So some of you may recall this bunch of goodies! Yesterday I finally got to put em to use!



Went to gord bush performace where a shiny new head and block awaited assembly. Head has a 3 angle valve job and ferrea high temp valve guides. Also decked and oil port mod for more flow. Block has had the cylinders honed to fit the new wiseco forged 9:1 pistons.

Putting in ferrea high temp valve stem seals


Some higher tension Manley Valve Springs with titanium retainers, stock valves ad rockers, and new 3g revised lifters.

On to the block. Time to put in some ACL race bearings, forged eagle rods with ARP headstuds, mains, and rod bolts. Stock crank for now. Felpro permatorque headgasket.

Assembling pistons



Torquing the ARP mains

As it sits at home.


Still need to assemble the outside bits, powder coat/paint.

I am very greatful to gord bush for allowing my friend to leave my engine sprawled out across shelving for 2 years, and for all the help him and his team gave us with assembly information. He did an amazing job on the machining.
I am also very thankful for my friend Myles, who made this all possible by co-oping at gord bush performance, helping me pay for the block work, and tearing my engine apart and cleaning it up for me.

Rough Engine tally:
Engine: 200
Parts: 1600
Head machining: 200
Block machining: 350 (paid courtesy of myles!)
Total: 2350 (2000 out of pocket a few years ago)
Yesterdays memories of assembling my own engine at a performance machine shop: EPIC!!

It's a 6 bolt; you can't outgrow the factory crank

Awesome pics, nice to see you heading in the direction of an assembled car again

Mike I don't think I can express how jealous I am. I would love to do exactly what you did and be a part of it. This is what an engine build should look like. When I do mine I will definitely be cleaning up the casting like you did here. Look beautiful.

Also what Jeremy said, and a lot of high horsepower guys on here have said multiple times. Stick to the stock crank, to get one that's worth it you are looking at about what you paid already.

Thanks guys. I hear you I am pretty happy with it the way it is.I put a fair amount of research into that parts list back in the day! Cams will probably happen after I try it out the way it is. They are easy enough to do now that I know my way around most of the car.
Gord thought it was fine the way it is for a 500HP reliable build. We all know it will do plenty more than that with a good tune/meth. I need a better balance shaft delete, he told me why I shouldn't use the stub shaft at the oil pump.

Wish I knew if I was welcome around there, really calm quiet place. No one is in a hurry, and Gord is a pretty quiet but friendly guy. Barely shows any emotion lol! I loved the place, so well equipped obviously. My favourite was the solvent tank with a scrub brush that flows varsol, and then the parts washer you can transfer it to after. Sandblasters are awesome too, but my buddy already did most of that.

Now to get the other 6bolt and car together. This engine is way ahead of the game, I still have a stock one to swap, learn to tune, and possibly blow up!! Lol!

Last night I worked on the old mock up 6 bolt. Got the intake nearly roughly plumbed for 2g emissions and sensors, swapped in all necessary sensors, cut the 2g motor mount and bolted it on. Still need to finalize vac lines, hook up the MDP sensor, wire in the Blacktop CAS, hook up water lines, get a timing belt, cover, and misc gaskets. Swap alternators.

Some more cherry picking the other day. This time to put the built engine to rest on its stand for a while.






Been maintaining a better sense of organization in life as this is going to be a tough last semester at school before clinical placements! Trying to keep from wasting any time, with excitement for a future career to support my build ahead. Hope to keep at the car at least once a week if possible.

Some more Entire car harness work its starting to get somewhere!
Feels good to have a harness half laid out! ALOTTTT of hours removing then re-installing this thing for a mock up of many mods. My time has become limited and this will be a rushed post. I am moving the battery to the trunk, fuse box in the cabin, deleting a load of unused accessories, tucking, extending, shortening/moving alot of stuff! Hoping to stick emissions sensors/solenoids back behind the passenger tower where the battery used to be.

