Well i just got finished helping someone, flipguy88, install cams, cam gears, fuel pump, and head studs . It took about 13 hours!! What a nightmare. Well the lesson i learned, that i'm sure most experienced mechanics already know, is install one thing at a time. Well my planning ended up installing all the parts and then not being able to start the car. The actual install took 5 hours. It took 8 hours to trouble shoot these mistakes.

For cams:
Make sure cam angle sensor is on properly. i put this back on right...then changed it to backwards...then made it right again. Make sure the big tab is oriented 180 degrees from the dowel pin on the other end. dowel at top dead center then big tab on cam should be at the bottom on the other side.

For Fuel Pump:
Don't disconnect anything you don't need to. When i removed the send in unit i disconnected everything and don't think i reconnected everything properly.

If i would have just done the fuel pump first and made sure the car ran fine, I would have eliminated the extra 8 hours. I started the cams immediately afterwards, so when the car wouldn't start, checked the fuel pump and didn't see any problems. I checked the cams about 10 times removing the valve cover and replacing it EVERY time. IDIOT. After 7.5 hours i pulled the fuel pump, broke down everything and reassembled it. I think the little clip on the outside was the problem because i don't think i put it back together right the first time.

The car started and i felt like i was on top of the WORLD!!!!!

I feel like an expert on these two tasks now. Now i just need to practice dropping transmissions and replacing clutches. Maybe rebuilding a bottom end some day.

What a day.

-deric

 

lol, good to hear that everything worked out!!

 

I hope my car starts tomorrow.. just got done putting in 272's, head studs, walbro, injectors and some sensors.

n

 

I did my cams yesterday. No doubt the cam angle sensor was a bit of the pain. Especially since I didnt break it loose before I removed the cam. All in all it was pretty simple. I spent more time gathering parts to make my tensioner release tool than anything else.

A trick for getting the CAS back on correctly, is to mark it with a sharpie on the old cam then reference with the new cam by using the dowl pins and you cant go wrong.

I was a happy camper when it fired on the first try and even happier when I felt the neck snapping pull above 4500 RPM's.

 

I felt your guys pain. My hold up was waiting for the timing belt tensioner tool. I tried to make one but never could get the correct thread on the rods. So 4 days later, the car was running (it happened on a Friday night, didn't order the tool Sat. b/c I thought I could find the rod, so ordered the tool on Monday and had it overnighted).

But WHAT a difference.

 

Man that sucks big time! How is his car with the 280's?

 

car started. yeay.

note to self, remember to clamp down the turbo coolant hose before I start the car next time... doh!

anti freeze sucks to clean up.


n

 

Witness marks, diagrams, and tags. You did a good job and learned some things along the way, congrats. Don't worry about mistakes even the top pros make them. YOu did not break anything.

 

Do you guys have any extra tapping? Mine was tapping this morning when I fired it but, has since settled down and not returned. I guess the lash adjusters were just priming up.

 

no extra tapping after the first 5 minutes of running. We bled all the lash adjusters, and it sounded like loose change when they were filling back up. Everything sounds good...the idle was pretty crappy, but i don't think we expected anything more. We went with 280's cuz he wants to upgrade the turbo soon, but he's getting a custom Dynoflash next week so it should run a lot better and stronger then. I knew all that extra time we were putting in would be a result of something small that i kept overlooking. I think it always is when there's a problem.

We'll see how his car is next week. I'm expecting GOOD results. We'll see how much power he puts down up at MZM next month. Should be close to if not over 300 on their dyno.

 

The only problem with the learning part was the part where the wife wasn't happy that i took the time away from her to learn these things. Oh well she's over it already. I'm hella glad i didn't break anything. Not a super bad job considering we did the cam and gear install without the timing belt tensioner released. Tension is still good in the belt, but we did have to use a lot of energy slipping the gears on the dowels. I'll get the timing belt tool when we do my car.

 

fuel pump aint that hard to install...

but yeah, that's a good idea.

this reminds me of that guy who did a clutch install and end up taking the engine out! lol

 

fuel pump isn't hard to install by any means...i just decided to make it hard by taking the send-in unit apart and not putting it back together properly, and complicated it by installing the cams, so the problem wasn't immediately isolated.

 

After doing a whole pile of clutches... as funny as it sounds... I'm wondering if it might be just as fast and definitely easier to put the car on a lift and drop the entire engine out the bottom to do a clutch... lol... I can yank a motor out of an evo pretty fast and its definitely easier to manipulate on the ground.. just alot of wires to hook back up.. haha...


DISCLAIMER... DON"T TRY THAT AT HOME DIP****S...

 

bump for the good of the community, and a laugh.