Agents 99 Resurrection (Complete)

[Agent|99VR4]

Thx for all the nice comments guys

Hey Mike glad your almost done with your car, it would be really cool if we could meet up sometime. :P

[mywetdream]

good to see you saved her...and best of luck with the project..more pics...

[TheOmniscientRT]

Very nicely done!

[gs1000kat]

By the way, not to hijack, but I resurrected my 99 too. Only the body though.

[Agent|99VR4]

Well I drove it home late this morning as to avoid traffic.

Well, heres how I did things. And you'll probably see where Im going with this.

New oil filter, topped off, oil cooler topped off with oil, I "dry" started the car with no fuel or spark plugs to get the oil pump primed. Did about 6, 5 seconds spins of the starter and the oil light went away.

Installed spark plugs and ran the car for 7 minutes. Oil gauge showed half way consistent. Turned off let the engine cool. I changed the oil and oil filter, topped off the oil filter.

After the second oil change everything sounded a lot better.

Started her up drove around the neighborhood slow in first gear. I gave it a little gas enough to shift to second and proceeded to come to a stop to pickup my gf, and thats when I hear what sounds like rod knock or some kind of like knock when the car is idling sitting still it first started, I dont remember if I was holding the clutch in. Oil pressure still showed half way. I remember the sounds of the lifters in the beginning and they sounded really bad, it was really loud and almost sounded like knock.

The strange thing is once I start to move into second gear speeds the sound goes away, or atleast I think it does. Its not hideously loud, but I notice it because the whole time its my worst fear, I swear I feel like the engine is made of butter...

Also when I was in reverse and I guess very slowly releasing the clutch, it made the sound really bad and at a quick frequency. So I'm wondering if maybe its the Throw out bearing as I don't remember changing it :X

I would get a video clip, but im afraid to risk more damage :X

This feeling sucks...

[Mike00804]

Hey Eric,
It sounds to me like piston slap from what your telling me, but I'd have to hear it. When I did my first rebuild on the 2 bolt, I micrometered the old pistons to determine if the cylinders were bored, because there was no stamp on the pistons indicating .010, .020, etc. After getting the factory specs, I concluded that it was a standard bore piston. I them procceded to order a set of standard bore pistons from Ross, which they didn't have designed yet. (only .010, .020, etc.) It took me about 8 months to get them, and I threw it all back together.
My car ran good, but almost sounded like a deisel...kind of like the school bus sound when idiling. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. I took the entire engine back apart to plastigauge the mains and the rods......everything came out ok. Again I was stumped, so I did the same to my heads. With nothing out of spec, I retorqued the whole motor, ans started it up again.......Same noise, but ran terrific ..especially under boost conditions.
This sound started getting better, and was vertually gone after 2000 rpm. I chalked it up to piston slap, which was right, but thought it was caused by the aftermarket pistons maybe being slightly undersized to compensate for swelling under extreme heat, or something under those lines (as it seemed to pretty much disappear after beating the shit out of it on the highway). This is what the problem was.........
#1, I was using total seal gapless rings. The machine shop that did the 4 bolt work told me while those rings make a great seal, it is usually too great to have a long lasting motor..."race only" application. If your not getting some blowby, the piston doesn't hydroplain on the bypassing gasses, and tends to go down "cock eyed". works great for more power, but not the best choice for a street car. You need a little blowby to help the piston skirts from hitting the walls, hence why all stock stuff is gapless and cars have PCV.
#2, my cylinders were slightly egg shaped from wear, and should have been bored/honed before putting it together, hence why ross didn't design standard sized pistons. Your not really ever supposed to put a motor together without checking this stuff precisly, as most people know. Also it is really important to torque plate hone your cylinders for this same reason, you want the bores done with the same torque that it will experience with the heads strapped on. Heat will also cause your engine to slightly warp, after it does "tempered" your bores, main line, etc. will be slightly off. not enough to be the end of the world though. If your engine is used, it most likly has been tempered simply from continuous running conditions.
#3, I used TONS of motor oil to lube my cylinders and pistons before putting them in the engine. This caused my rings to retian from seating properly until I crossed about the 1000 mile mark. Running it for so long with the rings unseated also contributed to the slap. After reading the "fine print" I later noticed that it specificly says..."DO NOT lubricate the rings with motor oil, this will prevent your new rings from seating properly. A light household oil such as WD-40 is prefered". I always did this with motor oil when rebuilding dirt bikes, and didn't think anything of it at the time.
Now, I don't know how much of my first fuck ups might be related to your motor, but it should definatly be some "food for thought" You should give me a call later and describe the noise your hearing in detail. I might be able to help, or at least point you in the right direction.
I did spend big money at the machine shop for all brand new parts, but there is logical explainations for why everything is done the way it was. The guy that did my block does 2000+hp nitro motors for several race teams, and has tons of knowledge of blown applications. (that is the main reason it took him 9 months just to get around to my job) I'll admit, he doesn't know everything about the import stuff, such as the software "tuning" end of it, but as far as the hardware end, he is pretty amazing with his equipment and knowledge. He's an older guy that loves old V8 stuff, hahaha. Anyway, give me a call.
Talk to you soon buddy,
-Mike

[3000GTCSULB]

Enjoy your car.............you did a hell of a job.

[Agent|99VR4]

Thx guys.

Well it seems to be some really bad lifter noise, and not a spun bearing, what a relief!!

The noise goes away after some idle warm up :P but its sick how close to knock it sounded :X

[cbehnken]

Originally Posted by Agent|99VR4

Thx guys.

Well it seems to be some really bad lifter noise, and not a spun bearing, what a relief!!

The noise goes away after some idle warm up :P but its sick how close to knock it sounded :X

lifter tick can sound REALLY bad sometimes, especially the first time a set is cranked up.

[TheOmniscientRT]

Originally Posted by cbehnken

lifter tick can sound REALLY bad sometimes, especially the first time a set is cranked up.

lol, yeah, when I first put my new ones in it sounded like an old disel when I first started it up, CLACK, CLACK, CLACK, CLACK