Well, theres good news and really bad news...

[Instigator]

I got everything together and attempted the start up tonight.

First theres the bad news.

Apparently, i over torqued my oil pan studs, and under torqued the head studs. I could've sworn i did the 60 ft/lbs ARP recommends.....but theres always me mis-reading my torque wrench:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

About 25 seconds after it started my g/f and her brother yelled hold up after oil went all over the ground. I was also leaking power steering fluid really badly. The pump is the original with 130k miles, I'm going to go ahead and replace that too.

Shut the car off and jacked her up and took a look. Oil spewing from two of the front passenger studs on the passenger side (beneath the crank pully along the oil pan/timing cover). I also found a large crack n the back of the pan:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: i dont know how i missed it before.:crazy:

So i need a new oil pan, and have it re-tapped for my turbo oil return line.
I am also weary of that head gasket i had made, I am also going to go back to a stock head gasket.

More bad news, I went to pull the car out a little from the garage and the clutch wouldn't engage at all. when i slipped it out, the car wouldnt move at all and the engine would almost die immediately.......what would cause this? I followed the instructions word for word so i dont know what happened there. I bled the line and the pedal felt solid.:shrug:

So........what needs to be done: I have to move out in 11 days, and its the holidays, so i cant devote 100% of my time like i would need. If it was summer time and i had no ther obligations, im pretty sure i could do this in 7 days.

1.) Purchase new oil pan and have it tapped - $150
2.) Purchase stock head gaskets - $50 ??? (not sure on price)
3.) Purchase new ARP Stud set - $240
4.) Re-install clutch correctly (will go over again)
5.) Purchase new (or relatively newer) power steering pump


And now for the good news.

It fired up on my very first try after i primed the system and built up oil pressure by cranking the motor for a minute. I was proud of that at least.

for those 25-30 seconds the open downpipe tone sounded perfect and totally mean and defening. the engine ran so smooth and there wasnt any misfiring or idling rough. it was literally perfect until it decided to blow its load all over my garage floor. im am very very glad all i have is a major leak and i didnt bend any valves are damage any vital moving parts.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i am delayed for about another month. i am glad i have a break from school and i can try to finish this and drive again!!!!!!

if anyone has any advice on the clutch please tell. im off to search about the install again and see if i missed anything.

sorry for the long post:cry: :cry: :cry:

i shot a video of the start up......its on an old a$$ camera and i dont know if i can upload it to the computer. its my g/f's little brother's and he is currently working on that part. when i get it uploaded and hosted ill post it.

[DEVIOUSDEV]

Sorry to hear about that, you've been working pretty hard on that... but why would you need to buy new ARP bolts? Did you damage them all or something, because you're supposed to be able to reuse those if needed... thats why I dropped the $$ on them...

[PREDATOR]

Damn, at least you got to hear it fire up :biggrin: Sorry for the bad luck :(

[jrak123]

DId you replace the slave cylinder? Clutch disc its self in the proper orientaion? I have seen someone install the clutch disc backwards in a car and it acted like that.

[CougarGuy939]

ya i would try what jrak said i had that problem in my old car, and it felt like there was no clutch at all basically i just had to ram it into gear, its not going to solve all your problems but it would fix the clutch anyway

[Unknown2k]

Sorry to hear about that, you've been working pretty hard on that... but why would you need to buy new ARP bolts? Did you damage them all or something, because you're supposed to be able to reuse those if needed... thats why I dropped the $$ on them...


Head bolts are torque yelded, but i don't know about these ARP bolts if you can reuse them. :shrug:

Also really sorry to hear that you got some more work in for ya. I know whats it like to finish a project and to think your done and satisifed and them to only have a crap load of unexpected work to just pop and say haha. Keep it up thoe man your a motivator to all of us, u and Dang

[Blackcoog]

You are suppose to be able to re-torque ARP studs...

[ilovemycar]

You are suppose to be able to re-torque ARP studs...

