Well its been a very long month that's for sure. For those not in the loop one month ago my 3L was dropped in and hooked up ready to fire. Unfortunately due to an incorrect Mitchell repair manual timing chain index diagram and my stupidity for not checking properly, there was a valve to piston turf war and the piston won. Fortunately only the rear bank of intake valves were damaged. UN-fourtunatly that required me to pull off the same parts i just assembled on an engine stand while the engine is stuffed in the engine bay
. Not a bunch of fun.
Long story short it was alot of work, and while I had things apart i replaced the shift cable and had the injectors tested and cleaned. I also went to install my recently ordered MSDS Y pipe only to learn about the whole two different flange thing. I have 3 holes, but i only need 2.
Once i got things running it was just a matter of putting the body and interior back together. I was so excited to finally take the masking tape off my gauges and put my cluster creation into its home for the last time. I am so happy with the way it turned out, its just how i wanted it to look. But it took alot of fiberglass, bondo, sanding, drilling and painting to get it that way
. Also the silver circle by the defrost button is a shift light.
Today I took it to a shop to have an alignment, resurface rotors, bleed brakes with new fluid and mount a set of new Toyo Proxes4. As it sits right now the only problem i have is the coolant light is on. It also seems to be running a bit hot. I notice max water temps of 200-215 (only a few short trips so far) and the coolant boiled over on me once. I'm not sure if these are symptoms of air in the coolant system or what exactly. I am going to have it checked out and to see what is tripping the light specifically. Also the brakes feel really mushy even after the bleeding. They don't take up until deep into the pedal travel and even though it stops ok it feels like your stepping on a month old watermelon.
Other than that its running damn good for something I put together
lol. There are no other warning lights on the dash besides the coolant, the clutch is strong with good take-up and the engine idles relative smooth (as smooth as polyurethane motormounts will allow
). I'm still running on the stock 2.5L SVT ECU tuning so I have been very light on the throttle. I haven't been over 4000 rpm. I am having a custom tune done on the dyno next week but until then should I be hesitant to put on miles?? I need to drive a few hours out of town to get to the dyno, It should be fine no?
Broken Lifters, Ouch!
Piston Vs Valve.. Ding ding ding we have a winner.
My nightmare
Remote oil filter and bracket. The tab mounts under one of the left hand motormount bolts.
A running Engine, Valves and pistons are getting along fine
One of these things is not like the other.
Interior.. Not looking so hot
Interior� Much better.
In all her glory.
Dog head out the window on the maiden voyage
Thank god for CEG and all the great guys for answering my stupid shoulda searched more questions. There is no way in a million years i would have been able to do it without this great resource. Extra special thanks to:
Pale Horse
SVTprodigy
Haines Motor Sports
DemonSVT
dumpedSVT
Stazi
