mx5cartalk.com

Due to the slight derailment of the other thread, I'll start a new one - I'm going to log my engine rebuild here, complete with pictures. It should give people a good idea as to what goes into the build of an engine and also serve as a diary of work I've done.

Lindsay at UMR just called me back. They've checked all of hte engine parts I gave them out, and...

Crankshaft:
Needs to be ground to the next undersize and therefore will require differently-sized rod bearings compared to normal.

Block:
No problems. Will be bored out to the next oversize.

Head:
No problems. They do want to check valve guide clearances with a few valves though, and so I'll bring a couple in. I kept the intake valves, used two exhaust valves in the Familia engine, and I think I may have binned the rest. We'll see.

Rods:
They'll balance the rods no worries - as one of the rods \"unusually\" had a bit more meat than the others. He also forgot the shotpeen and polish ($180), but I made sure that it'll get done.

Other:
ACL mains and piston bearings, thrust bearings, 9 welsh plugs ($208.68 ). Those prices are cheaper than what I've seen elsewhere, so I'll probably go with UMR for those parts. I'm also calling Performance Wholesale today to see if they can get me some ARP head and mains studs.

Total cost thus far for the engine work is $1180. A bit more than I was expecting to be honest - I was thinking $1000 tops. I'll publish an itemised receipt once I've received it - I'll be getting the engine back with all work done this week - and when I get that and my mains bolts I'll be able to put it all together!

i got a fax today from a company called Fabre Australia. check their site www.fabre.com.au to see who they are as i've never heard of them before.
they are advertising B6 & BP lifters for $2.95 each.

Hot diggity. I have my parts back! Photos and stuff to come later, but the bill for the bearings, valves, machining, balancing, shotpeening, shims, lightening, honing, etc etc etc came to $2k

So yeah - pics and stuff to come later!

And thanks Daz, will do!

Here's the cost breakdown:

• Block: Acid dip - $50
• Block: Bore & hone 4 cylinder block - $110
• Block: Surface grind 4 cylinder block - $50
• Block: Supply and fit welch plugs - $18
• Crankshaft: Grind 4 cylinder crankshaft all over - $125
• Conrods: Close and hone 4 rods - $100
• Conrods: Pin fit and align 4 rods - $112
• Conrods: Shot peen - $163.64
• Head: Surface grind - $45.46
• Head: Machine and no couple up 16 valves - $200
• Head: Remove and replace valve guide - $192
• Misc: Balance engine components - $220
• Parts: ACL conrod bearing set - $50.41
• Parts: ACL main bearing set - $88.41
• Parts: ACL thrust bearing set - $18.35
• Parts: Small end bush - $60
• Parts: Exhaust valve - $112
• Parts: Valve guide - $96

So there you go. Parts totalled $425. Replacement of the valve guides was a big chunk of cash, as was the component balancing.

The valve guides were unexpected - apparently there was a bit of play in one/some of them, meaning that the valve could shift in the guide and allow oil through. I didn't want that so I asked them to go ahead with the guide replacement. There was no better time really.

I gave them my intake valves, and they supplied 8 new exhaust valves - I had lunched two of them in the engine originally, used a further two for the Familia engine and only had 4 left - and they looked pretty marginal. So I ditched them. I suppose more could have been saved, but they were cheap in comparison, and it's a moot point now. It was the cost of 4 valves vs 8 valves.

I'm going to be doing a lot of reading over the next few days. The plans are to get everything I need to know about the engine. Then I'll check the ring gap, fit the rings to the pistons and check the orientation of the rods and pistons to make sure that I get them in the right way. Then I'll assemble the pistons.

Then, I'll get some studs/bolts, maybe another sump and do some clearance checking. Then comes the final wash, some coating with oil/CRC - and then assembly!

Excellent work Sabre. Make sure you don't snap one of the piston rings during fitment. I have seen it done!


Jules

OK, here are some more photos. I have so many pretty much for documentational purposes.


- the block itself. The shop fitted the welch plugs for me, and to be honest I'm glad they did. They'd be a right pain in the arse if you stuffed them up and accidentally belted one into the water jacket. The plugs appear to have some sealant around them - it looks a lot like permatex instagasket.


The rear of the block.


The front.

With the basic photos done, it was time to put the engine onto a stand. I remove the head piece from the stand and started attaching it to the block:



And mounted:


I used 12mm x 1.5 bolts. Only 3 of the 4 holes threaded - they seem to hold nicely, but I've got a 4th sitting there loose just in case. Anyway, with that mounted, I had more flexibility with my photos:


Closeup of the cylinders - you can see the machining work quite nicely here.

The underside:

The (important) attached tag, and how the engine sits now - ie, wrapped in plastic!

Now, for the other parts. The crank was largely unexciting. It had to be ground to the next undersize - not that you can tell, really.





The rods - they've been shotpeened, although I wouldn't have a clue how to tell. Some shimming was also done to the rods because of play somewhere in them. Damned if I know where.






And finally, the head - I don't have any pics of it out of plastic as it was wrapped when they brought it out of the back of the shop. I'll unwrap it when I'm ready to assemble it all, though.

Also, to compare and contrast - here are the before photos:

That newly reconditioned stuff looks beyoooodiful Mr Tooth. Makes one feel that it should be assembled using white gloves.

very nice sabre.... ill bring ya the lifters on the weekend as well... but they are still in the head. Ill prob just bring it as a whole for ya.

Thanks, lads!

sabretooth wrote:Then I'll check the ring gap

What gap are you going to use? It it needs to be opened up how are you going to do this?

Just curious because a had a bad run with two sets of pistons and rings in a motor bike engine that I built years ago because of conflicting info on the ring gap.

Andrew.

Linished rods usually look like this with the flashing removed from the side. And shot peening usually looks smother.





Just curious again.

Andrew.

What's linishing?

I haven't researched what sort of gap to use yet.

I also have no idea what to have expected the shotpeening to look like (hence the closeup) - so it's good to see one possibility...

edit: oh, linishing is removing the mark down the body. Hmmmm... I did ask for a polishing - goddamn. I wasn't charged for it though. Nothing to stop me getting it done now I suppose...

sabretooth wrote:Nothing to stop me getting it done now I suppose...

$$$???