Hello everyone,
Its been over a year since I've been on the forum, mainly for the fact that I have been out of the DSM world for the last year. Close to thanksgiving last year I threw a rod in my 95' talon which actually breached the block. My plan at the time was to rebuilt the bottom end over my winter break from college, however my plan was foiled when both of my parents went in for significant surgery during the time I was on break. Thus, instead of building my car like I planned, I took care of my two bed-ridden parents.

Good news! This winter break my parents will be healthy and I should have a solid 2 and a half weeks to get my baby running. As of now my car is sitting on my dad's rental property and we are trying to make a decision on what set up to use.

Currently, I am looking for a short block that will be capable of 450+ hp, although I probably won't run it that high until I can afford a bigger turbo & FMIC set up.

One option I have been considering for quite some time is a rebuild kit from DSMgraveyard.com and picking up a bare 7 bolt block and then tanking, honing and decking the sucker: http://www.thedsmgraveyard.com/product_p/gmdiysb7.htm
I was planning on running the evo 9 pistons with the 6 bolt rods and all of the bearings that come with the kit (engine pro?)

Has anybody had any experience/though on engine pro bearings? I have never heard of these and I am a little skeptical.

Another option that I have though is purchasing a complete bottom end from an ad on dsm classifieds which has 8.5:1 JE pistons bored over .2, eagle h beam rods, arp 2000 fasteners, and acl bearings in the bottom end.

My main concern is how long this is going to take as I will only have approximately two and a half weeks to complete the build. As an engineering major in school with a significant amount of technical experience on cars I am confident that between my father, our good friend who is a mistu mechanic, and my trusty haines & shop manual I will be able to assemble a short block. I guess I am looking for some opinions on the two bottom end set ups I have in mind and also the complexity/in depth-ness of building the short block by hand vs dropping a built bottom end in.


Also, I will only be running a 14b with max boost around 20 psi for now using apexi safc 2, my plan is to run an 18g with either ECMlink or DSMlink v2 within 8-12 months.

Thanks

Welcome back! Glad to hear everything worked out.

Honestly, with your two and a half week time frame (sounds like christmas break between semesters (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ) the easiest thing in the world would be to find a stock 6 bolt short block in good condition and toss that sucker in. It will work for your power goal (and then some), is quick, is probably cheaper, etc. I don't know your price range but here's a good block for sale listed on the link forums if he still has it:





When I build an engine I allow at least a month between machining and assembly. Two weeks for machining alone is pretty optimistic IMO unless you know a machinist or are one. Those guys keep themselves pretty busy.

That said it isn't impossible to build an engine in 2 and a half weeks. If you decide to go that route you'll need to have parts lined up and ready to go for the machinist. Even if they are doing just the block they will need at least your pistons to do the cylinder walls. I've waited up to 6 weeks for machining though so it can't be garunteed to be done quickly. Even if they tell you it will (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) .

Another big advantage of the short block that i found with the 8.5:1 je pistons is that the asking price is only $1000. I just offered him $800 so we'll see where that takes us. I can purchase a freshly rebuilt stock 7 bolt head from the same guy for $300.

Plus the short block and heads he has to offer have been freshly decked.

I would like to stay away from buying a longblock and dropping it in. My reasoning may sound stupid but I do want to have the experience of at least partial assembly while I do this project. (I have fun in not only driving these cars but I enjoy learning about the mechanics and engineering behind all of it).

Don't forget to ask how much was removed from both deck surfaces. You'll need to know that to get your headgasket thickness correct for proper quench. If you can, I'd also pick up some adjustable cam gears to get your cams degreed correctly since the surfaces have been machined.


That doesn't sound stupid at all. It sounds like a true dsm'r (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

I made an offer on the short block I mentioned on Thursday of last week. I haven't heard back from the guy but in the mean time I found another block for sale:

I have a built 4g63t 6 bolt shortblock for sale.
8.5:1, .020 over Manley pistons with Eagle rods.
New:
Oil pan
water pump
rear main seal
core plugs
ARP main and head studs (head studs still in box)
ACL main and rod bearings
Balance shaft eliminator kit
Cometic head gasket (still in package)

Stainless Steel hardware for:
oil pan
water pump
rear main seal
front cover

Guy is asking 1100 and the only major difference i see is that he is running the manley pistons instead of je. I know JE's have a good reputation and are frequently used, but whats everybody's opinion on manley pistons. I know i probably won't notice any power difference since they both weight about the same, but in terms of reliability and life does anyone know anything about manley pistons?

Manley puts out quality products. I would have no problem running them.

Before buying any shortblock I would ask for compression test numbers, mileage, blueprinting from a machinist, etc.

Also the bottom end is a 6 bolt. I am currently under the assumption that 6bolt bottom ends bolt right up to 2g heads. I know there is some work to do to swap a 6bolt into a 2g, in fact I found a good step by step manual here http://www.automotiveforums.com/t632286-te..._bolt_swap.html. Does anyone else have a good manual for a 6bolt swap/is there anything else i need to know?

This is correct except for one thing. The head bolt/stud holes in the 2g head need to be enlarged to accept the 12mm head bolts/studs of the 6 bolt. A 6 bolt headgasket will need to be used as well.

Woot! I got some pics of the old block since my dad and I have all but pulled the bottom end. Since we got the head off we've realized just how bad the failure in the block was. Check out the pics.



 2011_12_28_16_34_54_709.jpg ( 2.36MB ) Number of downloads: 5

 2011_12_28_16_33_30_346.jpg ( 2.42MB ) Number of downloads: 6
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/gitara.gif) Good bye factory 7 bolt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banana.gif)
 2011_12_28_13_44_51_281.jpg ( 1.92MB ) Number of downloads: 5

How's the crank? Might be salvageable.