GST with PSI's build & restoration of 1813

[GSX_TC]

fingers crossed this time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GVR47111K]

Major props. One for the money, two for the show... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JamesFoster]

Looks awesome. I like your car, and attention to detail.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Fired up the motor for about 30 seconds and it ran great. After that, an audible knock started coming from the bottom end. I'm convinced this car is cursed. The motor is coming out for the third time. The military is moving me to Florida March 1st. I'm considering two options:

Cutting my loses and selling the car.

or

Pulling the motor on my donor Laser and throwing it in for the time being until I can sort out the problems with my current motor.

Either way I'm running out of time...

 

[iceman69510]

That doesn't make sense and really sucks. Are you sure your lubrication system is all good? Oil pressure?

 

[GSX_TC]

Dammit im sorry to hear that brett. maybe you should have a shop build you a nice lil forged motor or something that way you wont have to worry about it.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting iceman69510:
That doesn't make sense and really sucks. Are you sure your lubrication system is all good? Oil pressure?



I'm not sure what the cause is yet. I should have the motor out again soon to transplant the donor motor in. I'm interested to see what the issue is though.


Meanwhile, I pulled the motor out of my donor car click .

I only plan on using the short block. I'll pull my other motor and transfer pretty much everything over to this bottom end. This is just a temporary fix until I can figure out exactly why my other motor keeps eating parts. I tore it completely down, and cleaned everything up. Compression was 165 across the board before I pulled it, and the internals took good as new after a little cleaning. The block got a fresh coat of paint and is ready to be reassembled. I'll be leaving the balance shafts in for the time being, and am hoping the 3rd time is a charm. I guess we'll see.

 

[strokin4dr]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck with motors lately. I've been watching this build and hoping for the best!

 

[GSTwithPSI]

I pulled the motor on the Galant today and believe I solved my problem. From what I can tell, the motor was absolutely fine. I expected to find a spun rod or main bearing, but didn't. The bottom end, crankshaft and bearings looked pretty normal.

What I did find was one of my adjustable cam gears was loose. It's obvious it was moving around because there are small marks on the adjuster where it looked like the bolts slipped. The strange thing though is the gear was still lined up on zero when I pulled the motor. Like an idiot, it didn't cross my mind to double check they were tight before I ran the car for the first time. Additionally, the noise I was hearing sounded like a high pitch metallic sound clacking about twice per revolution. From everything I can tell, the cam gear was the issue, not the bottom end as I suspected. I had to check the head in case the valves slapped the pistons. Luckily the valves were good, and no damage occurred. Well, nothing bad except for the fact that I basically pulled the motor for a problem that could have been fixed in less than 5 minutes. I guess that's just my luck.

I'm still going to proceed with my original plan. I'm using the short block from my donor car, and transferring everything from the other motor over. I thought about putting my built motor back together, and dropping it back in, but I'm going to build it stronger and then swap it back in at a later time. My plans are to add:
-New block
-Kiggly girdle
-Eagle rods
-Eagle Crank
-Built head with oversize valves, port, polish etc.
-SMIM

In the mean time, I should have a Galant to drive instead of JSBallin out for the rest of my life. I should have the motor in and running by Monday hopefully, so we'll see if the third time is a charm.

 

[GSX_TC]

Awesome, does this mean I'll be seeing you and the car at the FP lonestar shootout in May?

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Yeah Mike, I'm really hoping to make it to the Lonestar shootout and run the car there at the track!

I made a little progress today. I tore the bottom end down to make sure all my oil clearances were good, and surprisingly after 180k they were still just as tight as the tolerances in the new motor I just built were. I installed the head and torqued it down with another new composite Felpro head gasket. The ARP bolts and HKS cams were reused. All the new timing components and water pump from the other motor were transferred over. I timed the motor with the addition of a new Gates racing balance shaft belt to match the camshaft belt, since this motor will retain the balance shafts for now. It's been a minute since I did a motor with balance shafts, so I had to double check the timing procedure. Having worked on more motors without balance shafts than with them, it speaks volumes for how many people eliminate these. I personally have never had any issues with balance shafts, and hope the trend will continue. The Gates racing balance shaft belt should add a bit of security either way. I'm hoping to finish up assembly soon, and have the motor in by tomorrow night.

