Chingon's Engine Build

The way I always think about this: any bum can sign his name on a piece of paper, it takes a real man to keep an old car running, or modded.
 
Finally pulled out the old engine from the bird, after a couple hours of figuring out how TF to unseize the crank shaft, that bitch was stuck solid. Got the flex plate unbolted and viola gonzo.


I did notice this crack in the engine bay tho, I’ve heard of these cracks happening right in the center of the engine bay. I’m pretty sure this is going to keep spreading.

Is the solution to weld it up?? Kinda bummed I found it right there, pretty hard to get to once the engine is in.





IMG_0072.jpeg
 
Pretty sure that's a factory seam, with seam sealer in it. You can weld if you want, but adding a bit of sealer would work too.
 
To fix cracks in metal like that you drill two holes, at the ends of the crack, then weld it up.
 
Drilling the "stop holes" keeps it from getting bigger; welding it up makes it stronger.
 
Grog6 said:
Drilling the "stop holes" keeps it from getting bigger; welding it up makes it stronger.
Click to expand...
I don’t have access to a welder in my parking spot, for now can I just drill those holes to stop the cracking and the ave it like that til I have the space for it?? Also what size hole should I drill??
 
KevinVarnes said:
Hard to tell where the crack stops. Does it split at the end? I would think 5/32"-3/16" would be fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. From the looks of it, it seems like it it’s an L from the very top and it goes Str8 down. Do I drill on the very end of it on the left side, then on the bend when it goes down and all the way at the bottom, or just the very top left and the very end at the bottom?


IMG_0073.jpeg
 
The vertical part isn’t a crack, that’s just the firewall seam
 
XR7-4.6 said:
The vertical part isn’t a crack, that’s just the firewall seam
Click to expand...
You sure?? It looks like that sealer is “ripping” along that seam. If that’s the case I’ll just go ahead and drill those 2 holes on the horizontal crack.
 
Are there any guys around you that do mobile welding? I would have to think somebody near you does something like that. It will be much easier with the engine out. Obviously you'll need to take precautions that you don't set your interior on fire.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I assumed it was just the horizontal section that was a crack and the vertical section was a seam between panels.
Click to expand...
To me it seems like the vertical seam sealer is showing signs of cracking also. I’m thinking I’ll just wait on the crack fixing for now because I’d rather take the whole dash out and do it the right way. Is there a fix so this won’t happen again? Bracing or something??

supergordo said:
Be mindful of what is on the other side of the firewall if you decide to drill....
Click to expand...
Haha I didn’t even think of that, gonna drill right through the heater core 😂
 
I don't have them on my car, but I think these two braces are supposed to help with that. The second requires pretty minor welding. They honestly don't look too bad to fab up yourself if you were so inclined.
www.supercoupeperformance.com

Front Subframe Suspension Support Brace - Awesome & EASY to install!

<p>The Heavy Duty Front Suspension Support Brace is designed to substantially increase the support of the front suspension pick-up points for alignment accuracy and consistency. The FSSB also stabilizes the front suspension while significantly improving the handling and feel of the car.</p>
www.supercoupeperformance.com www.supercoupeperformance.com
www.supercoupeperformance.com

Front Subframe Lower Engine Cradle Brace Kit - A MUST for every car!

<p>The lower engine cradle is tied together with the cars body with these braces for a huge payoff in front suspension rigidity. Dramatic improvents in the handling feel are achieved with the beefed up front end. Also, it is well known that high powered cars are developing cracks in the...
www.supercoupeperformance.com www.supercoupeperformance.com
 
Chingon1 said:
To me it seems like the vertical seam sealer is showing signs of cracking also. I’m thinking I’ll just wait on the crack fixing for now because I’d rather take the whole dash out and do it the right way. Is there a fix so this won’t happen again? Bracing or something??


Haha I didn’t even think of that, gonna drill right through the heater core 😂
Click to expand...

I don’t think the seam sealer is cracking I think it’s just sloppily applied. If it were cracking you’d see additional metal cracking at that other spot weld below that’s perfectly intact. The whole joint is kind of sloppy from the factory, it’s not even welded where it attaches to the floorpan/tunnel, just pop riveted!

As for how to prevent it? LECB braces won’t add any torsional rigidity if that’s what causes these cracks so it might be peace of mind but it’ll be specious. I honestly don’t know the true forces that cause them, I’ve seen cracked firewalls on low mile “grandma only drove to church on sundays” cars and intact ones on cars like mine (knock on wood). They might crack from flex or they might crack from simple expansion/contraction as temperature cycles.

