My mono white 89 XR

whitelx · Post by **whitelx** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:50 pm

leesonic wrote:The spare turbo head turned out to be cracked in FIVE places when I had it Magnafluxed. Looks like I'll need another head...

my original turbo head was cracked on every exhaust seat, some of them twice.

XR4Driver · Post by **XR4Driver** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:27 pm

whitelx wrote:
leesonic wrote:The spare turbo head turned out to be cracked in FIVE places when I had it Magnafluxed. Looks like I'll need another head...
my original turbo head was cracked on every exhaust seat, some of them twice.

Bleh same here. I pulled the original head off my '86 and "hoped" I might luck out and find no cracks. Instead I found five visible cracks (no magnaflux needed to see these suckers), one on cylinder two and two on cylinders three and four. All on the exhaust side. Makes me glad Carlisle is aways away, I get to put a new head together.

leesonic · Post by **leesonic** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:27 am

Hmmm... this battery tray looks a little suspicious...

It pulled right out, it wasn't attached at all. I'll need to weld some metal in here, and down on the wheelwell.

Here we go, getting ready to take the engine out.

Came out pretty easy, except that I could not get the passenger side motor mount off the block.

Up, up and away...

Close up of the motor mount. The bolt was seized inside the mount, not in the block, the mount would rotate but hit the oil drain fitting. After the bolt head sheared off, I attacked it with an angle grinder, cutting down to the bolt so I could squirt some PB blaster in.

Possibly the worse thing ever put in the engine bay of a Merkur.

Slushbox is coming out next.

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:45 am

Nothing like some warm weather to get back outside, eh Lee? I too was outside yesterday, skiing. Too bad skiing in 55 degree weather has a rather short lifespan - I might be more committed to the sport.

MFND · Post by **MFND** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:56 pm

DPDISXR4Ti wrote:Nothing like some warm weather to get back outside, eh Lee? I too was outside yesterday, skiing. Too bad skiing in 55 degree weather has a rather short lifespan - I might be more committed to the sport.

Amen. I spent 3 hours in the garage yesterday cleaning out and organizing. My rockers are in transit (after waiting 2 months) and I can get cracking on mine soon. Ah, sunshine.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:48 am

Do you keep your engine hoist outside year round? Just curious.

leesonic · Post by **leesonic** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:49 pm

demonfire wrote:Do you keep your engine hoist outside year round? Just curious.

No, it just looks like that. It comes apart fairly easily, and stacks up at the back of the shed.

Auto box is out, but so far nobody wants it.

leesonic · Post by **leesonic** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:33 pm

Cleaning the engine bay, the blower box is SO much easier to take out without the motor in there. Mind you, I did have to cut the head off of one of the bolts to finally get it out.

Looks like something has made a home in here...

Engine bay, cleaned, degreased, and painted as best I could without removing the wiring harness, master cylinder etc. The patch over by the battery was left bare, as it needs some repair sections welded in.

Looks SO much better with a flywheel and clutch on it.

In we go...

Using some long bolts to keep the engine lined up with the transmission, at least in one plane.

Back in at last.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:13 am

That's it. Come visit me and help repaint my bay. I cant believe how good that looks.

steedafocusgirl · Post by **steedafocusgirl** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:34 am

looks very nice lee!!

Glad to see it comming along!

MerlinMerkur · Post by **MerlinMerkur** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:28 pm

Yeah man very nice, scrubing the bay with even a small brush leaves much to be desired. Im half tempted to do the same to my XR just to freshen it up. I just might too because its going to the body shop to get a full external makeover very soon. Started tearing everything off this weekend.. omg so many rivets and holes lol...
After having pulled some foreigns and v6 chevy S10 motors and as crammed in with 2x the connections and wiring, I think the XR will be a piece of cake. Any tips? Did you use a drop cloth for the rack/suspension so that wasnt painted with the bay? My car is white as well so, probably the most visible paint you dont want overspraying into black suspension parts hah.

leesonic · Post by **leesonic** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:27 pm

I only took out one screw, and everything fell apart...

Actually, I took out the dash pad to get better access to the sound proofing behind it. I had a buddy weld in the new battery tray for me, while I was on "fire watch" inside the car.

And here is the new battery tray. We also welded in some metal underneath it, and also on the wheelarch.

Heater installed, along with the false firewall panels, these were cleaned and painted.

I managed to source a good head from a junkyard down in Cape May. I had it skimmed, and new exhaust valve seats put in. While it was out, I also cleaned up the ports and combustion chambers, and reground the valves. Here I'm checking for any valve leaks with some kerosene.

Head on, with FelPro 1035 gasket, Ranger Roller cam.

I removed the heater control valves to clean things up a bit over here.

Coming together, not too long now before I can fire her up.

Camaro5690 · Post by **Camaro5690** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:07 pm

GAH that rusty ugly manifold is ruining the looks of your beautiful engine bay!!! You need to get some of that coating Eastwood makes to make it look like brand new cast iron again.

Post by **Merkur** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:12 pm

Great job Lee. This has really come a long way in a short time.

All the best.

Paul

merkurmaniac · Post by **merkurmaniac** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:04 am

I am impressed with the care you took in pulling the engine and then putting it back. Most times, that sticker on the core support, gets sliced or crushed by the crank pulley when the engine is going up and over. Walk the rows at Carlisle, and you can almost tell what cars had their motors out by that sticker....

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My mono white 89 XR

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