Big End replacement in situ guide

[dan4]

Thought id do mine as preventative maintenance

I notcied that there is no guide so i thought take some pics while i changed mine today

Now i have the joy of a 2post ramp to work on but if you were on the floor you would need to get it up fairly high on axle stands and have two jacks available with a decent amount of throw on them

Basic tools.....

10, 12, 14, 17 and 27mm sockets and spanners
Wratchets & extensions
Breaker bar
Rubber mallet
Small flat screwdrivers
Lever bar/crow bar
Wire brush
Scraper (if sump has had sealant on it)


Big End shells of correct size, mine were standard sized
Lots of rag!
Rust penetrator spray (i used Wurth Rust Off)
Brake Cleaner
Good quality RTV sealant/rubber sump gasket

Before starting, maybe a week before, thoroughly saturate all fixings with rust penetrator spray. It will make your life a lot easier

Started off by getting the car in the air and supported the bell housing of the gearbox with tranmission jack (use normal jack if on floor) i used a block of wood to act as a damper and its grippier than the head of the jack




I drained the engine oil and began....

To release the engine from the subframe you need to undo the engine mounts, i done this from underneath......



i then marked the steering column and undone the clamp bolt, picture doesnt fully show it but make sure you mark the splines not just the plastic dust cover and steering joint. This enables you to get the steering to be at the same position as before removal. You wont be able to remove the steering joint from the rack yet, just spray it in rust spray and make sure its free for now



Next you need to seperate the anti roll bar from the chassis, these bolts will be rusty so again get the rust spray out and saturate them



Now to get the subframe down far enough i removed the pipe from the power steering reservoir, you can see where i removed it at the top left of pic. Catch the fluid in a container, you'll probably get half a litre out of there and reuse it or you could replace fluid with AutomaticTransmissionFluid which is what i did



Now that is enough for you to drop the subframe. Mine were ceased solid but i have the joys of oxyacetaline to heat them up but as i said earlier the rust spray will penetrate if you use it enough and maybe a week before you start



I have seen people saying that the bolts just turn instead of being held by the captive plate....Only one of mine did this and i just put a socket and bar on bolt from above and undid nut from below

[dan4]

Get the subframe down about 8-10inches, removing the steering joint as you lower it, but be careful of the one remaining power steering pipe, i didnt remove mine but you could if you wanted

Then you will find that one sump bolt is not accesible on the rear off-side corner so you will nedd to remove the offside engine to gearbox brace. There are four bolts, i had to loosen inlet manifold brace and offside engine mount to free mine and remove it








I seperated the rubber pipe of the turbo oil return line by undoing both hose clips and sliding it to the nearside up the solid return pipe

Now i could undo all the sump pan bolts and removed the sump pan. Mine was put on with sealant so i had to warm it gently and pry it off. I found that using a small screwdriver was best and then inserting a lever bar when the gap opened up.

You will be left with this.......you'll want some cardboard under the car as it constantly drips



You need to remove the oil pump pickup (in picture above) to gain access to all of con-rods

Then rotate the engine using the crank pulley (27mm and 1/2" ratchet) so that the cylinder you are working on has the piston at BottomDeadCentre

Remove the two 14mm nuts from the con-rod, and then genty tap the protruding studs wut a rubber mallet to release the bottom cap. You can push the rod up the cylinder to give you more room taking care not to push too far (look up cylinder to check piston position)





Inspect the shells and you will probably find they are worn like this.....



My car has done 118k miles

Make sure you smear oil on each side of new bearings and slide the top one onto the crank and pull the rod and piston back down onto it, make sure it lines up flush and in the groove

You can put the shell in the bottom cap before fitting, again smear surfaces with oil

I torqued mine tightening evenly each side bit by bit up to:

Stage 1 - 12Nm
Stage 2 - 43Nm


I checked after each new bearing that the engine turned over freely and it did

I then took a wire brush and scraper to the sump pan and block to remove old sealant and used brake cleaner to make sure the surfaces were oil free (you have to work sharpish as the oil begins to run down the insides of the block again after you wipe it)

I applied a genorous amount of RTV sealant to the sump pan and reused the two half moon gaskets with some more RTV as they were still very supple (possibly changed recently)

I torqued all the sump pan bolts to 8Nm and refitted the turbo oil return line

You can then work backwards refitting as per removal

Refil power steering reservoir and turn steering wheel lock to lock with engine off to bleed

Refill with oil and remove fuel pump fuse from offside fusebox in engine bay. Crank engine for 20seconds and refit pump fuse

Check oil level and top up as neccesary

Start up and and run to operating temperature to check for leaks

Job done

[Ghazoobe]

nice one mate cheers

[SNURDF]

That's a good service you've performed there for the sxoc, but I'm under the impression that your only meant to smear oil on the side of the shell that touches the crank. Please don't think I'm trying to be clever or anything Dan, it's just that I'm sure that's how it's meant to be done. I hope so anyway 'cause that's how I did mine.