You can...i have personally, along with a friend, re-torqued some on a B-series Honda about 8x :biggrin:

[Kinger]

Oh man just the reason I lost interest in building up daily drivers, just too much stress with the time frames. Sorry to hear man, stay calm and patient and you'll get it. I had to pull my engine 3 times before I got a road test for the damn rear main seal!!!!

[fordrule]

sami has a oil pan,

sounds like the slave cylinder or the clutch disc is backward

fixing the clutch means removing the engine and tranny combo. sorry to hear man.

i am assumming u got the battery all hooked up so ur not popping fuses

[Instigator]

sami has a oil pan,

sounds like the slave cylinder or the clutch disc is backward

fixing the clutch means removing the engine and tranny combo. sorry to hear man.

i am assumming u got the battery all hooked up so ur not popping fuses

yeah i fiexed the battery problem

i have to pull the powertrain anyway, for the tranny, and i want to replace the oil pan and change the head gasket while its out of the cra.....i wouldnt even think of doing it in the car:crazy:

i bought a brand new SPEC clutch kit, i couldve put the disk on backwards.....sounds like a thing i would do anyway:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

is there a way to tell if i have the disk on the right way? i know i attached the pressure plate right... i guess ill find out here in the next day or two

and thats good news that i dont have to buy another arp set, saved me some cash :cool:

[ilovemycar]

It really is easy to put the clutch on. The side that pretty much flat on the disc goes toward the flywheel.

The slave could be bad already...some of the ones from SPEC fail immediately. Buy one from Bill J. and it will be right.

[DanG]

Disc goes on like this:

http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/3LTurbo158.jpg

Raised side of the disc facing the pressure plate, which is put on but NOT tightened down until you have the clutch alignment tool inserted and bottomed. Then you can tighten the 6 bolts, and remove the tool:

http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/3LTurbo159.jpg

As for the rest? Yeah, that sucks the big hairy one, man... :(

[Instigator]

thanks dan, ill find out if i put the disc on worng when i pull the powertrain on saturday

the pedal felt fine and dandy once i bled the line. shouldnt the pedal have a different fell if the slave is bad?

[FastCougar]

Yes, if the slave is bad, it will feel anywhere from spongy (slow leak) to completely dead against the floor (massive leak).

[fordrule]

wish i lived closer i would come down to help you.

[Jorgen]

Really i think this sounds more like really good news and bad nws not the other way.. those are minimal fixes, given they take time and like all projects this takes longer and cost more than expected. given it could have been better but it could have been worse too.. and hell look on the bright sid you have a turbo 3.0 that runs, all i have is a 2.5 with 3 spun bearings..

[Topik]

good luck with getting it all back together and running

[warmonger]

I am really bummed out to hear this!

How did the pan get cracked in the REAR? The front wall with the tap would be the most delicate I'd think. Send me a picture if you would. Did you possibly have any components like the wrong oil pickup tube that could cause the pan not to seat on the block correctly? THe pickup tube clearance to the pan is probably something you checked, but just asking... Worst case, do what DemonSVT recommended and buy a new pickup tube and pan at the same time to be sure.
Also, the tap is 1/2" NPT. You can buy one or have a shop tap the new pan. Just have them be carefull. When you crank in the pipe fitting be carefull. Don't overtorque it and of course have them tap it far enough so you can seat the fitting fairly deep, but not so deep that it bottoms out on the pan wall. Some threads need to be showing on both sides of the pan wall, this way it will still retain the compression seal design of the fitting. Seal the inside with some rtv since the wall is thin.

Also, I can't imagine the pan pumping oil out the front when it was running, check to see that you also have your oil pressure sending unit in and tight. Make sure the oil cooler is on correct with a good o-ring and of course the oil filter too. Those could result in lots of oil getting pumped out under pressure. At the pan, it would have to be an outright hole for that to happen. A hole could also be a missing piece of gasket.

You will be more than fine with a stock gasket, but what makes you think you blew this other one?

