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You can get a nice lightly built short block from TMS or TSP. Take a look at that if you have 2k - 2.3k to spend.
Otherwise, a bone stock 5.3 ltr junkyard engine is hard to beet for the $$$.
Good luck.
I used to have a 93 RX7 and I recognize you from the RX7 Club! "TdazmansFD".
You can get a nice lightly built short block from TMS or TSP. Take a look at that if you have 2k - 2.3k to spend.
Otherwise, a bone stock 5.3 ltr junkyard engine is hard to beet for the $$$.
Good luck.
I used to have a 93 RX7 and I recognize you from the RX7 Club! "TdazmansFD".
Haha nice! I don't really have 2k to spend but also that's almost 3k for me because I'm in Canada and our dollar is not so hot right now plus shipping and duty etc. I am going tomorrow to get an lq4 2003 with 230km on it for a really good price with 3 month warranty. I'm going to put my intake on it and run it stock for the summer so I can enjoy my car for awhile then maybe if my old heads are good get them redone and put them on. Also add a cam etc.
I'll let you guys know how the new motor looks and how bad the old one is. But I think lq4 is good for now
It wasn't an amazing deal but it's all I had money for. It's an 04 with 230k on it. I think if I swap my intake and accessories onto it that should get me going for the summer and I can at least drive my car haha.
Going to be selling some stuff off it to try and get some money back if anyone needs anything
Another guy on the 240 did the same thing with the rod bearings. He was launching around 7k rpm and was just got done with the swap. .The engine has no issues while it was on the dyno but it developed a rod knock after he took it to the track. Why is this happening? Didn't install the oil pump correctly?
2 things are standing out to me from those pictures, 1) why is there RTV all over the bottom of that engine, they are re-usable (even though i never reuse them) metal lined gaskets for the oil pan, should never need RTV. 2) looks as though every single cylinder made contact with your valves, did you have oversized valves? how much lift were you running, looks like P2V clearance is in question. Also, what brand bearings did you use when you bought the motor per the machine shops specs? Did you verify the clearances with plastigage during assembly? Honing the cylinders with a flex hone is perfectly acceptable, I do it on engines all the time, but you have to closely watch your specs on everything when reusing things.
2 things are standing out to me from those pictures, 1) why is there RTV all over the bottom of that engine, they are re-usable (even though i never reuse them) metal lined gaskets for the oil pan, should never need RTV. 2) looks as though every single cylinder made contact with your valves, did you have oversized valves? how much lift were you running, looks like P2V clearance is in question. Also, what brand bearings did you use when you bought the motor per the machine shops specs? Did you verify the clearances with plastigage during assembly? Honing the cylinders with a flex hone is perfectly acceptable, I do it on engines all the time, but you have to closely watch your specs on everything when reusing things.
maybe its a rotary thing but i always put a little rtv around the oil pan just to be safe.
i dont think the valves are over sized but i bought them already worked and assembled.
I used clevite h bearings i believe. Also they checked the fit of the bearings at the engine rebuild shop. I never saw the plastigage.
also i had fuel issues on dyno because of electrical. then i found at least one maybe two of the issues and fix them. I am guessing this may have caused the car to run super lean and get some detonation.
On re-usable gaskets you never wanna put RTV on them, you ruin the sealing quality of the gasket, only on engines where it specifically calls for it. For instance on ecotec rebuilds, RTV is used exclusively on the oil pan and the lower cradle, and no gaskets are there at all. They have channels specifically to direct the RTV when you put the two pieces together. I know that they do call for a small bead of RTV between the two covers and the oil pan gasket on both sides of the engine but thats it. That's just to ensure a good seal at that joint.
You always wanna verify your engine rebuild shops findings to make sure they gave you the correct P/N for the bearings, while we may never know exactly what the cause of the failure was because of how much carnage you have there, there is definitely added insurance you can take to make sure this doesnt happen again. Take a look at the oil pump internals and pickup see if you see anything there that may have blocked up oiling prior to the failure.
On re-usable gaskets you never wanna put RTV on them, you ruin the sealing quality of the gasket, only on engines where it specifically calls for it. For instance on ecotec rebuilds, RTV is used exclusively on the oil pan and the lower cradle, and no gaskets are there at all. They have channels specifically to direct the RTV when you put the two pieces together. I know that they do call for a small bead of RTV between the two covers and the oil pan gasket on both sides of the engine but thats it. That's just to ensure a good seal at that joint.
