July 10th, Plan A:
The current plan is rebuild the engine out of the FX using the higher compression Small Port 4AGE pistons that came out of Whitey/Red’s old engine. These are still in relatively good shape, we just need to order a few parts.
July 13th:
Parts are starting to show up. There are quite a few more things that say ARP on the way:
- ARP 203-2802 Flywheel Bolts
- ARP 203-6001 Rod Bolts
- ARP 203-4203 Head Studs
- ARP 203-5403 Main Studs
Then we went from this:
to this:
Time to go to the machine shop.
July 15th:
A few more parts arrive:
We also get some bad news from the machine shop. The home done hone job on the cylinder walls in the FX will require an oversize piston to be able to clean up the wall to usable. So do we spend the money on a new set of pistons, or do we switch up our plan?
July 17th:
We may have found our engine…
Two and half hours later, yep we have our engine. Sorry Red, we’ll make it up to you.
July 18th:
FX engine bay is cleaned and we’re ready to get it in position. It’s easier to remove and install the engine from the bottom of the FX (just like the MR2) so we used the engine hoist tied to the engine mount points to get it up high enough to shove the new engine underneath.
July 19th:
We are in! Exhaust has a bit of a rubbing issue, and I have no idea why. It looks like it had a bit of an issue before, but maybe not as bad. Manifold is the same between MR2 and FX, so I’m not sure what the deal is. Oh well time to take care of Red’s missing heart.
