[--Golli]

I purcahsed this car in October 2008, from a private seller across town. It's a '91 Australian sold MA71. When I got it, it was stock besides a 3inch dump pipe and a turbosmart dual stage boost controller.

The first thing I did was replace the stock BOV (which was leaking) to a HKS SSQV. I had a hard pipe made up for it to bolt to and spent hours trying to find a recurculating fitting.

A few months later, the power steering pressure hose split, so I replaced that with a driftmotion braided line. I also replaced the stock V/H cooler with a spare 7M oil cooler and replaced all other lines with braided lines. (Thread on Supramania can be found here: http://www.supramani...ead.php?t=95798)

I then managed to get my hands on a HKS EVC III electonic boost controller and fitted that.

In between all that, its seen serveral services, plently of hills driving and a trackday.

It's current situation isn't to healthy. Thursday arvo I was carrying out compression tests to a mates car and decided that I may as well do another one on mine as it hadn't been done since I got it.

Numbers were all between 105-110psi on a dry compression test and 110-115psi on a wet, besides cylinder 1, which could only manage 80psi on a wet test.

Further tests last night and today with a leak tester has confirmed there is a rather large leaking coming from the intake valves of cylinder 1. There is also slight leaking from cylinders 2,3 and 4, however they are nothing compared to cylinder number 1.

At the moment, the car just has the valve covers off, but my next plan of attack is to get the turbo/turbo manifold and intake manifold off and carry out the tests again to pin point all the leaks properly.

Here are a few photos of the car over the year...

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/MA71/PA040916.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/MA71/PA040919.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/JzMA70%20and%20Golli/P2220993.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/P2221005.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/The%20Mount/08032009381.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/The%20Mount/09032009418.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/The%20Mount/08032009372.jpg
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs167.snc1/6280_1209446592381_1115191549_30693235_7024923_n.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/3283_74394360263_546730263_2114329_.jpg

And this is how she is at the moment...
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB281239.jpg


This build thread will run through the fixing of this motor and then the continual building of the car afterwards. I've got this build thread on Supramania aswell, so most of the minor updates will happen over there, however I will be making sure all major updates are on here too.
The thread can be found here: http://www.supramani...773#post1459773

Hope you enjoy reading,
Cheers,
Dale

[supralicious]

Cool write up mate. Good to hear it'll be getting an overhaul.

Will have to catch up soon. Reminds me I need to compression test my little beast.

[JTMILLER]

How long is the beast going to be out of action? still need the prelude? :P

[--Golli]

JTMILLER, on 28 November 2009 - 01:17 PM, said:

How long is the beast going to be out of action? still need the prelude? :P

A while man. If I could use it, that would be awesome, but don't rush Sime if he needs it.

--------------------------------------
UPDATE

Sooo... this is how the car looks at the moment...

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB291240.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB291241.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB291246.jpg

Parts pile...
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB291250.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB291251.jpg

Followed the TSRM and got it like this today.
Tomorrow I'll be following one of the guides on Supramania to get the head off, whether I get that far, I don't know. Caroline and I have a BBQ tonight and a sleep in tomorrow would be good tomorrow as I've worked till 12 on Friday and Saturday night.

I managed to pull the wire out of the front knock sensor directly after disconnecting the rear one... *facepalms* So I'll be doing the rewire to both of them once the head is off.
Also found that one of the exhaust studs had half stripped the hole... helicoil time.....

[IcE]

How long it take you to get the turbo off?

Ive got it down to ~40 minutes now!

[--Golli]

I got it off in about an hour. Was a lot easier then I expected.

------------------------------
UPDATE

Head came off today...
Here is a photo, you know, for anyone what has never seen one before...........
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB301254.jpg
Taking of the cams, valves, etc will happen either tomorrow or Wednesday.
These are the valves in question.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB301256.jpg
And here is a stock headgasket that is used and not blown... most likely a world first...
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB301255.jpg


The block side of things looks quite good. There is a bit of carbon buildup on the pistons, however the cylinder walls haven't glazed over which is a relatively good sign my father tells me. I've squirted some CRC in the cylinders and cleaned them a bit to remove the small amount of coolant that was spilt when taking the head off the motor.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB301252.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/2009%20work/PB301262.jpg


Sort of wondering what I should do headgasket wise as a replacement. Minimum I'll go OEM with ARP studs holding the head down, as I can't really afford a full strip and rebuild to machine the deck. (however, I'm yet to check flatness, so I may have no choice.) However, If people think that if it's flat enough and a lapping plate is all thats needed for the block, I'll definately look at the costs of getting that done. I do intend on tearing the motor down and putting in some goodies and reconditioning it all later down the track, however I just can't afford it at the moment (YAY for being university bum...)

What do people think? I know the stock HG with ARP studs is a strong combo for around 15psi, but if lapping is all thats required, should I take that route for piece of mind?

