BC

I would not suggest reducing the compression even more.

Imo000

That's right but it's nice to know if a leakdown points to a direction that has an abvious problem then to try to find it and hope not to miss it.

AO

Alright. the engine is completely disassembled, so forget the leakdown test and numbers. Maybe I should have run it at a higher test psi, I just followed the instructions that came with the tester... The main point was that all the valves seemed to be fully seated (which is what I expected).

I read extensively last night on the procedure for re-ringing an Alusil block. Basically, you lightly scotch-bright the cylinders with some ATF to clean all the crap out of the bores. Then you use felt pads on a hone and the Sunnen AN-30 paste and go to town for about 90 seconds. Then re-ring. Done. Seems pretty easy and very low risk. I know there will be some people who say don't do it, but WTF... it's just a block. i have the bad Euro block I can test on to make sure I don't eff it up.

So I don't have much diagnosis yet. Just a crap load of disassembly. The only thing I did not take apart today was the girdle.

Picture time for all you boys and girls.

Today was very very cold! It started out at -2 F.


Covers started to come off. The recoated gears held up well for about 40k miles. I'll post a separate thread on that topic. The water pump still feels good and tight. I am very tempted to re-use it - but that might be tempting fate. It's only 8+ years old. I think it was changed in 2000 before I bought the car. We'll see.













The cam covers came off and the cams looks great for 170k miles. I thought there was some pitting the last time I opened the heads, but I couldn't see it today. I will inspect more closely later. Cams are baged for now. Two of the triple square bolts that hold the caps in place rounded out! I had to drill the heads off, but then the rest of the bolt come right out.









One of the offending bolts! Take that MFer!


The heads look okay. I was surprised at how bad the gaskets stained the them considering I used G-05 coolant and changed it at least twice over the past 5 years. Also quite a bit of carbon build up, but not like some I;ve seen.









Next up was the oil pan. A few of the studs came out... Oh well... I'll fix that later. The insides look pretty good.





Then all the pistons came out. All the bores look good. You can't tell from the pics, so I'll only post one to show you that there are no pistons. And sadly, I forgot to get a picture of the pistons. The rod bearings also look great - but those were replace about 6 years ago before I did the SCer when I did the oil pan gasket.



So here's where it stands as of today. I will separate the girdle and pull the crank out. Then My neighbor has a transmission shop where I can get the block washed. I will slowly start taking the heads apart and washing up all the little bits and pieces that I took off today. I have a coffee can with about 10 pounds of nuts and bolts!

SeanR

Everything looks good to me AO. I look at those heads and think "what carbon?" don't look bad at all.

EMan 928

Awesome progress, Andrew! Especially taking into account the temps you're working in. You will finish yours before I finish mine!

AO

That would be sad... for you.

Rob Edwards

Looking good, Andrew- ridiculous how much more space a disassembled engine takes up.....

928 at last

I thought he'd cleaned them before the pics......

AO

The carbon is mostly on the pistons, but it's not a ton. I don't think I can read the tolerance group number (1) on the piston.

AO

No doubt!

Imo000

If you can read the tolerance group and there are no local heavy carbon build ups on the pistons then you don't have a carbon build up problem. There seems to be some pitting of the heads between the cylinders but doesn't look too bad. Looks like a well running engine.

These pictures are the total opposite of Rod's GT engine disassemble from last winter.

AO

Part of it is also because I don't drive like a *****, unlike that cars PO!

Leon Speed

Some dents on the heads, seem fresh? Anyway, are you going to measure crank, bearings etc and possibly replace or "just" re-ring? If the latter there is no need to split the block or?

69gaugeman

Well actually that is not correct. The way a leak down tester works is by comparing the pressure in a vessel (the cylinder) with a known pressure through a known amount of leakage. Basically you need a regulator and orifice (usually 1.0mm) and a second pressure gauge.

How it works is you pressurize the first gauge to 100 psi. Then that pressure runs through the 1.0mmm hole to the cylinder. If the cylinder has a hole that is greater than 1.0mm the vessel (the cylinder) cannot get up to pressure. The feed is exhausted through whatever leak there is in the cylinder. The second gauge will read 0. If there is no leakage at all the second vessel (the cylinder) will pressurize up to the same pressure as before the orifice. The gauge will read 100psi. The reason to use 100 psi is the percentage calculation is really easy. If the second gauge reads 90psi you have 10% leakage.

It matters to see what the effect of what he did over the last xx years/ miles did to the engine.

Also in case he made it worse...



I would replace the mains as it had not been done before. He just did the rods 6 years ago so I would leave them alone, as they can be done (relatively) easy while in the car.

928 at last

Wasn't entirely his fault. I think it had a lot to do with that aftermarket VSC unit he kept installing in the passenger area. I'm pretty sure the sensitivity was cranked on it most of the time....
(VSC = "Velocity Sensing and Control"...Geschwindigkeits Erkundung und Regelung for the purists).