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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Bad night in the 914 garage

Posted by: Dave-O May 30 2005, 10:01 PM

Hey all,
After getting my car all mechanically buttoned up to do some serious autocrossing this weekend, upon setting the timing...the motor started singing a sad tune.

My "slight" rod knock suddenly became very not "slight"

I have a bunch of money in the P/C as well as the heads...so I can't afford to just run this motor until it blows up due to the risk of damaging those parts.

The latest plan of action includes picking up a junkyard motor from a club member (supposedly ran 10 years ago...been in storage since..) Throwing it in with my perfectly working injection and ignition. And giving it hell!!!

If the gamble works...hopefully this motor will last for the rest of the season and this winter I will have a chance to dig into my old motor. If not...the car will sit in the garage for the rest of the autocross season and I will be bumming rides off of other people.

If the car doesn’t' get fixed this week...I won't have the time or facilities to fix it until august.

My plan to have a running car by the weekend....

Tonight: cry myself to sleep
Tuesday night: drive 2 hours one-way to pick up some junkyard motors
Wednsday night: clean the mystery motor and install my Injection, transaxle, etc.
Thursday night: Install mystery motor and let 'er rip
Fridaday night-Saturday: planned extra time for things that don't go as planned

Wish me luck...happy wrenching!!!

Posted by: Bruce Allert May 30 2005, 11:09 PM

OOOOOOOoooooooweeeeeeeeOOOOOoooooo

this sounds like you & me are in a parallel universe

I'm goin thru & doin the exact same thang

Just got the old broken CHT outta the 1.7 that's gonna replace the knockin 2.0.

Good luck to ya Dave.

I'll race ya to see who gets theirs runnin first

..........b

Posted by: ottox914 May 31 2005, 06:09 AM

The motor is yours for as long as you need it and it runs. I'm off the boards till this pm, call my cell when you're on the way.

Posted by: 736conver May 31 2005, 07:44 AM

Good luck Dave.

Posted by: aircooledboy May 31 2005, 08:06 AM

pm sent.

Posted by: ottox914 May 31 2005, 10:15 PM

He's got the motor and is on the way home. left the farm about 8pm or so, a good 2 hrs home for him, I'm sure there'll be updates all week.

Posted by: Dave-O May 31 2005, 10:20 PM

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words.

We're currently on schedule to have it running Thursday night.

I picked up a (hopefully) good short block tonight from Ottox914. Tomorrow night I'll pull the old 1.9, clean up the shortblock and start the transfer of good parts. At the end of the night I WILL have a motor ready to install.

I hear ya Bruce...at least mine decided to start making a racket when I pulled it into my garage, not at an autocross 3 hours away!

Motto for the rest of the week..."I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead"

Lets keep those motors running "quietly"!!!

David

Posted by: Bruce Allert May 31 2005, 10:52 PM

QUOTE
Lets keep those motors running "quietly"!!!

David

Hear hear

Yer ahaid of me Dave. I still need to get the left side tin off & do mucho cleaning. Only then can I start taking the 2.0 out. Gunna git that cleaning done Wednesday evening......

........b

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 08:12 PM

IT RUNS!!!!!!!

sorry I haven't posted for a bit...every spare moment has been spend in the garage

I got the "new" engine assembled yesterday with my old tin/injection/ignition/clutch/transaxle.

Tonight I placed it in the engine bay, bolted up only the pieces that were needed for the engine to run, and let it rip

Boy these things are loud inside with no exhaust!!!!

Tomorrow night I'll hook the rest of the stuff and do a little bit of driving to try and break it before I take it back to the cities on Saturday...autocross on Sunday.

I better go get the shop in order again...I'll post more later with some pictures.

David

Posted by: Bruce Allert Jun 2 2005, 08:37 PM

QUOTE (Dave-O @ Jun 2 2005, 07:12 PM)
IT RUNS!!!!!!!

Boy these things are loud inside with no exhaust!!!!

Good Job

I ran mine w/o exhaust... I wanted to leave it like that

........b

Posted by: iamchappy Jun 2 2005, 08:39 PM

Good going Dave nice to hear your back up and running.
Living without an engine makes ones heart sad.

Posted by: ottox914 Jun 2 2005, 09:07 PM

Dave- just tried your cell before I found the updates. Congrats!!! You have probably thought of all this before, but I'd keep a close watch on the valves, and change the oil alot, as neither of us can be sure what all is going on in there. I'll be in the office all day tomorrow, give me a call when you can. And.... beat it good before coming back this way, just to be sure its up to the task!!! If I give you a motor and it strands you hours from home and help, I'd be bumming as much as you would, but if it blows up 10 min from home, all you've lost is a couple evenings.

WAY TO GO!!!!!! but not at the same time!!!

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 09:10 PM

The "new" motor as I recieved it.

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 09:13 PM

Down to the parts I'll be using. It was actually VERY clean under the tin, I was very suprised.

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 09:16 PM

Under the valve covers was very clean as well.

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 09:18 PM

And the "new" motor, ready to instal!

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 2 2005, 09:22 PM

Dave, It got it's first dose of fresh oil when I first started it up. Tomorrow I will give it a full oil change with a fresh filter and another valve adjustment. After the repeated "floggings" if I have time I will do another oil change/valve adjustment.

