from lent me a set of ring expanders which made it so easy! I bought a set of ring compressors too

Saturday I picked up some bits

Re-trimmed seats, only going to use the fronts as the they came from a hatch (the hatches have different rear seat bottoms)

Better dash top (the top one)

Started painting up the block on sunday

and the other bits

so now the timing cover, fuel pump, engine mounts, water pump, oil pump and timing chain are back on. I've got to tighten up the crankshaft pulley before I can put the sump on.

*note to self- clean garage

On thursday night did up the crankshaft bolt. Pretty tight too!

Then put the sump on. Much easier to do with the engine upside down on an engine stand.

Head, camshaft, rocker assembly went on next and approximately did the valve clearances

The clutch went on next, followed by the gearbox after a bit of a struggle..

Called it a night about 12:00 and had Friday free during the day so decided to get the engine in.

Left it yesterday without the radiator and gearbox and engine oil.


Today we decided to get it going. Radiator in, oils in.
Gave it a crank over and nothing. I thought maybe the timing was 180 degrees out, so we swapped it over. Still nothing, so then we noticed the carby wasn't squirting any fuel. Swapped the carby and still nothing. Swapped timing back to what it was at the start and it fired up. It was very rattley from the tappets because we set the clearances cold instead of hot. Pulled off the oil cap to check the oil was getting around and it was all milky . Must have had an issue putting the head gasket on, possibly the head/block is warped? Could possibly be the combination of 1.4 block and 1.3 head with the 1.4 head gasket. I'll pull it down Monday to see what happened..

Sad, you have no luck with it.. But will find the answer

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Carina TA12, Starlet EP70(sold) and EP71, Mitsubishi Lancer CS9W

Yep, we'll get to the bottom of it.. Hopefully not too much work!

Engine is out of the car now and head, sump and timing cover are off now.

Nothing obvious it sticking out at the moment, i need to have a better look sometime..

Alrighty

I put the engine up on the stand and was checking out the timing cover gasket. It wasn't quite the right shape when I put it on and I thought it was possibly leaking water where the water pump feeds into the block. It was in perfect condition when I pulled it apart and had no signs of leaks so I bolted it back up.

Next cause of concern on the list was the head gasket. I cleaned up the bottom of the head again and the top of the block. Dug out my old drawing set square and both surfaces were perfectly flush. I cleaned up the head gasket and bolted it all back together. I wanted to see what would happen when the water pump was running so I knocked up this adapter. (I can't bolt up the flywheel/starter while it's on the stand)

So filled it up with water and turned it over with some Bosch power. Water started spewing out of the camshaft bearings and down the rocker arms. I'm guessing it came up the head bolt holes

Video link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55685928@N03/6271194058/
We weren't sure if the head gasket wasn't sealing or if it was something else. To eliminate the head gasket it got sealed up with liquid gasket goop and bolted up together again. I didn't put the camshaft or rockers on the second time to pinpoint the leaks. I was pretty sure it was the gasket now, as it all worked fine before. So this morning after the goop cured I gave it another spin with the drill, and it was all good, no leaks anywhere.

For the last few months I've had the gold wheels on one side and the black on the other. The black side has been facing out for a change and I'd forgotten how much I like them...

I'm thinking the cause of the leak was the brake cleaner I used to clean the block and head before we bolted them together. It's a bit more harsh than the usual degreaser but dries quicker and cleans much better, which is why I used it. When I cleaned the gasket before using it the second time it dissolved the clear layer, which I asume normally helps it to seal.
So I'm going to order some new gaskets this weeks - head, exhaust, sump.

Where did you get that unpicked top fire wall section? looks like one i gave cameron a couple of years ago.

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Yeah it's the same one. He was clearing up a bit before the move and I got a few bits off him. His new white one is in pretty good nick so he won't need the repair section.

I might have to pay you a visit sometime to get it installed..

No worries...check out my mate steves 323...almost finished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEBLvJhfU-Y

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Looks like a beast! That's on van 15" wheels?

All my gaskets turned up a few days ago. A new head, sump and exhaust gasket for $50.
Had some time for the car yesterday so I cleaned out all of the gross milky oil. I pulled off the strainer and cleaned out the oil pump and replaced the filter

Flipped it back over and turned it over to suck some fresh oil though the block.

Woo! Nice and clean

Cleaned the top of the block and bottom of the head for the rest of the day to make sure it was clean and dry. So today I put it all back together and torqued up

Adjusted the valves.. The compression now is super strong, I could barely turn it over by hand with my socket wrench I hooked up the drill again to spin over the water pump, and there was no leaks like before.

I bolted up most of the bits and pieces. The sump gasket will be ready to go tomorrow, I'll hopefully get a day/afternoon this week to put it in.


The budget so far..
$200 for the bearings/rings/bottom end gasket kit
$15 for ring compresser
~$100 for oil/filters/degreaser
$50 for new gaskets
$30 VRS kit
And thats about it! I was lucky I didn't need to get any major work done.

So it was just a bad head gasket that caused your woes?

At least you'll be cruising for summer.

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occasional blog: http://ewokracing.tumblr.com

Brought to you by me as I browse Geocities webpages using Netscape Navigator while listening to Jam & Spoon.

Excellent thread really enjoyed the read

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REgards, Mo Melville

Good sign that compression allready Looks nice and solid this engine, as a big 1600 but its only 1300 right?

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Carina TA12, Starlet EP70(sold) and EP71, Mitsubishi Lancer CS9W

Yeah, it was possibly just the gasket. I took longer this time and was more careful cleaning the faces. I also didn't use so much oil on the camshaft and rockers, which might have got under the gasket before. And I forgot to write this down before, but I used a TC head gasket this time..

Bring on summer

Thanks! Not quite in the same league as your cars, but it's a start, and a good place to learn and make mistakes.

It's a 1400 (UC) with a 1300 (TC) head. It went pretty good before under 70kph with the auto, so should go better with 5 speeds now instead of 3!

Must be getting better as I go along... Bolted up the flywheel and put the clutch and pressure plate on. Lined it up by feel and torqued it up. I kinda forgot while I was torquing it up that the clutch doesn't normally line up first time but thought I'd give it a go nonetheless. After the hour or so me and a friend took last time, it was a real surprise to get it on first go.

So now all the electrics are on, and nothing to do but put it back in.. Hopefully it's not raining tomorrow