After my 4th run at the drag strip, heard some heavy knocking and got my car towed to my shop that built the engine. They said there are bearing pieces in the oil pan and probably a bent valve and/or spun bearing but not sure until they charge me $300 to pull the head and figure out whats wrong. Not sure whether or not to pay them or do the work myself? They said the crank looks ok. It is a fully built and blueprinted B18A with only 7K miles, Darton 84mm sleeves (2.0L), Endyne head with turbo valvetrain, Eagle H-beam rods, ARP head studs, ACL CALICO coated race bearings. Its was only running 11lbs of boost (previous owner ran 20lbs of boost on e85). Any suggestions? I am short on cash and I'm sure my shop will charge over 1000 to take it to a machine shop and reassemble everything. Never pulled an engine or anything on my own, just basic repair work, I'm a noob to the drag racing scene, any help appreciated.

 

fully built and blue printed ayy.

I've just found that its pretty difficult to spin a bearing unless something is out of round, the oil pump is out of clearance, or you have SEVERE detonation.

 

Did your oil pump fail? Did you run it out of oil? I find it very odd if you bent a valve and spun a bearing at the exact same time. If you have pieces of rod bearings in your oil pan I can assure you the crank is NOT ok. From the sounds of it you need to rebuild the bottom end and if your oil pump was the problem check the top end too, cams might be smoked as well

 

Ok, thats what I figured. The shop is pulling the head today and will let me know exactly what went wrong.

 

He stated that it is a used block. It could have had issues before you started using it. To me I think 7k is a lot of miles for a race motor, or at least a motor that you take to the track and beat the **** out of it. Take it apart and see what it looks like. Most people disassemble their motors after a season and freshen them up. Although I don't know your goal with this car.

 

ya i guess me and the previous owner drove it pretty hard, I guess I was just unrealistic on how long it would last. Any tips on maintaining the engine once I get it back together? It will eventually just be my weekend race car. How hard is it to take the head off and check valves/bearings?

 

my 600whp motor lasted 4 years of track and street driving and never spun a bearing. In fact my last two 600whp motors did that. It's all in maintaining it and who built it.

 

Well SRD in tempe, AZ built it and maintained it. Here is the build thread from their website:

http://www.teamsrd.com/index.php?opt...d=62&Itemid=38

 

Hey guys, so I have a dilema. The shop has the motor out and in the machine shop and they said it needs 1 new rod (eagle H-Beam), crankshaft (used $150), new rings (total seal), oil pump, ACL Calico coated main & rod bearings, and thrust washers. They want $1700 for all of these parts and labor, including putting engine back in and everything. Is this a fair price or should I pay them $300 for pulling it and finding out what it needs and do it myself. Need response ASAP, thanks guys!

 

I would do it myself.

 

Thats a fair price, for parts, machine work, balancing, assembly and installation in my opinion as we do it on a weekly basis.

7K miles is a good amount of miles for a motor that was raced, and the fact that it was raced on E85, many many mistakes can be made on E85. Mostly from detonation which sometimes depending on the blend is almost completely inaudible, meaning you wont hear it. If the motor wasnt disassembled prior to you getting it, then there was no way to really know if there was any damage. Also im pretty sure you dont run a knock sensor/knock amp and im gonna assume youre on some form of stock ecu tuning like hondata, etc. Im sure there wasnt any form of knock or detonation control being used



Or you wash a motor down with ethanol. Previous owner was on E85, if he didnt pay attention to the oil, or the tune was a little funky it could very well have been both of thier doings

 

Ya we both ran the car pretty hard and I have never pulled or installed an engine so don't really want to mess with that unless I was the one who took it apart; or if it would really save me a big chunk of cash after everything was said and done. It was tuned on hondata s300 by a VERY reputable tuner but don't think it had a knock sensor. Would you recommend one for this rebuild?

 

Looks like it was probably an oil pump failure by the sound of it. Like they said, unless your using a ground crankshaft with sized bearings and they horribly messed up then there is no reason to spin an ACL bearing or any bearing for that matter unless clearances were not done right or starved of oil. Especially if everything as far as journal size was left alone and standard size bearings used. Shouldnt have had a problem

My 550whp 30psi SR20 motor that i built and assembled w/ ACL bearings, eagle rods, CP pistons and SR20VE oil pump, i put 11k miles/1 year of absolute torture on that motor and when i took the pistons out because i had the motor out for other upgrades the rod bearings and crank journals were absolutely perfect, no wear or anything. 8k rev limiter and motor had seen 11-12k rpm on several occasions when misshifts and gears breaking at redline occured and shot past the rev limiter.

The Motor is still being used for my 700whp build but i threw a new set of ACL's in just because they are cheap and might as well.

If you have the know how, just do it yourself. If not i wouldnt mess with it and leave it to the pros. But there is nothing better than doing it yourself.

 

With your previous mention of not ever pulling a head or motor I would pay someone to do it, don't let first time mistakes cost you a motor, and a race motor is not good to practice on

 

Couldn't have said it better myself..

 

yes i run E85 and it ruins oil fairly quickly.

 

Remove engine. Disassemble,clean,machine,measure,assemble, and reinstall? Parts and labor for $1700?!?!
Thats a damn good price if you ask me...As long as they do it correctly. Since you dont have experience building, Id let them handle it all.

 

Ya, they said they aren't making any money on the rebuild because they built it a year ago and they have a vested interest in it. Thanks for the suggestion guys! I will go ahead and have the pro's do the work for me and make sure they get all the tolerances/measurements correct. Would you guys recommend an ITR oil pump? ACL calico coated bearings or un-coated?

 

Sounds like they wanna take care of you. The most important part of a build is getting the measurements and clearances correct. One mistake and youve got yourself another rebuild needed. Let the pros do it. ESPECIALLY for that price.

Id also opt for the VTEC oil pump (ITR oil pump is the same as the other vtec motors I believe).
No personal experience on coated vs. uncoated bearings, but if its not too much more, then sure, go for it! If its some kind of moly/anti-friction coating, I would definately consider it.