Eagle Rods + Stock Pistons?

[arz]

Did you measure anything when you got the parts back from the machine shop?

Not sure if I missed it, but did you assemble it or did they?

It sounds like you did all the other stuff correctly, the 30deg hatch is real easy that has been in every Chilton's since the beginning of time and every guy for the last 30+ years has been asking for that. Last machinist I had told me that the new standard is (oddly enough) a light scuff like an aggressive scotch-brite. I personally opted for the old 30deg standard.

 

[Rennat]

sorry... forgot to talk about assembly.

and i assembled it. its not my first motor... so its not like i was a total n00b at this... the only thing that was new to me was the cutting the piston rings. which wasnt that hard once you get the hang of it with the filer.

redline lube on the bearings.
i used wd-40 on the rings (not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing now)
MHG was installed 'dry'... but i wiped down the block and head with acetone prior to assembly. i did plastigauge my mains... they were at .0015 i believe...

 

[arz]

Im no expert, but I have been told to keep WD-40 away from everything except rusty nuts and bolts. Something about dissimilar metals.

All the motors I have built I used the same plain old straight weight oil I broke in the motor with to lube the rings, and lots of it.

pull my head and take it to a new machinist and do a leak down test before that so i can see if its my rings?

Yea thats a good idea, but remember a bad valve job will show up with poor leakdown numbers.

To help make sure its the rings after you have conducted the leakdown dry, add a little oil to each cylinder and if the numbers go up substantially then its most likely the rings.

Using a Zoom spout oil dropper/squirter will help you get the oil to the rings.

 

[Rennat]

i took a chance... and it may have screwed me over. but would wd-40 honestly stop my rings from seating?... i put in straight 30wt though for break-in.

im gonna do a leak town test and see what it says. and couldnt i just turn the engine over a few times like im doing a compression test to get the oil on the walls? i have a bunch of syringes and could squirt the oil onto the rings... but yeah.

 

[Doward]

WD-40 wouldn't keep your rings from sealing.

That said, exactly what procedure did your machinist do to hone your block? The chrome top ring can be a bitch to seat properly, if the hone was not aggressive enough!

Chrome rings can also take a little longer to seal (1000 miles or so) if you're not hard on them. Personally, I do a shakedown run to ensure no problems, then I run the motor hard (4-5k to idle under full drag from the tranny - maximum vacuum) 6-8 times (depends on how much free road I have) then I run the living hell out of her. I tend to have my motors well broken in before 500 miles rolls around

I will also vouch for Bryan Maloof - I drove over 8 hours one way to bring that man my 7M - and he does the best machine work I have ever witnessed. The guy knows his shit VERY well (had a very nice discussion about oil wedges at high rpm ) and best of all - he works on one engine at a time.

That engine gets 100% of his attention until it is finished!

 

[Rennat]

hmm... well im pretty sure i have about 500miles on the motor now...
i did up to 4k and let it go do down 2k... and then back up to 4k... and repeat...

and im not easy on the motor now, but im also a little scared... because i dont want to keep driving it super hard just to keep 'ruining' it...

but im going to either autozone or somewhere to get a leak down tester, either rent or buy... i dont really care. haha. but i've read 8 different things about how to do them... and they all say the same, so im pretty confident on what to do, just not sure how much air (PSI) to use... any thoughts?

 

[arz]

Yea you have to have a compressor that goes over 100 psi like 140-130 would be good enough. Leak the air compressor down to get it to fire up and go to max pressure. You might have to restart the compressor for each cylinder. Leakdown testers have 2 Pressure gauges, the first one is for limiting the in-going pressure to 100 psi on the money. The second gauge tells how much is leaking out of the cylinder, that way you can report it as a percentage and not have to do any math. I have also heard conflicting reports about what good numbers are. As far as I know anything above 90~92 psi is pretty decent, anything over 96 is excellent. Plus 96 psi rarely happens unless you have total seal or some other gap-less rings.

Guys feel free to chime in if you know better.

 

[IJ.]

You did stagger the end gaps on the rings so no 2 are in line?

 

[Poodles]

TSRM has a very specific spacing to use as well...

 

[TheNewRed]

Hey guys, i just wanted to chime in on the ring spacing. i just installed my "classic Race" total seal rings and i followed the spacing they gave me which is... Is this gonna be ok?

[/IMG]

 

[Rennat]

yes i used staggered spacing.


basically the same as thenewred posted up... only i put the one oil ring at the 'front' and one at the rear so there 180 offset...

my compressor is a 32gallon 150psi... and i just leave it on 24/7.... haha.
NOBODY in my lame ass town had a leak down tester... they kept saying "oh for the a/c"... wtf?
guess im gonna order one from summit racing or jegs...

 

[WhtMa71]

I thought you didnt want to have any ring gap on any thrust surface.I've never put any gaps on the sides of the pistons as in front of motor to rear. Every motor ive done has had the rings oriented like an X.

That spark plug looks like a stem seal. Have you taken the manifolds off yet and checked out the stems through the ports?

 

[Rennat]

if i can ever get aaron to either call me, pm me, or respond to my thread i made in the DM section... i might get it torn down... but its also a pain in the ass finding a leak down tester. but i guess my friend knows somebody who has one... and there doing his car tomorrow, so i might do my car also. who knows.

but tomorrow will tell me a lot. my car hauls ass for being stock... or i just got use to the n/a supra power level... cause yeah. but my friend said i have smoke out the back under WOT tonight, and in his words 'it sounds like your blowing air out of a coupler'... so im going to homedepot to make a DIY boost leak tester...

 

[Zumtizzle]

how much smoke?

what color?

Mine would puff black for a second in the transition from vac to boost.


why don't you pull the valve springs off the third and replace the valve seals?

 

[Zumtizzle]

Also.

Go to harbor freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94190

 

[Rennat]

he said not a lot... no idea on the color as it was night (just a few hours ago)... im going to have somebody make a video tomorrow of what my car does, because im sick of not knowing what color it is...

and do you have any idea why it would do a little puff? because thats how my dad made it sound... cause i took off from my house one day, and just starting to get into boost in 1st, he said it was black smoke FOR SURE... but im not 100% sure... as i was down the street and he hes not exactly 29 anymore...

leak down test tomorrow should answer my questions... im probably going to pull the head, get the head all looked at and inspected, and replace the MHG with either a cometic//titan 1.2-1.4 or a HKS 1.2... if its just the valve seals/guides. and also get my god damn shims adjusted......

who makes the "best" valve guide seals for our cars???? stock? felpro?


autozone has fel pro and beck arnley for like... 50ish...
suprarich has them for $11 made by cometic on ebay!?!?!?? wtf?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Come...wItemQQimsxZ20080819?IMSfp=TL0808191219r30008

and those cometic ones are the ones i bought last time... so im not havin too much faith in them right now...

 

[Zumtizzle]

i only run toyota. but i can stand by anything rich sells.

remember that installing valve seals takes a little care bud.

http://forums.club4ag.com/zerothread?id=9621
^there's a write up.

If you want to borrow the tools let me know. (You may have to grind down the valve seal pliers down some more.)

as for the transition to vaccume to boost "puff" i never knew, and i had solved all the boost leaks and my turbo was in good shape.

I always assumed it was from going rich then leaning out. :dunno:

And it really wasn't much.

 

[Zumtizzle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hsWct-YXaQ

go to 1:36. mine was much less but does your smoke have that shade?

 

[Rennat]

i'll call up champion tomorrow and my local dealer to see how much its going to be...


and VERY nice write-up... my spark plugs look very similar to his... =[
but where did he get those tools? i would serisouly buy them just so i could have them for doing other peoples cars and what not.


sick vid too... but its DEFINTALY not that much smoke... if i ever do smoke, its light enough where i dont see it, but people behind me do... so yeah.


zum - how much did your valve stem seals cost ya?

 

[Zumtizzle]

pliers were from toyotool.com - Cheapest and works. (requires a little grinding be aware)

and go to Snapon.com and get the GA317 as shown on the write up.

But if you got a few dollars to spare get the toyotool itself as well in place of the snapon it's ftw and is idiot proof when tapping them down.