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1980 242 GT. A reasonable project.

That engine bay is looking fresh! Nice job. It only took about 30 seconds as far as I'm concerned :e-shrug:

Your new block looks super clean too; I had a sneaky peek at it. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
 
Sorry to hear about the engine, the replacement will be sure to bring smiles. Fresh painted bay looks fantastic, eager to do the same soon. What gun are you using?

I bought this kit last year when I ceramic coated the exhaust manifold and turbine housing.

PowRyte 4-Piece HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0762M9LCK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wDC-CbGGWPFZ3

Ended up using the detail/touch up gun for both that and spraying the engine bay this time. I don?t really know what I?m doing with these, but it worked just fine in both cases.

That engine bay is looking fresh! Nice job. It only took about 30 seconds as far as I'm concerned :e-shrug:

Your new block looks super clean too; I had a sneaky peek at it. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

I can?t wait to check it out when it arrives! Looked practically new in the photos. It?s about time I get to give this GTX a workout?not long now.
 
Long story short, I was wrong about having solved the oil consumption issue (at least in part). I pulled the engine and found one melted piston (infamous cylinder #4) along with all other pistons having broken ring lands.....

Next step: block machine work.

Will the next 5 cyl. block be the small bore type? What is your engine management system?
 
Update!

Thanks to Alex Buchka doing all the legwork, a fresh block arrived to serve as a base for the new engine. This block came from a '99 T5 and appears to be identical to my 98 block with the exception that it has the factory-machined windows in the crankcase walls between cylinders. The block was cleaned and media blasted before Alex shipped it to me.

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Some nice Wiseco pistons also arrived, huge thanks to Doug Kauer. At 81.2mm, these necessitated a slight overbore to the block.

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Accordingly, the block and pistons went off to the machine shop to be matched. They ended up boring the block and resurfacing the deck.

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After a shocking 2.5 days, I had them back from the shop and ready to go. At the same time, the last parts showed up so I geared up for a weekend assembly party.

The bottom end parts list includes
  • Maxspeeding chinesium h-beam rods
  • King main and rod bearings
  • Wiseco 81.2mm pistons sold by RSI back in the day
  • Total Seal rings
  • ARP 2000 rod bolts
  • new OE headbolts and reused OE bolts everywhere else

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Thanks to a ton of help on Saturday, the fresh bottom end is assembled.

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We continued on to get the head and pan on, and get everything timed.

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I should have this sitting in the car within the next week. From there, the goal is to have it back on the road in early July.

I have a batch of fresh powdercoating being done on a bunch of things throughout the engine bay to change things up a tad. Should both look and perform like it's brand new!

The first part is done... the rest should be done in the next week:

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Huge thanks to Alex (Alex Buchka), Doug (Hank Scorpio), Justus (justlie), Art (elpress) and Jay for all of their help so far. The quality and expediency of this rebuild is totally thanks to the generosity and direct efforts of those guys.
 
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Parts came back from powdercoat, so I got the engine ready to go back in the bay. If all goes well, it should be sitting back on the mounts tonight. Posting pictures because it makes me happy when things are this clean, and I know it won't stay that way :-(.

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