Bottom end has gone while on Trax yesterday, help needed

M

mctagart

Member +
At Trax yesterday (Silverstone) i pushed the starlet a bit to hard and I have damaged the bottom end. Was getting carried away trying to get past an EVO and didnt notice my car was right in the red on the thermostat guauge and also some other tell tale signs that it was time to ease off!!

I initially noticed a slightly different noise coming from the car when reved hard to around 6600rpm, this happend for about 5 mins, then on my last lap at the chequered flag came out i noticed a distinct metallic sound slowing down kinda like it going zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I thought oh shit looked down and noticed the temp guague was as hot as you can get it!! there is no bloody warning light on the stock one so totally missed it, came off any how and looks like i caught it just in time, its not knocking bad, but its obvious somthing is wrong.

I listened underneath and it sounds like its coming from the sump area so somthing bottom end has had it. Car had spat about 200ml of oil out of my top breather also for some reason (i think i miss picked a gear at some point, so could have been that), car isnt smoking and has full power still.

Anyhow, question is this - I am good with the old spanner but never done a bottom end repair before, 1. Can i do it with the engine in, or is it an engine out job, 2. Are there any guides any where to help me repair it? 3. How much for the bearings and which ones should i change?

Any other advice would be great

Pain in the ass but i guess if im just using it on track shit like this is gonna happen, at least its at the end of the track season nearly lol!!
 
Iain@CRD

Iain@CRD

Lifer
Ideally its an engine out job mate, chances are that if it is your bottom end then you've damanged the crank also, it wont just be a simple replace the bearings job ... it never is. Plus i'd get the engine out and get it fully inspected, you may have warped the head also running on such high temp or done further damage.

I dont believe there is any guides available on the forums to do this also, if we're talken in Haynes Manual terms then it would have 5 spanners beside it and state for an experienced mechanic :haha:
 
thefalls

thefalls

Member +
Looks like you may have spun a bearing and warped the head.
Most of the time the crank may also have been damaged.
Sorry to hijack,But is it possible to regrind the crank to lets say 0.25 oversize without any ill effects?
I have been told that its always better to get another crank shaft as regrinds dont do well in a turbo charged engine.
Thanks.
 
OllieTurbo

OllieTurbo

Member +
Inless your running a forged block mate may just be cheaper to pick up a decent second hand engine for around the £300 mark ?
 
Iain@CRD

Iain@CRD

Lifer
OllieTurbo said:
Inless your running a forged block mate may just be cheaper to pick up a decent second hand engine for around the £300 mark ?
Click to expand...

£300 is abit steep i think for just a crank, you can get an engine for that.

Best to pickup a second hand good condition crank.
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Best to look and see whats wrong 1st lol.

Pull it out, I would be surprised the head gasket will survive that roasting. You could well have done some damage from oil starvation through the corners, the oil spills out of the sump badly around left hand bends.

For future reference, every straight you are on that involves a gear change, look at the gauges and warning lights after you have finished looking at the shift point.
 
M

mctagart

Member +
Yes it was my car with the green wheels :), i had 4 sessions that day so car took a hammering, was on the bloody last one too. When i say the car was hot i only noticed this as i was coming off and as soon as i took my foot off the throttle within 30 secconds it went back down to its regular temp, so i dont think i have cooked it. Just the last few laps were intense!!

Its still full of water, none in oil and all my oil is in it still, i think a combination of the hard cornering, high speeds, high temp has made it spin a bearing like you said, from my observations so far i havent damaged anything else.

Gutted i didnt pay more attention to the dials though!!!!!!!, i have done loads of track days in it (its all i use it for) and its never got hot, but then again i have never driven at Silverstone which is the fastest track i have been on, it certainly is heavy on the engine on the straights, your basically flat out.

So how much is this gonna cost me to do, i cant be arsed to go through the trouble of buying a 2nd hand engine with no history on it (heard to many stories of people buying them, putting them in and then going bang 2 months later). How much in parts to do the job my self, i at least know its been done properly if i do it.

I originally spent about £670 on the entire engine imported from japan last year with only 19,000km on the clock, so the entire thing was in really good condition and it also included all the auxillires bits, turbo, everything to put straight in.

If its salvageable i want to keep it :)

If im working on the bottom end i guess i replace it all and skim my crank (i very much doubt its been skimmed with the mileage it had) or should i not skim it?
 
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Dan-The-Glanza-Man

Member +
well the gearbox has got to come off to get the crank out so to me its worth taking the engine out as ones youve got gearbox off its just the one engine mount holding the engine in, but if i was you i would atleast take sump off go from there take the conrod caps off have a look at the sheels and the middle crank cap and look at the shells and go from there like you said might not even be bottle end your said worth doing what i said dude
 
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