The Project Pad

For those that don't know, I picked up an '86 CGT from Kirk: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1307

IMG_20141207_180657763 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20141207_192351291 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20141207_193058938 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150103_124322818 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

1 owner until May '14. Supposedly the car had been sitting from 2002 until then. Super clean! Minus the 'matching' dents on the lower part of each door...
Kirk got the car running, but was still fighting a 'brick wall' at 3k rpm's. I troubleshot some more and replaced more parts to no success. I'm pretty certain I have a CIS curse.

Soooo.... NO MORE CIS!

Road tripped from Seattle to L.A to pick up a full 7A swap (engine/wiring harness/ECU/etc) from Chris/varia. Did about 2600 miles in 4.5 days, but it was great. I love a good road trip.

IMG_20150209_223443269 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Started cleaning the engine tonight. In case you didn't know, oven cleaner makes for a great degreaser for a first pass before I break out the pressure washer. Works better than purple power/simple green, just don't leave either on for very long. The oven cleaner foams and clings which gives it a better change to break down the grease.

Foamed up:
IMG_20150212_205615454 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

After a quick scrup with a brass brush and rinse with a little hand pump water sprayer:

IMG_20150212_210443223 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Another round of oven cleaner with the hose/pressure washer should get the block nice and spiffy.
Going to paint the block, powdercoat some stuff, ceramic coat the bag-o-snakes, do some seals/gaskets, and upgrade the injectors.
Also picked up some H1/H4's, Jamex strut bar, 2Bennet coilovers, and TSW Hockenheim wheels. Front struts of the coilovers need rebuilt so I'm going to buy some new ones. Also need to pickup some strut mounts and install some Mance mount savers into.

IMG_20150101_151816744 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150212_215404428 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

End goal is to make this a fun and reliable DD so I can sell the Toureg. I'll DD this and the Merc (when I get that fixed soon) so I can save some money to get a Focus RS when it comes out in a year or so.

Saweeet. I was waiting for a build thread.

Glad to see this car stayed in the community.

Cool! I love that you're doing this for a focus rs that's a pretty badass car!

I'm VERY glad you got this car. Looking forward to seeing the result :-)

Well done Alex!
Keep posting pictures!

Got the head off, lots of carbon buildup but the bores look clean with hatch still present.

IMG_20150214_095402119 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

any crack?

varia wrote:any crack?

None that I could see with my naked eye!
Most of the carbon came off with the pressure washer too.

Did some more degreasing and cleaning. Also started blasting the header in prep for ceramic coating. Lots of nooks and crannies to get to! Going to be even harder to spray it with ceramic.

IMG_20150216_182859004 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150216_191437505 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

When I sent my bag'o'snakes off for ceramic coating, it took the shop owner three weeks of futility before he opened shop early on a weekend to control humidity and get an even coating.

He then told me he'd never do one again, lol.

Even so, the coating started to flake off within 25k to 30k km.

Here's hoping the White Lightning Swain coating I paid for on the new one does a better job!

Ordered some engine, trans, and subframe bushings/mounts from Jared. Went with 80A for the engine/trans and the subframe is 95A.

About to make a $500 AutohausAZ order too. Ordering all gaskets, water pump, belts/rollers, O2 sensor, ignition tuneup, and headbolts. Debating on whether or not I should order rod bearings and do those while I have the pan off.

Got some new toys and they're already getting a workout! Steam cleaner cuts right through grease, even better than degreaser and the pressure washer. The air-powered vacuum is also really handy for sucking up whatever on engines and anything else around the shop. Easier to grab with the air hose than lug the shop vac around.

IMG_20150226_223121223 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150226_223142876 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Got the block cleaned and degreased in prep for paint. Got some Duplicolor engine enamel primer and 'aluminum' color. Will be much easier to tell where oil leaks are coming from over the black paint...hopefully there will be none!

Raw:
IMG_20150226_223043295 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Primer:
IMG_20150226_223820946 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Aluminum:
IMG_20150226_230144965 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Purdy

I like the silver block- should look nice and clean in the white engine bay when it's all finished.