 

[turbowop]

Whoa. A build with balance shafts. Haven't seen that in awhile. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif

 

[GSX_TC]

Hell yeah! i hope you make it buddy, I have a good feeling about that motor your about to put in there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting turbowop:
Whoa. A build with balance shafts. Haven't seen that in awhile. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif



Yeah, not really by choice but due to tight time constraints. I had a question about your car Wop. I noticed you mentioned a few times you eliminated your balance shafts but left the front one in. So basically, you left the front shaft in and eliminated the rear shaft with a stubby? Is there a benefit to this besides the obvious not having to install new bearings to block the oil holes, and having to plug the oil pump cover?

 

[5OF2k]

TIGHTEN THE CAM GEAR ADJUSTMENT BOLTS!!!

....just giving you a little sh*t man. I have a feeling this one is going to get you back on the road!

Hang in there!!

-Jake

 

[turbowop]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Quoting turbowop:
Whoa. A build with balance shafts. Haven't seen that in awhile. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif



Yeah, not really by choice but due to tight time constraints. I had a question about your car Wop. I noticed you mentioned a few times you eliminated your balance shafts but left the front one in. So basically, you left the front shaft in and eliminated the rear shaft with a stubby? Is there a benefit to this besides the obvious not having to install new bearings to block the oil holes, and having to plug the oil pump cover?



Yup. Just makes it easier is all. I've never had the motor out of the car, so leaving the front shaft in was quick and easy. Both 1051 and 503 were done this way.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting 5OF2k:
TIGHTEN THE CAM GEAR ADJUSTMENT BOLTS!!!

....just giving you a little sh*t man. I have a feeling this one is going to get you back on the road!

Hang in there!!

-Jake



Yeah man, I'm really hoping so.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Well, the third time is a charm. I dropped the motor in yesterday, and got it all buttoned up today. I have to say, with my current string of luck, I was crossing my fingers when I started it up for the first time. I hit the key and the motor fired right up.

I ran the car for about 3 minutes or so to check for oil leaks. Sure enough, I had a pretty heavy leak coming from the oil cooler line AN fittings right where they meet the OFH. I tried to tighten them up, but I guess the AN fittings have had it, because they were still leaking despite my attempts to fix them. The lines are -10 AN, and I couldn't source any fittings locally to replace the ones I have. As a result, I had to remove the B&M cooler, and am going to swap in the OEM cooler from my 90 GST donor car for the time being. The -10 AN lines were such a pain in the ass to manipulate because they are so rigid and stiff, that I'm switching to -8 AN when I replace them.

I also got my Innovate LC-1 wideband installed and calibrated. I fired up the car and set my V3 to log the wideband on the EGR input. It seems to be working good, and I'm excited to start playing with my tune a little bit now that I have something to go off of.

Besides my oil leak, the car seems to run great. It seems like the valve train is a little noisy. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't really run the car for long enough to get it up to temp, or if the head was just a little dry from sitting for so long? I'm wondering if the larger cams are contributing to this also? Do you guys running aftermarket cams notice a little extra valve train noise over stock? Anyways, here are a few pics of the finished product.

Here's where I relocated the coil pack to. The coil is easily accessible here, but also gives the engine bay a clean look.

I replaced the injector clips with the quick disconnect type, and tucked the harness around the fuel rail. This made for a great finish.

I built a custom bracket to keep my LC-1 all safe and sound. The bracket should also act as heat barrier as well.

Here are a few electrical tid bits. I fabricated the black cover, which holds a NRG Voltage Stabilizer E-PAC3, and a digital voltage readout. On the side is a custom grounding kit made of 8GA wire, each of which is attached to a trans mounting bolt. All of the wires spider back to the distribution block in the photo, which is then tied into the voltage stabilizer, battery ground, and chassis ground. Eventually, I'm going to run a 12GA wire straight from the charging post on the alternator to the positive battery terminal. The factory wire is too small IMO.

Zaklee Corp timing belt cover, Aeromotive FPR, Avid aluminum mounts, AEM tru-time cam gears, HKS 264/273 cams and a cyclone intake manifold.

Aluminum radiator, OEM Mitsu thermostat, Mishimoto upper and lower radiator hoses, dual Mishimoto 10" slim fans and shroud, OBX -6 AN fuel rail with new O-rings, Russell fuel filter, black top CAS and Innovate LC-1 wideband O2.

