Rebuild Pics, Etc For You All....

[stuartlaw_78]

Hi all,

I now have my Skyline back on the road after my long and extensive rebuild! I went ahead and did it all myself, except for the head recon and block machine work...

I tell ya, it was an experience.. I'm glad I did it and will do it again for sure... I learnt so much and made a couple of mistakes along the way but it was well worth it..

Here are a few stages and pics of my rebuild....

If you are planning on doing this yourself or need to know anything, feel free to ask me, I may not know everything but I've learnt a hell of a lot doing this so feel free to ask me anything... I'll do my best to answer you questions...

This here is the motor just before we were about to lift it out of the car... if only I knew what I was getting myself into!!!

As you can see, we managed to get the hoist under the car but we had to jack up the car, rest it on the jack stands, so we could get the hoist legs under the car into the right position. I was so nervous that the bolts holding the chains onto the engine, were going to snap but they didn't. The chains were rated up to 700kgs and cost me $25 per meter!! I wanted the good stuff... We used an 8 1/2 tonne engine hoist so that was well and truely up to the task. We also used high tensile bolts so I was probably worrying about nothing....

Here's the engine, half way out... We had to make sure the transmission was sliding out with the engine as it should. It is actually a lot easier to take off and put on the transmission while they are both out of the car. I've tried lining up the trans input shaft to the clutch plate with the engine in and it can be damn hard....

Keep in mind, when getting to this stage, keep an eye on all of the pipes, brake lines, etc... they have a habbit of getting in the way. We were lucky enough not to have to take the A/C and power steering right out... They stayed in the car under the bonnet, fully connected and sealed... We just un bolted them from the car and pushed them aside. A tight fit but it works alright.

Just thought I'd throw this one in.. We actually run the wheel jack under the trtans so as we pulled the engine/trans up and forward... the trans slides forward on the jack instead of hanging there or even worse, scrapping on the ground... As the trans slid off of the drive shaft, we tied the drive shaft up to the exhuast so it didn't knock against the ground....

This pic speaks for itself... It was at this point that I could see the state of the motor from the outside... It had quite a few leaks around it and was looking a bit tired.

We managed to get all of the exteriors off of the engine with no hassles... We were very methodical, almost anal with our labling.. we labelled EVERYTHING that came off and wrote down on a notepad, that way, we would have no problems putting it back together. Worked a treat.... It was now that I peered into the exhuast chambers and could see that the vavle stem seals were stuffed because there was oil seeping down the valve stems from the top... The intake manifold has quite a few bolts holding it on and some are quite difficult to get to.

Here is the top of the engine with the covers off... The cam shafts were in very good condition.... not really any wear marks on the lobs, etc which was a suprise... I later snap the front part of the exhuast cam but that's later...

Here is the block with the head just removed.. I tell ya, the pistons were pretty nasty!! We later found 4 cracks in the block witch the machinist managed to fix while they got the block....

The head was in ok shap but there was so much shit under the valve seats... I got the hydraulic lifters pulled apart and bled.. they like new, only cost me $80 to do that.......

Here was our fuel for the project!! Hehe.... Got us through those tough times... there were a few of those!!!

I went through the build process and will give much more details about the build process very soon. I'm just sorting out the pics...

This pic is the finished thing though...

The biggest thing I can advise is... DONT start your motor until your completely 100% surely positive that the timing is right!!! This is a must otherwise when you turn that key, you'll have a motor that won't start because you've just bent your valves and you'll then have to rip the head off again and spend more money.. The rb motors... (well the rb25 anyway) have timing makers on the front covers for the cam gears and the crank gear has a dot that lines up with a marker on the oil pump... make sure they are all aligned together...

Here is most of the specs.....

Bored 20thou..

-Weisco oversized forged pistons. (They were about 8.4:1 comp but I've shaved the head slightly to bring the comp back up a bit...)

-Shot peened rods.

-polished crank (didnt need machining)

-Everything was balanced and blueprinted.

-Exedy Heavy Duty Clutch (30% more clamping force) I replaceed the thrust bearing, I would recommend you do that while the trans is off....

-The block got square decked as well.

-High flowed the turbo.. (stage 3 - up to about 250-270 rwkw)

-Fully recond head... (Porting on both sides and polish on the exhuast side)

-Bled lifters

-All new bearings of course!!

-ARP head studs

-ARP exhuast studs and intake

-ARP conrod bolts

-Airpod filter...

-New water pump, oil pump and thermostat. (Recommended)

-New CAS

There is probably more but I'm tired... there will be more to come... keep your eyes open... I hope this has been a good read.....

Edited January 27, 2006 by stuartlaw_78

[Dingo]

Note that an engine is no longer blue printed once modifications are done to it. A True blue printed engine is quite rare...........so my Automotive tafe teach tells me.

Good work with the re-build though! notice better/worse/Same fuel economy?

better/worse/same performance?

Edited January 27, 2006 by Dingo

[R33S2]

Good to hear that you sorted out all the bugs. Enjoy!

[stuartlaw_78]

That is true mate but it can still be done on the standard parts that remain.. We just went through everything and checked everything by the the specs...

Your right though, it's not really something you do once mods are done...

I've done just over 1,000kms and it seems to use a bit more fuel but I'm guessing that it's because I've been loading it up a bit up hills to bed in the rings... I haven't really reved it much passed 4 grand... been too nervous.. I might open it up a bit now though, I won't red line it yet though....

Performance is much better although I haven't done the ECU yet... it seems to pick up a lot better, that's probably got a lot to do with the turbo though... I love it...

[stuartlaw_78]

Good to hear that you sorted out all the bugs. Enjoy!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks mate, it's been tough but rewarding.. Thanks for your advice as well... It runs like a dream.. *Touch wood*!!

