HomemadeTurbo - DIY Turbo Forum - When HMT Engine/Turbo Swaps go Bad... (56k Go Away)

I have been working on a customer setup for the past week now. Basically a custom setup on a ZC in a 4g Civic.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/zc5.jpg

Dustin (the guy who owns the car) had previously had a ZC installed in his car by me and beau last year? Anyways he blew up that motor and wanted a fresh ZC installed along with a custom turbo setup (he provided)

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/zc1.jpg

The Engine was absoultly beautiful, I've never seen such a clean bottom & top end on a JDM engine.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/jeff1.jpg

I was going to use the "stealthmode oil line kit" but the return wasnt going to work, so I welded in a small fitting on the oil pan and used basic rubber hose for the return.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/zc4.jpg

I think it was one of the nicest low budget oil returns I've ever done.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/zc3.jpg

As you can see I painted the block "mexican chrome" to contrast the rest of the other parts he had previously painted. Looks pretty good.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/work2.jpg

The work area...

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/work3.jpg

Me and Josh working on the ZC

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/wastegate.jpg

I had to rotate the compressor housing because this SS autochrome manifold puts the turbo out about 2 feet off the engine, lol, and aim the compressor back a bit. So the wastegate mounts had to be "customized" I oblonged the hole and put a nice craftsmen 7/16 spacer in there to keep the arm straight, and no load on it.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/travis1.jpg

As me and josh are ------- around with the engine, Travis (SideWinderx7) was jizzing all over our Copper 350z... very tastey! ;D

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/oldzc.jpg

Old ZC that I get to keep..

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/josh3.jpg

Josh (Turbo90Accord4DR)

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/josh4.jpg

Travis pre-bending the pipe for me over joshs head, lol...

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/clutch.jpg

The massive Stage 7 clutch thats going on the beast!, ya right its a ebay special 99 bucks!

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/travis2.jpg

Travis sits in my "custom warranty parts chair" haha,

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/car2.jpg

The car is equipped with massive gauges

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/car3.jpg

Like whoa? talk about a short shifter, haha

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck1.jpg

Ok, now onto the shitty stuff.. So we put the engine in, bolt everything up, everything is going real smooth. Fires right up, but has a hardcore dead miss from cylinder #2. So we start with basics.. good spark, good fuel, I do a dry compresson test and get wow, a big fat 0! ok, so I fill the cylinder just full of oil, try again, and well guess what another big fat 0! Then I hook up the cylinder leak down tester to see where the ---- its all going. Set the cams so the valves are completely closed and I have 95% leakage in that cylinder, and I have massive pressure coming out of the crankcase, so whats that mean kids? yes... yes... a fat hole in a piston, a broke piston, something very bad.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck2.jpg

So josh talked me into ripping the head off even though I really wasnt in the mood after this. Keep this in mind, that this motor was supplied by the customer, and I had explained to him that I am putting this engine in under the impression it was a "good running engine"

As we took the turbo manifold off, you could see how warped this SS Ass chrome manifold was, the car only ran for about 5 mins and it was leaking like crazy.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck3.jpg

15 mins later, Me and josh ripped the head off in record time, heh. And as we guessed... yes, the #2 piston had a nice chunk missing from the top of it!

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck4.jpg

ya ---- off

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck5.jpg

I still couldnt beleive how clean this engine was, the head looked flawless. What kinda bothered me was, why did this composite gasket come right off in 1 piece? why does it look so new? and why does it not look like a factory gasket? And why in the hell would a low milage ZC just break a chunk of a piston off? My only guess is that this engine was used with NOS at one time, then someone slapped a head gasket on it.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck6.jpg

So now I'm pissed... I bust out the ball hone and start honing the cylinder to see how bad these "scores" are in the cylinder walls..

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/fuck7.jpg

Ya blocks fucked, needs to get bored over a bit in order to reuse it, so basically this engine is junk, I'm recommened to the customer to get another longblock ZC.

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/punch1.jpg

So with all the anger floating around the shop, Travis put on a life vest and Josh wanted to throw a few punchs, hahaha

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/punch2.jpg

Watch out T-REX! Mr. Ross looks angry! rofl ;D

http://www.draglab.com/hmt/dennys.jpg

Trying to calm down, with a nice Dennys 4.99 breakfeast at 3am.

Oh well, sometimes things never go as planned. Once I get another engine back in this car. I'll get some more pics of the completed setup.

Jeff Frank