home slap-together engine rebuild?

[Shifty]

As a bit of an update for those interested, I've been though everything and a mostly diy engine rebuild will be ~$1400 including all parts & machining. That's:

DIY remove & disassembly
Full gasket set
New big ends
New mains
New rod bolts
New head bolts (single use item)
Crank repair as necessary, including de-plug & cleaning
Rod repair as necessary
Chrome rings, on existing pistons
All parts tanked (excl block)
Head decked & cleaned
Valve stem seals fitted
Head reassembled
DIY blockwork & reassembly
DIY head fitment
DIY reinstall

The only real option on this is a further $600 for the block to be decked, bored, tanked, cleaned, & fitted with new plugs. That makes it a $2k job for a pleasant balance between jewish and expensive... plus another $500 in misc costs (fluids, filters, plugs, broken shit, etc)

I have another CA18DET that is getting 'the works' hence this one is getting 'teh jew'. The good one has solid top end, rods, etc & while this one will be a good motor it's just my 'banger'

[checksix]

The cheap mode would be to pull the pan and only do the rod berings and leave the rest as is as there is an excellent chance they are good if they pass the compression tests suggested.

[kriso]

shifty - what car is the ca going into?

[punkture]

shifty - what car is the ca going into?

Nissan Micra

[allencr]

[B]...with a mild bottom end knock.

It all depends on what that means & how bad or good it really is.
Is it only a knock on startup before the pressure builds, or is it going on full time when filled with 50W & STP? The first can last for years without repair, by starting without revving & heavier lube & priming it after an oil change, and it could be fixed with linishing & .002in/.05mm shimmed/oversize, maybe even std., bearings.

Most with your problem do bearing replacement based on wishful thinking. Those don't work out very well!
**************
Also, there have been MANY posts diagnosing a rod noise when the final fix was an exhaust leak, and I got no clue how they've confused the two.

[andrew_mx83]

do a comp test to see how the rings are

if they are ok take the sump off and change the big end shells. plastigauge the clearance and replace with the correct oversize & a hand linish of the journals. you will get out of the whole job for a hundred bucks or so. AND if it doesnt fix the problem you havent exactly lost much either.

once you open the motor up, in my experience it becomes a can of worms.... "while its apart ill just do this" and the costs go through the roof cos u figure its better to do it while the motor is apart rather than have it break again in 6months

[checksix]

+1 for Andrew's comments. Really, keep it cheap for the initial issue. Open it up and you "just can't stop" at which point it is a full rebuild.

[TERRA Operative]

Ooohh, I'm right there right now. Doing a full rebuild on a 5E-FHE...

I'm fighting the urge to drop $1400 to rebuild the transmission while it's out of the car something fierce.


What was a basic respray of my brothers Sera has turned into a ground up restoration.........

[andrew_mx83]

the last rebuild on my cressida VERY quickly turned into 3 months off the road, $5000 being thrown under the bonnet and everything between the radiator support panel and the tailshaft was replaced/reco'd


its too easy to get carried away...

[TERRA Operative]

Yea, the money sucks but it's sweet once it's done.

[punkture]

the last rebuild on my cressida VERY quickly turned into 3 months off the road, $5000 being thrown under the bonnet and everything between the radiator support panel and the tailshaft was replaced/reco'd


its too easy to get carried away...

andrew you make it sound like its a bad thing..hahaha

[andrew_mx83]

not at all

it went like stink for about 5 years til i finally blew it up at winton last year. aside from killing the auto early on then going through manuals at a quick rate it was largely reliable in that time too and didnt consume much money engine-wise to keep running.

current rebuild is looking like being in the $10k range and the car has already been off the road for 9months..... and counting! but boy will it be fun when its going again