Motor teardown and results - LONG and massive 56K assault

[KatWoman]

Well the weekend went very well Alex and I (along with the company of a friend) replaced my headgasket, timing belt, water pump and a few other gaskets, etc....basically tore down the entire top end of my motor. After MANY hours of tearing down, cleaning, scraping, aligning, measuring, organizing bolts and writing down steps etc, not to mention pizza and beer breaks, we got everything reassembled. After that it was time to start the car again. The motor fired up but was running very roughly, which we expected since we tore it down and all fluids had been drained out. Let it run a few seconds then shut it down, then restarted it. Still ran rough, then it started vibrating worse. The check engine light came on so I killed the motor and ran the codes. I got a code 11, which for my car, means the timing belt skipped a tooth So we turned the motor over by hand and saw that the marks on the cam gears were slightly off. Not a major deal as far as damage goes, but I will not drive my car with the timing off. So since it was late last night we decided to push the car back into the garage and let it sit til next weekend. We will have partially tear things down again, but with the exception of the timing, everything went as planned. I was an awesome experience to see how all the parts connect and interact with each other. A good friend of ours Jay, who knows hardly anything about cars came in and pitched in a helping hand. He got to learn why taking care of your car is so important and how one broken part can affect the performance or integrity of your motor.

During the weekend I posted our progress on Neons.org....so for your enjoyment here's what got posted there:

FRIDAY NIGHT:

"Well we got started tonight. Our friend who was gonna join us had something come up so it was just me n Alex for tonight. We got a few things taken off and drained the oil and coolant....where the HG problem was VERY obvious So here's a few pics for your entertainment:

Marvin on jackstands:


Labeling parts so we know what goes back where:


Parts removed so far:


Nice foamy oil...yep definitely time to get this done:


Note to self, check oil and drain plug before refilling:


Bolts bagged, labeled, and pinned to wall so they are out of the way and we know where they are:


Here's where we left off for the nite:


And after cleaning up, laid out everything for tomorrow so we can get up and jump into the really fun part:
"


SATURDAY NIGHT:

"Things went slowly today, but successfully. Our buddy Jason came over to watch n learn, even pitched in a helping hand. A lot of parts were a botch to get off of the car but we did it Also removed the timing belt which was in VERY good condtion, but I just dont trust waiting 100K miles on it to change it. Also installed new water pump, got new cam seals put on. More random shots of today's work.

Got the head off....started to clean what was left of the gasket off it:


Pretty Pistons


For those of you who either haven't replaced your head gasket yet, or have not had the privledge of seeing the job get done, here's a nice comparison and obvious difference between MLS and the badly designed originals:


The damage on mine was coming from a little seal on the gasket that deteriorated and also some of the gasket material itself deteriorated.


New HG in place awaiting re-installation of the head. The red stuff is the spray sealant:


And a couple of fun shots.......

Here's what "the shop" looked like as were getting started:


And after 16 hours of work (with breaks, pizza and beer inbetween it all) here's the condition of the shop after we decide to call it a night 8O Things are not so neat now:




As of tonight, we got the head back on. Its really late so we went ahead and threw the motor mount back on so we could get the car off the jackstands and push it into my garage. Tomorrow we will finish putting it all back together.

**Most importantly, I would like to thank Nick Riley for his over-the-phone assistance today We got hung up on a couple of issues and he was able to tell Alex what needed to be done. Nick sorry if I sounded like a scatter brain on the phone. Lack of sleep/not able to listen to 3 things going on at once own'd me. I owe ya beer :yum: "

MONDAY MORNING:

"Sorry for all the saga threads. So here is where we stand now.

Got everything reassembled yesterday afternoon. Gave the car a start, fired up. I was pleasantly surprised since I was expecting it might not turn over the first time. The idling was a bit rough and we expected it since we had completely torn it down (except for the bottom end). Started it again, the motor idled a bit rough again, thought it would soon smooth out but then the check engine light came on. So I killed it and ran the codes....12, 11, 55. 11 meaning the timing belt skipped a tooth.

So we took the little cover off the timing belt cover and turned the motor over again by hand...this time we could see the timing was a hair off. Being so late as it was last night we just pushed the car back into the garage and decided to keep it parked til we can tear it down again to set the timing right. Too much going on during the week to work on it after work.

Now what really sucks is the car I have been borrowing decided it wouldn't start. Checked oil/fuel/other fluid levels. Everythings fine there. Plug wires looked good and connected. I don;t know Nissans too well and Alex is down with a bad cold, so it got towed to the shop. Turns out it needed a fuel injector service really bad. It's 5 years old with only 18,000 miles on it, but the owner hadn't had much done to it except for oil changes.

So I hope you all enjoyed the pics...I have ALOT more 8O When I get some time I am gonna put up a little section on my website showing the work as it happened. It really was a fun experience and really cool to see how everything connects and works together. A good friend of ours who didn't know much about cars before, also got to learn alot, especially why taking care of a car is important and how one broken part can affect the rest of your motor. Hopefully next Saturday evening I will be making an "on the road again" post "

[Melt]

looks good ... I love reading threads like this ... makes me feel like im learning something

[Jay!]

Congrats on a smooth operation, doctor!

[KatWoman]

Originally posted by jay@af
Congrats on a smooth operation, doctor!

Hehe thanks The patient is in the observation ward. Once the timing is set correctly and the patient runs without heaving we will be done

[Oz]

Awesome pics and description. GL with it all...get teh beast running again. BTW - Didn't take this oppotrtunity to swap to a 5spd tranny did you?

[KatWoman]

Thanks Oz Unfortunately funds did not allow for a tranny swap. The current tranny (original) is still running strong <knocking on wood and any other materials that apply towards good luck> and is kinda one of those "if it aint broke, dont fix it things. When I hit about 200,000 miles it will probably be time for a rebuild, so when that time comes and depending on availablilty, funds etc I may just do the swap.

[GTStang]

Good job on the car. I'd just like to say I have done everything in my garage engine swaps, tranny rebuild, motor build-ups, painting. And my garage has never be as clean as yours. I'm so jealous, just remind me how much I need to get some1 to pick-up after me. lol

[Jimster]

Awesome- It's maintence week on the FIAT soon (It is about to hit 100,000 km)- Oh the joy