2G MAS, new K&N 4" filter, Dejon intake pipe

Out with the clock, in with the Innovate wideband and auto timer display.

A USDM smile.

I should have the oil cooler mounted up and installed tomorrow, and then when I'm satisfied there are no more oil leaks it's off for a test drive!

 

[GSX_TC]

Sweet! Yeah having aftermarket cams won't cause more noise, probably just dry and needs oil to get up in the head and lifters. I hope everything goes well with the upcoming test drive, I bet your stoked!

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Moar woes, so I'll start with the good news. Got the OEM oil cooler installed from my donor car. It actually went pretty smooth and turned out great. No leaks, and mounted up like factory.

Now, on to the ass pain this car continues to be. The fuel pump was doing some weird things. I've since converted to an in-tank Walbro 255, from the external 255 setup I was originally using, and both pumps exhibited the exact same issue. I would start the car and the fuel pump would run as it should. After driving or even idling for a while, the pump would start to get really loud, and my fuel pressure would drop off slightly. If you shut the car off and killed the pump for even a split second, and restarted the car (and pump) it would be normal again. It would be fine again at first, and then repeat the same symptoms all over again after running for a few more minutes. I'll skip all the crap I suspected and cut to what the actual issue was. The fuel tank is still dirty inside. Not really dirty, but there is this magical brown poop that seems to reappear now matter how good I clean the tank. This sediment is moving around during driving and such, and clogging the little fuel pump pickup sock. I removed the sock and replaced it with a small screen, and my problem totally went away.

So here's the pump after I first removed it when I suspected this pickup sock was the problem. The brown sock below the pump has under 300 miles on it. I installed a new sock and dropped the pump back in.

After dropping the pump back in, I ran the car for 10 min and the same problem came back. I did everything I could think of, and couldn't resolve the issue. I finally said screw it, and pulled the pump again just for shits and gigs, and sure enough the brand new sock was clogged again.

The car is currently running with a screen on the pump inlet until I can come up with a a better solution. What really sucks is the options I have to fix this:
1. Buy a new used fuel tank that doesn't have the same problem. Impossible.
2. Pay $400 the get my current tank hot tanked, blasted, stripped and sealed inside. I was quoted that price locally from a reputable shop who specializes in such things.
3. Buy a fuel cell for what to costs to get my tank cleaned. I don't want a cell in my trunk, and really don't want an aftermarket fuel cell period.
4. Sell this POS car and let someone else worry about it.

After that ordeal, I did some boost leak tests. It would sure be great if something on this car wasn't totally fu*ked. I had a few leaks to say the least.

So I fixed all this crap and ran the car for a while to check for any leaks. No leaks. So, I drove it around town for a while, and still no leaks. So the wife and I drive to her parent's house about 15 miles away, and the car runs great all the way there. I'm ecstatic, because this is the first time in 3 months that I feel confident about the car. I pull away from a stop light about 3 blocks from our destination and mash the gas. The car pulls great all the way to redline through gears 1-3 at about 15 PSI. I start slowing down and come to a stop. The car is running like I unplugged an injector. I pop the hood when we get to our destination and screw with it a little, and say to hell with it guessing I blew a sparkplug out (I'm using an older set). The car sits for about 5 hours and we go out to leave. I start it up and it runs the same for about 5 min, and then seems to fix itself. I get about half way home and my check engine light comes on. my link V3 coolant temp alarm is activating the light, and my temps climb to about 260. I stop a few times to let it cool down and eventually limp it home. It ran fine the whole time, and seemed to be ok when I parked it. Looks like my lower radiator hose started leaking at the radiator somehow, and pissed out most of the coolant.

Like I said, woes. I'm getting really really tired of issues with this car. Honestly, it seems like there isn't one thing I haven't had to fix, replace or recondition on this car. Engine, suspension, electrical, fuel...I've done it all. I've had my fair share of DSM and car problems in general, but damn, this project is starting to kill me. I feel like I should have started with a better specimen. Couple that with the fact that I spend almost all my time working on it, and I have a wife who is about to divorce me over this JSBallin junker. I have always heard things get worse before they get better, but when the hell is the latter going to happen /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif