Engine, engine, number 9

Cars and Coffee

"Back on the scene, crispy and clean. You can try, but then why, cause you can't intervene."

I started my weekend with the guys from the Illini Automotive Club and the Legion Car Club at the last Cars and Coffee of the year - a little cold but there were some very nice folks and great cars. I showed the e46. An older gentleman told me my car was nice, but wondered what was special about it, and I told him it was a pile of parts spread across my garage floor last July, and discounting the minor performance and engineering mods I did on it that are largely unnoticeable unless you are driving, the biggest specialness was that it now it starts and runs. He seemed to be satisfied with that answer. I was glad to meet the Legion Club folks - very down to earth and genuine car nuts. I hope to roll with them again in the future.

Engine Pull Time

"I think you'll get with this, 'cause this is where it's at."

Xavier and I finally yanked the engine. So for all my bragging on my meticulous prep, I humbly present all the stuff I had forgotten to detach: speedometer cable, starter positive wire, clutch linkage. After we worked through it, the engine came out pretty nicely.

 

Victory!

The trans is stanky? Need to rethink that

The bag I zip-tied to the back of the transmission ruptured during the pull. Good thing actually- The trans fluid was brown and, oh gawd did it stink. Trans fluid is like your Avon lady; It's supposed to be sticky sweet, pink, and happy.  The sour mess that came out of the 3-speed makes me think I may just need to replace the trans with a T5 5-speed and call it a day. I don't even feel like figuring out what's up in there, or when I think it's going to let go. The trans is out of the car, and now would be the opportune time to make this change. I'll make sure it's awesome when we button it back up. Maybe I just needed an excuse (or permission).

Inspection surprises

"If my train goes off the track, Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!" 

Eye test: Spot anything weird?

After reading the notes from the former owner's engine rebuild notes, I didn't think Xavier and I would
find any weirdness, but then again my buddy Jason, who sold me the car, complained that the cam selection might have bordered on the insane, and also mentioned that the car tended to overheat. In fact, he'd had many a mechanic scratch their heads trying to chase down tuning, cooling, and other problems to little success. We found out why.

Too bad the nine happy ones can't help the seven hammered ones.

16 pushrods, 7 bent?

When Xavier and I loosened the rocker arms, I saw that he had what looked to be like one or two bent pushrods. Uh Oh! When I pointed it out, he mentioned that he could see some on my side. WTF!?! After all was said and done, we removed seven bent-to-shit pushrods, which is the kind of thing that makes one remove the cylinder heads with their eyes closed, and then peeks to see if there's a hole in a piston. Even here there was a teachable moment- we pulled all the spark plugs on the cylinders with the trashed pushrods to see if the plugs had any signs we could use to diagnose a bent pushrod in the future. Turns out they did present as scorched with black carbon deposits on the garbage side, and normal tan-to-brown deposits on the undamaged side, which can be best described as a "Jekyll-and-Hyde" appearance. Noted. Also noted: for all the tuning and messing around, this engine would never had run right without a valvetrain rebuild. No wonder Jason was chasing weird performance and tuning problems all over the place. Bent pushrods screw up everything.

Pistons and cylinder walls verdict

I called WWTD Tim to discuss how I could end up with bent pushrods if a piston hadn't whacked a valve. He indicated that if the cam had too much lift, or if the pushrods hadn't enough lubrication, they could seize or stick enough to bend that way. It's possible also that we had some lifters sticking or a valveguide/valve stick. Whatever the cause, looks like the pistons are OK as well as the cylinder walls, which is the best case scenario given the condition of the valvetrain.


"You best believe,We're sliding through it swiftly. Niftly"


The head gaskets looked all fine too, so at least from the first look the bottom end seems ok. This week we plan to remove the cam and flip the engine over and take a real close look at the crank, oil pump, and bearings. Hopefully we'll have no more surprises, eh? I'll start cleaning the block as well, since we want to paint it nice- this will be the belle of the ball and should sparkle like jewelry when we pop that hood!

That's all for this weekend folks! Thanks for singing along!

I think my murdered-out e46 looks great - the V12 Mercedes next door, also cool. No more car meets this year? Really? *sigh*