[dan4]

No prob matey constuctive criticism is good, technically that side of the bearing doesnt move its just habit that i do that, there is a small hole in the bearing anyhow so a very small amount of oil can work its way there anyway

[TM_S13]

nice work done in there
as for the oil on both sides of the bearing, some say it's one of the reasons sometimes the bearings rotate their positions... I don't know honestly, when I changed mine I did like you did, apart from when I removed the main bearings ot check them, realised I had to change them too, so needed to remove the engine... lol...

nice write up

[tommahawk]

any guide on the measurements for what bearing size i need had a search and still not sure

[Ron Bones]

Adding this to my bookmarks immediately as its a job I intend to do over the winter myself! Big thanks, this will help loads.
How long did this all take by the way??

[marks_200sx]

really usefull guide mate, thanks, ill be using this in a few days!

[dan4]

any guide on the measurements for what bearing size i need had a search and still not sure

well my engine was silent but i guessed that the crank had never been ground so went for standard size bearings, i was right

Well including stopping to take pictures and food lol it took about 3 hours, but i have ramp. Id say next one would be 2hours

I forgot to add that due to Apex having no stock i got my local parts guy to source them, they are made by Federal Mogul and were 40quid

From experience i dont believe this work requires running in but i have done 50mile up to 3kRPM to be safe. Now stepped up to 4kRPM for 50mile and so on. I am on track tomorrow so wont be hanging around there

[SNURDF]

I just mentioned it in case it could actually be harmful mate. Aside from that, well done for a great write up. And extremely useful pics. Alot of people will benefit from this.

[tommahawk]

thats fine but i have had work done before and sure i had a regrind but oil pump is shagged so got a slight rattle

[dan4]

then you would need to know exactly how much crank had been ground by

[shane]

Bearings are normally marked with the size, so the only real way to know is to take them out and look.

[dan4]

Bearings are normally marked with the size, so the only real way to know is to take them out and look.

true but worth measuring crank imho


Mods is this worth being put into useful threads........???

[vashy]

good guide! I've been following it...

I'm stuck trying to release the steering column from the rack. I've got the subframe loose and it's dropped a little; it hasn't quite cleared the studs though.

2x engine mount to subframe bolts off, 4 x subframe to chassis bolts off, power steering pipe off, front ARB off, that's it isn't it? So I think it's just this steering rack column holding it on...? I've got the bolt out, given it some a good wriggling and pulling, plus gas, and even gave it a bit of a bashing with a hammer and a block of wood. It spins by hand but stays resolutely in there. Anything I'm missing??

[dan4]

you mean you have it spinning independently from the rack? it should wiggle free but if you have the full weight of the subframe dragging on it then it probably wont. Try supporting the subframe to take the tension off and wiggle it free

[vashy]

thanks! I did try that. Well in the end I removed the four bolts connecting the rack to the subframe. that did it!

OK, next one, any tips for getting the sump to come off. I've got all the bolts off including the one behind the engine to gearbox brace. The service manual advises against just wedging it apart with a screwdriver, presumably to avoid damaging the gasket mating faces...

many thanks! John

[dan4]

I used a small heat gun but i still had to wedge a thin screwdriver in the near side front of sump. If you use RTV you can scratch the surface anyhow to a point just clean it up when you got it off

[Dunkz]

thanks! I did try that. Well in the end I removed the four bolts connecting the rack to the subframe. that did it!

OK, next one, any tips for getting the sump to come off. I've got all the bolts off including the one behind the engine to gearbox brace. The service manual advises against just wedging it apart with a screwdriver, presumably to avoid damaging the gasket mating faces...

many thanks! John

I think the advice to not wedge a screw driver in there is to sto you for bending the top lip on the sump, its very easily done and you'll have a nightmare trying to re-seal it again. You just have to take yout time and carefully take it off, the thinner the item you can use to seperate the easy and safer it will be.