[stuartlaw_78]

Just a tip though for people.... if you decide to leave the timing belt cover off, make sure you put in spacers in behind the Crank Angle Sensor.. otherwise you'll have what happened to me... the CAS touches the Cam gear bolts, then the metal shavings get into the bearings of the CAS, it seizes up , then snaps the key and the whole spline off of the Exhuast gear... checl out this pic!!!

[cowie165]

Stuart what's your automotive background dude? Do you go to TAFE or just have the manual and a determined attitude?

Mark

[stuartlaw_78]

Stuart what's your automotive background dude? Do you go to TAFE or just have the manual and a determined attitude?

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah mate, I've never done any study in this field mate... got a manual... lots of determination, common sense, and patience!! I did do a lot of research as I was doing the rebuild and took my sweet time doing it... Asked a lot of questions, etc....

Why do you ask??

[lingeringsoul]

what kind of tools did you have to buy? and roughly how much? This is something I've been dreaming of doing, just didn't know how feasible it was for a average joe with little background to do without a workshop garage.

definitely bookmarking this one

[stuartlaw_78]

what kind of tools did you have to buy? and roughly how much?  This is something I've been dreaming of doing, just didn't know how feasible it was for a average joe with little background to do without a workshop garage.

definitely bookmarking this one

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I't depends how much of the work you want to do yourself... The main tools I used were...

- pulley puller

-ring compressor

-torque wrench

-heaps of sockets and spanners

-breaker bar

-engine hoist

-engine stand

-spark plug socket obviously...

-allen keys

- heavy duty chains for engine hoist and high tensile bolts.. (don't use normal bolts)

-valve spring compressor

-Dial gauge

I'm sure I've missed several but forgive me, I'm tired.....

- etc, etc....

That's the main tools though.. there are a few tools that you need if you want to check all tolerences, etc... to make sure everything is how it should be..

Do you have a Skyline manual?? At the front of that, it has all of the tools you need for the build. Mate. if you have half a brain, which I'm sure you do... patients, and commonm sense, you can do it!! It's not hard.... People get scared off by the whole idea, but it's not that hard... Just take your time... Take heaps of pics, and label everything as you go. Document everything then you can't go wrong...

Is there anything you wanna know??

[stuartlaw_78]

P.S.. I won't lie to you mate, some of the tools are quite expensive but some are quite cheap... work out what you really need and only buy them as you need them otherwise you'll end up with a heap of tools that you didn't need...

ex: Torque wrench... ranges from $80 - $240

but stuff like ring compressor: $10 - $15

[lingeringsoul]

thanks for the info, I'm sure somewhere down the line, I'm gonna want to take the engine apart and play around with it. Good to hear you don't need to pay a mechanic for doing it.....kinda takes the whole fun out of it.

[stuartlaw_78]

thanks for the info, I'm sure somewhere down the line, I'm gonna want to take the engine apart and play around with it.  Good to hear you don't need to pay a mechanic for doing it.....kinda takes the whole fun out of it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No worries mate.... if you need any help if and when the time comes around, I'll be more then happy to help you out if you need it.

Doing it yourself is half the fun....! I have no regrets...

Let me know if you go ahead with it.....

[SECURITY]

im going through the same thing with my 25 due to a melted ringland. im lucky as there was no marks on the bore, but im going to give it a light hone anyway, then install new pistons on #5 and 6, new rings on all pistons, new bearings, thermostat, water pump and oil pump.

hopefully it'll all run smoothly.

dont be suprised if i pm you with a few (read: alot) of questions.

thanks for the info. im sure it'll come in handy for alot of sau'ers.

[cowie165]

Nah mate, I've never done any study in this field mate... got a manual... lots of determination, common sense, and patience!! I did do a lot of research as I was doing the rebuild and took my sweet time doing it... Asked a lot of questions, etc....

Why do you ask??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks mate. I asked because I'm a keen bean and would love to do something like this myself but a bit too apprehensive to consider DIY just yet What you've said is very encouraging.

[knore]

Nice work, not many people are that dedicated to do a rebuild themselves

Care to post up your costs?

Also where abouts do you live>?

[gtst25]

Hi Kore,

Just out of interest did you buy your car with the engine buggered or did you bugger it yourself??

Just it seems like there was a lot wrong with it - hell the block had cracks in it!?

Did it run out of coolant or oil some stage in its life?

Just interested as I've got an rb30 in bits at home which looks fine and it's done over 400 000 kays!

Even the big ends look great - you could just get bearings, rings, a hone and it'll be fine.

Nice write up - I want to do a rb30 bottom end one day!

Cheers

[knore]

Hi Kore,

Just out of interest did you buy your car with the engine buggered or did you bugger it yourself??

Just it seems like there was a lot wrong with it - hell the block had cracks in it!?

Did it run out of coolant or oil some stage in its life?

Just interested as I've got an rb30 in bits at home which looks fine and it's done over 400 000 kays!

Even the big ends look great - you could just get bearings, rings, a hone and it'll be fine.

Nice write up - I want to do a rb30 bottom end one day!

Cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Huh? Think you got me messed up with someone else, i got low compression on cylinder 1 (around 80psi) from what seemed to be a faulty coil pack harness.

Still driving around no problems, just have to fix soon though.

Have thought about all the options ie sell as is, rebuild, another rb25, rb26 etc

Most likely do a proper rebuild

[Cubes]

Drop a cheap running s/h RB30 bottom end under your 25 head Knore... Cheapest route.

[someonestolecc]

Nah mate, I've never done any study in this field mate... got a manual... lots of determination, common sense, and patience!! I did do a lot of research as I was doing the rebuild and took my sweet time doing it... Asked a lot of questions, etc....

Why do you ask??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fuark

Good on you man