Loxxrider's 200 20v Revver: See you on "The Project Pad"

derrish_vulf · Post by **derrish_vulf** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:33 am

cool cant wait!

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:57 pm

I began to clean the housing up pretty seriously today...

Basically I took the cast finish off with 80 grit and a dremel. It was really hard to get into all the crevices and stuff, so I still have to get at those a bit.

These pics were after it was rubbed down with 220.

Then I just wanted to see some polish...so I did a pretty half-assed job and went up with 400, 800, and 1000 (again, half-assed) and hit it really quickly with a little compound.

Here is a before shot...

I'm not trying to get it perfect or anything. I just want it presentable. The letters are never going to look very nice because I just cant get anything small enough to sand in there, so I think I may paint them black or red when its all finished.

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:34 am

So I'll be home for summer this coming friday. I'm still not sure whether I am going to have an internship or a job, but one thing thats for sure is that I'll be tackling a few projects on this car.

For one, I'll take it to the ONLY mechanic I trust to touch it to fill it with R134 and find the leak. I'm assuming there is one since it was filled last may according to the PO, and it has pretty much no pressure now. That shouldn't cost too much.

The biggest thing is that I'm going to have to tackle the steering rack. Depending on what I can get done from underneath on jack stands, I may just pull the motor. That means I'll have to do a few other things in the meantime. Lets make me a list. Feel free to add what you think I should do and or need.

New tools I'll need:
Engine stand
Engine hoist
What else to put cams in etc.?? (I'll have an experienced friend to help out)

Parts:
-New track density motor mounts
-Southbend clutch and pressure plate to support the Holset
-Resurface my fw
-redo all of the power steering lines just so I know they aren't going to go bad on me soon
-redo any other line that can be replaced with silicone or something else stronger than stock unless it looks like its in really good condition
-redo any wiring that needs it
-install good, used steering rack (duh)
-either put new vc gasket and 7A cams in my current head, or pull that head and put other head on with new vc gasket, 7A cams, and valve springs so I can take it up to 8500 RPMs.

Then it gets me thinking geeee maybe I should just throw SCATs in my other block just to be safe? I'd leave everything else stock though as far as the bottom end is concerned.

On another note, I took the comp housing back down to 80 grit for a final time and got every single imperfection out. Its smooth as a baby's bottom now. I'm going to take it slow and do one grit per day so I can get it perfect on every pass. 220 is next up I think. (I dont have anything in-between and it works just fine)
:thumbsup:

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:13 pm

haha dont worry man it will. Whether its sooner or later, it will.

Comp housing is getting cleaner. I had it to a polish at one point, but there were so many imperfections left in the metal that I decided to take it back down to 80 and start over lol. It gives me something to do. Right now its pretty much at a flawless 220 finish. Tomorrow I'll hit it up with 400.

I'm swapping that other turbine housing on it (pic a few pages back). Its much nicer than the one thats on it and I have to take the current one off anyway since its clocked the completely wrong way.

What a bitch it is to get off. I need some penetrating lubricant or something to help.

WOMBAT · Post by **WOMBAT** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:23 pm

yea, careful taking that turbine housing off. I trashed my H1C trying to remove it.. :x

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:58 pm

What happened to it?

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri May 08, 2009 3:15 pm

So last week I got the turbine housings swapped out. It wasn't that bad at all after we whacked with a big hammer a few times lol.

Today I learned why allen bolts are on the list of worst automotive inventions ever.
I used to think they weren't that bad. Guess thats because I never used 18 year old ones.

I was attempting to swap out my vc and vc gasket today and like 4 of the stupid bolts stripped even with a t-handle allen.

I tried almost everything and as a last resort I went to my neighbors house to see if he had any screw extractors. He did, and its been working great so far. I'm letting some penetrating lubricant sit in the remaining ones over night. The ones in the throttle body are even giving me a pain in the ass...and I dont think I can get the bolt extractor in there if I need to. UGH

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri May 08, 2009 3:31 pm

btw im thinking about replacing all the bolts with regular-headed ones...anything wrong with that?

also was offered a 2.5l stroker crank...not sure if I want to do that, but the price is right.

bimmerboy · Post by **bimmerboy** » Fri May 08, 2009 6:28 pm

The Valve cover gave you trouble? Never had any problems there. I personally wouldn't go hex just cause it'd look like crap. If you just get new allens you shouldn't have any problems in the future. That or take the time to stud it and get Cap nuts.

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri May 08, 2009 7:22 pm

Yeah I couldn't believe how tough it was being.

I had a really thick bolt extractor going and it actually snapped. Im talking 1/4 inch thick at its thickest point lol. It seems that someone must have just overtightened them. Its not like they are corroded or anything at all. They look like new.

I dont see why they keep stripping though. It just doesn't seem right. I'm pushing them in all the way, turning straight up and down, and pressing down the whole time. Just shit metal I guess. My allens are craftsman too

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri May 08, 2009 8:02 pm

Wow I am sooooooo excited right now. I just got the nerve to look at my grades and found out that I passed thermo. That is something I am truly proud of. You would understand if you knew my professor.

