My First Ever Build Thread: The Bronzit Beauty

[GSJones]

So I ordered replacement relays and they arrived today. When I purchased the vehicle, it wouldn't crank, so the guy swapped relays and it cranked. He concluded that the fuel pump relay was bad. So that meant I still had a bad relay. I replaced them all and ran another stomp test. I got 1444, which apparently means I fixed the issue. She's SO close to cranking but it just won't catch. If the battery is completely gone, could this be the reason? Obviously, I'm jumping the vehicle to try cranking it. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?


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[Andy.B]

If I were you (and I have been in your shoes before, staring at a project full of hopes and dreams, but facing unknown obstacles and resistance) I would do the following before even trying to drive the car:

1: buy the following parts:
- Bentley Manual
- New plugs
- New plug wires
- ignition cap
- ignition rotor
- fuel filter
- valve cover gasket
- temp sensor
- fuel pressure gauge
- compression tester

2. Test the compression on each cylinder.
3. If they are good, do a full ignition refresh, and install the new fuel filter and temp sensor.
4. Work your way through the fuel delivery system tests in the Bently Manual with your volt meter and fuel pressure gauge.
5. Adjust the valves and replace the valve cover gasket.
6. Once everything has been repaired/serviced to test good, fire up the car.
7. If you still have problems, you likely have a vacuum leak. You can replace every intake gasket for about $100 and a few hours. A new intake boot is $25. Honestly, you should just do them all, even if you DON'T have an intake leak.
8. Confirm your engine runs smooth as a kitten now.
9. BEFORE you drive it: Change the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat. Even if the PO says he just did it. Even if he has receipts. There could be a stamped pulley in there ready to fail. Some hack could have left the tension spring out and just guessed. They could have lied. If it breaks, your pulling your engine. Regardless, at this point, you are becoming pretty familiar with all of the parts that make the m20 tick. Why not go all the way and make sure everything is perfect.
10. Enjoy a fully serviced, reliable, awesome m20b25 that is now ready to provide you with many thousands of miles of trouble free performance.

All in all, you can knock out all of the work in a weekend if you hustle, or a couple weekends if you take your time. Rather than chasing a random problem, and risk becoming frustrated, or chasing your tail trying to get multiple potential problems resolved, you will now have a fairly thoroughly refreshed engine that shouldn't require any attention for a long time. The only major additional expenses I can imagine coming up in the process are needing a new AFM ($100 to get a refubished one, less for a used one), Fuel Injectors ($80 to get yours rebuilt), or a new O2 sensor ($75 new). I could argue to do the O2 sensor anyway, but you can safely ignore the other parts as long as they work.

Once that is done, thoroughly inspect the breaks, check for any loose joints or bushings, and make sure all of the lights work. Once you know you are safe, go enjoy driving the car.

Oh right, and put a new clutch in there at some point. Have fun with that job. :devil:

[GSJones]

If I were you (and I have been in your shoes before, staring at a project full of hopes and dreams, but facing unknown obstacles and resistance) I would do the following before even trying to drive the car:

1: buy the following parts:
- Bentley Manual
- New plugs
- New plug wires
- ignition cap
- ignition rotor
- fuel filter
- valve cover gasket
- temp sensor
- fuel pressure gauge
- compression tester

2. Test the compression on each cylinder.
3. If they are good, do a full ignition refresh, and install the new fuel filter and temp sensor.
4. Work your way through the fuel delivery system tests in the Bently Manual with your volt meter and fuel pressure gauge.
5. Adjust the valves and replace the valve cover gasket.
6. Once everything has been repaired/serviced to test good, fire up the car.
7. If you still have problems, you likely have a vacuum leak. You can replace every intake gasket for about $100 and a few hours. A new intake boot is $25. Honestly, you should just do them all, even if you DON'T have an intake leak.
8. Confirm your engine runs smooth as a kitten now.
9. BEFORE you drive it: Change the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat. Even if the PO says he just did it. Even if he has receipts. There could be a stamped pulley in there ready to fail. Some hack could have left the tension spring out and just guessed. They could have lied. If it breaks, your pulling your engine. Regardless, at this point, you are becoming pretty familiar with all of the parts that make the m20 tick. Why not go all the way and make sure everything is perfect.
10. Enjoy a fully serviced, reliable, awesome m20b25 that is now ready to provide you with many thousands of miles of trouble free performance.

All in all, you can knock out all of the work in a weekend if you hustle, or a couple weekends if you take your time. Rather than chasing a random problem, and risk becoming frustrated, or chasing your tail trying to get multiple potential problems resolved, you will now have a fairly thoroughly refreshed engine that shouldn't require any attention for a long time. The only major additional expenses I can imagine coming up in the process are needing a new AFM ($100 to get a refubished one, less for a used one), Fuel Injectors ($80 to get yours rebuilt), or a new O2 sensor ($75 new). I could argue to do the O2 sensor anyway, but you can safely ignore the other parts as long as they work.

Once that is done, thoroughly inspect the breaks, check for any loose joints or bushings, and make sure all of the lights work. Once you know you are safe, go enjoy driving the car.

Oh right, and put a new clutch in there at some point. Have fun with that job. :devil:

That was an amazing bit of info! I really appreciate the help. Literally gonna do exactly as you have suggested and I see no reason why it wouldn't be as good to go as you've suggested. Thanks again!


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[Ether-D]

Great post, Andy B. I agree entirely.

[GSJones]

I'd like to preface this by reminding everyone I'm an extreme noob. That being said, I've been trying to diagnose what this could be for awhile. My engine, mostly the bottom, is covered in some type of gunk. I've smelled it, but to me it just doesn't smell like anything. I want to know what it is because it has me thinking there is/was a major leak of some kind. Anyway, I'll post pictures below. Fingers crossed this doesn't mean catastrophic damage has occurred...





I did my best to take pictures that thoroughly show what it looks like. It's probably something obvious, but I've done every combination of words in various searches and haven't gotten anything conclusive. Thanks for any help!


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[GSJones]

In other news, I pulled out my hood latch and cleaned it up. It was crazy corroded and the actual latch could hardly even pivot. The mechanism that moves forward and back to release the latch was so stuck I started questioning whether it was supposed to actually move. But after removing all of the corrosion and playing with the moveable parts, I got everything working like new!



Looks so much better with a fully closed/latched hood.


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[Ether-D]

Probably a valve cover gasket and rocker plugs doing a lot of the leaking. Easy job for a noob. Start there.