I agree, don’t do anything hasty to cause a a bigger issue(like setting the insulation pad on fire from the welder lol)
 
KevinVarnes said:
I don't have them on my car, but I think these two braces are supposed to help with that. The second requires pretty minor welding. They honestly don't look too bad to fab up yourself if you were so inclined.
www.supercoupeperformance.com

Front Subframe Suspension Support Brace - Awesome & EASY to install!

<p>The Heavy Duty Front Suspension Support Brace is designed to substantially increase the support of the front suspension pick-up points for alignment accuracy and consistency. The FSSB also stabilizes the front suspension while significantly improving the handling and feel of the car.</p>
www.supercoupeperformance.com www.supercoupeperformance.com
www.supercoupeperformance.com

Front Subframe Lower Engine Cradle Brace Kit - A MUST for every car!

<p>The lower engine cradle is tied together with the cars body with these braces for a huge payoff in front suspension rigidity. Dramatic improvents in the handling feel are achieved with the beefed up front end. Also, it is well known that high powered cars are developing cracks in the...
www.supercoupeperformance.com www.supercoupeperformance.com
Click to expand...
I actually have both of those braces on the bird currently and it still happened. I honestly don’t like how the SCP LECB welds with a lil tab to the frame it doesn’t seem strong enough.


XR7-4.6 said:
I don’t think the seam sealer is cracking I think it’s just sloppily applied. If it were cracking you’d see additional metal cracking at that other spot weld below that’s perfectly intact. The whole joint is kind of sloppy from the factory, it’s not even welded where it attaches to the floorpan/tunnel, just pop riveted!

As for how to prevent it? LECB braces won’t add any torsional rigidity if that’s what causes these cracks so it might be peace of mind but it’ll be specious. I honestly don’t know the true forces that cause them, I’ve seen cracked firewalls on low mile “grandma only drove to church on sundays” cars and intact ones on cars like mine (knock on wood). They might crack from flex or they might crack from simple expansion/contraction as temperature cycles.

I agree, don’t do anything hasty to cause a a bigger issue(like setting the insulation pad on fire from the welder lol)
Click to expand...
Dang, I kinda figured that area was just weak sauce. I bought some 3m dp420 epoxy that’s supposed to be a really strong adhesive. I’m hoping it’s strong enough to bind that area together without having to weld it, if it won’t work that project will have to wait til I can park this sucker and remove the dash and legit weld it up.
 
Drill the stop holes, and epoxy a plate across the crack; if it keeps flexing, it will break the epoxy, but it'll give you a clue how bad it is.
 
Grog6 said:
Drill the stop holes, and epoxy a plate across the crack; if it keeps flexing, it will break the epoxy, but it'll give you a clue how bad it is.
Click to expand...
Sounds good thank you for the advice
 
I don’t know how strong that 3m stuff is, but if you really want to stop it without welding, do like Greg says with the plate, but use Lord Fusor panel bonding adhesive. Once that stuff cures, not even god can get it apart!
 
MadMikeyL said:
I don’t know how strong that 3m stuff is, but if you really want to stop it without welding, do like Greg says with the plate, but use Lord Fusor panel bonding adhesive. Once that stuff cures, not even god can get it apart!
Click to expand...
I’m pretty sure that stuff is like the 3m panel bond, which cures with a lil bit of give to it. The 3m dp420 I got is epoxy and cures solid. If it cracks the plate for sure there is some serious pressure going on there.
 
Dropped the motor today, remind me to never drop it from the top. Next time I’m dropping the whole k member and all, phuck all that.

Since the mark 8 oil pan has the bump, I kinda feel like I should get the mark 8 trans oil lines aswell.


Also also mix the crack on the firewall is alot longer than I thought, it’s goes from the very left to the center and the it goes down. Pretty much those 2 spot welds aren’t doing anything, so I think I’m going to stuff the epoxy INTO the seam and hopefully that helps.



IMG_0280.jpeg
 
Applied the epoxy yesterday and it finally dried up today, looks solid. Let’s see how long it lasts.


Also got the bird running today but I blew the coil pack fuse which is weird. Had to jump it with some wire to get it to warm up. Gonna hit autozone and see if they have that weir ass fuse in stock.
IMG_0310.jpeg

IMG_0309.jpeg
 
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