Aidan's S13 Project car

[aidanmanc]

Cheers mate ahaha, well been learning for nearly 4 years now, 2 years in high school and nearly 2 in college, so got some expirence!!

[MEL]

What a rotter!

Hope you get it back on the road

[aidanmanc]

so its time for an update, today i finally got the engine out, hired an engine crane for the day and after learning about more car stuff at college i got home for 11:30 i started the job



so most stuff was already off the car, alternator, AC, power steering, propshaft etc..
id say the first mistake i made was not ready properly the engine in and out thread on here, just had a quick skim through it and missed one thing that cost me about two hours aha!

so first job was too jack the back of the car up so i have enough room underneath the car (i should really buy two more axle stands tbh aha)



just before undoing all the bolts for the gearbox support i put my crappy halfords jack under it to support it just in case it fell on my face but i had to improvise because the crappy halfords jack doesn't even jack up that high and i had no wood blocks so i had to use a brick



When i took off the exhaust support from the gear box support it all just fell on the floor, all that was holding was that gear box support and 1 rubber hanger, most of it has rotted away..

cut the exhaust off anyway, ill be getting a new one when its all rebuilt!



Right here is the first mistake that lead to 2 hours of messing about, when i went to take the gear shiftier out of the car i thought you undone the 6 bolts holding that plate onto the gear box and it would come out as one but i couldn't reach the 2 at the back so i thought id leave it and undo the bolts when i've dropped the gear box down abit!

so i attached the engine crane up with then engine, one strap around the intake man and the other on the exhaust man no problems, went to undo the exhaust side engine mount and it was already loose? but then i went to undo the intake side but the oil filter was in the way and i didn't have any oil filter tools so i had to improvise again, i got a chisel sort of but alot longer (don't know the name sorry) and started hammering that into the filter to try and get it to spin round but it wasn't working so tried a few more times until i though to just hammer it in as far as i can into the filter and try and use the chisel tool as leverage and hey presto it worked like a dream, so then i undone the engine mount and the engine was semi free.

Now this is what cost me 2 hours of messing about, on the gear shifter you're supposed to take out the circlip and then the gear shift will come out so when i went to take out the other two bolts and i released this isn't coming off so i watched a video on the YouTube on how to install a short shifter and found out i missed the circlip so when i went to take and because i already pulled the engine off the mounts the gear box was moved so i couldn't get to the circlip, so i tried moving the engine back but the bumper support was blocking the engine crane to go anymore forward than what it was so i couldn't put it back on the mounts so after an hour or two of moving the engine about, trying to undo the circlip and failing multiple time i had to rest then engine on the jack and had to extend the engine crane and then i had enough room to push the engine back and try and get the circlip off, i eventually did it after about 50 goes but it was finally off and i could get the engine out! i disconnected all the fuel injector wires, ignition timing etc around the intake manifold and cut some coolant pipes (i had to cut them because the factory Nissan hose clamps were too rusted and gone and they would just bend and snap if you tried to undo them then the engine was pretty much free and i started to get it out the car




And there it is out the car



i rested it in my garage on a tyre and took the gear box off the engine



Now this where it gets interesting, when im taking off the exhaust man (absolute pain in the arse to do) there was alot of oil in cylinder 3 port and alot of it coming out of the turbo its self, not the oil feed but the actual turbo, and the turbine is very loose, got alot of play in it and the turbine and compressor wheels look damaged, like they have been hitting on the side of the turbo, so i don't know whats going on there, ill get some pictures next time im working on it, probs Sunday-Monday

[Dastardly]

For future reference quite a few RWD and 4WD boxes hold their gear sticks in with circlips.

Sounds like you could do with some valve stem seals and a new turbo.

[aidanmanc]

Yeah bud, I'll definitely remember that for the future and could be a blown turbo or something as bad, I'll see when I strip the engine and check the turbo properly

[nismo]

Nice project another S13 being saved from the scrap heap.

Yes get more axle stands or take the wheels off and slide them under the discs just in case, you will have little warning if she goes!!

[eh_silvia94]

Getting stuck in mate, best way to learn how things work, keep up the good work

[aidanmanc]

Hey guys, sorry for not posting but been really busy, well, ive had no money at all these past few months due to getting a new car, takes up nearly half my wages 14 plate Corsa Limited Edition, hopefully get my no claims up and my insurance down for when im ready to drive the S13! and i actually love the look of them, hopefully going to get coilovers on them soon and black out the front silver grill trim.




Right now onto the S13, i recently took apart the engine, been putting it off till i got an engine stand but obvs having no money ive not been able to buy one just yet, so i took it apart on the floor, exhaust manifold is already off, what a c**t to get off, having trouble removing the turbo from the maifold, anyone got any tips for me? started to take the intake manifold off, ive cut all the coolant pipes, the factory nissan fasteners that hold the pipes on are just too old and rusted that they just snap so i had to cut the pipes or break the clips. was a quite easy job apart from all the hoses, when i got the intake manifold off i saw some evidence that the engine couldve been blown thats why it was sat there for so long



the coolant system has this nasty stuff inside it, i asked my college tutor and he said he reckons that's the head gasket..

got all the intake system off plus fuel rail and injectors, theyre not in good shape.


when i started it up a few months back when i got the new fuel pump i thought it was only running on two cylinders and because it was very rough and shaky and just didnt sound right. so i took the head off to see what damage lies beneath.



got the head off the block and flipped it round and this is what i found

Cylinder 1



Cylinder 2



Cylinder 3



Cylinder 4


Spark plug for 4


i looked at the cooling system in the block and they're all blocked with the horrible stuff that could be head gasket


Just waiting to get the engine stand so i can flip the block over and take the sump off and see what i find there!

