Valve Re-Adjust and Piston Pics

[rossiz]

adjusted valves last weekend and the gasket tore a bit, so needed to go back in to replace it.

we used the "cold" spec when adjusting, but the engine was still a little warm and i went back for a quick check while i was in there. got the engine right up to good & hot then got my feeler gauge handy. turns out 7 of the 12 were tight, so i spent 10 min. w/the crowsfoot and torque wrench and now she's all good.

prior to the valve adjust i got some low compression readings, and was wondering about the condition of the cylinders. ordered an inexpensive wifi borescope online and it had just arrived, so i poked around inside the spark plug holes and took a few pictures. it was pretty cool to be able to see the piston tops and i was excited to see that the cross-hatch pattern was still visible on the cylinder walls on a +35 yr old engine with 148K miles on it! it's not a professional grade tool, but you can clearly see the dished pistons and the carbon patterns. the camera head is a little big, so there's limited mobility once it's in the hole, but i'm happy for $70.

in celebration i decided to treat her to a little valve cover polish - a half hour of sanding and a few minutes on the wheel and presto! shiny bits :}

only problem is now that manifold is suddenly looking shabby by comparison...

Edited May 2, 2014 by rossiz

[madkaw]

Actually the piston tops look pretty clean too. It would be interesting to do the seafoam treatment to see how it cleans up the pistons- if it does

[240260280z]

WOW fantastic! Love the shots.

I forgot to mention that the fingering AFM measurments we did could be on the rich side to please mark the current spot and tighten the spring as required. Next time out I'll bring my O2 sniffer so that we can baseline and optimize

[rossiz]

already leaned it out a few teeth and it's running well.

interestingly, plugs for 1 & 2 are showing slightly lean, while 5 & 6 are slightly rich, and 3 & 4 look good - i'm thinking my injectors are not providing a balanced flow.

been wanting to replace them, as they are original and the engine was running really dirty before i got it (stuck pcv valve and lots of nasty crud going into the manifold).

but of course when i replace the injectors, i might as well do that fuel rail i've been thinking about, and while i'm in there it'll be time to pull the manifold and clean it up and new gasket, then of course while i have the intake off, it makes sense to pull the exhaust manifold and replace the broken studs, which of course would be the time to install that 6-1 header, and with the new exhaust outlet it only follows that the dual-exhaust system gets done, which means cutting out the spare tire well and moving the tank over, and modifying the rear valence panel...

hmmm... sounds like fun!

[gnosez]

Not all twin pipes require you to cut or modify the rear lower valance

[Mark Maras]

Hey Geoff

It sounds as if you may have caught the dreaded "As long as I'm in here I might as well".

Actually, I'm glad that you are able to move on to bigger & better things. Thanks for keeping us up on the latest successes.

[rossiz]

@ gnosez: beautiful car - love the look, but i'm thinking of something a little different, maybe send the twins through the valence w/an escutcheon trim ring, kinda like i've seen on old jags/corvettes/mustangs. the concept is evolving the more i look at what other folks have done. lots of great inspiration out there.

@ mark: yes, now that the bugs are getting worked out and the car is starting/running really well, it's time to move on to other more fun projects. i think it's becoming obvious that the goal really isn't to "finish" but to enjoy the build/re-build... if i didn't want projects, i could have happily bought a new car. actually, i was originally looking at the new scion frs/subaru brz before i bought the z, and i caught myself thinking about how i would re-do the front end, re-do the rear end, re-make the grille, all to give it a more "classic/old-school" look... so i figured why not just start w/a classic?? way more fun!

[240260280z]

[240260280z]

[240260280z]

[rossiz]