Project wife's birthday present: Sketchy's Z32 TT

Discussion in 'Member's Garage' started by Sketchy, Oct 7, 2014.

  1. Mitch

    Mitch Has one gear: GO

    Yeah pulling the plenum was completely unnecessary. Schedule that DET sensor replacement job for when you do a timing belt next.
    The DET sensor itself is fairly resilient... unless of course it's a puddle of melted plastic from an overheating event (that shit will never work again).
    Pretty sure there is a resistance test from the sensor side pigtail lead that is at the rear of the engine.

    Yes, knocking is bad, BUT if you are sensible with boost and tune it should not be a problem. And even then if you do go wild it's outside the capability of the stock ECU in many cases, so you could look at other methods of knock detection.
     
  2. FireHorse

    FireHorse Member

    Isnt there somewhere you can mount them on the side of the block that is easier to access?
     
  3. rollin

    rollin First 9

    Don't ever be afraid to call me or stop into the shop for some advice.

    Cheers
     
  4. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    Now down to the sensor as of Sunday arvo so I'll pull the sensor off, test it and remount it somewhere less stupid. If there was more cash in the budget I'd scrap the lot and go to an Adaptronic or similar but I'm just trying to keep it together with what I have. Granted I should have waited before pulling the manifold apart but this thing has spent so much time in the garage that I'm getting impatient and just want it done and running.

    Yeah, slicktop beast sent me a YT link on a how to with a replacement item from another company (CZP maybe?) that gets mounted behind the inlet manifold. I'll just pull the stock one off and remount it somewhere for now.

    You will regret saying that mate! I only work on this thing after hours or weekends so expect lots of annoying worried calls while screwing this thing back together over the coming week. I do always have a fresh supply of beer however....


    So, after some head scratching and expert diagnosis from both slicktop beast and rollin yesterday it appears the non revving situation has come about by the timing belt tensioner failing and letting the drivers side inlet/exhaust skipping a couple of teeth each. Not enough to bash pistons on valves thankfully but a less than ideal situation nonetheless. So I had to remove all the belts and covers anyway and chopped the lower cover up for no reason. Awesome.

    Rollin provided me with a good tensioner from his stockpile, did a test fit last night and can confirm it feels much much better so will continue on with that after moving the knock sensor and probably connecting the heater core lines while they are somewhat accessible with winter on the way.

    The other thing I need to do is fix the stuck lifter so I'll be getting stuck into that over the next couple of nights. Other than keeping the cam caps in the correct order for fear of death, is there anything else I need to know? If the lifter is stuck how will I get it out? Can I bash any old spare lifter in?
     
  5. Hey mate sorry I couldn't pop around in the arvo as planned, lost track of time down at firehorse' place getting the engine swap started and didnt get home until the evening (plus your inbox was full so couldn't msg haha). Glad everything is starting to look a bit better with this build,will be a very decent car when completed. Happy to pop over tomorrow arvo if you need a hand getting it all back together. One more thing, don't forget to order the new iacv and regulator connectors, they are pretty much shagged and will certainly cause grief down the track.
     
  6. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    No dramas mate. Will see how things go this afternoon but unlikely to be doing much as I have some other work on and the big storm is rolling in rapidly.

    Thinking now about changing cams while I have the engine partially stripped down as I apparently have a set of NA cams and some lumpy regrinds in my stash. No idea which is which so post in general asking for differences coming up.
     
  7. FireHorse

    FireHorse Member

    I remember looking at this recently ... post here

    AFAIK the cams are all the same except the TT Auto which has a yellow band, the manual ones have a green band

    Should be marked with RI,RE,LI,LE Right Inlet, Right Exhaust Ect

    [​IMG]
     
  8. MagicMike

    MagicMike Moderator Staff Member

    At this stage, can I suggest not changing anything that isn't stuffed. Should be eliminating variables not creating more :)

    At least not until you find out what is wrong with it. After that, go nuts!

    Do you happen to have any warning lights on the dash? Solid or dim?

    All the fusible links been inspected?
     
  9. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    Great info, thanks mate. Will have a solid look over all the cams first chance I get.

