Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Teardown started - Stage 2

Today was the day. Today was the day I started to dismantle the engine and begin to find what happened. So far I have the following out of the car:

Cam cover
Cam gears
Cams
Intake manifold
Exhaust manifold
Alternator
Cylinder head
Catalytic converter
Oil pan
Crankcase
Pistons 1-4

Bold items were done today.

So right now it looks like I'm in the market for pistons. Am I going to upgrade? Not planning on it. Why? Because I want to drive the car, not have it sit for another month or more while I wait to find and afford awesome pistons. I've learned that she can be tore down in a few hours to the point where the pistons can be pulled, so I'm no longer intimidated by that phase of the project.

So what's the problem? Well I have some scarring on 3 of the piston skirts (by this I mean more than normal wear), so I'm going to go ahead and assume the rear main bearing is shot. The unexpected part is there is no major damage on the cylinder walls. I'll still hone them out, though. FYI the top of the pistons still look new.

The rod bearings look fantastic as well as the exposed portions of the crank. I have to say that all-in-all I'm happy with the condition of the internals. There were no shavings in the oil, oil pan or crankcase. The oil pickup screen looked great, too.

Now I'm off to search for pistons, gaskets, crank bearing(s) and goop to hold her together. What are the odds I can have her up and running two weekends from now?

Depends on if you continue at the same pace you've been going for over a year or if you step it up and get it done.

Just wondering whats the mileage on it?

Kremit:

Hitman: ~113k - but she was damaged severely (or so I thought) on a 120+ mph run. I thought she overheated but now I'm wondering if that's the case. I got no steam or anything; just an abrubt loss in power (like I'd let off the gas - the temp guage was just starting to hit the red) and a light tapping sound coming from the bottom end. Strange thing is she didn't run funny at all except for the sound.

The upper compression ring is shot on the first piston, but all the other compression rings look good.

I have some ideas that I may or may not implement. If I do, I'll keep you guys informed.

EDIT: Here's a funny story for ya'll. I was working on getting all the bolts out of the oil pan so I could drop it. My buddy asks me if I had drained all the oil. I say, "yeah, right after I parked it". We can't get the oil pan down when he says, "I'm gonna take out the drain plug just in case there's vacuum or something".

No problem; we set a catch pan underneath in case excess oil drains out. Well, we got some excess oil alright.....ALL THE OIL WAS STILL IN THE ENGINE!

Can you imagine the sight it would've been if we had managed to get the pan loose w/ all the oil in it?

Sounds like when I was pulling the pan on todras' blown 3L. I asked him "The engine was drained right?" "Yeah of course" I undo the last oil pan bolt and got a shower of oil all over my leg and the garage floor!

Wish I could've seen that, but I'm glad it didn't happen to us.

Well I got the crank journals off. I must say I'm VERY pleased with how it looks.

All signs are starting to point to a head gasket failure.