Today i just cleaned up the cam covers
Before (already cleaned the one at the back with some water and a cloth but i bought some jizer to see how good it is after my dad telling me about it)


flipped them over and saw the oil underneath



Took the plates off the inside


Jizer and a pressure washer and they come out looking good

[Dastardly]

What is it about taking the turbo off that you are having trouble with? Are the nuts rounded or something? You can normally just undo them with a spanner.

[aidanmanc]

Well not had a go for a while but it's just an awkward place for the bolts, can't get much leverage and I think the bolts are starting to round off


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[Dastardly]

I've managed it with the engine in the car so you must be able to get them off with the engine out the car. I know I've been able to get a 1/4 drive socket and ratchet at some of them. If you don't have 6 sided sockets, I recommend buying some. For the others I would use a spanner with another spanner on the end of it for leverage if you have the space to do that.

[aidanmanc]

Little update, ive decided im gonna buy a new shell, the front end on this is just gone, it'll probably cost more to repair than just to get a clean shell

there's so much rust over the whole car, this is why haven't been posting lately, im stuck in two minds, get a new shell and do a full rebuild the original CA18DET engine thats in bits in my garage, all new seals, hoses, piston rings etc, ill probably keep the same pistons, maybe get the head reworked, all depends on the money as i dont have a lot atm as its just all paying for my Corsa and some mods for that..
But anyway ive nearly stripped the whole engine down to the block im just stuck on the last bit, the crank sprocket wont come off, any tips? ive tried prying it, heating it up, wd40, ill keep going at it.

[Dastardly]

Cut the crank sprocket off with a grinder and order a new one or get a new one second hand off here.

[richiie]

I managed to get mine off without cutting it. Big pry bar behind it and hit it with a hammer and the shock forces it off. Woodruff key comes out with it, not before. But as dastarly has said in another thread you can damage the main bearings on the crank so upto you mate

[aidanmanc]

One or two people said they've had to break the oil pump to get the crank out then get the sprocket off another way


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[Dastardly]

I wouldn't break the oil pump, £300 from Nissan. You could get a second hand one but a lot of them will have come from high milers.

[aidanmanc]

Thanks for the tip, deffo won't be breaking it now aha, might take the block into college to see what tools they have to help me, plus they have w parts washer so get the block, Pistons crank etc all cleaned 🏻


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[aidanmanc]

Update:
took the block into college today to try and get the crank sprocket off and my god what a job, we tried pulling it, prying it nearly ended up drilling two holes into it and thread it and using a puller on it that way but after a long time we heated it up and got a chisel round the back and kept hammering the chisel so it pushed the sprocket off and eventually it started to move but it did not want to come off at all took about 2 hours to get it off.. anyway got the pistons in the parts washer and the block, quite abit of surface rust on the block so ill clean it up and spray it black make it look alot better, my tutors said they think the oil pump is seized as it was hard to turn on the crankshaft but i couldn't check because it was too hot at the time im going back tomorrow and ill see then anyone know if its serviceable or would i have to buy a new one? oh and while i was there one of my tutors just happened to pull out an original service manual for the S13 never been used and gave it me, not bad eh!

[aidanmanc]

Update time
soo it was my birthday on the 6th, officially 18! woo aha, and nearly a year since i first bought the S13! Went to the Big Manchester car meet at Trafford park on the 7th and just wondering the car park and managed to spot this


Only the second one ive seen on the road, wanted to speak to the owner about it but he wasn't there, this motivated me to try and get on with my S13 as ive not had a lot of motivation lately.. so heres what ive been doing to it..

Right so with the block fully stripped i could get to work cleaning it up, so i started with taking the water pump off and having a look at that, hmm not the best..



So i took the block outside and get the pressure washer on it, gave it a full wash, got the majority of the shit that was in the cooling system, the rust and head gasket residue.
Soo after the block was cleaned up i started scraping all the gaskets left on the block, this is the headgasket pretty much imbedded onto the block



Oil filter gasket was on there good took a while to get it off



Oil pump and water pump




So after i got most of the gaskets off i started cleaning up the surfaces, started off with where the oil pan mates with the block
at first i got an angle grinder with a flap disc on for this one.



After that was looking better i moved onto the water pump and oil pump, got the angle grinder and flap disc on the water pump but not as much as i used it on the bottom of the block



Then i did the fly wheel side, again used the angle grinder but not as much as bottom of the block
not got a before picture of this
or after for this one but it wasnt really that bad to start off with..

Then i moved onto the top of the block, i didnt use the angle grinder for this, as its gotta be truely flat.
so i started off sanding the top with 400 grit, i got too much off a fine grit at first.




Cant see it very good on the pics but the top is very pitted



i went a got some 80 grit the next day and carried on, after alot off sanding, using 80 grit then wet sanding with the 400 grit it was looking better



Still pitted though


i then moved onto the oil and water pump areas and did the same as what i did to the top



and the flywheel side


Im gonna go over it all with 800 grit later on maybe even 1500 grit..
I was going to paint the block, so i started to mask everything up, didnt half take while..





So thats about it for today, probs have more updates soon!

[Dastardly]

It might be worth getting the block slightly skimmed to remove the pitting. Are you scrapping the shell or saving it?