I also got a B in FORTRAN programming, and B's in my other classes including Calc III.

SUCH A RELIEF!

Just thought I'd share. It relates to the car because now that I don't have to worry about that, I can focus on the car more

cuatrokoop · Post by **cuatrokoop** » Sat May 09, 2009 4:15 am

Congrats!! :-D

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Sat May 09, 2009 4:02 pm

Finally got that SOB off today. 5 stripped allens later.

I replaced the ones that are covered up by ic piping, etc. by hex head ones, and the front two visible ones are still allens since they came out really easily. I made sure not to tighten anything too tightly. Throttle body needs a new gasket, but I'll save that for another day. It smoked a good bit when I let it warm up, but I assume thats just because of the degreaser and liquid wrench I sprayed everywhere. Valve cover looks kinda neat too.

Look good inside?

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:53 pm

Ugh I just did my vc gasket for the third time lol...I'm a retard.

I used a used gasket the first time...then it started leaking everywhere so today I took it off and replaced it with a brand new one that I already had. Well I started it up and it started pouring oil out of the rear side of the head/vc area.

Then I saw that there were two semi-circle-shaped holes there. Thats when I realized that I didn't put those little seals in there. Opened it up for a third time, and put those in, and now it is perfect! haha so dumb.

I also overtorqued one of the middle bolts for the valve cover (center line of the vc).

I'm just leaving that in there for now (it broke such that I can't get a hold of it even with the vc off). I'm sure the rest of the bolts can deal with it just fine. I need some motivation to get the other head on with valve springs, etc. on anyway.

I have to make a half hour commute to school everyday with this thing starting tomorrow lol...this should be interesting.

123quattro · Post by **123quattro** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:27 pm

Helicoils can be your friend for the valve cover bolts. The AAN head on my 3B has nearly all of them redone with the steel threads. Idiot previous owner....

The back two allen head bolts on my valve cover stripped. I pounded the next size up SAE hex into them and they came right out. If that doesn't work you can always drill the heads off and then twist them out with vice grips once the cover is off.

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:38 am

Yeah I've got it down pat now. Its nice to have hex heads on most of the bolts.

Next major tool purchase for me is most definitely going to be a torque wrench though. I'm at the level now where anything more complicated than what I know how to do now requires a torque wrench.

I'm leaving in a few minutes to put my friend's ~500whp capable single cam Honda engine together. I can't wait to learn some stuff. :thumbsup:

qezel · Post by **qezel** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:52 pm

loxxrider wrote:I also overtorqued one of the middle bolts for the valve cover (center line of the vc).

I'm just leaving that in there for now (it broke such that I can't get a hold of it even with the vc off). I'm sure the rest of the bolts can deal with it just fine. I need some motivation to get the other head on with valve springs, etc. on anyway.

while it's probably not the end of the world not having that bolt.. i would check to make sure your sparkplug holes on either side of that bolt don't start collecting a lot of oil.. as those center bolts put pressure on those spark plug seals

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:44 pm

Ah true that. Thanks for the suggestion. I honestly didn't even think of that.

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:33 am

sad, sad state of this car lol

stupid cluster and ignition wire

I could fix it all in a matter of hours, but I have HOMEWORK :curses:

*EDIT**

ahaa I just realized my new thread title is quite appropriate *

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:42 am

I'm a little confused.

Last Thursday my warning thing came on for low oil pressure. I pulled over and noticed that it needed a little oil. (made sense because I just changed the vc gasket and if you read my story it blew oil all over the place because I forgot the half-moon-shaped seals)

After I added it, its been fine. Well today at idle at a light it came on again. I pulled over to check it out and oil level looked fine.

Oil pressure goes up to as much as about 4or 4.5 bar (the last line before 5 bar), and at 2k rpm's it sits between the 4th and 3rd little marks. At idle, it sits under the 2 bar mark. Sometimes right in between that mark and the one before it...

sound normal? It didn't do it again on the rest of the way home. I added just a tiny bit of oil for the hell of it, but the car is definitely not leaking oil as far as I know.

death 4kqt · Post by **death 4kqt** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:52 am

that sounds pretty normal to me, mabye your warning sensor is crapping out?

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:05 am

kinda what I was thinking since the tach and stuff goes all haywire and the OK symbol comes on randomly lol

trbo qtro · Post by **trbo qtro** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:09 pm

yeah a good rule of thumb for oil pressure is 10 psi for every 1000 rpm when warm...

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:12 pm

I kinda wish the gauge was mechanical because I'm honestly not sure if I can trust it...thats pretty absurd though. Its just me being paranoid!

loxxrider · Post by **loxxrider** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:46 pm

Not really an update...but I busted my ass on this car today. The outside awaits a detailing tomorrow (hopefully), but the interior got a royal treatment. The only thing I still have to do is the door jambs, etc. (however that's spelled)

Here is how it looked earlier today

and now

Its far from perfect, but I don't really care. Its great for me. Someday I'll have it perfection.

Loxxrider's 200 20v Revver: See you on "The Project Pad"

*cluster%^*$

cluster%^$