TEACH ME TO REBUILT MY ENGINE

[fubar andy]

Ok, long story short my engine failed the other week and I'm pretty pissed off to say the least.

I'm no longer going pay someone to work on the engine, so I'm going to do something I've not done before, but should have done years ago.

Learn to build an engine (my engine)

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Here's the deal, I'm going to source the parts myself which I always do, but I'm looking for help to pull it apart, find what's damaged, replace and rebuild.

There are many people on here that have a lot of experience and knowledge about rebuilding engines and any assistance in helping me would be very much appreciated (whether is practical/in person or via the forum)

To give you some background, I know how an engine works, but the rebuild process, what to do, look out for and not to do I am 100% in the dark.

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For me, this is a new chapter in GTiR ownership, one if I can master will help me to look after my car better and also save me £££'s on useless engine builders!

The rebuilt preparation itself isn't going to start till after the 25th Anniversary Event and work should begin later 2015/early 2016 as I have a lot on my plate at the moment with other things.

This won't be a rush job, but something for me to learn and take my time over. I've just bought a house with a MASSIVE garage for me to work in, so I've got the perfect place to work on it.

I'm starting this now as I need to think about what I need to prepare for, tools I'll need to buy or borrow and understand the task I'm taking on!

Anyone willing to help or ask questions I'm happy to accept and answer.

 

[jay1]

firstly what failed?

 

[jay1]

engine rebuilds are not all that difficult, but can be costly depending on what failed, i am currently rebuilding a spare i have at home, i am putting up pictures as i do it as keasty may be purchasing it for his car, so if you need any advice have a look at the thread im doing or just send me a message and im more than happy to help, depending on where you live i could even lend a hand mate or make sure you do it all correctly

 

[fubar andy]

firstly what failed?

Fueling, which caused DET

I'm sure it's "easy" to rebuilt an engine, but I've never tried before so I've little knowledge about what I'm doing.

Think of it like reading/learning Japanese for the 1st time; it's very overwhelming, but after time and guidance you'll pick it up - same instance here!

 

[jay1]

ok, so you know what caused the engine to fail which is always good, when do you plan on stripping it to find out the extent of the damage?

 

[jay1]

lol yeah i was going to try my first rebuild on a rs turbo engine, that was the plan anyway, first rebuild turned out to be a s3 turbo engine haha, it is daunting, just remember to be methodical and remove bits slowly, i always lay things out on the bench in the order in which it came out, il be getting my block back next week sometime, so i will take a lot of pictures and put them in the thread so you can have a look, so you can see what your letting yourself in for lol

 

[fubar andy]

ok, so you know what caused the engine to fail which is always good, when do you plan on stripping it to find out the extent of the damage?

The rebuilt preparation itself isn't going to start till after the 25th Anniversary Event and work should begin later 2015/early 2016 as I have a lot on my plate at the moment with other things.

.

 

[fubar andy]

lol yeah i was going to try my first rebuild on a rs turbo engine, that was the plan anyway, first rebuild turned out to be a s3 turbo engine haha, it is daunting, just remember to be methodical and remove bits slowly, i always lay things out on the bench in the order in which it came out, il be getting my block back next week sometime, so i will take a lot of pictures and put them in the thread so you can have a look, so you can see what your letting yourself in for lol

Sounds good, cheers!

 

[PobodY]

Andy, I'd love to help so that I can learn too... but I don't really have anything helpful to contribute.

I've watched plenty of videos of people building engines on teh interwebs, but I don't think it qualifies me in the least; especially since it's mainly American V8s which are all push-rod single-cam technology.

 

[jay1]

i put some pics up the other day of the cylinder head, partly stripped, and back together, thats a pretty easy job to do, albeit pretty tedious removing 16 valves lol

 

[fubar andy]

This will be more of a bottom end rebuild, the head is fine regards valves and seals

 

[Fast Guy]

If you haven't stripped it yet, the head could have det marks if it was bad enough to blow a piston.

 

[jay1]

il do a bottom end rebuild thread when the block is back, but if i was you, to save hassle in the future a top end rebuild is definately worth it.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I'm no expert, but the key to longevity is measuring with proper tools, then measuring everything again... Any monkey can bolt stuff together, if you're not measuring everything each step of the way it'll fail sooner rather than later, if you could fork out 1-2k on decent tools and brush up on your mathematics you'd build yourself a cracking engine, nobody will take more care than yourself once you know what you're doing.

You'll need decent torque wrenchs, micrometer, stretch gauge, spring compressor etc etc, there was a good thread on the mlr where people where recommending lower budget but quality tools on this subject, worth a nosey,

Once you've got the basics, you'll get engine specific tips, and spot things when rebuilding that you can improve, casting flaws, slightly mismatched waterways, etc etc, i have the oem workshop manual on paper which has a bit of a guide to rebuilding the engine, torque specs and clearances which you can borrow for as long as you need, maybe also pick up a couple of books on building engines, they would give you the formulas for working out your clearances, list of tools etc.

Just what i'd do, no offence intended, you might be fully tooled and red hot with your maths, i'd definitely need to brush up before i attempted it though lol.

 

[POPA-G]

Andt pm'd you

 

[campbellju]

HI Andy, glad to hear you might still be in the game Happy to help where I can and I've got odds and sods left around still from my build if any of use.

As others have said, we need to confirm what went wrong and what is broken. If your pistons failed then you might be able just to rebore, fit new pistons and leave the crank alone?

First job is to have a BBQ, get some friends over and we can drop the engine and take it from there.

 

[campbellju]

key to longevity is measuring with proper tools, then measuring everything again... Any monkey can bolt stuff together, if you're not measuring everything each step of the way it'll fail sooner rather than later,

Good advice here. Getting someone professional to do this on my build wasn't expensive and money well spent.

 

[fubar andy]

I'm no expert, but the key to longevity is measuring with proper tools, then measuring everything again... Any monkey can bolt stuff together, if you're not measuring everything each step of the way it'll fail sooner rather than later, if you could fork out 1-2k on decent tools and brush up on your mathematics you'd build yourself a cracking engine, nobody will take more care than yourself once you know what you're doing.

You'll need decent torque wrenchs, micrometer, stretch gauge, spring compressor etc etc, there was a good thread on the mlr where people where recommending lower budget but quality tools on this subject, worth a nosey,

Once you've got the basics, you'll get engine specific tips, and spot things when rebuilding that you can improve, casting flaws, slightly mismatched waterways, etc etc, i have the oem workshop manual on paper which has a bit of a guide to rebuilding the engine, torque specs and clearances which you can borrow for as long as you need, maybe also pick up a couple of books on building engines, they would give you the formulas for working out your clearances, list of tools etc.

Just what i'd do, no offence intended, you might be fully tooled and red hot with your maths, i'd definitely need to brush up before i attempted it though lol.

That's all good advice and I'll take you up on the borrowing of the manual if that's possible when I'm closer to the time!

I'm not rushing this by any means and as my expericace is very limited, "things to look out for" is going to be my main issue.

As Jim said, I'll have a bbq, whip out the engine, inspect and take it from there!!!

 

[fubar andy]

Andt pm'd you

Cheers dude!

 

[Empty Pockets]

No problem, it's far easier than faffing with a laptop in the garage, just let me know when you need it.