MPD47

I know where they go, I'm asking for a photo looking straight on since his engine is out right now and assembled

chilibluepepper

Well, mission accomplished. The engine is finally where it belongs - inside the engine bay! It fought me a little at first because the engine was rotated on its axis towards the driver's side, and that just does not work! Stepped away before I broke something, or killed myself. After I regrouped I was able to properly angle the engine on all planes using a racheting tie down strap, and my load balancer from Harbor Freight. I was then able to align it with the shaft, and with a twist of the shaft - voila, it went in! Knuckles are intact, and no blood or skin was shed, although, a cross-over frame bolt dropped, and doinked me on the forehead! Man, I hate it went tools and fastners attack!

Here are a couple photos of the engine "en su nueva casa."

MPD47 - the tensioners are visible on the second photo. If you need another view. Let me know, I have tons of photos documenting this silly project!

MPD47

Alex, that works great, thanks very much!

billthe3

Awesome stuff!

Any reason why you kept the stock headers/crossover?

chilibluepepper

Bill - Limited time and resources. Although upgraded headers and intake would have been nice, the stock items are functional for the time being. Anyway, these are items I can easily upgrade later.

fast951

Alex, ot looks great. Good job! You will be up and running in no time.

hosrom_951

Alex,
I like the way you replaced the factory intake manifold bolts with studs, it makes the installation of the manifold so much easier.

chilibluepepper

Thanks John.

Hussam - I figured it would help line everthing up during assembly.

DDP

Except I think you're going to run into and problem when you have to remove the headstud nuts. You'll have to pull the intake mani studs. But I'm not wishing it on you that you'll need to pull the head soon.

Great project. Good luck with it.

chilibluepepper

Yes, 3 of the intake studs would have to be removed to access 3 of the head stud nuts, but backing out 3 "easy to reach" studs will be the easiest thing to deal with in that unmentionable scenario. I even have an extra set of Saturn studs I may use for the intake if I get crazy.

chilibluepepper

I'm still pretty upset about this, so I'll keep it brief. Oil pump primed and builds good pressure - good. Engine fires up - good. Knocking sound after brief time running - BAD! No autopsy (pun intended) , so I don't know the culprit yet. I'm just trying to keep my lunch down right now . I'm not really sure whether I'm going to try to make this work, or just throw in the towel. Here's the conflict - Lots of time and money spent at this point, and I really can't stomach spending much more of either one at this point, but failure and giving up after my investment isn't sitting too well either... My wife just hates this car, and this obsessive project.

Duke

Are you sure it's any of the lifters knocking until they build the correct pressure?

chilibluepepper

Duke, I'm not sure of anything at this point, but it seems like more of a knocking sound, rather than a tapping.

Ski

Alex, did you install a crank scrapper? I know of a recent fired up engine where it was clear when rolled over but when it actually started, contact was made.

Just a curious question; did you take a good look at the pistons when they were at the top, were they past the top or dead even? Any chance that if you had the block and head surfaced, did you put some clay on the pistons, put on the timing belt to check for valve to piston clearance? Best of luck to you - can you tell where the sound is coming from at all or is it too general? Do you have the clutch/bell housing all hooked up or is the engine free?

chilibluepepper

No scraper installed. The piston crowns were about .8mm below deck height, I used slightly shorter connecting rods to achieve closer to 8:1 compression. Did not use clay to check for clearance. Engine seemed to turn freely while I was priming the oil pump, and did not hear any undue sounds. Oil pressure ranged between 60 and 80 psi. I couldn't pinpoint the point origin of the noise, and decided to stop and walk away for the evening. My main concern is damage to the bottom end (ie bearings, pistons etc..), but is this a likely scenario given I had good oil pressure? Could it really be just the lifters not pumping up? I was really apprehensive to keep running it "to see what would happen."