C2 Install & Pictures: 85,000 miles on

[kanujunkie]

poor old Perry, funny was thinking of him yesterday and used his 2 to go on my website

[loadswine]

I might appear to be a bit thick here Ste, but I am intrigued by what bits you used in the dremel to polish those divots out.
Might be handy to know in case I ever need to do something like that.

[kanujunkie]

i'd be reading grind rather than polish Nigel

[loadswine]

I reckon you're right Stu, especially after seeing what needed sorting out. I'm just curious as to the actual bits used.

[Anonymous]

biggest issue is headgasket don;t use the MWR one, get one made,

Not true. I just built a 82mm bore 1zz and got hold of both the MWR gasket and the standard 1zz gasket to compare. There is no reason whatsoever that the modified gasket will not seal as good as a stock gasket on a stock head.

You need to make sure the head and block are perfect flat (recommend skimming both) and completly grease free. Put a tiny bit of rtv around the modified areas of the gasket and it will work A-OK.

Use ARP studs properly greased. Tighten and leave for 24h before re-checking torques.

I know - mine works perfectly.

[Anonymous]

Still no obvious diagnosis on the original problem, but there were signs of very recent detonation....

Here's what I mean - the same across all four cylinders, although this is the worst of them.....



Before the head was cleaned, these were shiny, fresh and new marks ... so whatever happened happened instantaneously (and then intermittently!). Any ideas?

That is heat damage. Material has got so overheated that differential thermal expansion has cracked the valve seat facing (I think it is Stellite). Possibly this caused a crack to propagate through the Aluminium casting but can't tell from the picture.

[spit]

Oh Crikey spitz!  s:( s:(  I guess time will tell if I have further hidden damage waiting to appear   s:? :? s:?  .

i'd be reading grind rather than polish Nigel

Bit of both and neither! I actually found that the best thing to use was one of the disposable emery sleeves that slides onto the dremmel's rubber bush attachment. I wore the emery down a little on a piece of scrap steel before attacking the head - with the sleeve not quite fully home on the rubber so that I had an unsupported taper at the end to work the angles with minimal pressure (hard to explain in words, but it worked a treat).

I finished off with some dremmel polishing compound buffed on and off with the large felt wheel. The result:

[Jaik]

Nice work  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Nice work Ste.

Couple of things -

Why don't you have the head dye pen checked now its nice and clean, it will show up any cracks and will tell you if you have wasted your time or not. Rocol make the stuff not sure if I can get hold of any. You need the cleaner, dye and then the chalk.

Also are you having the head skimmed, a must with an alloy head.

Rob.

[Anonymous]

biggest issue is headgasket don;t use the MWR one, get one made,

Not true. I just built a 82mm bore 1zz and got hold of both the MWR gasket and the standard 1zz gasket to compare. There is no reason whatsoever that the modified gasket will not seal as good as a stock gasket on a stock head.

You need to make sure the head and block are perfect flat (recommend skimming both) and completly grease free. Put a tiny bit of rtv around the modified areas of the gasket and it will work A-OK.

Use ARP studs properly greased. Tighten and leave for 24h before re-checking torques.

I know - mine works perfectly.

Hang on, how much rad weld did you put in, that's going the hide a lot of leaks for a short period of time.

I'm afraid you need to do a couple of 1000 miles before you can make that statement.

Rob

[loadswine]

Thanks for the pic and explanation Ste, it all helps me understand a bit more. Hope its all good when it goes back together.  s:) s:)   Certainly looks pristine by comparison with the before shots.

[Anonymous]

Hang on, how much rad weld did you put in, that's going the hide a lot of leaks for a short period of time.

I'm afraid you need to do a couple of 1000 miles before you can make that statement.

Rob

You are totally correct. It is just that on SC, the failures with this gasket have been either compression loss, or oil usage. No one reported coolant system issues....my compression & oil use are A-OK....(have scribed a line on the dipstick to monitor)...even after repeated thrashing on the rev limiter.

I guess we'll see....

[spit]

Another update, although some of you already know - its alive  s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:    s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had at Charlesworth. The guys there have been superb. I was missing the jokes and ribbing so much today that I went back to work on MR2Only Steve's car!

So, what was the problem? Well, it was detonation of unknown aetiology. Nothing that came off was obviously broken or knackered, but the chain was pretty stretched and I'm guessing that it was causing the cams to spring out of sync. That, coupled with overall tiredness, was probably enough to send the engine silly. Possible that a slight overheating wasn't helping matters.

