Rebuild 2
Well, November 17, 2003 the Wiesco forged piston finally arrived. I quickly dropped them off at the machine shop for installation into the block. Instead of going with a head saving shim, I had my machine shop tell me the numbers for the head and block and had the pistons custom made.
Very nice pieces!! Hopefully they last longer than the Mahles (which was my fault). I do not have very good pictures this time around. I was working more on the car and did not take many pictures this time around. This time around we put up a wood stove in the garage. What a difference working in a warm garage instead of a freezing cold one!!
Instead of taking the tranny out back in September we did it now that that the block was ready to be picked up. We took it out and had the diff out and end plate off. The big hold up now was getting a snap ring for the 5 th gear. It bent when we took it of. I had the limited slip insert installed by a good local transmission shop in Edmonton. The drain plug was a pain. Drilled out the hole a little too big and tried to fill back in with JB Weld. That did not work for us. The threads would not hold. I ended up taking it to a welding shop I have been going to since I have had the car and he put in a heli coil for me. Problem solved.
To help us put things together I spent a big 29.99 on an engine stand. The engine went together so much nicer on the stand than in the engine bay!! We put the engine in with the tranny attached. I am still not sure that was easier than doing the two seperately. Had a few parts left over this time as well, but less than the first rebuild. They all found their proper homes eventually. The bolt sorter drawers and notes I made helped. Although better notes would of helped better.
The new braided turbo lines leaked a bit, but nothing a little tightening did not fix. The starter would turn the engine over soon as the battery was hooked up. I ended up undoing the starter power cables and putting them back on and that fixed that. Had no 1 or 2 gear. Ended up having to adjust the shifter cable. Need to redo the end plate. It leaks a little and need a better rubber washer for the tranny drain plug.
I redid all the vacuum lines the first week of January 2004 with blue silicone ones I had from last June. After I did that the car ran noticeably smoother.
