I have a friend who recently had a motor built for a big turbo project, and it has a low oil pressure issue. From what I'm told, it has maybe 30 miles and a little over an hour of runtime so far. I figured I'd document my findings, and my procedure for diagnosing and finally solution for repair here. The car was trailered almost 600 miles today, and arrived late in the afternoon.
Put the subframe back in so I could get the car in the corner. Good photo op
Tore the engine down and we clearly have some damage. Possible crank out of round. Could be machine shop error. You can see the mains wiped, and the pistons were able to make contact with the cylinder walls.
I'm going to bring everything to the machine shop this week to have it looked at, for confirmation on the cause of the damage.
At this point i would argue the best thing to do is use another engine and start fresh with the bottom end.
if it was me I would bore to 93mm and go with the 2.5 build. lowers the compression which means more boost and there is no replacement for displacement.
The 2.5's are known for head gasket problems. I used to have a built 2.5. Cool? Yes, but not much point because you can make a 2.3 make 500whp with 30psi on the stock head with stock bore. But now that there are some better head gasket options available I plan on putting it back together. Would be fun, but hard to keep traction even with a diff and sticky tires as it is.
Ya you can buy solid copper head gasket kit which solves the problem. Also, you get way better low end drivability if you are going big turbo. We have started a awd kit and hope to have it for sale some time next year. Can’t talk to much about it thou.
We have found the issue with the original motor. The oil line from the #3 main to the balance shaft bearing in the rear wasn't plugged properly. Can shine a light right through.
Sorry for lack of updates. Been busy with other projects lately. I sourced another engine that is perfect for the build. It's at the machine shop currently. Just waiting on a new set of mains, rods, and piston rings at the moment.
Got the new bottom end back from the machine shop. Everything checked out perfect and we are able to use standard size bearings. Got the balance shaft delete done, and opted to try out the SAS dummy bearings instead of tapping and using set screws at the bottom of the mains. Rotating assembly looks great! Should be posting updates as I go and will probably be up and running shortly
WOW that is some mess. I built a similar motor with forged pistons and balance shaft delete. Got about 60k miles on it and getting about 285HP out of it. AND it is in a RED 2000 Aero wagon!!
Local Los Angeles machine shop did the work Martin Davidson Machine. Martin has done lots of these and was very anal about putting in full bearing with no oil holes to block the oil passages. He also plugged the chain tensioner hole. I do love this motor.
I have a thread on here somewhere will post photos or the project soon.
About 18-20 psi with engine temp at 97C. I'd say we're good!
Break in will be done within the first hundred miles, and then we should be good to install the new turbo kit and make some power!
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