Wednesday Night Engine Club
Grayson and Dave came over tonight to take a look at Blue. Before they arrived, I got it up on jacks and took off the right rear wheel to facilitate access to the right side of the crankshaft. Turns out there is a 17mm nut on the end of the shaft that you can turn by wrench to inspect the engine. After a brief inspection, it appeared that the timing wasn’t off because the distributor rotor was in the 1-cylinder position when the 1-cylinder was at top dead center on the exhaust stroke.
So, there’s good news and there’s bad news. More after the jump:
The good news is that we confirmed that we’re getting fuel to the cylinders and the coil is making spark. Confirming that the fuel and electrical systems are working are very positive steps.
Then we re-tested the compression on the engine. There’s good news and bad news there. The good news is that I was doing the test right the first time. The bad news is that the compression on cylinders 1 & 2 was approximately 1 psi, whereas on cylinders 3 and 4 it got up to about 50. Just to recap, operating pressure needs to be between 142-178 psi.
We also tried to get the red MR2 to turn over. It’s clear that engine is seized. Despite the fact that the crankcase is full of oil, when we hooked up the good battery, the starter couldn’t even turn over. Dave and I even pushed the car so that Grayson could pop the clutch; all that happened is that the back end of the car hopped about 3 inches in the air when he dumped the clutch. It was very funny
Grayson noted that when he was holding the pressure tester on the 3 and 4 cylinders, he could feel air escaping from the other cylinder. In other words, the path of least resistance was past the bad rings or valve seats or through a blown head gasket. Regardless, it means that the engine needs serious work. There are two basic options to get this car running.
The first is that we could pull the head and the oil pan, pull the pistons, put on new rings, hone the cylinders, replace the main bearings, then put it all back together and see if we can get it running. We can do all of that without dropping the engine out of the car. But even after doing that, there’s no guarantee that the engine will work. If the engine got as hot as we think that it got (given the melted distributor cap and the melted spark plug insulators, we know the engine got damned hot), it’s entirely possible that the valve seats are damaged, and maybe the valves are burned too. Which would then mean that we would need to do a ton of work on the head, and the engine still might not be running at that point.
The second option is to find a used, running engine and replace our motor with that one. Grayson is going to stop by a couple of yards tomorrow to see if he can find one. These engines typically come with a short-term (60- or 90-day) warranty so we will know we are getting a working motor. If we can find one within our budget (i.e. less than $400, which Grayson is entirely likely) then what we will probably do is take the MR2 over to Jesse’s shop and use the forklift there to lift the back end so we can swap out the old, non-working motor for the new, working motor.
The third option is to bail on the MR2 entirely and find another car with a working engine (current thoughts are running toward a Datsun 280Z). We’d like to hear opinions on the three options, but for now our plan is to at least look for a replacement engine. If we can’t find one that we’re happy with, then we need to consider options one or three. We like option two best at this point because everyone agrees that the MR2 is a great platform for running this race, for all the reasons that Matt outlined in one of his comments.
One other question worth considering is if we should plant the new motor in Blue or in Red. Blue is a better looking ride, but Red might actually be in better shape, and we could sell Blue in its current condition and at least recoup the purchase price and maybe make a little. The interior on Red is totally ratted out, but we’re going to strip the interior of the car anyway, so that won’t matter for race purposes. Also, Red has a sunroof (which we would need to remove for the race), and that big hole would probably make it easier to install the roll cage.
So, lots to consider. Discuss!
Well, bummer–but at least we know what’s going on. I think the risk is too high of doing the engine work w/o knowing if it’s going to fix the problem. I say try to find another motor that will work and can be put in there. Then, failing that, sell the car and bail into something else. Something that you can drive away from the transaction!
I’d also imagine that if the red car is seized up, that put an enormous load on the transmission/differential/shafts. So probably want to stay away from those problems. But at least we know, via the 3″ jump upon popping, that nothing is catastrophically broken between clutch and wheels.
OTOH, the problem with buying and installing a new motor in Blue is that we still don’t know the current condition of Blue’s transmission. Was it ever run w/o tranny oil? Does it not have 2nd gear? Are the synchros demolished such that double-clutching is required? These things are definite possibilities considering the horrendous condition of the engine.