Also, here is a quick list of things I'll do while the motor is like this...
- J-tube bypass
- Change as many gaskets as I can
- Oil filter relocation kit (not sure how far I'll go with this)
- Change of all water hoses
- Address my starter, as I still get a click every now and again, even after the relay mod...:cry:

Can anyone think of anything else?

[IcE]

dont go the OEM HG dude. Please, dont!

Spend the extra cash now, to buy your self some time down the track when you are likely to be facing problems relating to the HG. Get your self a semi decent metal kit and use that.

Please please please dont cheap out on that, at least for my sanity!

[--Golli]

IcE, on 30 November 2009 - 10:50 PM, said:

dont go the OEM HG dude. Please, dont!

Spend the extra cash now, to buy your self some time down the track when you are likely to be facing problems relating to the HG. Get your self a semi decent metal kit and use that.

Please please please dont cheap out on that, at least for my sanity!

A new OEM torqued down properly will be fine fo 15psi, the only thing that destorys it is detonation... but that destorys anything.
The reason why the HG fails in the first place is incorrect torque. 82ft/lb on top of a OEM, suppled by an ARP stud set has proven itself, guys have been doing this over in the states with no problems. If you don't believe me search up on what Doward has to say on Supramania. Heck, look at that gasket up in my post! I was running it 12psi daily on all stock spec. So did the previous owner. I woulda have thought that my driving habits would've been enough to damage it... haha

[IcE]

I know why they fail... Ive had one go, remember?

But just because one hasnt gone, doesnt mean the new one wont go. Youve had a pretty lucky run with it and id hate to see you start losing your engine now because of this ridiculous problem that we have with these engines.

By all means, if you just wanna go OEM, then go for it, but dont come crying to me when it lets go in 1500kms :P

[--Golli]

Well Ice.. You'll get what you wanted of my motor... haha!
It's been a while since I did an update, and a lot has happened since then.

The head went of to Chris Milton Engine Developments on Main North Road about 2 days after the last update.
Talking over costs, it was going to be $400 cheaper if I supplied a gasket set, which I could do for $120 shipped, so they have only did the machine work until the kit to landed. I got the kit yesterday and dropped the valve stem seals to them straight away.

While I was waiting for the kit to land, I took off the oil pan, as it had a slight leak at the front of the motor. This then lead to the removal of the oil pump so it could be checked and shimmed. I also took out the oil squirters and ordered the replacement valves for them as the springs wear down after 20 years and open up before the 42psi that they are supposed to.
After thinking about it for a while, I realised it was going to be one hell of a job to put all this crap back in... so I just pulled the motor out and I'll re-assemble it out of the car. Or at least that was the plan....

Next thing I know, Dad comes over and pulls one of the pistons out. We see the pitting and the scratching on the bearing surfaces and decide that its now a full rebuild. Since then I've stripped down the motor, made sure everything was in the tolerances. Which they where, that fuck... and I dropped of the block, crank, rods and pistons off when I dropped off the valve stem seals.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151263.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151264.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151267.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151268.jpg

Also decided to get a bit organised that sorted everything out into relative boxes and trays...
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151265.jpg

And those that have a good eye will notice that I got one of the bastard series 2 7M motors that still had the 6M crank in it...
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151266.jpg
I was very dissapointed when I saw this....

Anyway, the block is getting a deck, hone, acid bath, new welsh plugs and new oil driveshaft bearings. The crank is getting a polish and a thorough clean. Rods and pistons are getting a check over and cleaned. The shop are also going to sort out all the bearings and rings for me so that I can bring the motor home and assemble it.

Here is a list of the modifications that I intend on completing before the motor goes back in...
-Shimmed oil pump (done)
-ARZ oil feed line
-New oil squirters (ordered)
-Filter relocation kit with full flow thermostat controller oil cooler
-New harmonic balancer
-Injector clean
-CPS rebuild
-ARP flywheel bolts
-ARP head stud
-Metal head gasket to keep a compression of 150psi (Happy Ice?)
-IS300 coils and wire set
-Replacement of all hoses
-New spark plugs, coolant, etc, etc....

I'm pretty sure I'll do more, but we will see how funds go... I'd like to get a new bigger radiator and go thermo fans as well.
Essentially the aim is to get it so I can track it frequently in a reliable state.

Also, you would have noticed I splashed out on something that I may not have needed, but I really really wanted it...
Clear front indicators...! (to Ice's dismay!)
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1151269.jpg

Just gotta source some clear side bubble indicators now....

[jzma70]

[good write up man im glad you are doing it the right way first time even with minimal money, but the more u spend now the less u will haveto in the future,good luck with the rebuild man , hope to have both our cars up and running, and legal soon :)

[ma61turbo]

Pretty sure all 7M cranks are marked as 6M, nothing to worry about.

[--Golli]

Dave, they started putting the 7M cranks in the post 89 engines, which are also different. (more stiffining ribs inside and out)
The 6M cranks arn't fully counter balanced, you can see that there is no balancing material on fOr the 2nd or 5th cylinder. The 7M cranks however and fully counterbalanced. I've been told that all Australian sold MA70's built after August 1990 have the 7M cranks. Mine was built in december 89.

