I had been wanting to start getting parts together to build a new engine for the car, and after kicking it around for a while I decided that if I was going to do a redblock I should do a 2.5 liter. I live in a good area for hunting boat parts so I spent a few months searching for extra displacement. I wanted a rear thrust crank, so it was a little tough to find the right year/model... especially since most were listed vaguely. Eventually I found one on Long Island listed as a 1991 AQ151 with a 290 outdrive. The build plate on the block was 250a, which according to the net should be rear thrust. The Buy it Now was $100 for everything so I just jumped on it and hoped for the best. Seller (who lived in a beautiful house) had it in his 23' fiberglass fishing boat and pulled it because it was underpowered (duh!) and "wasn't really running right". Nice guy, and I was getting a haul of boat parts for the money, so there was no risk besides wasted time.
I tore it down the next day, little ugly but looked pretty good. I was really only concerned about the crank at this point, I figured the 531 was an unknown and if it was good it'd be a nice bonus. Thankfully the exhaust manifold came off without taking a chunk of head with it.
Considering it was a salt water engine the #4 port isn't in bad shape. It has two Heli-Coil repairs and is a little pitty around the holes (most of what you see is unscraped gasket crud). Looks like I should be able to get it tested, touched up and use it - nice! Notice it has an '89 build date, now I was really wondering.
Popped it open and happy happy it's a rear thrust. Everything in the bottom end looked really good so I'm in business.
Now, the guy had said it just ran a little off and was low on power so I figured it was, like most boat problems, some carb issue. He wanted a bigger engine so he didn't spend any time looking into it. But when I took off the valve cover there was something a bit odd
Head bolt was completely loose, all others were torqued properly. I'm curious when the boat had head work done last.
yep that'll do it
The cylinders and pistons had some light scoring but not bad. I'm going to get everything checked out at a machine shop, if they can clean the cylinders up easily I'll probably just use this block and drill it for squirters and oil return. Need to get it sorted so I can get moving and find forged rods and pistons. The goal is to put the car back on the road next Spring with the new engine, so hoping I can make it all happen this winter.
Besides that new side project I'm still trying to finish the car. I brought it to a local cruise night and got a great reaction which was really nice (and a stark contrast to what I got with my SAAB 900 10 years ago
). Picking away at the interior, I swapped over the power windows which are really nice to have. Still have a list of needs and to-do's... finding the set of seats I'm after is top right now. What I've got now is unbelievably uncomfortable and smell musty.
Re did the rear parcel shelf with the same material as the headliner.
Replaced razor sharp window scrapers with nice new. Have gotten most of the interior panels back in and gave the MS box a better home in the glove box vs. the old clamp to the dash brace.
The car was doing the civic bounce like crazy so I went back and put a little more compression and rebound back in. Huge improvement, will fiddle more but it's a lot more confident in the corners. I also lowered it a little bit (under half an inch) which seems good besides one smack to the lower chassis braces on a g-out I learned to drive around. Which reminded me I should get a splash pan on!
Also need to get my skinny bumpers/trim and belt line trim on
Also realized the grill doesn't camouflage the intercooler as much as I thought
Fall to-do
Finish the damn interior!
bumpers
wet sand and polish
new trim and tail lights
boost controller - I have it on the shelf, and if I'm going to have a new motor next year it's easier to push it a little more. Car's parked for winter anyways!