Last month, got the harness mostly untangled and laid everything out in relation to factory to remind myself how this crazy thing laid out. Engine bay Fuse box and harness are under the car on the floor along the rad support, and then along the drivers fender plugged into the cabin fuse box. Engine sensors still
tangled in some organized chaos.



Here the engine harness has been better organized and laid out in the organized branches of clusters of sensors. The branch on the passenger strut tower is sensors for the intake mani, ignition, and timing, as well as emissions. They all get hidden behind the engine. Fuel injectors on the drivers tower, MAS, thermostat, 02 sensors on the nearside of the pass tower.


Getting ready to move the fuse box to the cabin. Such a mess !




This is my initial idea to move the fuse box behind the passenger seat and run the harness back there or under the seats. Then rewire it to a trunk battery, and to a killswitch and fuel pump require with toggle switch.



I have since bolted the drivers footwell box back in temporarily, and connected everything back up. However not sure how many wires I want to lengthen. Started trying to extend the front light connectors and realized I need a supply of wire and more time and patience. Maybe a better soldering iron or tip too lol! Might be easier on myself to try and reduce the distance to the front of the car to run 2 half harnesses up right and left fenders.

Looks mad!! Make sure you know which sensors are resistance based so you don't extend those wires and screw up your readings.

I dont think I need to extend any sensors Bryan I ll just replace the stuff at the filter housing with aftermarket, the rest is accessory or should reach. Trying not to eff with them crazy sensors, except for my CAS/6bolt rewire

Just figured I would put that out there, there have been people that have shortened their sensor wires and then screwed up the signal.

I definately have sensors that are too long! I figured loop em up gently inside the loom to shorten

So currently I have learned that I ll be taking off to windsor for school placement in May/June/July. Hope to learn alot, but project will be slowing down until august. I ll do what I can in the meantime
If I m lucky my previous schooling could land me some spare change while I am not learning (unpaid) on the 40 hr week. Not where I see living in the end, but life takes crazy turns doesn't it.
Really hoping my last placement in Sept/oct/nov brings me back home (After a month off in august). Then I m done for good. Maybe someone will employ me and pay me longer than 3 months this time. Big money. Racecar funding, life altering, house buying with bigger garage kind of money.

Let me know when you're in town - I live 10 minutes from the Windsor border in Detroit.

Hope everything works out!

Sounds cool Salomon! Did I meet you at one of the invasions or anywhere ? Maybe you can help me into the car scene. I find it hard to blend in while im in my acura though haha.

We might have met at an invasion? Can't recall.

I only just moved here a few months ago so I'm pretty fresh to area too. Though, by the time you're here I should have a good handle on things.

Cool! I know Dave Barlow is out there too. Be good to get a dsm fix with you guys from time to time if your wrenching on something or whatever

Been working so hard at school with exams coming up in april, then I am done studying until national certification exams. Waiting on my order of a new solder gun, shrink tube, wire holder clamps (for soldering) and solder. Also ran to visit Henry yesterday and got a spare couple harnesses to hack up for some hopeful good matching wire. And some other misc spare bits, most of which I needed missing side skirt end cap led to another spare set of skirts and fenders lol! excited to dig into some wires again later today.

Salomon's the one with a limp, or should I call it a pimp walk.

Hehe ! nice but that didnt help.
My engine bay harness is roughed out how I think I want it now. Want to get a little further in the cabin before I tease with more pics of webs of wires. The bay is in good organized, taped, strands now
Makes me wana toss my engine in ! Going to have to put some gaskets and timing bits in my spring budget

Started working one day a week. Building bicycles outside of school time. 1st day back went well! 36 assemblies in 6 hours but they were mostly easier builds. Hope to keep that pace up, with peace work that is about 20 bucks an hr good gig if I can make a bit more time for it and keep up the pace.

Sorta in the limbo phase broke awaiting next OSAP spring/summer installment :S and that isnt enough to live off of working a placement May, june, july, full time in another city with no pay.