Here is a photo of a 7M crank to compare to my 6M crank.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/JSeaman/BSStep50d.jpg

---------------------

Well today was a busy day. Had a few things to do around the house, as well as let my turtle roam the backyard, which is a hole lot of chasing.... :alcoholic:

Come 11, I was out the door to collect some parts.
First stop was Cornes Toyota 10 minutes away for these..
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201278.jpg
Yep... new oil squirter valves. :bleh:

Next stop was the city to check some prices at the Outlaw Speed Shop.
I ended up coming home with these....
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201279.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201283.jpg
Remote oil filter setup... permacool block adaptor, dual filter head and thermostat with an earls cooler. I wasn't ment to buy this today, but oh well...

Then it was off to Motor mate on south road for a friends commodore I'm fixing up and then the pet shop to get some fish for turtles dinner... haha. I then had work for 4 hours then went to dinner at Carolines place.

Also the gasket kit I got in last week.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201277.jpg

Tomorrow I'll fit the filter head, thermostat and oil cooler, then I'll need to spend the rest of the day on my mates car. This is after a visit to the RAH in the morning too. Yet another hecktic day ahead of me...

[ma61turbo]

--Golli, on 20 January 2010 - 11:22 PM, said:

Dave, they started putting the 7M cranks in the post 89 engines, which are also different. (more stiffining ribs inside and out)
The 6M cranks arn't fully counter balanced, you can see that there is no balancing material on fOr the 2nd or 5th cylinder. The 7M cranks however and fully counterbalanced. I've been told that all Australian sold MA70's built after August 1990 have the 7M cranks. Mine was built in december 89.

Well, there you go. That I didn't know.

Unless you are going for 11ty billion rwhp I doubt that you'd notice the difference. At least it is likely to be lighter!

[--Golli]

Yeah, not a heap of difference. The 6M's supposedly have a snappier response and the ecu's rev limiter is 500rpm higher. But if I ever go down the fully built path in the future, I think I'd source a 7M crank.

[IcE]

And an after market ECU?

[HKS_TRD]

Nice build here, I'll be keeping my eyes on this one

I noticed in your early posts you mentioned that you need to do a knock sensor re-wire. I bought new knock sensor plugs but I am now going to a differnt knock sensor so I can sell you my new knock sensor plugs if you are interested

[JTMILLER]

--Golli, on 20 January 2010 - 11:22 PM, said:

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201279.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/golli_2007/P1201283.jpg
Remote oil filter setup... permacool block adaptor, dual filter head and thermostat with an earls cooler. I wasn't ment to buy this today, but oh well...

How does the remote filter setup fit into your "sleeper when you open the bonnet" bullshit?

[--Golli]

IcE, on 21 January 2010 - 08:38 AM, said:

And an after market ECU?

Yeah... eventually... give it a few years! haha

HKS_TRD, on 21 January 2010 - 07:04 PM, said:

Nice build here, I'll be keeping my eyes on this one
I noticed in your early posts you mentioned that you need to do a knock sensor re-wire. I bought new knock sensor plugs but I am now going to a differnt knock sensor so I can sell you my new knock sensor plugs if you are interested

Cheers, I'll keep that in mind. I started cleaning up the engine harness tonight, but need to get some more wraping. I'll definately know tomorrow weather I need it or not and contact you.

JTMILLER, on 21 January 2010 - 07:52 PM, said:

How does the remote filter setup fit into your "sleeper when you open the bonnet" bullshit?

You can be really ignorant sometimes, the oil cooler will be in the front bar, I ended up swaping the twin filter head for a single one today so I can fit that in the front bar also and the thermostate will either be next to it or under the rad support. As for the block adaptor... you'd have to have x-ray vision to see it through the turbo, hence why the GTE's get the horrid adaptor as the oil filter hits it.
I'm planning on having it so that if you see anything it will be the lines, the reason for the "sleeper" look is so when the hood is opened by Mr. Piggy, he doesn't slap a defect sticker on it. I don't want them thinking something has been done to it because it looks all flashy, seeing it's my daily...

[ma61turbo]

--Golli, on 21 January 2010 - 09:26 PM, said:

the oil cooler will be in the front bar, I ended up swaping the twin filter head for a single one today so I can fit that in the front bar also and the thermostate will either be next to it or under the rad support. As for the block adaptor... you'd have to have x-ray vision to see it through the turbo, hence why the GTE's get the horrid adaptor as the oil filter hits it.
I'm planning on having it so that if you see anything it will be the lines, the reason for the "sleeper" look is so when the hood is opened by Mr. Piggy, he doesn't slap a defect sticker on it. I don't want them thinking something has been done to it because it looks all flashy, seeing it's my daily...

Yep, with the oil filter mount being where it is a stealth oil cooler setup is really, really easy. Until you do a filter relocation, but that would still be the only obvious part.

Paint that oil cooler black though ;)