The clutch disk should have had a sticker on it that said front, at least my Spec stage 3 disk did. Hopefully with all this oil spewing everywhere you didn't get oil flowing down onto the disk somehow.
Otherwise, what every one else said sounds logical.

By the way, if you have a firm pedal and you have no loss of brake fuid, there is probably nothing wrong with the slave cylinder at all. Don't just rush out and buy one till you check.
I'd check your shift linkage first to make sure you are shifting into all the gears too.

[Instigator]

hey tom
i was told by a guy in town (has a shop, builds turbo kits for neons and other cars, builds engines too) that fo r a copper headgasket you need to put a special type of gasket sealer on the gasket (its a sort of spray or something) before you put it on and tq it down. otherwise it wont seal at all and oil goes everywhere.

[warmonger]

hey tom
i was told by a guy in town (has a shop, builds turbo kits for neons and other cars, builds engines too) that fo r a copper headgasket you need to put a special type of gasket sealer on the gasket (its a sort of spray or something) before you put it on and tq it down. otherwise it wont seal at all and oil goes everywhere.

He's probably talking about "coppercoat" or similar sprays, a powerdered coper metal suspended in an adhesive that is sprayed on the block and head before using the copper gasket. I've used them in the past but the factory headgasket is s double stainless steel sheet with the sealant already in it! It is so good that no one with a tuned normal engine has lifted one unless they overheated it or straight blew their motor.
Sorry you wasted money on that thing, but just get a new factory gasket and call it a day.
The ARP studs are nice and if you blow this next gasket, then you might actually make them pay for themselves. :tongue:
Sarcasm there. The factory bolts aren't that much and Felpro bolts are like $20 a set per head. Only racers who are unbolting heads from motors every few races really need reusable stuff. The factory bolts have plenty of clamping power needed and as long as its put together right it shouldn't need to be pulled apart again.

Sorry, you probably need more moral support than **** talking, so I'll behave myself. Good luck and I hope a head gasket cures the problem.

[Instigator]

He's probably talking about "coppercoat" or similar sprays, a powerdered coper metal suspended in an adhesive that is sprayed on the block and head before using the copper gasket. I've used them in the past but the factory headgasket is s double stainless steel sheet with the sealant already in it! It is so good that no one with a tuned normal engine has lifted one unless they overheated it or straight blew their motor.
Sorry you wasted money on that thing, but just get a new factory gasket and call it a day.
The ARP studs are nice and if you blow this next gasket, then you might actually make them pay for themselves. :tongue:
Sarcasm there. The factory bolts aren't that much and Felpro bolts are like $20 a set per head. Only racers who are unbolting heads from motors every few races really need reusable stuff. The factory bolts have plenty of clamping power needed and as long as its put together right it shouldn't need to be pulled apart again.

Sorry, you probably need more moral support than **** talking, so I'll behave myself. Good luck and I hope a head gasket cures the problem.


thanks for the kind words.

i have the correct oil pna and a new set of factory head gaskets arriving wednesday morning. the motor comes out tomorrow morning and will be torn down. build upn wednesday and back in on thursday.....ill update everyone with the results

[Instigator]

where did dans pics go?

[S3c70r]

Please ... I request some pics of turbo exhaust manifolds / downpipe... Where is the turbo located ? pics pics pics :):bowdown:

[DanG]

I take it you haven't seen the pics of my entire build. As luck would have it, they're now off-line, sitting on the old web server on the floor of Trevor's office. So.... SOL for now, he hopes to have them back up before long...

Please ... I request some pics of turbo exhaust manifolds / downpipe... Where is the turbo located ? pics pics pics :):bowdown:

[Instigator]

Please ... I request some pics of turbo exhaust manifolds / downpipe... Where is the turbo located ? pics pics pics :):bowdown:

i have a thread not too long ago of my engine bay and where the turbo is....

unless ur talking to dan

[S3c70r]

Well I was talking to you instigator... but I would be interested into Dan's pictures too...

[Instigator]

Well I was talking to you instigator... but I would be interested into Dan's pictures too...

the pics are here in the 3L section......you can't miss 'em