You always wanna verify your engine rebuild shops findings to make sure they gave you the correct P/N for the bearings, while we may never know exactly what the cause of the failure was because of how much carnage you have there, there is definitely added insurance you can take to make sure this doesnt happen again. Take a look at the oil pump internals and pickup see if you see anything there that may have blocked up oiling prior to the failure.
This new engine is staying factory for the summer and when I pull it for rebuild I'll make sure I post up on here so I get good directions
Anyone notice the piston to valve contact marks were upside down....it looks like the pistons were contacting the valves prior to this build potentially.
Was piston to valve checked and how large was the cam in here?
OP.....sorry for your loss.....its an expensive lesson....you cant overlook a single thing when it comes to engines....the crank and rod assembly is spinning 100 times a second at only 6000 RPM.....think about that the next time your holding a 4 lb rod/piston combo in your hand and laying the 50+ lb crank in the engine.
Your numbers would indicate the engine was hurt or not properly assembled from the get go.....that's really low even on a Mustang. What did the bearings look like on the #1 and #2 cylinders? I would want to know what happened to better avoid it in the future. The condition of those bearings would be a big clue if the problem originated above the pistons or below the pistons.
Anyone notice the piston to valve contact marks were upside down....it looks like the pistons were contacting the valves prior to this build potentially.
Was piston to valve checked and how large was the cam in here?
OP.....sorry for your loss.....its an expensive lesson....you cant overlook a single thing when it comes to engines....the crank and rod assembly is spinning 100 times a second at only 6000 RPM.....think about that the next time your holding a 4 lb rod/piston combo in your hand and laying the 50+ lb crank in the engine.
Your numbers would indicate the engine was hurt or not properly assembled from the get go.....that's really low even on a Mustang. What did the bearings look like on the #1 and #2 cylinders? I would want to know what happened to better avoid it in the future. The condition of those bearings would be a big clue if the problem originated above the pistons or below the pistons.
Good luck on the next go around
-Tony
Hey Tony thanks for the reply,
This motor was in a crash i assume before i got it. hence why i replaced everything. I brought my pistons into the engine rebuilder and they had a look and said they where fine. I didnt see any tool being used to measure them though.
The bearings in #1 and #2 are gone unless you mean crank bearings? but i found one of the bearings in my bell housing that was folded into a ball.
so when i first got the block it was $500 canadian (again please remember i know nothing about piston motors i have only worked on and rebuilt the rotary... lots) so i thought awesome deal and figured i could fix it up.
it had valve damage on the flat tops and a bent push rod. i tossed the heads push rods and even the lifters. the only thing original are the pistons, rods and end caps. Also most of the hardware was stock reused. which i now know is something you shouldnt do? I assume they must stretch after being used? I am no pro but also im not a total idiot i like to think im some place in the middle.
Totally different learning curve and when all your friends drive rotaries its a little hard to get advice about build other than what you read online.
I had to beat the underdrive pully off the original crank because it was bent so i also assume that must have killed the end caps. If i could do this over again i would have bought a running 5.3 got an ls1 intake and called it a day... but i figured it would be cooler to tell people i had a corvette motor not a truck motor :/ stupid me..
Don't beat yourself up over it man...we're all human and make mistakes. You took quite a leap of faith to do the swap you did.
My first engine build was a 355 SBC back in 1986. I was fifteen years old and had read every hot rod mag I could get my hands on for 2 and a 1/2 years. So we put this fresh engine in my buddies 1979 Chevy Caprice and could not get it started. Back fires and pops...sputters and flames. For weeks we ruined batteries, starters, and even wiped out TWO complete cam and lifter kits. It got so frustrating that my buddy hopped up on the front bumper and straight ******* urinated all over the entire engine...carb/intake/chrome valve covers...the whole enchilada....
Finally my ALL FORD uncle figured it out when he asked me about the timing chain. I had mistakenly put the lower gear on back wards and since we didn't have a puller I figured well heck we'll just line up the dots anyway...should be fine right ????? WRONG !!!!! the crank ends up about 40 degrees of rotation out of sink with the camshaft....Ha Ha Ha....LOL
At the time I thought DUH' stoooopid me....but again being only 15; not deterred one bit.....stick to ed' ness is what gets **** done in America..
lol i feel you on that, that is literally the one thing that drives me absolutely BONKERS when it comes to engines. I've gone to buy used blocks before and turned them down because of RTV. Had a honda B20 one time the guy was using gray RTV as loctite and a thread sealer, it was....EVERYWHEREEEEE.
05-12-2015, 11:52 AM