Back on the road now with a clean engine, comprising: pistons, rings, full gasket/seal set (no more oil loss hoorah), ground-in valves, dremelled head!, chain, chain guides, chain tensioner, big ends, small ends, water pump, oil pump, a sensor or two, thermostat.

plus:

Clean pipework and new clips (thanx for the EBay link Rob)
A half-decent Turbo brace
Coated crossmember, a-r bar and Ché bars
Lightened flywheel
Twos'r'us rear bush set
Nic's knackered Twos'r'us droplink   s:x :x s:x  
Cast manifold & turbo-X ceramic triple coat
Greddy OP gauge
Home-made kick plate to hide the ridiculous nest of wiring
New Apexi filter
Second Sandwich plate and larger oil filter
New CV boot to replace a fubarred one (needed a MrT boot at £47 !!! argh)

....and a few other goodies here and there.

Me happy.

Just need to sort out the 'poor man's supercharger' (aka whining belt tensioner wheel). Oh, and the tune is all over the place at idle, partly due to rebuild and clean install and partly, I suspect, because of the lightened flywheel. I'll tweak that when I find someone nearby with a laptop  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Photos to follow when I can be ar$ed  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[firepower]

thats great news ste   s:D s:D    s:D s:D  back to top down motoring when the weather improves

[kanujunkie]

excellent news matey  s:D s:D  

glad you went for the tuff as nails cast option in the end, a bit of grief i'm sure but totally worth it.

and whilst you've been off the road i can now join you in the 50K+ turbo'd club  s:D s:D    really should get it properly tuned sometime  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[spit]

Congrats Stu. Its a good innings for boosted stock internals. Makes you wonder how much more you'd get if the mapping was a bit more sympathetic to the car. Its on my list .... paint yours red and we may be able to sneak in on a two-for-one   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[steveybmr2-173]

Excellent news Ste!! glad it's all back running and all is well!! and its great to know that some of your expertise and knowledge is going to benefit my motor!  s8) s8)  very much appreciating the help and guidance!!

[kanujunkie]

sounds good  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

i really should tune it, but it keeps up fine with the other turbo's, but with it running rich i really should tune it properly to save fuel!

[loadswine]

it keeps up fine with the other turbo's, but with it running rich i really should tune it properly to save fuel!

It keeps up with the wind! Its that quick, the C2 is one seriously powerful piece of kit, and also one that seems to stand the test of time too. Well done both of Ste and Stu.  s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:

[kanujunkie]

It keeps up with the wind! Its that quick, the C2 is one seriously powerful piece of kit, and also one that seems to stand the test of time too.

Cheers Nige  s:D s:D  

yep, its a gem of a kit, if only the stock gearbox and clutches would last as well, another clutch is killed and the gearbox has its moments, still the 6-speed is fixed and the ACT is ready to go, time for the whining J-spec 5-speed to be removed

[custardavenger]

Good to hear your back on the road Ste. I hope your body hasn't become too acustomed to comfort for you to be able to enjoy it.

So it's just the ultimate to fit now then?

[VVT-i]

I have to say I'm one of the lucky ones who has benefited from Ste's knowledge and one of the few who have heard the rebuild running, sounds as sweet as.

Steve (mr2only).. get that exhaust sorted out... it looks like a snake thats found a hiding place from Crocodile Dundee lol  s;) s;)

[Anonymous]

Good to hear you are up and running again Ste.

Rob

[spit]

Ta guys.

Rob (the other one!) - yep, EM-Ultimate needs to go in along with ignition timing harness (C2 runs just on airflow and injection tweaks). I'll probably add a MAP feed while I'm at it - pretty easy as i already have the Greddy boost gauge and don't need the sensor and electronics.  s8) s8)  

Also need to find a home for the wideband now that its been booted out by the OP gauge. I have a cunning plan....

[Anonymous]

Second Sandwich plate and larger oil filter

Just as food for thought...according to Mugen smaller oil filter is better...in Japan they change all their filters on ITR/CTR for smaller ones and than use clamps around them to prevent them from expanding during hard driving (teperature does influence on size as i understand). Smaller ones couse they filter all the same but with less oil needed to fill them up...I think you can (if you are interested) see all about this in Best Motoring International DVDs about Integra TypeR...

Glad you are back on road  s:) s:)