Third time's the charm?

Today I took apart engine #3. Yes, #3. I started with two long blocks of questionable history/status. I knew there was a chance they weren't going to be okay when I bought them, but I got a good deal on them and some other 2.3T stuff.

I took apart block #1 and took it to a machine shop to see what state it was in. Turns out it is is already 0.030 over and needs to be bored 0.040 if I want to use it. Oh and 0.040 over pistons are $600 for this motor!

Took block #2 apart and took a piston to the machine shop to see how over bored it is. It is 0.060 over! Damn, for a turbo block that is unbelievable. So I didn't bother bringing the block in.

A couple of weeks ago I found an ad on Craigslist with a guy parting out a few vandalized Merkur xr4ti's. He was nearby so I went over and took a look. Turns out one has only 116k miles on it! (all the glass was broken and interior trashed so I don't feel bad about taking the motor.)

Got it home yesterday and the little guy immediately noticed it was hanging from an engine hoist. He of course wanted to raise/lower it, but being on 5 I wouldn't let him.

What I got: motor from an 88 or 89 xrt4i, stock T3 turbo, intake, PF3 computer, small vam, E6 exhaust manifold and hopefully a 100% stock bore block.

Got everything taken off/apart today in about 5 hours, with a break for lunch and the last baseball game in between. Other than a breaking a head bolt (!!@%@@%#) everything came apart pretty easily.

Next step: bring the block to the machine shop and see how usable it is. Hopefully can just be re-ringed, but I suspect we'll have to go 0.020 or 0.030 over (0.030 means we can use the old pistons!)

The little guy giving me a hand.

Thomas the Tank on the Engine Hoist (now named Cranky)

Better picture.

Oops