Finally done exams, I ll be at it this week. I guess the engine bay isnt looking alot different, but it is much closer to finalized.

Been working at the mock-ups for the rewire. Some free red fenders sitting on there looking puurrty (thanks Henri )


Realized my work was not yet done here. more untangling had to be done to move the fuse box connector, ignition transistor, wiper connector, and some other such things out of the bay and hidden on the other side of the fire wall. Moved the factory alarm horn up under the air filter. 6 bolt swap/organization of other sensors. Still have to rewire the crank signal to the 6bolt CAS. Decided to do away with the brake fluid warning light.






All the engine harness connectors lying on the cowl, worked on untangling them, and making sure every connector for this harness was at one end, and in close proximity to eachother.


And Voila. With every connector accessible in the passenger's footwell you have a modified OEM harness for a quick removal of the engine without disconnecting any of this harness. When I plop an engine in there and secure things and loop up the heaps of extra wire laying there it shall be neatly tucked

I have arrived
Bah project delays I ll have to make some trips home on weekends

I hit a snag in my rewire. Im not sure I care to try and figure it out. In other news I m moving back to windsor to start full time work in my chosen career of cardiac ultrasound. Hopefully this goes well for a while. Need to pay for my exams and take a chunk out of my debt. Might look to snag some spare harnesses in a few months after I get settled if I can't sort my dash and accessories and take a second crack at it with a better method. Then I should be able to tackle my rust repair, and start acquiring some of the missing pieces to my puzzle.

Project update: today I found good reason to enjoy full time work in windsor!



Just have one bedroom all inclusive. Oh and the garage. Claimed it Dirt cheap too haha! Should be back in business in a few months!

Congrats! Looks like it should be a good sized place. If I ever have any issues on my drive back to Michigan I know where to stop in

Good stuff, looking forward to some updates!

Salomon I m right near the ambassador bridge too haha. Bryan you and me both buddy, guna take some work to setup shop yet! lol

Well, I pass your place multiple times every week then. I'll have to stop by one of these days.

I think I m a fully qualified parts whore now. Funny sh!t coming up. After all buying peices = progress!!
Thanks Miller import parts.

-I need a piece of the rear rockers:



here ya go:


Guess I ll just take the whole thing then

-need the little bit of the bottom of the firewall where the subframe mount bolts come through:


OK hows this:



Ummm no sir the rockers I can fit in an acura 4 door, that I cannot. -Do you want to take the strut towers ... what a salesman ahah why not at this point. So I m not sure what I m getting but this is whats left of that in north carolina:

A whole cars worth of 98 AWD Manual harnessess. Just incase.






And some factory hood and hatch latches. Those things get a bit molested when adjusting for CF so might as well have a clean pair and do a nice job slotting them with something better than a file....
Just need some strut towers on here and its headed north carolina to detroit.


Next up. Rotisserie. Front windsheild. New Rad support. Move the car 3 hrs from hamilton to windsor. Go me Met a guy who owns a resto shop here when I did an ultrasound on his heart, might pay him to do some welding and proper coating of things for me to expedite the process a bit. Realistically my welding might not be ready to tackle this soon enough properly and its nice I have so much extra clean metal to work with on my patches! Having an income is such a usefull tool lmao. No more student problems

Looks awesome - can't believe they just send you pretty much a whole damn car.

How much was the harness?

Maybe I'll have to swing by after work some time and check out the goods!

Nice find Mike!! Look forward to seeing some crazy fab skills, I suggest you get some gas and do this yourself! I did some patches on the old car with flux and it works but was a bitch cause of how hot it is but with gas you should be good to go!

I suppose I should really give welding a fair shot! I m a meticulous guy anyways and already have a welder...

I ll let you know when my shipment arrives Salomon!

I paid 825 US shipped for the harness, rockers, and firewall. added towers for 150, and hatch and hood latches for 35. Not too bad for my baby!