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: Some of you might have gone to Cancun or South Padre like my friends for spring break, but not me. I went to Georgia to ZXconnection to have work done on my Z. : Lets start from the beginning. About 6months ago i saw an add in the classifides that Russell Floyd of ZXconnection was taking a 91TT with a blown head gasket and putting a fully rebuilt engine in it with a new set of turbos, and would install anything else during the process. So i called him up and told him i was interested. I sold my NA and took some money out of savings and bought the car. I had him put a set of downpipes, ACT clutch, and NA rear end in the car when he built it up. The car got finished and i drove to Georgia with my pops over christmas break to pick it up. : Any way brought it home and had some trouble with it smoking, we hoped that it was just the rings still setting up, but when it dident clear up I called Russell and asked what i should do. I checked the intake hoses for oil (to see if a turbo had gone bad, but they were squeaky clean. I ran a compression check and got some really low numbers. We finally decided that it was probably the piston rings. They had used Total Seal rings, which we now know have had problems unless the block is deck honed perfectly which it wasent. So Russell agrees to replace the engine again for me if i can come back out to Georgia. : So for my spring break i load up some stuff and make the 15hr drive out to Georgia. I arrive monday of the week and get my stuff unloaded at Russells house, which he let me stay at for free. Head back up to the shop and get help Reuben Green(mechanic) finish up an auto NA he was working on so we could start work on my car : Later we begin assembeling the motor that had just got back from the machine shop. We bring my car in and get the smoking motor pulled. : During the assembly process i got a chance to paint some stuff to dress it up a little bit, here i am putting the new engine into my car, yeah thats me, no jokes about the beard i forgot to bring my razor with me for the trip :)
:  : Oh and did i mention i got cams :) yeah they are great, here is a pic comparing the a stock intake cam to the new ones, i think the lift on stock is 340 and these are 360, so its not a real "hot" cam, i was still able to use the stock valve springs but it made a definate difference in performance.
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: I also removed the EGR and capped off the hole on the exhaust manifold, then used a peice of copper tube to replace the unit, it acts like a secondary balance tube for the plenum.
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: Um ok heres where it all went to shit, ok remember that pic of me all happy sitting on top of my car installing the newly rebuild engine? Well we get the new engine installed and im driving it super easy for the breakin, i put about 20 miles on it and then i hear this ticking noise that quickly turnes to a clacking and then a loud banging, sooo i push in the clutch and shift into neutral and the engine locked up. FUCCCCKKKKKKKK what the hell was that? At first i thought maybe the timing belt came off, anyway i call Russell on my cell and he comes out to check things out. We pull the timing belt covers and the belt looks fine, but then i tried to check the oil and i couldent get the dipstick out, HUH i wonder why that is? so Russell jacks up the car and slides under, he pokes around for a min and then says "Hey i found your problem" "whats that", i say? Russell replies, "Uh youve got a rod sticking thru the side of the oil pan"................ Ok well as we later found out the guy at the shop that had machined the block and assembled the bottom end took a lunch break or somthing halfway thru the buildup and forgot to torque the rod bolts down, yeah thats right apparently they were only hand tight. : So here is a pic of the rod pokeing his head thru the oil pan
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: and another
:  : Ok well after Russell pulled some hair out and did some swearing we decided to use the Factory Nissan Crate motor that he had set aside for his car since it the only one built up, fully assembled and ready to go.
: Here we are swapping my turbos over to engine number 3
:  : there is my engine bay with its mouth wide open ready to eat up another engine
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: Ok got it in there she is
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: Oh yeah Reuben Green, who buy the way is an awesome mechanic, had my motor set up running on the ground to check for any leaks before it went in and to break the engine in without the turbos on. Its pretty cool and really friggen loud, the engine is actually running in this pic, but my camra picture speed is so fast that you cant even tell, i thought the fan would look blurry cause it was spinning but i guess not. Anyway i assure you its running in this pic
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: Oh and to go along with our luck, we had a water leak on the back of the block with the third engine, so we had to pull the plenum again and fix that.
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: Ok ive gotta say Thanks to Everyone at ZX connection. Especially to Reuben who spent very long hours with me trying to get my car done so i could make it back to school on time, and to Russell for being such a stand up guy and taking care of me when i had trouble with the car. Russell replaced my engine twice free of charge, i dont know of many shops that would do that for their customers
Matt
91TT Aztec Red stg III+
 
MY PLEAZURE
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