got head ready. nicely ported on exhaust side. mild clean up on intake side. loaded with evo 8 hardware and evo 3 cams.
started assembly on block. got new balance shaft bearings pressed in. pretty intense job in itself. I made special tool to use on my press. hard to get them in and not distort them. then fitting evo 8 oil squirters. the bases have to be shaved or they will snap the housing and ruin the squirter. these were then re-pointed to give optimum squirt to underside of piston. i know a lot of people like to eliminate squirters on a rebuild. I saw yes if engine is going in drag car. but HECK no for a street car. they serve very important job of stabilizing crown temp. i dont build motors without them.
next up was fitting crankshaft. turns out this crank has a good bit of use on it. rods came up .002 mains were a tad over .003. thrust at .0055. while these clearances are fine for drag engine, i likely would have used HX bearings on rods to get them at .003 as well. But this is a street car that will see miles. So I ordered -.025mm mains. most people dont know these exist. these are stock bearings that are made tighter by .001. this will get my main clearance down to .002. better clearance for what I am doing here. I am a little weary running a non nitrided crank. but was just too lazy to send it off. this will be first 7 bolt in ten years I have built with stock non hardened crank. While i am pretty confident in my tuning skills to not run engine into detonation i am worried about my day ruined with crankwalk. So I bought a can of molykote off ebay to coat the thrust surface on the center main. I will likely use it on the piston skirts as well since I have it cant hurt. reading pdf files on this stuff is interesting. this stuff can be used to coat piston rings!. better seal, longer life, less friction. hmmmm
took me a while to decide how to get built motor in car with the least amount of risk. there is nothing worse for a new block then getting it in and it not start right up. so I considered option A: converting car to DOHC first. turbo conversion second, shortblock last after its running turbo. option B: install shortblock first. get it running in stock form. then convert to DOHC, then turbo. then there is option C: install built block, DOHC head at same time. but get it started on the original ECU, distributer and injectors. then convert to turbo after engine is in and broken in proper. So I am opting for option C. it seems like best option for me.
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