Ignition!! For a while..

Well it is finally time to start it up. Over 2 years since it has been running and a completely new wiring system I had no idea what dramas I was in for.

However.... I was pleasently supprised that after a few cranks with the CAS unplugged to bring up oil pressure, it started on 3rd crank and idled perfectly. With only the Trust dump/front pipe on and a few blips of the throttle it made me very very happy..

Until...

A few minutes into bringing it up to operating temp, I heard a rather loud crack and it didnt take very long to figure out what it was...



The front timing cover has cracked. Joy turned to rage, swearing commenced. It didnt take long to figure out why it had cracked either.

When I removed the engine when I first started stripping, an oil jet that sits behind the cover to lubricate the chain had popped out. After pulling the engine down to replace it, I don't have a metal headgasket so the stock gasket broke off as soon as the cover was removed. Only using gasket goo to seal the area there would of been an abnormal gap of about 1mm. Enough that when the top 2 bolts were tightened up they streched the cover up to meet the head. The vibrations of the engine were more then enough to crack it.

Without wasting much time I spoke to Donny at Street-Forced about the problem and he has plenty of spare covers. So that night I made the trip to Packenham to grab another. I also grabbed a new front main seal just to be safe.

While this is almost an engine out job, I can tell you it is doable with it still in the car. Since i dont have any front suspension connected I just had to support the engine with a crane or trolly jack on the gearbox, undo the engine mounts and the 4 nuts holding the cross member up. Off came the alternator, both sumps, oil pickup, coil packs, rocker cover, CAS gear, radiator + fans and probably more stuff that im forgetting.

Approx 3 days later and it is all back together ready for round 2..

Results soon.