Pulling the engine today at Gary Shuarts

[Kags1969]

I am pulling the engine in my 00 this morning/afternoon. Not looking for help, but if anyone wants to shoot the breeze while I work, company is good. 512.964.8111 or drop by the dog house. Chris

[Treibenschnell]

Nice...

I wish I had the extra time... I'd lend a hand.

[Billy Blaze]

I didn't think Gary was there during the week.
Good luck hope it goes without a hitch.

[bigDstars]

You gonna be around tomorrow too? I might want to run my 99 supercharged car over there and see what's up.. Gary going to be around?

[Kags1969]

Gary went to work today, I just worked by myself.

I got the motor out and swapped over most of the stuff. The new motor goes in tomorrow.

We will be around after 10am, have to get a couple of things in the am. Chris

[Kags1969]

Well I have installed a built engine in my 2000. I purchased a built NA motor on Ebay that had lots of work done and tore it down and had it rebuilt for turbo use. The motor had gone 155rwhp NA with a motec. The specs/components are as follows:

84mm JE pistons ( High compression pistons machined down)
323GTX rods - Shot peened and rim polished
Knife edged crankshaft
Shortblock machine work/assembly by John Day Custom Engines (Dallas)
99/00 head ported and polished
1mm oversized intake / exhaust valves
~9.8mm lift elgin cams (256 duration)
ARP main and head studs
Balanced rotating assembly
Big Bore Throttle Body
Extrude honed Intake
8lb Fidanza FW
BRP GT2554r Turbo system
TrackDog Racing Air-Air Intercooler
Vishnu Dual Feed Fuel rail
440cc RC Injectors
E-manage Ultimate
2.5" Goodwin midpipe and Roadstersport III exhaust


I pulled the engine by myself on Friday at Gary Shuharts house, owner "Track Dog Racing" and started swapping the intake/turbo/clutch/Sensors/Coils/etc
Then with the help of a few of the Outlaw Miata guys on Saturday "speedracer" "trackdog" "skirt" and the "canadian" we installed the engine on Saturday afternoon. Normal small holdups, but overall a very smooth process.

The engine started and ran on first try, I used the Assembly lube in the oil pump and the engine primed and had oil pressure almost immediatly. I took it out and drove it for 20 minutes on Saturday night and did FM's breakin proceedure. Then went out and had a couple of Long Island Ice Tea's after (rode with someone else).

I live in Austin, and Gary is in Dallas, so I had taken the passenger seat out in order to get my original engine home. We loaded it up (actually a different engine that I purchased the weekend- different story) and I drove home on Sunday. I spent lots of time modulating speed and rpm. 230 miles without event. 300 total miles today. The chasis has 55,000 miles at this point.

I did have a leaky O-ring on monday morning that wasnt there on Sunday. Thanks to Jeff Warden in Austin who met me after work and helped me swap out all of the o-rings. It is amazing how much easier they go in with wd-40.

I have easied into boost a little 5-6psi, but am going to wait until 500 miles to start the flogging process...

One thing I can say, even with the limited use I've had, is that the engine does rev much easier and is much smoother. I will never skimp on balancing a rotating assembly again. I will get the LM-1 plugged back in and start modding the fuel maps for the new cams and see what happens.

I know that my limiting factor at this point is my small turbo, but I am confident it will get me to 220rwhp with this engine as I made 210rwhp on a stock 99 engine.

Fun stuff. Gary took a couple of pics, and I will post them as soon as I get them.

Chris

[Treibenschnell]

I'd like to see the pic with the engine in the passenger seat area!

[Titus]

The engine started and ran on first try

Congrats!

(actually a different engine that I purchased the weekend- different story)

How about another thread with the story!