My Daily Driver Re-Build
The car: 1998 SL SOHC manual. This car has been our daily driver for many, many years now and has seen many road trips and abuse. About two years ago it was found that the car has two bad valve seats on 2 and 3 cylinders. However we kept driving even though the power fell off but, it was still working. From there this last year we’ve noticed the coolant to be low from time to time with a hint of the smell in the air of it burning. As of recently we have only been able to tell were it has been coming from. Which the leak looks to be coming from between the head and block but, so save down time I’m going to rebuild another motor with the parts I have laying around.
Well, I’m going to do something different I’m not sure that has been done before.
These items are new to the car:
Block: 1994 SC2 DOHC complete bottom end
Head: 1999 SL SOHC complete head
OBX SOHC header
Catco High Flow Cat
2.25 Cat back
Findaza Aluminum Flywheel
Stock Clutch
MP3 transmission to replace the MP2
I recently pulled out the DOHC block for cleaning and inspection which looks great. However before ordering bearings, rings etc…. I decided slap on a head from the SOHC. I needed to find out if I was going to run into any problems with the pistons and valves contacting since this was going to bump the compression to about 10.2-1 I think.
I slapped the Head gasket on along with the SOHC head and torqed things down good enough for the time being and set the timing. Lucky enough everything cleared there was no contact to be found between the DOHC bottom end and the SOHC top. So, things look good and are a go to order the rest of the parts for the rebuild.
The car currently consist of the following mods:
57MM tapered TB
Short Ram Air Intake
Dog Bone motor mounts
Fart Cannon muffler
2” Sprint Lowering Springs
KYB Struts
Upper front strut tower bar
17x7 gunmetal wheels with a polished lip and 205 40 17 tires
Tinted windows
Some interior painted to match the Maroon exterior paint.
Out side of those things this car has been only used for Daily driving to and from work since we already have the turbo turd toy car and the family vue redline for the weekends. But, this build should be pretty good for a SOHC. I know there are other options to say swap to a DOHC. But, this is meant to keep things simple and cost effective and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t work now. But, when it’s all said and done I use the time and info from the old motor and setup and post it compared to the new setup when it’s done.
It’s gonna take some time as it’s just gotten started and when money comes in parts will be ordered. So it’s slow going but, hopefully before the stock motor dies this will be done. If not no biggy there are plenty of cars to choose from.
I never thought I’d be excited about working on a SOHC. But, Who knew this should be fun.
I’ll also have to post some current pictures and so on.
The car: 1998 SL SOHC manual. This car has been our daily driver for many, many years now and has seen many road trips and abuse. About two years ago it was found that the car has two bad valve seats on 2 and 3 cylinders. However we kept driving even though the power fell off but, it was still working. From there this last year we’ve noticed the coolant to be low from time to time with a hint of the smell in the air of it burning. As of recently we have only been able to tell were it has been coming from. Which the leak looks to be coming from between the head and block but, so save down time I’m going to rebuild another motor with the parts I have laying around.
Well, I’m going to do something different I’m not sure that has been done before.
These items are new to the car:
Block: 1994 SC2 DOHC complete bottom end
Head: 1999 SL SOHC complete head
OBX SOHC header
Catco High Flow Cat
2.25 Cat back
Findaza Aluminum Flywheel
Stock Clutch
MP3 transmission to replace the MP2
I recently pulled out the DOHC block for cleaning and inspection which looks great. However before ordering bearings, rings etc…. I decided slap on a head from the SOHC. I needed to find out if I was going to run into any problems with the pistons and valves contacting since this was going to bump the compression to about 10.2-1 I think.
I slapped the Head gasket on along with the SOHC head and torqed things down good enough for the time being and set the timing. Lucky enough everything cleared there was no contact to be found between the DOHC bottom end and the SOHC top. So, things look good and are a go to order the rest of the parts for the rebuild.
The car currently consist of the following mods:
57MM tapered TB
Short Ram Air Intake
Dog Bone motor mounts
Fart Cannon muffler
2” Sprint Lowering Springs
KYB Struts
Upper front strut tower bar
17x7 gunmetal wheels with a polished lip and 205 40 17 tires
Tinted windows
Some interior painted to match the Maroon exterior paint.
Out side of those things this car has been only used for Daily driving to and from work since we already have the turbo turd toy car and the family vue redline for the weekends. But, this build should be pretty good for a SOHC. I know there are other options to say swap to a DOHC. But, this is meant to keep things simple and cost effective and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t work now. But, when it’s all said and done I use the time and info from the old motor and setup and post it compared to the new setup when it’s done.
It’s gonna take some time as it’s just gotten started and when money comes in parts will be ordered. So it’s slow going but, hopefully before the stock motor dies this will be done. If not no biggy there are plenty of cars to choose from.
I never thought I’d be excited about working on a SOHC. But, Who knew this should be fun.
I’ll also have to post some current pictures and so on.
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