Looks nice! Care to share your steam cleaning tips? I have that same cleaner and it doesn't do squat. Just kind of smears everything around. I went back to toothbrushes and engine degreaser.

audifreakjim wrote:Looks nice! Care to share your steam cleaning tips? I have that same cleaner and it doesn't do squat. Just kind of smears everything around. I went back to toothbrushes and engine degreaser.

For engine parts, I usually start with oven cleaner, as it's the best degreaser I've found. You just have to be careful with aluminum and not leave it on for more than a few minutes. That usually combined with the pressure washer gets the big stuff off.
I then let some citrus degreaser sit on parts for a few minutes before using the steam cleaner to get the remaining nooks and crannies along with any stuborn stains. The brass brush works well for stubborn parts, but I've been using the nylons mostly. Gotta keep them clean, so I swap them out pretty often and let them sit in degreaser while I'm using another one. I also spray them and the part with brake-clean/carb cleaner intermittently to wash off the smearing. Rinse with the hose or pressure washer when done and if the part is still not clean, I'll let it soak in the parts washer for a bit (with citrus degreaser) before another round of steam cleaning. I use the citrus degreaser on aluminum parts that I'm going to powdercoat since it's not petroleum based. Petroleum products like to soak into cast aluminum and outgas badly which cause bubbles in the powdercoat.

I definitely think the steam cleaner helps, but it doesn't do everything. The biggest tip I'd say it to keep the brushes clean, they like to cake up pretty easily.

Big box of parts!

IMG_20150304_182625439 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

And some stainless hardware for the valve cover and oil pan

IMG_20150304_183053812 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Also built a 'thien' dust separator for the sandblast cabinet (acts like a cyclonic separator). Two years of running just the shop vac with a HEPA filter killed the vacuum. This should help the filter from getting clogged so much.

IMG_20150305_222536492 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Got a 3B flywheel from Nick (thanks!), needs a resurface. My mystery clutch that came with my 5ktq (and didn't fit the MC1) doesn't fit this, so I'll have to either reuse the CGT one or upgrade it.

Did some powdercoating this weekend too...lots more to do! But the new dust collector is working well on the blast cabinet so I can see again and not choke up the vacuum.

IMG_20150308_161332486 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

I think I still have a stock 7a clutch in my parts stash. If I do you can have it

the german wrote:I think I still have a stock 7a clutch in my parts stash. If I do you can have it

Hmmm, need to research if it'll work with a 3b (016 trans) flywheel.

Sounds good - just let me know. If you want to borrow it and test fit you are welcome to do that too

Wanted better tunes than the little bluetooth speaker I've been using so I set up my garage receiver/speakers. Wanted the speaker out of the way and found they fit with about 1/4" gap in the stud spacing, perfect!

IMG_20150309_213731055 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Also changed my powdercoat setup to optimize more space in the oven. Previously I either put things on a tray or hung them from posts I screwed into a tray. The oven has shelving so I could hang things from a tray in the oven, but I needed a way to hold the tray with hanging parts outside the oven. Threw some scrap wood together and got this. Works great and is much easier to coat.

IMG_20150309_213720995 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150309_214717835 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

And some more finished parts!

IMG_20150309_221633864 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Very nice! The powder coating is a nice touch. That bay is going to look amazing!

Aktapod wrote:Very nice! The powder coating is a nice touch. That bay is going to look amazing!

Thanks! Hopefully I don't mess up on any of the gaskets and leak oil all over all the new shiny stuff!

Coated a few more parts tonight, but didn't take any more pictures (just more brackets and such). Got a refillable metal spray can so I can spray solvents. Sprayed the parts with denatured alcohol as a final cleanse before coating and that seems to help quite a bit with some small outgas bubbles I was still getting. I was previously doing a gentle wipe down with acetone, but I think I was leaving some lint behind.

Got a 20v windage tray from Issam and got that ready to go on, along with the front main seal and oil pump gasket. Gotta clean up the pan a little more before I put it on.

IMG_20150310_222700742 by alxdgr8, on Flickr