Black Halo Racing and RotoRocks - At Home Motor Rebuild
 

I already posted in my turbo thread that my motor has sung "caput" a few weeks ago, and so I had contracted our beloved BHR to get his behind over and help me with rebuilding the thing.

What is so special about this particular rebuild?
1. It is a god damn rebuild. You don't see one happening every night, do ya?
2. It's a got damn rebuild that will be taking place in my garage, and not some fancy-shmency shop with all the funky equipment and lifts and stuff. You don't see too many of those happening often either, do ya?
3. It's my god damn motor that's gonna be rebuilt, which makes it that much more special.
4. I will be attempting to yank the motor out of the engine bay with my bear hands (because I am cheap :lol: ) and because it makes it that much more special. :)
5. We will cut and fit the seals by hand. which will be a pretty cool experience too.

On a serious note though,
I would like to thank you Charles R. Hill and Black Halo Racing in advance for showing his support to the fullest, and agreeing to fly over to my home and help.
For as long as I know Charles, he has always been

CRH is flying down to FL this Friday 03/14/2008 and his planned departure is scheduled for next Monday morning.

The plan is to take the motor out, disassemble it, investigate the reason behind the motor failure, clean the motor, replace all the seals (hopefully nothing else is damaged) o-rings and gaskets, assemble the motor, put it back together and have the car running by end of day Sunday.

CRH wants to actually do the entire job "Marathon style" (straight 24 hour shot) but we'll see :) .

Off course pictures and possibly some video footage will follow.

In preparation of CRHs arrival, I was taking down some parts, so here are the pictures:

One the left, you see my temporary DD vehicle. :) Also revs to 10K
http://lh3.google.com/vdarevsk/R9HfR...jpg?imgmax=800


Popped the hood.
http://lh6.google.com/vdarevsk/R9HfY...jpg?imgmax=800


Disconnected the battery
http://lh6.google.com/vdarevsk/R9Hfg...jpg?imgmax=800

Intake pipe and the TB is out.
http://lh6.google.com/vdarevsk/R9HgA...jpg?imgmax=800

Manifold is out
http://lh6.google.com/vdarevsk/R9Hgz...jpg?imgmax=800

Coils are out
http://lh3.google.com/vdarevsk/R9Hg8...jpg?imgmax=800


Air pump is out
http://lh4.google.com/vdarevsk/R9HhU...jpg?imgmax=800



More to come...

aweome, take plenty of pics. Planning on doing a little porting while you're in there?

Any guess for why the old motor went? Did it die in boost or what?

Good Luck, Vlad! Ray will be a big help. I know its hard when your trying to get it done quickly but take lots of pics.

You lucky bastard! (minus the blown engine part)

video of you yanking it out with your bare hands or it never happened!! ;) Do we need to send Chickenwafer out there with his Super Ogre Strength mutant powers??

Sorry to hear you blew the engine, I'm sure you and Ray can get it back up and running in record time.
Were you in boost when it blew?

Good luck guys! Time will fly by so fast that it's quite possible you'll get it done "Marthon Style."

Just get rid of all clocks/watches/cell phones and make sure you have plenty of beer. If it works for Vegas casinos, should work for you garage. :ylsuper:

Speaking of Ogre, the movie was on Sci-Fi the other day. I watched it because it reminded me of Dave.

And the pump more oxygen into the air which keeps you awake and alert!

Damn, I wish I could come watch, I have no spontenaity money right now though :(

I must have a really sick mind

:SHOCKED: :SHOCKED: :ky: :bj: :lol: :lol:

Why not ask for a local volunteer to video and photograph the whole proceedings? Unfortunately, I'm not local or I would volunteer.:tear:

If there is one volunteer there will be more interested, which will turn into a meet, and then my neighbors will really hate me.
They put up with quite a bit of my stuff. Cutting, hammering, grinding metals, welding... Occasional burnouts... No need to aggravate them even further. :lol:

Mysql, you were asking how the motor went?
Basically, it was fine, and shown no signs of any problems up to the last second. Just stalled while in idles and died. Not in boost, not at speed. Just sitting at an intersection. I had my kids in the car after picking them up from school...
I had written plenty about the issue and how I came to the decision to rebuild in my other ("Stage 2 turbo...") thread in the last couple of pages.

interesting. Ever had any detonation or ping?

Yes. read this page: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-major-horsepower-upgrades-93/rotorocks-remote-turbo-stage-ii-126645/page11/

Did you actually try the SeaFoam?

