Alright here are some pics from the first part of the tear down. I picked up a compression tester at autozone last night so this weekend we will test that and hopefully get my wideband installed. Kinda nervous to start the turbo rebuild... I hope its not too bad...

Her new home for a little bit.



starting with this.



Finally wrestled this thing out...



So the gasket was split in two... I think this may have been the source of the smoking I noticed when the engine was cold... May have bought a new manifold for no reason because the DNP manifold looks solid no cracks...



Sans turbo and some piping.



Also noticed these wires spliced into the MAF sensor plug. Im assuming was at one time done for speed density since it seems that this car once ran that way... And input?



Evo VIII versus Evo IX turbos... Big difference!

 

No clue why the maf harness is cut. Unless they had the sensor relocated at some time.

 

The IAT sensor was spliced into the MAF harness for speed density. The stock MAF has an IAT, so when you remove it you can wire a GM IAT to those two wires and log IAT, and run the SD tune off it or fuel temp.

 

Thanks! Thats what I was thinking those wires might be, but Im still confused because there is no connector anywhere near the location of the IAT sensor... So idk if its been cut out or what...

On another note. I rented a compression tester from autozone. And I have been very confused by the results. primarily because they were much lower than i expected, although still pretty consistent. But later because cylinder 1 stopped showing any compression...

So I disconnected the fuel pump, removed the spark plugs, put the extender onto the hose for the tester, screwed it in, attached the gauge and started at cylinder 1. Turned the key let it spin 3 or 4 times. Read 90psi. continued on to the others ended up getting. 90-80-100-90. Then I read that I need to hold the TB open and let it spin 6-8 times. So I figured Id redo the test. So I went in reverse this time starting with cylinder 4. 90-95-90-.... back at cylinder 1 i got nothing. 0psi... I trie again. This time it held some pressure but it didnt even register on the gauge which starts at 30psi... Went back to cylinder 2, 90psi. Back to 1, 0psi...

So Im really confused about this now. Ive been told to get a leak down tester at this point. But I am really afraid that the rings are bad, but Im confused about how it read 90psi the first time and nothing the rest of the time... Thoughts?

 

Bad tester?

 

Yea, try another tester. Those numbers are also quite low for the car to still be running well.


"rented a compression tester from autozone"..... You have no idea how many times that thing has been dropped, kicked, thrown, etc...lol. Try another one and go from their.

 

Based on those test results, it could be that #1 has a bent valve that is not seating properly, or a blown HG, or you know something worse. At any rate a further tear down of the head would be called for. That is of course if the tester was working properly.

 

Took back the autozone tester. Got another one from O'reilys. Same results on the other cylinders. 90-95ish. Cylinder one was only showing 15psi. Added a few CCs of oil to the cylinder and it bumped up to 30psi. This tester will let me do a leak down. So tonight I plan on pulling out my air compressor and seeing where the leak is. From what Ive been told I will be able to hear the leak if I am at top dead center. Hopefully this reveals a bit more for me. I know the car was running rich. I just hope something didnt happen to the rings...

I will update when I know more. I appreciate the comments guys. Its nice to have some familiar people giving feedback and helping me think about things in the right way! So thank you all!

 

Dang, man. If those numbers are right, you need a rebuild. But usually they don't all go bad at the same time without something causing it.
Good luck!

 

Exact opposite actually. A good engine will wear/deteriorate fairly evenly. When "something" happens to it is when you end up with one or two cylinders way off...

 

I guess I've never had an engine go that bad due to wear.
Just seems to me it shouldn't be that worn with those miles.

 

I don't remember reading the miles in the thread. And this car was most definitely returned to stock from a more beastly state of tune at some point. So we really have no idea what that motor has been through.

 

Weird. I thought mileage was posted.
Unless the car has a ridiculous amount of miles, I don't see how the engine could be so shot due to normal wear.
I don't consider running a lot of power and being highly modified as "normal wear", but the definition is subjective.

 

it was...somewhere...
he bought it with ~101kmi on it...but I don't know what it's at now tho...
I'd assume somewhere in the 6-10kmi more range or close to it by now

 

Push a stock block to 400-450wtq and 600whp with something like an FP black and drive the **** out of it while managing to not window the block with a rod, or spin a bearing due to luck, or good maintenance, or a good tune, or luck, and you'll wear the thing out. Guaranteed. These cars can definitely handle the power and don't typically break when things are done right, but having it cranked like that will wear anything out..