Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

project_skyline

iTrader: (30)

So it has JE pistons and how many miles? If your cross hatching is messed up for any reason its gonna be hard to seal back up. You could try a bit of ATF in the cylinders at start up and break it in with lots of mixed reving and some medium boost levels.

Who built the motor originally?

My03evo

iTrader: (1)

I wouldnt bother going to shop #3 again, and I like the response shop #2 gave.

You need to explain more, is it a fresh rebuild or what? New rings but not honed or was honed? etc

barneyb

Any one of the three answers could be correct. What you do should be determined by how big your piggy bank is and how much time you want to spend on this project.

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

evoredy

iTrader: (7)

Here's what to do:

Take the head off of the motor. Take the oil pan off (yeah I know it sucks if it is already sealed with the expensive mitsu sealant). Remove all of the pistons and rods/rod caps/rod bearings. Label them and place them aside/don't scratch anything. All parts must go back where they came from. Don't scratch or stack parts together in ziplock bags--lay them out or bag individually. Single out one of the pistons.

Remove the compression ring (thickest) from that piston [At this time, be at peace with buying a bore gauge (85mm +/- at least 2mm), dial caliper (85mm +/- 2mm capable), piston ring pliers, and piston ring compressor]. Note the rod type used and serial numbers/brands of the pistons/rods for identification later. Do so for the rod bearings too if you want/if they have markings.

If you don't have the bore gauge handy but have the motor apart and just want to check the block. Take all of the rings out from the piston we set aside and a sliding metal type feeler gauge. Select and lubricate one of the compression rings and all four cylinder walls with clean engine oil. Go to cylinder #1 and "place" the piston ring into the cylinder as if there were an imaginary piston in it. Turn the real piston upside-down and lightly press the bare ring STRAIGHT down the bore a few milimeters. Measure the ring gap with feeler gauge. Continue down the bore using the piston as a press and get at least four measurments. The measurements should be exact down the bore.

Annotate all of your numbers.

Do this for all 4 cylinders with the same ring. You will now know if the block is ok or not and the variances in among the 4 cylinders.

Here's where it gets tedious. Now you must measure every gap of every compression ring when they are placed in there respective cylinders. There should be 2 per cylinder. Annotate all of those numbers. Measure the gaps the same way as we how we checked the "straightness" of the bore earlier with one "control" ring--multiple places down the bore. Make sure all gaps are within spec for the piston/ring set you have. Again search.

Hope you can decipher this. Good luck man. If the motor is out, you just did 400+ bucks worth of labor and counting.

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

evoredy

iTrader: (7)

No problemo. Just make sure you follow the torque requirements of the rod manufacturer or the OEM manual when you reinstall everything. Again, there should be plenty of how-to's available on that. If in doubt, check torque again and don't ever overtorque. Also, follow specific How-To's on rod reinstallation keeping note about the little things like "covering up the rod bolt threads" with foam or such to avoid scratching the crankshaft on dropping each piston assembly in. It's all about attention to detail. If you skip steps or take shortcuts, the motor and you will be unhappy. That's what separates the good engine builders from the unknowns/criticized ones.

Most probably, the motor needed to be warmed up before you did your tests or the rings were not fully seated after the initial re-build. Not sure if EVO guys run their built motors loose, but a cold motor that has looser tolerances may exhibit what you spoke of earlier---correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe all motors exhibit what you stated earlier.

Again, you can't go wrong at all checking and annotating everything else though. I had to break the ice for myself with my very expensive eclipse motor when my JE's melted/cracked. I did exactly what I said above, found out the block was still perfectly in spec while in the car with the ring-gap method, ordered Wisecos (measured the diameter of a good JE piston and compared it to the specs of JE's available and ordered an equiv. Wiseco--you can do this too is you have no serial's on the parts), filed the Wiseco's ring gaps per specs for each cylinder, dropped in the pistons and replaced the rod bearings (you may accidentally scratch them on uninstall).

If you get chance, post some pictures man as you go through for everyone to pick apart. Key points: cylinder walls, piston tops/sides, rods.

bevolucion

iTrader: (6)

the more I read this I wonder if the leak test was properly done, not trying to bust anybody, but a leaking that is this significant in my opinion would have visual damage like the other guys pointed, piston walls scorched or chipped valve bores or bent valves. Something don't seem right. May be this doesn't help at all, but I have read in this forum plenty of dumb mistakes that we all make. I am not a mechanic by any means, but all work in may car is done by me from taredown of all internals to reasembling the whole head. my .02. Best of luck brother.

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

evoredy

iTrader: (7)

If you haven't pulled the bottom end apart yet, you can just mount the new head back on with all the fixings and warm up the motor to do a proper compression check and leak down test. The thing here is that you will need to replace your headgasket and or studs for for that cycle if reused or play the river and use all new parts.

This may be easier if you have confidence in the bottom end and also you did this test cold before (not the right way to do it/motor needs to be warm). That is the only other way you will know for sure without pulling everything apart and gauging it all.


Good luck man with whatever route you take.

Lucas English

iTrader: (12)

Was the car smoking out the tail pipe? how much oil per mi are you using?

Since the leak down is really so even I question the tester or the tester operator Unless its a way burn valve I fine oil always jumps the #. It can seal more then just rings.

Unless it smoking bad or using more then a 1gt per 500mi I would leave it alone and run it till you have a real problem.

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Evom

evoredy

iTrader: (7)

On the defense of inspecting the motor, I decided to run too much timing I guess on my Eclipse's 4G63 with JE forged pistons. The seemingly fine piston tops looked great as did the cylinder walls. You could turn the motor all day by hand and fool anyone just by looking at it. When I removed them, only then could I see all four pistons had melted and warped the ring lands. The car consumed oil and the failure was directly related to consistant heat at prolonged WOT rather that blunt detonation.

Since the motor is on a stand, you will have a lot more fun as I did this in the car--and pulling it apart is a must. I'll try to keep up with this post if you have any questions. 75%-50% on even a cold motor is high--but this can only be answered by proof of which I have none.

You may not like what you see--be prepared to appropriate funding for pistons or at the very least rings, rod bearings, and a 50.00 flex ball-hone lol (connects to any power drill).

Utilizing the ring gap measurment check, you can be certain that the cylinder walls are good and cylindrical in the event that you may need pistons (not likely/I hope).