For the love of a tractor engine: The life and times of the 18R-G

[o_man_ra23]

Thanks for the info so far. MnToyGuy, Copper gaskets aren't likely to help as they need to be o-ringed, and not only is that a big arse around that I don't want to go through, there is also nobody locally who I would trust to peform such a procedure. I'll have a look at the Paeco studs, it would seem it is US$275 a set with nuts though. I'll see what YelloRolla has to say too.

The Kaemari gaskets look pretty good, but 92mm bore is indeed a lot larger than what I have. Not sure if that would be suitable??

[MnToyGuy]

I fixed the 1GC thread link. Check Cometic for non copper gaskets too as well as Sleeka Spares and SWM. Kameari is just such high price that I'm sure the gaskets you want are available elsewhere.

I'd love to see a GB on ARP studs! Price posted is for heads AND mains.

[The Witzl]

im using a stock toyota 18RGEU headgasket, with O-ringed head (or block... cant remember which one).

The headstuds yellorolla supplied in the group buy some time ago were something he had made up AFAIK. Main studs were 7M apparently?
My crower rods came with quality fasteners, so no need for those.

[river]

Hi,

Same here Witzy. I got the better head-studs and am using the stock head gasket. Unless I am going to upgrade the turbo and start pushing out a lot more boost, the stock gasket is good - certainly good enough for my (approx) 12 pound boost

seeyuzz
river

[Javal]

These should give mine some poke to keep up with you 18RGTE boys, if one of you ever finishes one...

[o_man_ra23]

I've driven a half reasonable 18R-G and a poorly tuned 18R-GTE, and been chauffered in an angry 18R-G. I assure you that no amount of lumpy pistons and quad throttles is going to let you keep up. But should make for a very fun drive all the same (and an extremely sexy sound)

[Javal]

I've driven a half reasonable 18R-G and a poorly tuned 18R-GTE, and been chauffered in an angry 18R-G. I assure you that no amount of lumpy pistons and quad throttles is going to let you keep up. But should make for a very fun drive all the same (and an extremely sexy sound)

Eh, i only want a mildly rorty engine that makes a good noise. Readily streetable with a sporting streak is the name of the game.

[o_man_ra23]

I think you are on track for that... Just be careful around carparks, don't want to set off too many car alarms

[Javal]

I think you are on track for that... Just be careful around carparks, don't want to set off too many car alarms

The 2.2L capacity should help, too

[JustenGT8]

The 2.2L capacity should help, too

pfft 2.4 litres is where it's at if you want to stay n/a

My original pretty angry n/a 18RG would handle a stock Turbo TX3 OK and walked away from a 4AGZE equipped Sprinter.

It couldn't hold a candle to the turbo engine though

[o_man_ra23]

Good news and bad news. Pulled the head off (late start at work today), and the head gasket has no signs of any gasses moving into a place they shouldn't. So what is the cause of the low compression in those 2 cylinders?? Is there a chance the gasket was leaking but the leak wasn't visible?? Are the rings rooted?? Are cylinders 2 and 3 just not as well bedded in as 1 and 4 yet?? I don't see any vertical marks on the bores which would be considered scratches (there are rub marks, but nothing deeper than the cross hatching)

So where to from here?? Do I pull the pistons out?? Do I put it back together and see how it goes with the new oil?? Do I run it as is, and build a new bottom end?? Kinda pisses me off...

Oh, and maybe it is because I checked the compression while cold that I have a crook reading?? Would have thought I would at least get some consistency though??

[Omegaman]

other than what you have checked, could the rings just be twisted, where the joins are to close together? As i know they should be about 1/3rd around from each other.

[roadkill]

Hi,

what was the tension on the head studs like? Maybe they just needed retensioning?

Was the head shaved? Was the block decked?

bEn

[JustenGT8]

Hmmm bummer....more testing before you pulled it down me thinks. However, my BHG from the head bolts stretching never actually looked blown per se. As the HG hasn't really failed it is quite likely that it will still look OK...if you ran it for long enough then you would probably start to see carbon deposits etc.

Very unlikely that poorly seated rings would give you that low a compression reading. eg My missing ring land in the GT8 still gave good compression...leak down however was shite. If the compression reading in the dud cyls was significantly different to the good cyls, as it was in this case, then there is something major wrong like BHG or cracked block. The other issue could be poor valve clearances? they can close up quite a bit so that would be worth checking and easy enough to do even with the head off.

Check valve clearances. If they are good then it's new HG and reassembly with new head bolts...don't reuse what you have as the ? on them is too large. Use Hylomar on the HG at reassembly and tighten bolts another 5 ft/lbs above the top end of factory spec...i think i did mine to 85 ft/lbs from memory? Seemed to help me run 18pis more reliably.

[o_man_ra23]

Head was shaved, block was decked, tension was re-tensioned, but wasn't bad to begin with.

Rings, well I put them in, per the green bible spec, same as the last 4 18R-G's I've assembled. This is the first to show low compression on any piston at any time, though it is also the first I have checked compression at cold temps, during run in period, and after boosting past 10psi. Surely one of those is the key to what's going on.