    I know where you are coming from, I just do not want to pull everything down again to do cams down the track. To be honest I'll probably leave it, it should be quick enough with some basic breathing mods, bigger injectors and some boost.

    As far as warning lights nothing much that I can recall once running but it's a very good point so once I get this shitful week out the way and create some time to get back into it I'll check the fuses and warning lights.
     
  10. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    So other stuff has gotten in the way since the last post and have not gotten any further with it but I am now determined to at the very least have the car driving under it's own power from the Tech day this weekend, if not before.

    As long as the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie doesn't belt Brisbane too bad over the next few days I reckon I should be on track. Fingers crossed!
     
  11. MagicMike

    MagicMike Moderator Staff Member

    Just so you know, the tech day is the 29th April.
     
  12. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    Yeah I figured that out this morning, been working too many hours of late I think.
     
  13. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    Copped an early mark Wednesday so figured I'd use the time wisely and dump it into the black hole that is this car.

    Got the injectors back from being flowed but before they go in I had to sort the noisy lifter on the passenger side. Seeing as most of the motor is stripped now is the time so ripped off the exhaust cam cover, checked everything over, checked out good.

    Rip off the inlet cam cover, and a major issue becomes apparent.

    [​IMG]

    A couple of the cam lobes are rusted to shit. What the actual ****. The only thing I can figure is that some moisture was picked up in the oil when the motor was reassembled, then pumped up to the top end when it was first started and the oil filter tree leak was discovered. It then sat for a couple of months while I was OS and fixing the oil leak before being started again.

    Seems I don't even have to be in the country to curse myself.

    I didn't have any matches or fuel nearby to burn the thing to the ground so nothing left but to push on and fix it.

    [​IMG]

    First up, undo the retainer plate on the end of the cam and remove the spring and seal.

    [​IMG]

    Chock the cam against the head and undo the retaining bolt on the cam gear.

    [​IMG]

    Pop the cam gear off and hope to **** the cam is still on the timing mark.

    [​IMG]

    Number the cam caps before you remove them, and be sure you remove them gradually so you don't snap the cam.

    Searched my spares stash and found a good replacement. However, as is the case with this thing every damn time it's gotta be different.

    [​IMG]

    Cam outta the engine on top, good spare on the bottom. Good cam is nearly 10mm shorter and doesn't have the same groove. No idea what's going on there, might be an NA cam or something? Will have to investigate further because knowing my luck if I throw it in that 10mm will be the thing that ****s me and destroys the engine.

    [​IMG]

    At least the dud lifter was easy to pick. Right one of these two was locked solid, all the others had a couple of mm movement when pushed.

    [​IMG]

    Trusty magnet torch to the rescue.

    [​IMG]

    Yeah that doesn't look right. Lots of similar looking rusty gunk down in the lifter hole too. Cleaned it all out, grabbed a replacement from the spares stash, all good.

    Gotta work out what's going on with that cam before moving much further however, so that's tomorrow 's job.
     
  14. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    While the above was slowing down the mechanical side of things I decided to move on to a few of the other things needing finishing.

    I picked up a full velour interior as mentioned a few pages back and the last few things to be fitted are the passenger seat and door cards.

    I managed to pick up a driver and passenger electric combo which I am stoked about until I dropped the passenger seat in and only found one small two wire plug poking out of the carpet, and its a male end the same as the seat. Is there supposed to be a connector for this? What about the elec seat controls loom, is that normally hidden under the carpet somewhere or does it have to be specced with the car from new?
     
  15. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    So I think this piece of shit car has it in for me. Looks as though during all the previous drama of stuck lifters and what not it has now spun a bearing and jammed against the inside of the block. Got a good cam from IronHorse (thanks mate!) to swap in for the dud rusty one on the passenger inlet, wopped the top end back together along with a new timing belt tensioner and got everything back together bar the upper inlet manifold.

    Turn the motor over by hand to double check before continuing, makes almost one revolution on the crank and jams solid. Wind it back the other way, same thing.

    Pulled off the cam covers to check all the valves and lifters were operating properly and nothing was stuck, pulled the timing belt and rotated the cams so all valves were closed, rotated the crank so all pistons were away from the valves, spun each cam 360 degrees individually to ensure cams or valves werent jammed (all good) and then turned the lower rotating assembly. Sure enough about 30 degrees past TDC the crank jams solid. Turn it roughly 300 odd degrees the other way and jams ever so slightly before the same point.

