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I have questions for my GVR4 resurrection please help!

tacolibre

Active member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
37
Location
Spokane Valley, WA
So, here is the full story for my car to help aid suggestions/ comments. car originally bought and irresponsibly driven for approx. 1500 miles with ps leak and oil leak...water pump dies car gets parked 7/2013. during the 1 month-ish of driving i started compiling a large list of things that are wrong thanks to 2 local members jon barnes and kris wildman. car is a 91 gvr4. I will upload images when I figure out how but the problems and respective suggestions are as follows:

fix sticking rear calipers(used units purchased, unk. functionality)

buy and install jnz driveline kit (purchased not installed)

install large o-ring in oil cooler?(not sure what this fix is but i have the fixer o-ring)

car has high idle issue - check caps or what have you ( caps were bad, possibly other things were bad, DSM link v3 purchased with new socketed ECU)

some sort of pressure sender was about to fall off of oil cooler completely, sensor tightened (should i reinstall with locktite during rebuild?)

alternator bolt fell out (rando replacement installed, new or used oem replacement needed)

grinding transmission, possibly due to a double floor mat causing incomplete clutch disengagement or improper step height on flywheel from "new" clutch - TS&R(troubleshoot and repair) - craigslist trans purchased (hope its good), used Fidanza flywheel and new friction disk purchased. New Luk clutch purchased.

front alignment issue, ball joints suspected (Raybestos units purchased)

power steering leak - found to be hard line part of front rack - rebuild kit purchased and used known good rack(thx jbarnes) picked up, not installed

oil on top of valve cover - don't know where it is coming from - new oil cap purchased still oil appearing, used valve cover purchased but not installed

oil pan crushed to sh*t - new unit purchased along with Toyota FIPK

Broken & missing wheel stud (new unit purchased but not installed)

Now that being said I recently pulled the engine to start on the ps leak/clutch/oil pan. When I pulled the pan I found large amounts of a soft non magnetic material in my oil pain which i am assuming is babbit. main and rod bearings are not all but partially bad so long story short i am rebuilding the engine. And this is where I need some help/ some suggestions, mainly with machining and parts.

Machining: I had a machinist of 20+ years look at my engine internals and block and he said to have the crank reground and polished, get new main and rod bearings, have rod big end checked for roundness check and replace balance shaft bearings, check balance shafts for damage, repair as needed and small scoring in block means go cheap and give it a good hone or go expensive and bore the block (whichever i feel is necessary), and finally replace the oil pump as it appears as though oil starvation has been a big problem in the past. Considering the balance shafts aren't out of the block yet, and the cylinder head hasn't been disassembled, what other machining and or professional cleaning should i have done? what can i get for cheap as possible since i am in college from rock auto or whoever?
The end goal is to have a daily driver that i can autocross and rally around a little bit with ~300hp to the ground.

Here is what I have so far on my list for the engine:

new oil pressure sending unit (broke as hell)

new pcv and vacuum lines

full gasket kit – I was going to buy the cheapest one from rock auto but not use the head gasket

headgasket - looking for recommendations based on previous stated power goal

ARP headstuds – not the L19 units but whatever the other ones are

3g lifters - need help finding these as i guess engnbldr's supplier of the good ones is out of the picture

main/rod bearings - need suggestions on brand

new hydraulic timing belt tensioner

new complete timing set - probably going with a gates set

new oil pump - can i go reman here? or oem is the only way. do i need a new case with new gears or just new gears? based on machinist recommendation i will replace but i also have a chunk broken out of my case.

piston rings - need recommendations

new oil squirter crush washers

new balance shaft bearings as needed - probably only oem part i am guessing

and after this is all put together what should i be doing for break in oil? i was going to go with shell rotella + lucas assembly oil on cams and other spinny bits. keep in mind this is my first engine rebuild, and i have the FSM.

I hope you all like books... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
I personally would suggest doing the balance shaft elimination if you are going this far. Your choice.

Also, only have the crank ground if it absolutely needs it. If size, condition and roundness are good, only have it polished. Most of us don't like cutting into a stock nitrided turbo crank (though not the end of the world as some suggest).

If you need to save money, items like ARP headstuds and a fancy head gasket are really not necessities at your projected power levels.

I have used ACL bearings. A while back they seemed to be in short supply. Maybe that has changed.
 

tacolibre

Active member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
37
Location
Spokane Valley, WA
so just have the machine shop say yay or nay on the crank? i couldn't tell ya if it is good or bad. should i post pics of it maybe? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
I would ask "WHY" does he think it needs to be machined? And post pics.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
Quoting tacolibre:
so just have the machine shop say yay or nay on the crank? i couldn't tell ya if it is good or bad. should i post pics of it maybe? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif



Yes, substantiate with data. Not just automatically do it.
 

tacolibre

Active member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
37
Location
Spokane Valley, WA
I have been really busy but no excuses i guess.

Just to recap tho, iceman, when you say substantiate do you mean measure, or get quantitative data to base my decision off of?

These measurements would then be obtained most accurately from the machinist I am assuming?

And will any cutting/grinding of the crank at all remove the nitride coating?

Please keep in mind this is my first complete engine rebuild. Spelling things out for me would be appreciated.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
Yes, quantitative data for decision making. If you are not comfortable determining size and roundness with a micrometer and runout gauge (and don't feel bad, most are not), then the machinist can do it. Need to cut also depends on depth of any damage to the crank. I just advocate not cutting if possible.

The nitriding varies in depth. I saw the Mitsubishi crank spec once a few years ago when researching this (but can't recall the specified depth unfortunately). A 0.25 mm (0.010") cut may not remove all of it, but probably on most of the journals. Now, depending on your intended power levels and use, I don't see this as THE END OF THE WORLD. Stock or slightly higher power levels will likely not be a problem. 400~500 hp, not a good idea. I'm sure there are reground cranks running around all over the place in cars.

It is not cost effective at this time to do a re-nitriding, since a good stock size used crank can be found for less money. Maybe some day it will have to be done.
 

tacolibre

Active member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
37
Location
Spokane Valley, WA
I dropped of the engine locally at a place called Gibson Performance Racing here in Spokane. It was right at the end of business but based on just touch, maybe rod journals can be polished but the crank will have to be cut/ground. after taking a closer look we both confirmed that there was evidence of contaminants as there was grooving that the fingernail could be caught in and more importantly a slight diameter step on one of the main journals. He has built multiple 600-1000hp 4g63's so he seemed to be the best place i could do locally.

I have a new question regarding oil filter housing or OFH i think as its abbreviated here. It was recommended to me to instead of replace the large o-ring that fails in the water cooled oil cooler that i should go to a 90 OFH and do an air to oil heat exchanger instead, would you say that this is a good idea or should i just put the fixer part in the original one?

Additionally, as for gaskets, Iceman said previously that i wouldn't need "fancy" head gaskets does that mean i can go ahead and save ~200 bucks? what is more important to me is not having to pull the motor or remove major parts due to an oil or other leak. I have never had a car that leaks for long because i just cant stand it and i want it to stay that way.
 
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