Well as most of you know my car has been down since August due to a thrown rod with two nice hole in the block and three in the pan which i just discovered today while me and Chris(Kracka) started the teardown. So far so good hopefully we'll have the engine out and start the teardown on the block to see what evil lies inside! As the project continues I'll clue you in more to the specs of the rebuild but I will say this it will be unique. Thanks again to my good friend Chris who without his help in many ways the project wouldve been sittting along time.

 

That is great Andrew...if you need a hand just give me a shout anytime! I am pretty good at Manuel labor...

 

Great progress yesterday! I worked Andrew like a slave

Removed undertray, drain what little engine oil and coolant remained, removed intake and IC piping, removed the battery and tray, removed the engine harness, removed the fuel rail and associated components, disconnected a bunch of vacuum lines, removed subframe cross members and front engine mount, etc.

I think another few hours of prep work and the longblock will be ready to pull. The next steps will be to remove the front axles and unbolt the transfer case.

 

Good luck! I hope you'll be posting-up alot of photos!

 

Quick pic I took yesterday, this is how we left the top-side of the engine before focusing on underneath:

 

More great progress today, put another ~3 hours into it.

-disassembled the front brakes/hubs
-removed the front axles
-unbolted the A/C compressor
-unbolted the power steering pump
-unbolted the transfer case

The plan for next weekend is to actually get the engine and transmission out of the car.

 

I believe I am off next sunday so if you want some help i should be free.

 

Engine/tranny:


hole in the back of the block:


hole in the transfer case:

 

Double whammy engine failure! I don't recall having seen a engine grenade and take part of the driveline with it.

 

Damn, nice progress! While I feel it is in vain, I continue to offer my assistance.

 

Thanks for the offer, we'll definitely let you know if we need an extra set of hands. Now we're probably in the few weeks of waiting period while all the parts arrive and everything else comes together. Hopefully he can find a trashed transfer case to steal a cover from and the head checks out good.

 

Is he getting a crate or are you guys going to built it yourselves?

 

He ordered a MAP Stage 2 shortblock, but we'll be doing the head work (installing new valve springs and seals) as long as it's not damaged requiring machining. As for the transfer case, we'll figure out if the internals are damaged once we remove the broken cover.

 

That is a BIG job, good luck guys!! I hope to see it back on the road soon..

 

I know Andrew really wants it to be done by the end of March...we'll definitely see! We've made great progress over the past two weeks. I think the biggest factor now to determining how quickly it's back on the road is wait-time for the engine. MAP has a IX block, I'm not sure if all Andrew's desired internals are in-stock though (I'm sure he'll post the answer).