Lol, just trying to make it seem like it's a year until you update on every page.

Glad to hear it, sounds like the Artech/T25 setup is pretty dang reliable, excited to see how mine fairs soon. Have you gone back to the dyno at all?

Build is finally underway! Have disassembled everything and cleaned head+valves, block, oil pan. Need to measure some to see if bores and bearings are in spec and what I need to buy next. Then clean 8.8:1 pistons, order rings, hone out, and get this show on the road. I'm aiming for May-June.

I'll prob dyno down the road and see where I'm at but I'm not concerned about specifics. I was 182/164 or so with smaller IC and lower boost. Feels good around what is prob 200/180 with a 1.6 powerband, and the 1.8 will only be better. Might have to measure on west coast as I may be moving out there by late summer. Gotta get this sorted out first!

If someone has a spare stock intake/exhaust valve or two, I could prob use it. One or two of each was a bit suspect. Maybe OK but I'd rather have a better example installed.

Ok guys I need some input. Cleaning has both revealed and created some potential issues. There was more melty det and possible FOD damage to the head than appeared and I'm curious if its a lost cause or millable. On a couple cylinders' intake side along the rim and a bit o quench as well.

Also, I started to clean the deck surface with what I thought was a brass wire wheel. Foolish ol me instead had a brass coated wheel and got a little heavy handed before I realized. Not sure how serious the effects are so any input is appreciated. Not too deep so if needed decking might fix. Side note: corrosion next to coolant channels?

Speedbumps piling up already :vash:


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Dang. Pitting looks bad. Machine shop should be able to tell if it is too deep.

Yup. Definitely considering picking up another head in better condition. Not trying to mill so much that I increase compression significantly. Worst case I just use this one for practice lapping and light dremel.

Thoughts on that deck surface? I won't feel sketch having it slightly shaved if I choose to use a fresh, non-milled head.

I've got to say, rebuilding an engine can be quite a pain in the D! But seeing it fresh and clean is a glorious sight. After all the work, the first start is so satisfying. I finished the rods only build last month, just in time for a cross-country move to take an elaborate road trip route through NC-CO-OR-CA.

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Old versus new. Honestly my favorite thing about this was if I touched the motor, I wouldn't be sentenced to having black death stuck to my hands for days.

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A sight to behold!

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After setting timing and following the meticulous break-in steps, the first drive was done! I was so happy to have it running with the new motor after all the spring-summer work I had done.

HOWEVER, following those meticulous steps, I changed the oil after the first drive. Let's just say I'm glad I did. A nice visit from Mr. ACL shavings came my way. It really felt like a train hit me upon realizing that the engine looks and feels to be working great, yet I know it's an undrivable lost cause with bearing material all up in dat oil. So much effort and now its dead weight. My best guess is contamination somewhere even though I though I was stupid-clean the whole time.

In my 7 years of owning, modding, and driving the piss out of my car I haven't had any major issue that lead to major failure or being unable to drive. The most frustrating bit is I removed the 225k, 40k boosted, sad+smoky 1.6 and put in a fresh 1.8 explicitly to avoid this kind of situation.

Here's how that cross-country drive went. To say I am fired up to make it happen the way I want in the future is an understatement.

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wooowww man that sucks. do you have any pics of the contamination? any chance it's just break in stuffs, or is it really fubared?

Ya, I mean my first oil chance was pretty sparkly. Now it looks like brand new oil, even after 1500 miles.

I'm afraid it's shafted. It looked minor so I thought the same at first. I did the Soviet method where you change oil before first drive, having set timing and warmed up. Then I changed after first drive which did look sparkly and swirly, but kinda dark which caught my eye to investigate further. I watched the oil stream closely as it drained and was concerned as I saw tiny things running down and in the bottom of the drain pan.

To check if I was insane or not, I did an additional oil change with a brief run. That showed slivers of bronze looking material and some larger particulates of it. I cut open the oil filter from break-in and had immediate sads. Plenty of unfriendly looking junk in there. From that point on, I left it be.

I'm still not convinced. Especially if you had the engine bored. Too lazy to read thread. I would definitely do another filter and oil change and run it again. Should be able to check crank endplay (crank movement ) using the clutch and a pry bar on the front pully.

yank the vc and look at the cam journals super easy and quick and might save you from pulling engine if ryan is right.

No photos?

For once, I didn't take photos. I thought it was plain and clear. Definitely wasn't in the mood to stare at my failure in my heightened emotional state. Weak reason to not document, but yeah.

I'll likely drain the oil again just to confirm and show you all what I see. Thanks for believing that I didn't screw up! Although I'm fairly sure I did. It's like shavings and chunks of what must be my bearings. The color is pretty obvious with ACLs.

Oh and I did pull the cam caps when I first saw the oil. Everything looked fine! Also, engine and head were hot tanked and flattened, honed cylinders, and then cleaned by me.

So this thread has been so dead! I'm not, but the motor was. Cracked it open and rest assured the bearings were shredding rapidly. Turned out to be some fine debris that didn't clean out of the crank oil holes, so it went straight to the bearings once oil pressure got up there. Super glad I didn't run it more as I was able to save nearly everything.

Motor has been assembled by Trackspeed, fully built, and waiting on my busy ass to throw it in the car. I've been really slow getting it back up as I've been crazy busy with work. Posting here to try and motivate me and fix that terrible hole in my life.

Moving to the west coast has been great. New job and new experiences every day, especially with field engineering on laboratory robots. Mechanical repairs, software troubleshooting, light programming, and customer service all over the west coast of North America. It's great, but leaves me without much time and energy to do more of the same type of work as a hobby in the garage! Funny thing is a lot of my experience from working on this car played into excelling at this job and now the job prevents me from fixing it. But alas, I must have this thing running.