Northstar rebuild: Will style (Page 63/119)
Will NOV 26, 07:08 PM
I have Cometic gaskets in .036 thickness: http://www.fiero.nl/forum/F.../044924-12.html#p446

Since the Cometics don't compress the way the stock composition gaskets do, the stock T+A (hehe ) procedure can no longer be used.

At Alan Johnson's advice, I torqued the studs to 70 ftlbs. For a retorque, I'd just go through and break each one loose, then bring it back up to 70. At this time of year, to do that I'd have to take the car to the plant where my dad works and let it sit indoors overnight to make sure that the metal was at ~70 degrees.

I'm pretty sure I can do it with the engine in the car, however.

Found a tiny leak at the heater hose connection at the back end of the water manifold. The hose clamp was a little loose.

I took the car out last night, warmed it, ran it up to 120 then brought it back and drained the break-in oil. It's pretty nasty, thick and full of moly disulfide. There are shiny particles in the PurePower oil filter. I'm going to wash the filter out with lacquer thinner and try to capture them in a paint filter. I may be able to take said filter to the reliability lab at work and get micrographs of it.
Russ544 NOV 26, 09:12 PM

quote
Originally posted by Will:

I have Cometic gaskets in .036 thickness: http://www.fiero.nl/forum/F.../044924-12.html#p446

Since the Cometics don't compress the way the stock composition gaskets do, the stock T+A (hehe ) procedure can no longer be used.

At Alan Johnson's advice, I torqued the studs to 70 ftlbs. For a retorque, I'd just go through and break each one loose, then bring it back up to 70. At this time of year, to do that I'd have to take the car to the plant where my dad works and let it sit indoors overnight to make sure that the metal was at ~70 degrees.

I'm pretty sure I can do it with the engine in the car, however.

Found a tiny leak at the heater hose connection at the back end of the water manifold. The hose clamp was a little loose.

I took the car out last night, warmed it, ran it up to 120 then brought it back and drained the break-in oil. It's pretty nasty, thick and full of moly disulfide. There are shiny particles in the PurePower oil filter. I'm going to wash the filter out with lacquer thinner and try to capture them in a paint filter. I may be able to take said filter to the reliability lab at work and get micrographs of it.



How do you plan to get the water pump drive pulley and valve cover removed with the engine still in the car? I gota see the video of that little trick.
Shiny stuff in the oil isn't generally a good thing. hope it all turns out ok for you.

Cheers,
Russ
Will NOV 26, 10:00 PM

quote
Originally posted by Russ544:

How do you plan to get the water pump drive pulley and valve cover removed with the engine still in the car? I gota see the video of that little trick.
Shiny stuff in the oil isn't generally a good thing. hope it all turns out ok for you.

Cheers,
Russ



It's break-in debris. I expected some of it (more than usual) since I did a hard break-in. We'll see how it turns out.
Will NOV 28, 10:39 AM

quote
Originally posted by Russ544:

How do you plan to get the water pump drive pulley and valve cover removed with the engine still in the car? I gota see the video of that little trick.
Shiny stuff in the oil isn't generally a good thing. hope it all turns out ok for you.

Cheers,
Russ



Oh yeah... Waterpump drive. The pulley can come off in the car, then I unbolt the shaft seal from the cam cover. The hole under the shaft seal is large enough to give MUCH more latitude in removing the cam cover than if the seal is left in place. I'm not 100% sure it can be done, but I'm confident.
Russ544 NOV 28, 12:15 PM

quote
Originally posted by Will:


Oh yeah... Waterpump drive. The pulley can come off in the car, then I unbolt the shaft seal from the cam cover. The hole under the shaft seal is large enough to give MUCH more latitude in removing the cam cover than if the seal is left in place. I'm not 100% sure it can be done, but I'm confident.



I'm somewhat familar with the procedure .



as you know, even with the shaft seal removed, the other end of the cover has to be lifted fairly high to slide it off the end of the cam. I'm dubious if this can be done in the car, but I do look forward to the video .
I wish I had your patience to do all that you've done to your engine so far. You've done a great job!! I've found that one year is about my absolute max from the time I pull a car into my garage until the time I drive it out with modifications compleated. ohh to be young again GGGGG.

Cheers,
Russ

[This message has been edited by Russ544 (edited 11-28-2010).]

Will NOV 28, 12:27 PM
I know you've built one, as well as those TPC intakes.

The usual way is to leave the shaft seal in place. The cam cover still comes off, but is just a lot more finicky in *exactly* how it's maneuvered.
Will DEC 18, 09:38 PM
Magnified pictures of the moly-disulfide junk that ended up in my filter:
Will DEC 18, 10:00 PM
This is the location on the fuel pump power circuit that shorted and left me on the side of the road:
Bloozberry DEC 18, 10:20 PM
What kind of oil filter is that Will? It looks interesting.
Will DEC 19, 08:24 AM
http://www.gopurepower.com/

Spin-on filter for Northstar application. It's about $200.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 12-19-2010).]