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Author Topic: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod  (Read 52974 times)

EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #45 on: March 02, 2021, 09:23:43 AM »

That's why I asked. I figured it'd be significantly easier for him to clean out the insides of the block, like the water jackets and whatnot, if those holes were opened up. Plus, if you look at the first couple pics of the engine, the damn thing had to have been leaking from just about everywhere. I've never seen a more gross engine. I'll ask the machinist later on today when I call him, but unless he specifically tells me not to do it, I'll pull them out and order some replacements. I've always liked the look of brass freeze plugs on a fresh engine.
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Aus Capri

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    • 1989 Capri Turbo
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #46 on: March 02, 2021, 05:59:32 PM »

Sorry the main ones on the sides of the block are 30mm and 35mm. From memory the is a tiny one somewhere too, might be on the head I can't remember
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Aus Capri

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    • 1989 Capri Turbo
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #47 on: March 02, 2021, 06:03:12 PM »

Have a look at the plugs when they come out, some of mine had nearly corroded through
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Aus Capri

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #48 on: March 02, 2021, 07:01:30 PM »

https://mx5mania.com.au/products/ati-damper-pulley-kit-harmonic-balancer-long-nose-na-1991-1994?_pos=18&_sid=138187678&_ss=r,

 check this out guys it says in the link long nose, but on its description on the page it clearly sounds like it's for the short nose, bloody expensive here in aus though, the ballancer is 500 more than I paid for the car!
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Aus Capri

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    • 1989 Capri Turbo
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #49 on: March 02, 2021, 07:04:57 PM »

Was yours a short nose?
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EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #50 on: March 02, 2021, 07:15:35 PM »

Yeah, mine is a short nose. Good lord, that is a pricey crank pulley. That thing is a good $400 more than I've spent on the car and the parts I've bought (so far).

Anyways, I spoke with the machine shop again tonight. He now is telling me I can drop it off this weekend, but it might take him two-to-three weeks to get the work done. Now I'm on the fence about it again. I really want the work done, but I also reallllllly don't want to wait three weeks for it. Nothing that I'll be getting done is 100% necessary, and all of it I COULD do myself if need be, so it's a tough call. He'll be calling me back on Thursday to let me know how his schedule is looking, so I guess I have until then to decide.

Onto the pictures. I cleaned the pan and baffle out, and got the pan masked off for paint (which is on it's way). The only part I haven't masked yet is where the oil pan bolts will meet with the pan. It seems like a whole lot of work, for not too much benefit. If I don't do it, there's a chance the paint will crack/chip off around the bolts. If I do mask it off, the paint will look slightly better underneath of the car will literally nobody but me will see it. I might do it, I might not. That's all I've got for you today. I'm waiting on my Loctite and gasket-tack before I put the pump together. I'm waiting to prep the block and crank until I make a decision on the machine shop. I'll likely do what I can do the crank and block tomorrow, then wrap everything up and get the head ready. That's when the fun work can begin.







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greywolf27030

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    • 1991 XR2, 1992 XR2, 1993 XR2
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #51 on: March 03, 2021, 09:12:07 AM »

I'm interested in seeing what the head looks like.  I did a single cam head and that think was awful. I couldn't believe who bad the ports were in that thing.
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Jack Byrd

EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #52 on: March 03, 2021, 09:32:27 AM »

I'm interested in seeing what the head looks like.  I did a single cam head and that think was awful. I couldn't believe who bad the ports were in that thing.

If it's as bad as the casting on the block and crank, it's going to be really bad. My old Miata I built years ago, the head was in rough shape. Whole chunks of casting flash partially blocking off oil holes and everything. I really haven't even looked at this one yet. It's sitting on two pieces of 4x4's in front of my toolbox, covered with a couple towels. I'm excited to get started on it, and to get a good look at it. Head work has always been my favorite part of building an engine. Maybe I'm a masochist, but I find polishing cast aluminum very relaxing.
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EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #53 on: March 04, 2021, 10:00:02 AM »

I've got a few more pictures for you guys. The first two of are the oil pump getting re-assembled. I didn't do the Vaseline trick this time, I just liberally coated the gears in assembly lube. I had planned to use blue thread locker on the fasteners that hold the cover for the gearset in place, but it still hasn't come in yet. I may end up putting it in there later, I'm not too sure. There's a new gasket shown in the second picture; it's just a paper gasket that gets placed between the pump housing and pickup tube. If anyone knows the torque specs for either the pickup tube bolts or the gearset cover bolts, I'd appreciate if you could share that with me. I've just got them snugged up with a 1/4" drive ratchet for right now.




After that I got the crank ready for reassembly, or the machine shop. Whatever I end up doing with it, it's ready.

There's a close-up of the groove in the crank nose for the keyway. I guess this is where issues will develop with a short-nose crank. As you can see here, mine looks perfectly fine.



Guys, HUGE shout-out to my wife for not only being okay with this happening in her kitchen sink, but for not even questioning it. <3



If you do this to your engine, you've got to move FAST with the crank. This is the flash rust that developed in the 3 minutes it took me to walk the thing from my kitchen to my garage. Seriously, if you get the crank wet, you've gotta dry it thoroughly and immediately.



ATF, coffee filters, compressed air, and elbow grease. That's what you'll need in spades to clean up a crankshaft. This one looks pretty damn good all cleaned, if I do say so myself. I could absolutely benefit from getting the journals polished (or doing it myself), but it'll very likely be perfectly fine without doing so, too. We'll see what happens.



Here's how I have it wrapped up and stored, waiting for it's trip to Pennsylvania, or to be put back in it's home. If you weren't aware, you want to store crankshafts like this. You don't want to leave them laying on their sides for prolonged periods of time. The mass of the counterweights can actually pull the whole thing off it's centerline, bending it slightly. That'd be bad news.