    Almost 100% certain that the motor has ****ed something internally and have no clue how it has happened other than sheer dumb shit luck.

    If that is the case, I'm putting all of the best parts from the two zeds (late model S2 motor, loom, big HKS turbos, etc, etc ,etc) into the 2+2 and ****ing off everything else. I have no desire to put myself through this shitful **** of a car twice.

    Long story short, I'm out for the tech day this weekend and have no idea when this thing will see the road again.
     
  16. Chrispy

    Chrispy Pretentious Upstart

    Stupid zeds!

    As for the cam you pulled off, there is a difference between S1 and S2. S2 are shorter IIRC (you can buy a spacer to use a S2 cam with S1 cam gears). The S2 intake cam gears are adjustable for timing.
     
  17. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    I did figure that out thanks to Rob at RGS hence where Ironhorse came to the rescue with a good S1 cam for nix. Didn't help me for shit of course....
     
  18. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    Forgot that I hadn't updated this.

    Piece of shit bent a rod. No joke. No italics.

    while I was chasing vacuum leaks after the first few initial starts a while back I found an errant hose near the firewall in the jumble of other vacuum lines. Looked like it plugged into an adjacent port on the inlet manifold so plugged it in, got the motor started but engine ran the same. Figured it was one of a few I'd yet to uncover (which was true) so kept moving on other leaks, plugging and fixing as I went. Came back some time later to plug the windscreen squirter jet tube up and drive the car out. Couldn't find the tube and then traced it back..

    Can you guess how the story ends?

    The windscreen jet tube is made of vacuum line. It comes out of the inner guard in the same place the other vacuum lines do for a bunch of turbo/boost related hardware. All these lines are the same size.

    The car has sat for a total of 7 years without being on the road.

    I managed to plug the washer bottle outlet directly into the inlet manifold and the bottle had enough water in it to get sucked into the engine and hydraulic no 6 rod (at least, possibly others).

    Bent like a twig and belting the crank.

    You couldn't dream this shit up if you tried.

    So, after a couple of weeks away from it being ready to burn the lot, now got the engine just about out, chasing a set of replacement rods and will be rebuilding the engine. Again.

    This ****ing thing will not beat me.
     
  19. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    A tuner mate came by yesterday arvo and after a few questionable wardrobe choices and a dozen beers we got the motor out and on the stand.

    [​IMG]

    Hi, my names Rod.

    [​IMG]

    Had a big night on the waters, got a bit bent.

    Have cleared one side of the shed to set up a clear space workshop so once I've got myself a decent assembly bench I'll crack on with the pull down. JB is going to work some magic with the loom while it's out and I'll also give the engine bay a solid clean up. Shouldn't be much if any expense from this point other than just time.
     
  20. Sketchy

    Sketchy Sick to the power of rad

    With the motor on the stand I could start stripping down to see what was up. Wanted to take the head off with turbo and manifold intact but thanks to the dipstick running right between the manifold and head it was never going to be. Of course I discovered this after cracking and removing all the head bolts and trying to pull the head off.

    And of course the lower manifold bolts are obscured by the turbo which means it has to come off as well. Prick. You can see the stud through the turbo cartridge but there isnt enough room to get a 14mm socket in there.

    Unless you have a brand new super skinny 1/4 drive socket set which juuuuust squeezes through! Small wins.

    So with the manifold off the head comes off easy, spin the engine over to pop off the main cap and push the piston and rod up out of the block.

    And there is the rod in all its glory. Proper ****ed.

    Piston skirt looks fine, hasnt caught the bore or anything. The bearings had some milky oil on them but otherwise appear to be fine. I'm a bit suss on the mark on the main cap bearing but you cant feel any impression or indentation like it has torn metal out, just appears to be a stain.

    Thoughts?

    The bore appears A1 as well so nothing to worry about there. Currently organizing rods to replace, but Matrin Williams off has offered me a complete fully forged short motor cheap.

    ****s sake, I'm trying real hard not to go down this rabbit hole.....

    [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     

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