There will be lots of "close to home testing"...and that new rev limiting rotor I ordered will get some use!!!!

David

Posted by: ottox914 Jun 3 2005, 07:24 AM

Thats all great news, but... if you're faster than me sunday I want that motor back !!!!

Posted by: rick 918-S Jun 3 2005, 07:30 AM

QUOTE (ottox914 @ Jun 3 2005, 05:24 AM)
Thats all great news, but... if you're faster than me sunday I want that motor back !!!!

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 3 2005, 01:35 PM

QUOTE (ottox914 @ Jun 3 2005, 07:24 AM)
Thats all great news, but... if you're faster than me sunday I want that motor back !!!!

Ha Ha...I think the only way that will happen is if the pavement is below 40 degrees to make your "R's" really stick...and I might have to pull off one of your plug wires...that should even up the cars.

Now to level the playing field with driving ability...ever drive with a blindfold?

David

Posted by: Aaron Cox Jun 3 2005, 01:48 PM

nice mudflaps

Posted by: ottox914 Jun 3 2005, 05:09 PM

Aaron, before you hack on the flaps, maybe Dave-O should post a photo of the never ending gravel road his parents live on... They do make good cone catchers, maybe Dave-O would care to comment on that... ( I recall dragging a cone out of the fender well and getting a bonus mud flap also-)

Dave-O, Have always wanted to do a blind auto cross- maybe on a lake in January with something AWD. We could take turns being driver and seeing eye dog, set up some kind of a couse, and go with it. We just need to talk my wife out of her Forrester for a couple hours some weekend... if you hit a course marker and add 2 seconds to your time, would that be considered a "snow cone" ?

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 3 2005, 05:33 PM

New Update, and It's not a good one,

I drove it for the first time just a few minutes ago...and this thing has absolutely NO BALLS!!!! I was expecting a slight loss in power going from a 1.9 to a 1.7 but this is ridiculous...floored in 4th only going 80 miles per hour!!!

I'm going to play around with the timing a bit and just look everything else over. I also have to figure out why my starter just decided to stop working

It's not looking good at this point...but I'll push through till all possible options are exhausted.

David

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 3 2005, 06:20 PM

OK...ignore that last post

I fixed a loose connection and got the starter working.

I then set the timing by my "ear dyno"...I decided to then to try it out using the "seat of the pants dyno"....my brothers friend was along and I told him to jump in...but don't expect too much

After turning out of the driveway I was thinking "wow...this thing is pulling a lot better!!!!!!"....I think I began to scare him when I ran it off the rev limiter without braking into the first corner.

Every shift from that point on was either at the redline or slamming off the rev limiter...redline in fourth into fifth downhill, oh yeah...I think I need a cigarette.

Now just to clean this thing up a bit...sorry for the depressing post before this.

David

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 3 2005, 10:08 PM

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Jun 3 2005, 01:48 PM)
nice mudflaps

Let he with nice paint cast the first stone (pun intended)

David

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 3 2005, 10:11 PM

QUOTE (ottox914 @ Jun 3 2005, 05:09 PM)

Dave-O, Have always wanted to do a blind auto cross- maybe on a lake in January with something AWD. We could take turns being driver and seeing eye dog, set up some kind of a couse, and go with it. We just need to talk my wife out of her Forrester for a couple hours some weekend... if you hit a course marker and add 2 seconds to your time, would that be considered a "snow cone" ?

That sounds like too much fun. I have never driven anything AWD in the snow. I'm used to my FWD saturn that requires trail braking to make it do anything fun. It's amazing what we'll come up with to get through those long winter months!!!

David

Posted by: ottox914 Jun 3 2005, 11:12 PM

If you're coming back this way saturday, stop by the house, I've got a timing light you can use to check things out if you don't have one at your place.

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 4 2005, 07:27 AM

QUOTE (ottox914 @ Jun 3 2005, 11:12 PM)
If you're coming back this way saturday, stop by the house, I've got a timing light you can use to check things out if you don't have one at your place.

I've got a timing light and I was sure to re-mark my timing marks on the fan. When I set the timing the first time with the light it was while the car was ouside in the sun. It is possible that I either accidentaly set the timing at TDC or that I simply "missed the mark"...I'll try again with the light today.

With family visiting today and all the other things I have to do to get ready to head back to MN...I don't think I'll be able to stop today.

David

P.S. If you remember and are able, could you grab the paper air-filter housing from your old 1.7 to throw on this thing...I've been meaning replace that oil bath for a while now.

Posted by: ottox914 Jun 4 2005, 11:20 AM

If I've still got it, its at the farm, and I'll not be there again before the sunday event. I'll try to remember to look for it next time I'm there, and bring it to the next event. Will you be joining us sunday? If so, and rob bails with the 'jackett, I could be looking for a second ride...

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 4 2005, 12:01 PM

I'll be there assuming nothing catistrophic happens on the drive back. I've put about 100 miles on it and it pulls very strong. Only problem is a small exhaust leak due to two missing exhaust studs. The threads into the head are good, the studs just have to be replaced as time permits.

You're always welcome to co-drives

David