87na_rx7

So this is your first run in with the honda new motor light?

hebijake

J i'd pull the pan and check out the rods and see how they look, rarely ever will the main's go bad unless they have been RAPED! but if the rod's look good and you wanna check a main at a time to be safe I'd encourage it. J, what I'd do though if I were you BEFORE even starting it up again is install that OIL PSI guage you already have, or if you don't go to autozone and buy a sunpro oil psi guage they're $20 and don't lie like the Oil Light does sometimes.

Xgenturbo

LOL and he insists that I'm the idiot, yet I've probably built/swapped and worked on more engines than he'll ever see.

stillnoturbo

I'm gonna take oil pump for 100 Alex.

accordepicenter

OK UPDATE when i started it this morning the oil pressure came up and there was no knock at all, drove it only a little before putting it in the garage and getting to work, purred just fine. So i pulled the pan and the pickup tube was pretty clean so i believe the oil pump is probably shot, but there was a bunch of flakes in the oil pan. I pulled all the rod bearings and they looked good to a little thrashed but the journals were fine, but the mains looked pretty bad, the journals were ok except for number 3 which was spun and pretty worn. The way that it looked though, the bearings were sticking to the journal pretty good but moved easily and there was a significant amount of wear that just could not have happened in just driving it back like i did but get this, in the last 10-20k miles there has always been a rattle in the bottom end of the motor, and i could never figure it out, and it always went away when you pushed the clutch in... So i think that ive had those spun number 3 mains for a long *** time!!!. Now heres the deal, i started tearing into the spare motor ive had, im gonna talk to the machinist and diamond pistons tomarrow and see what i can do with this. When i pulled the spare motor apart, same thing, the mains seemed pretty beat, but the journals look perfect, but both motors use fully grooved top and bottom bearings on the mains? WTF? Im gonna look into the journal sizes and see if i can run a non grooved bearing in the lower position in the main cap, that should add 20-25% bearing surface area which should really help with the beat up mains i keep finding... Maybe LS mains will work? Not really sure at this point about the bearings, but im def going built motor now.

accordepicenter

Updates: alright look at my 3rd main cap... thats where the spun bearing is.

Tom-Guy

Engine noise that changes with clutch pedal = thrust bearing fuckage.

Don't trust either of those cranks until they've been off to the machine shop. They are *both* warped from heat, and require straightening and possibly grinding. Don't worry about Internet Rumor that surface hardening of Honduh crankshafts is mandatory; they run on a film of oil like everything else. As long as you have said film of oil = bottom end happiness.

Don't trust that pump. It might not have caused the problem... but if it couldn't build oil pressure it couldn't properly lubricate itself. We've gone through this with a sleeved H22 three times now, where the block was not align bored after sleeving, and I can discuss with you in great detail the various symptoms of rattles w/ oil pressure due to dead mains and warped crank, to good mains and good crank but substandard oil pressure because the once-new oil pump killed itself from 250 miles of dead mains and warped crank.

I recommend:

1) Find a write-up on DIY oil pump modifications. Modify new oil pump for maximum happiness.

2) Have machine shop smoke over that crankshaft. See if you can have them lend you a *super skinny* machines straight edge... one that you can get sideways in the block's main bores. The "third time's the charm" H22 looked unwarped when checking with normal straight edge at the highest vertical point of the bore, but from side to side it was twisty-twisty.

3) Check your PMs, ------. I'm laying on you 100% groovy oil pressure gauge infos that you *must not* share with anyone. There's a limited stock of this skrill, and I'm shy a few bucks from ordering all I need for my next ten cars... the supply needs to stick around before I let off of it. $10 electric pressure gauge, uses common place sending unit you can get for $35... it does not get any better than this.

shanerv

yep jay after looking at the cranks they both messed up. the one should be ok with a micro prolish but the other is a def grind. the thrust bearing look a little messeded up but mostly due to the main bearing being squisded out the side. kinda bugs me though I mean 2 a20's same problems one was boosed the other was not. maybe honda casting problem? anybody know of any weird quirks of the a20. I don't think the clutch is mean enough to cause crank walk.

accordepicenter

yeah ill look into the micropolishing and crap shane. Looks like i might have both sets of pistons and rods sold if you can believe that ish.

RotaryGeek

I would try switching ba