New Boundary oil pump pickup tube bolts stripped out
 

Heres a little background. Got a BP re-built with wiesco 9.9 to 1 pistons (k590m835) and K1 rods (028CC14133) a couple months ago for my turbo build (MK full kit/1.8 swap). I know overkill but we were in there so I figured the stronger internals couldn't hurt.

The guy that built the engine said that he forgot to tap the oil return, so I had to pull the pan again. I am very glad I did after finding the oil pickup tube was not even screwed down all the way. only RTV holding it in place with the gasket in between. (1st pic)

I took a tap to it and I got the threads mostly cleaned out except the top where there is none... so probably very few threads keeping that on there. (2nd pic)

In my opinion I think if I put red locktight on the threads and some rtv up top I might get away with that, but I would like to know what people with more experience think.

This makes me worried about the rest of it but crank moves smooth and everything else looks tight... I'm going to mention it to him when I meet on monday, so we will see what he has to say.

(excuse the engine stand setup... its temporary till I get the pan Monday. and there is wood under the jack)

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If that oil pickup ever falls off, your entire engine and turbo will be toast.

I would make damn sure the threads are good and the bolts are holding it perfectly

I would question the condition of the rest of the engine. If a builder can forget to tighten bolts that are in plain view, what else might they have neglected?

Don't put rtv there.

You are super lucky you found that. Hope he fixes it

Tape it all off and drill and tap larger

Remove and replace the oil pump, rebuild the engine.

That's the route I will go if he does not compensate me for the oil pump or fix the mistake. I already paid him $3000 for all the engine work, if I fix this and there is more wrong I will demand a refund for his labor and go to a different machine shop if there is anything left...

I asked one of the most reputable racing/miata specialist shops in my area who to go to and they apparently have always had good experience with them. I guess what I learned through all this is to never trust anybody but yourself. I can only trust that the rest of the engine is good, I will more than likely make something worse if I try rebuilding it again as I am not experienced enough or have the proper measurement tools.

At a bare minimum I’d pull the pump and helicoil those holes with the pump disassembled and cleaned thoroughly afterwards.

Update. Went and talked to him, he apologized for the mistake and said that doesn't happen at his shop. He also didn't charge me for the welded in return bung or intake manifold cleaning. He helicoiled both bolt holes and said it should be stronger than it was originally.

Brought it home, was looking at it closer and the gears didn't move like they did freely and smoothly before in fact they don't move at all. It looked like the cover had been taken off as the recessed holes weren't perfectly round any more for the cover screws. opened it up and i can see small bits of metal in there and scratch marks on gear faces indicating someone tried to rotate it with metal in it. I mentioned metal getting into the gears but he said he would mask it off and it wouldn't be a problem. To me it looked like there was no way to free the gears and taking a pry bar to it would most likely do more damage.

I'm going to buy a new one on Monday from the shop I got it from and the shop that suggested this guy in the first place, if these are truly the best shops in the area I may as well do everything myself from here on out. Faith in both these local shops and this engine at an all time low. Tip to all, don't trust anyone, that is all. Do everything you can yourself. Even those shops with the best reputation wont take car of your car or care about its reliability as much as you. +dealing with the egos and upselling is getting on my nerves.

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