That's the progress I made yesterday. The last thing is getting the block prepped and painted. and painting the oil pan. Which, good news, the paint showed up yesterday. Hopefully I can get the first coat on the pan today, so I can see how it looks. I have no idea how to clean the block properly without the hose hooked up, so if I have to wait until the weather gets warmer, so be it. If I can't get the block finished soon, I'll get started on the head.
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EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #54 on: March 04, 2021, 02:21:28 PM »

Got more work done. Just going to let the pictures speak for themselves. The paint color I picked looks AMAZING in person. I'll get better pics once  it dries fully.



















In summary, everything from the head gasket down is ready for reassembly, minus the machine shop work. The head is ready to start getting taken apart. There is plenty of room for improvements in there.
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greywolf27030

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    • 1991 XR2, 1992 XR2, 1993 XR2
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #55 on: March 05, 2021, 07:50:22 AM »

Wow.....those ports look rough but the pan is nice.
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Jack Byrd

Aus Capri

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    • 1989 Capri Turbo
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #56 on: March 05, 2021, 07:51:53 AM »

Oil pan looks awesome! I'm keen to see what you do to the head, I had mine decked and the valves recut, but I didn't tidy it up at all or polish anything. They vapour blasted it for me too, it looked so weird man, unbelievably clean the mating surfaces for the intake and exhaust manifold looked like new. Your going hard on this thing man you're gonna have that thing up and running before no time!
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Aus Capri

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #57 on: March 05, 2021, 08:01:12 AM »

I was looking at that ati damper again, I think in that link posted they are mistaken, it says on the flyin miata site it dosent fit short nose cranks, that is unless mx5 mainia knows something we don't. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't swap my crank for a long nose while I had it apart. You only need to change a few things to do it and I would have had the choice of a few different harmonic balancers with the lone nose crank
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EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #58 on: March 05, 2021, 08:33:56 AM »

I'm pretty sure to swap the crank, all you'd need is a new pump, balancer (and bolt), and timing cover. You'd probably need to get the mains align bored as well. It's not a ton of work, but all together you'd probably be looking around $1000. That's a pretty hefty bill, but considering what you have done to your car, it'd definitely be worth the added peace of mind. And wolf, I agree with the ports. The valve seats also look rough, and there is a ton of loose casting in the case, which is what I was afraid of.

I've got the whole head ripped apart now, I'll post some more pictures later. I plan on doing a lot of work to the head, I feel like there is a decent amount of performance gains to be made here. It's going to need to get cleaned up very well first. Once the case is done, I'll be cleaning up the valves, then the combustion chambers. I'm probably going to polish them, then lap the valves in to get the seats and valve faces looking like new. I'm going to grind down all of the loose casting in the case. Then I need to clean up the ports, and I plan to gasket match and polish them. I'm not going to go crazy shaping them, at least I don't plan to. The dividers in the intake port can absolutely be knife edged a little, and there's a few sharp transitions that can be smoothed out. I may or may not end up going full polish on the ports, it depends on how worn out I am after all the other work I want to do. All in though, I'd imagine there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 hours of labor that I'll be putting into it.

I wish I had a flow bench, but hey. It's hard to look at this thing and not imagine you can improve it. Especially on a turbo car, where exhaust port velocity is just as important as intake port.
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EShepherd

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    • 1991 Capri XR2, 1991 Capri XR2 Rusted out Shell
Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #59 on: March 06, 2021, 09:30:11 AM »

Howdy, fellow Capri owners. I've gotten a fair bit of work done, so I figured it's about time to dump a bunch more pictures on you. For starters, here is the oil pan with the paint dry and the tape removed. It still needs to be heat-cycled to cure, but that'll have to wait until the engine is in the car. I don't think my wife would be super happy if I stuck an oil pan in the oven.



Next up, I took a fair amount of pictures of the teardown process. Everything is out of the head, except for the rubber valve stem seals. I've got new ones in that gasket kit, I just haven't taken these ones out yet. I tried yanking on them with needle nose pliers, but they didn't want to budge. There's a metal ring on the bottom, I think that may need to come off first. I'm not too sure, I'll play with them more at a later date. All of the parts that came off are still dirty, but don't you worry - they'll all be getting the same treatment as the rotating assembly. I didn't play with the lifters before I wrapped them up. Can anyone tell me if they are solid lifters, or if they are HLA's? If so, I'm going to need to take them apart and replace their seals as well. I think I have a set of those seals, too.
I've got a 6' bench grinder with a brass wire wheel ordered, which should be showing up today actually. That'll be getting used to clean off the valves. I'm very excited for it to show up, it's going to make my life a whole lot easier. I still need to get longer sanding cones to get deeper into the ports, and I'll need some flap wheels for my Dremel, to polish off the combustion chambers. I also need to order either buffing wheels and/or polishing compound, for both the ports and the combustion chambers. I have nearly everything I need, besides that stuff.

















Lastly, I've got a couple pictures of the cleaning, porting, and polishing work that I've just begun with. This process is going to take a LONG time, and it's not the easiest thing in the world to show via pictures. I'll probably not be taking many more pictures until I'm done, but hopefully you'll be able to see the differences in the pictures above here and the ones to come later. The very last picture here shows the first couple passes of the first intake port with an 80 grit sanding roll. Depending on how well the head work comes out, I'm contemplating buying upgraded valve springs. If I can make significant improvements to the flow characteristics of this head, then why not get some double valve springs? I bet it'll sound incredible revving out to 8500 RPM's...  ;D




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