I pull the plugs hot and pump the stuff in the hole, turn the motor and fill the next chamber and then the next and let it sit overnight.
The next morning, with the ESS sensor disconnected, I turn the motor over until it pumps most of the slush out of the plug hoes.
Then I button her up and prepare the the most evil cloud of nastiness known to mankind.

What was your actual compression numbers on the "bad" rotor?

Regards to you and CRH. I wanted to fly in, but I have Steve Kan staying at the house for the weekend, so I am staying in Phoenix.

Good luck! Buy a case of Red Bull and make sure your camera's media card has plenty of room!
*subscribes*

Good ruck guys

I hooked a hose to the vacuum port, put the other end into the can of SeaFoam, and cranked it until the can was empty. It was making smoke even while I was cranking it.
Then I left it sitting for like an hour, (not overnight)
After that, I push started the car and let everyone smell it.

I haven't paid attention to the actual Numbers Just the pattern of the needle. two jumps high, one low.

Thats enough right there. ba ba boooey, ba ba boooey, ba ba boooey.:lol:
Well looks like another interesting rebuuild thread. Can't wait.

Updated the first post with some pictures.

Ended up paying $60 for overnighting the parts from Mazdatrix, due to unstocked order
 

I ordered the engine parts last Saturday and I chose a 3 days shipment to make sure that parts are here by the time CRH arrives.
On Monday, I get a call from Chris @ Mazdatrix, and he tells me the they have all the parts except for apex seals springs, but he'll get them ordered and have it the next day, so I can then still get it by Friday. So i said OK, as long as I have it on time... Today I got a call from Chris again and he told me, that he has all the parts, and the kit is ready to be shipped. Then he asks me how do I wanna do it..
So I am like - Aren't you gonna overnite it now? so he says yeah, I can overnite it, but it is gonna be expensive. Now I get confused... It doesn't say on their website that the item is not stocked and some elements may be back ordered. My assumption was that it is ready and available to be shipped. The fact that he called me on Monday was just a courtesy call, to tell me the yes we have a problem but not to worry, it is gonna be taken care of, and because Charles called him earlier that day and told him to get things going sooner.
Usually in cases like this, when someone orders something and there is a hiccup as such, seller just says No problem, we'll just overnight it at no cost for you. But he says "nope, sorry I called and told you that we don't have it, so to warn you. We won't cover the extra shipping for you".
Basically, just to be sure that i have the parts, I had to agree to pay extra in order to overnight it. Which is $60 bucks no less. Engine stand costs less than that. Which sucks, because it says on Mazdatrix site that if it is a 3 day order done over the weekend, then the parts will be shipped on Monday and delivered on Wednesday. Nowhere it says that they do not stock the stuff. I tried to explain it to Chris, but I don't think he clearly understood my accented rant, and I didn't feel like pushing the issue any further.

To those who plan on purchasing parts from Mazdatrix, either do it some time in advance, or be ready for extra expenses such as overnighting things, if you are on a schedule.

Chris, dude if you read this: I have no beef with you personally whatsoever. You handled yourself perfectly well, and was courteous all the time we were on the phone, we are cool, so please don't take it wrong. I am just sharing this with people because ...well because this is what this thread is for.

that sucks. true, their site doesn't have an note for "not in stock" anywhere. if you chose 3 day shipment, it should have been that. they should get you your parts in that time as it is what you paid for in the first place.

well, ...good luck with the rebuild, man.

I wish you luck and with Ray you'll need it. I hope you get more out of him than I have. I have a whole box of stuff that he's supposed to install every time he comes over. The list is so long now he will not live long enough to complete them. Stand in the driveway with a shotgun to keep people away as he will stop and shoot the bull with every one:uhh: :)
JK, good luck with the rebuild

Good luck Vlad and Ray. I look forward to seeing this.


MM- how much SeaFoam do you pump into it and what sort of pump do you use? Do you recommend SeaFoam for routine maintainence? I want to give my car some spring cleaning, and I'm wondering if this is a good thing to do.

Sea foam is evil. If you ever have to get away from someone, set a separate container of that crap in the engine bay connected to the vacuum ports through a solenoid, and then whenever it is necessary to put a smoke cover, just flip the switch on your dash board, and floor it.
There will be so much smoke, your grand grand grand grand grand grand grandpa will curs ya...

anyway, I keep on taking the parts off little by little.
Just pulled off the turbo tonight. :)

The thing looks like a bazooka from the future. :lol:

Florida has that affect on people. the sun, the babes...
I can see how a month later, CRH (All tan from countless hours spent by the pool) going: "Ok, Vlad. Light it up, lets see if it starts..." :lol: