rob76turbo

Smokiemon,

Could be, they were very stiff, no flex in them at all. Ordered new ones...

rob76turbo

Just pulled the oil pan. It was as difficult as I figured it would be...no more....no less. Actually the toughest part was getting the bolts on the motor mount loosened. I had to have my son hold the wrench in place, while I used some foot power (or as the British would say) Lee-Ver-Ege to crack the bolt.

I digress, anyway pulled all the pan bolts, the pan came right off and the culprit is: CRACKED OIL PICKUP TUBE. I will post a picture later tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, I am going to check the rod bearings tomorrow.

Question, how do you know it the rod bearing has "spun"?

Thanks everyone, hope you all are having a great time in Hershey.

Rob T.

luckett

Do I win a prize?

rob76turbo

Chris, you called it!!!

So, I am looking at all the other things I should do while I have everything apart:
Engine mounts, castor blocks, upgraded sway bar drop links and mounting points, and on and on and on...
I am going to try and cap my self at about a grand in parts. We will see how that works.......

rob76turbo

Update 1:

1. Replaced the rod bearings. Very easy to do, I have posted a DIY on it and can repost if anyone is interested.

2. Replaced both the oil pick-up and return tubes.

3. Installed a Crank Scraper (somehow that just does not sound right.... Sounds like something Sean Connery would say to Alex Trebek on the SNL version of Jeopardy..."Trebek, your mother just loved it when I used the Crank Scraper.....").

4. Currently stuck on re-installing the oil pan.

More to come later.

RajDatta

Rob, please share your write ups with us. It would help everyone here.
Oh oh, this thread is beging to develop into something that I did on my car recently .
Raj

rob76turbo

I installed a crank scrapper that I got from Paragon. Anyway it does not fit too well, which is why I posted about oil pan install. I had to remove a couple of the allen head bolts that hold the oil pan baffle in the bottom of the oil pan to fit everything together. Now it all fits....

But then the ID -10 - T virus struck........ after installing the oil pan, I was thinking about the oil tube and it turns out that I had loosened it some for strange reason (I picked up a 17mm wrench by accident instead of a 19mm and it just happened to fit on the bolt on the oil tube)....anyway I think I forgot to retorque the bolt. So I have to pull the oil pan back off to check that bolt.

Oh well, but there is a bright spot to this whole thing. When looking at the forum and Clarks Garage about installing the oil pan, one suggestion was to use dental floss to tie down the corners and another suggestion was to duck tape the bolts to the bottom of the oil pan with just a bit of thread show through. Neither works well.

So my 14 year old had a great idea. He suggested using zip ties. WOW...zip ties. I have a large container of zip ties with some that are really small. They work perfectly for the job. I will post some pix. Leave to a teenager to come up with an out of the box idea.

rob76turbo

Well a lot has happened since the last post.

Got the oil pan installed, using the new zip tie method.

Installed new motor mounts. Bought aftermarket versions and had to modify the mount point on one of them with my Dremmel (that is why you pay for the OEM versions....)

Installed the cross brace and then on the left side; the new castor block and finally the lower A arm. Went to install the Right side castor block and the nut on the eccentric bolt had seized. When trying to undo it, the rubber insert in the old castor block gave way leaving me with just the eccentric bolt and seized nut. Anyway on to other things....

Pulled out the timing and balance shaft belts and all the tensioners, removed the rear cover and pulled the water pump.

A large buddy of mine came over and we heated the seized nut and then using his large amount of torque, he cracked the nut. Cost me dinner and several beers.... money and time well spent

Finally pulled the cams along with the VarioCam. Installed new pads and chains and reinstalled. After a few attempts of trying to install the VarioCam assembly with the cams sitting on my work bence, I propped them up at the rear part of the cam, positioned them on either side of my neck and wiggled the VarioCam assemble into place. It took a few tries but it works! I had to place the almost assembled cams on the flat of my work bence, pressed down on the VarioCam pads and got the assemble to go the last little bit. A great Ah-Ha moment. Wish I had pictures, but everyone was inside doing other things....hard to get casual help unless I make a formal demand (er....request...).

Anyway I digress, took a couple of test fittings getting the cams back into the car, but I got them in on the 3rd try. Now just taking a little break before I torque all the bolts holding the cams in place....now on to the water pump....

RajDatta

Nice going there Rob.
What I have found that works best in getting the cams and tensioner to fit is by doing the following. Lay both cams flat, slide the cam chain on with the colored links aligning with the cam arrows. Once you have that in place, place the variocam tensioner on the bottom part of the chain and slide it on while lifting both cams up. Once the lower part of tensioner is in, slide the top part of the chain on to the tensioner while both cams are still lifted. I have done this numerous times all by myself. As a matter of fact, just did it friday night. It works everytime. If it helps, I can have someone make a video next time I do this.
Also, a big WARNING. The checkvlave can fly out of the tensioner when the cams are compressed. There are planty of oil galleys and you don't want the check valve ending up in one of those galleys. Your best bet is to remove the checkvalve and then install it after the cams have been tensioned.
Good luck.
Raj

rob76turbo

Good point, I removed the check valve prior and replaced it when I had reinstalled the whole assembly. You can use a magnet and the whole thing pops right out of the VarioCam Assembly. I think I can get everything installed / tightened down / adjusted and probably start the car up tonight (or maybe tomorrow at the latest). I am almost done. Still have to install that castor block (after resolving the seized nut issue) and install the new manual steering rack, sway bar, ETC. Getting close!

rob76turbo

Well, got all belts installed and tensioned properly. Went to give it a few rotations with the 24mm socket on my breaker bar. The engine rotated about 90 degrees and hit something solid. Went back and tried again, hit something solid. I think that the crank is binding on the crank scrapper I installed. That is very disappointing as I checked the crank scrapper several time during installation, but maybe when everything is buttoned up, there is something internal that is binding.

Bummer.... I have to pull the Lt side lower A-Arm and lower the engine support and pull the oil pan....but at least I know how to do that!!! If that is the case, I will probably call Jason over at Paragon and alert him since he is selling them. I do not want someone else to go through the same experience I am going through.... But I will not know until I pull the pan so I will post an update later.

RajDatta

Another thing to consider is to check that your top end and bottom end are timed correctly. It better to check now. How did you get your timing on the cams?
Raj

rob76turbo

I put them in exactly like I took them out. At TDC with the small triangles orientated to the top of the cams.

rob76turbo

How do you physically change the cam position? I know that Arash recently adjusted the cam timing on his car. But how do you do it with the cams locked down by the VarioCam assembly?

968workaholic

You have to loosen the 10mm triple square bolt on the front of the exaust cam. Then you can change the position of the gear on the cam, resulting in changing the cam timing. You really need to have dial indicators setup to accurately set the timing, as well as a fitting to pressurize the vario cam.