rose

ha, well fishers...they fish out stuck pumps, parts of pipe etc.

we just tried to call carl, the man who rebuilt the engine...call back in hour. we will find out if he used a no re-torque head gasket, or if he did use a re torque if he re-torqued after removing. will ask about cam, crank, conditions at time of sleeve crack.

if you can think of any other questions before we call pls let us know.

rose

ps...fellow doing transplant suggest using as many parts from frog, ie fuel injectors...as sensors are used to reading those fi...but...the fi on frog, with exception of number 5, have 190 while fi on rebuild have 103. we did not explain that to him however, will be seeing him tomorrow.

also clay said if fi pulled and sitting then potential for gumming...have to remove and clean.

thook

One other thing Clay mentioned was that in his experience headbolts were to be retorqued after the motor has been warmed, which would mean the motor is thus installed at the point of retorquing. This is according to manuals/instructions he's used.?????????
Hey, maybe with this can of worms we've opened we could go fishing in our well. Big worms=big fish!!!! No tellin' what's down there!!

thook

Just talked to the builder, Carl Mahar. Also known on this forum as "cimahar". He's posted quite a bit. Good guy! Anyhow, he's torqued and retorqued the headbolts five times. The cam needed no alterations. The crank was machined and balanced. Cylinders were bored 40 over (whatever that means). Pistons, rings, bearings, and all other relevant components were matched to spec. New knock sensor wire, but not knock sensor. Oil pump, gaskets, and all newly added components are most likely AM. He can't say for sure because the machine shop took care of that end. Where the shop left off he reused original components where applicable. It ran like a top before he sold it. What do you think now, Supra? Are we in good shape with HB's and such?

rose

and thook forgot to mention...when carl did the rebuild he could not get the engine to run...replaced this, that, many groans, until he found the solution on this forum, knock sensor wire...way to go guys!!!

my question...what is it that makes the knock sensor or wire go out after rebuild?

suprathepeg

Sounds like the bottom end was taken care of nicely. Also sounds like the heads were left alone, I'd wanna know, this is just me and I am in no way slandering the competition but I would want to know that the valves were machined or at the least that the head was tanked and new springs etc. I would be fine with this on say a 2.4 but with the 3.0 valve burn problem I wouldn't put a used unrebuilt head on. Just me and like I said $900 wouldn't cover the costs for me but maybe he has a good supplier for parts and machining that i don't have.

suprathepeg

Heat kills the wire, I'd change the sensor too, just like the water pump. When you do a rebuild your making an investment in your vehicle and you don't wanna go back in there for a while right?

rose

the valves were machined and carl lost money on the rebuild. he had bought the 4runner after the cylinder incident, and wanted to sell the whole thing, but no takers so he parted out the motor, took a chance, and lost.

i see the 40 bore is the max you want to go from the site you sent yesterday...so that looks good also.

we will ask if the head was tanked and about new springs, valve springs right? we did ask if the head was resurfaced and according to carl yes. is that what you mean by tanked? i can't find tanked on the site.

thook

I found out he took a BIG loss, paid what anyone else would have paid. Only he had the motor originally in an '89 4runner he bought with the motor already damaged. He tried to sell the whole vehicle after doing the motor job, but it sat unsold a long time with two responses and no follow ups. Wanting to turn the vehicle before it rotted in his yard with nowhere to store it, he just sold the motor to butthead and eventually found a buyer for the truck.

Ooops! We were writing at the same time! :pat:

rose

no problem there...i was just wondering if there was something in particular with rebuilding that threw the sensor out...now i see it is just a precaution. interesting tho that the wire worked before the rebuild. i wanted to know if that was coincidence or what...

rose

we are presently researching water pumps...o'reilly only place open this late...master parts is the only one they carry new...seems like that name rings a bell in a not favorable way? but can't remember.

clay, motor transplant fellow, just got a new diagnostic system so will be able to dia the vehicle.

we will put on stock exhaust and then go to muffler shop for header installation and modifications...as we are pretty certain from what we are reading that we will need modifications not only because of design issue, but headers don't hook up in the same way right? new territory for us, info much appreciated.

rose

this site explained hot tanking to me...

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/blockdiy/blkdiy.shtm

we will ck...at this point we are at the mercy of the machine shop as to if they did the job correctly...and unless you do it yourself, that is always the condition. the fact that carl did have the valves redone and many other things we are in better shape that we could have been. bait and switch john, or con john, certainly did not ask carl any of these questions...he just bought a motor and left it sitting for a couple of months while we begged...

learning so much...thanks for all the leads to follow...

thook

Just out of curiousity, what is the success rate, in terms of life expectancy, of the 3vz rebuild if done well and well maintained? I've done some searching and didn't find much in relevancy.

suprathepeg

A good rebuild with quality parts and quality machining should last close to the same lifespan as a factory build. Thing is you get what you pay for. Even the best rebuild can't gaurentee the lifespan of a new from the factory engine in most cases. I'm not a machinest but from what I understand one of the things that will make or break a quality rebuild is consistancy as outlined in Ted's article. There are a lot of ways a builder can cut corners. I can give you a 3 year warrenty NP cause its pretty easy to build an engine that will last 3 years under normal use.

rose

ha...and the foreign car "experts" in fay, the ones that can't even diagnose bspt say our rebuild will cost 4500 because we guarantee them for three years...yeah right. i had thought the same thing...3 years, and you think that is good news?

side note, now that frog has been relocated to mech number two...we were discussing fay motor exchange, the infamous ones who did this blown rebuild...he had called them asking, for information purposes only, what they charged on a rebuild for a particular vehicle...900. he went hum...parts alone will cost more than that...wtf do they actually rebuild. carl spent a lot on the rebuild but had anticipated selling it with the vehicle...but two no shows and nowhere to store he just parted out.

will be a couple of weeks before the transplant but will give updates. clay, new mech, just upgraded with a new pricey diagnostic set up. it will tell us lots about frog and her health. we are encouraged.