I have a 00 Em1 with a JRSC. I bought the car over the summer needing some tlc. Over the winter I plan to do bodywork, suspension and some engine work. I have a few questions about the engine work. I have not done a comp test yet but it smokes and uses quite a bit of oil so rings for sure. Since it has a SC will a oem head gasket be ok? Anything I should beef up while I’m in there? I don’t have a huge budget so this will be as close to a stock rebuild as I can get but I also don’t want it to grenade because I cheaped out. I did notice the harmonic balance was wobbling pretty good. Could this just be the balancer? The previous owner gave me a rebuild kit for the SC so I plan on doing that too. Last question, how can I tell what psi pulley I’m running?

Thanks for any advice.

 

oem HG is fine.
PSI would depend on pully diameter
you would be amazed on the power picked up on from rebuilding motor/sc
ARP rod bolts and ARP head studs for sure.

 

Smoking isn't "rings for sure." It could be a few different things. You won't know without doing a leakdown test. There's nothing wrong with an OEM head gasket. If you actually want to rebuild it correctly, you'll end up boring .5 over, which means you'll need new pistons. Reassembling with re-used bearings is stupid, so there's something else for you to replace. You don't need ARP rod bolts unless you're planning on upping your rev limiter.

This is all simple stuff. Read some FAQ stickies.

 

I would highly recommend against driving the car with a wobbling harmonic balancer.

 

You uh...might want to try that again, joey. With full and complete sentences.

 

Lol