While I'm in there advice needed

[Bullet Bob]

Actually it is one quart per 1500 miles now that i think of it. I add one quart between oil changes which I do every 3k miles. I think this is still pretty good though.

[island911]

IMO, Bobboloo has the right idea for bare minimum. After that, additional work is really just your personal balancing of the cost vs benefit of getting it really right.

also, one quart per 1500 miles on 190k 3.2 . . . I think the heads have been done at least once already.

[Bullet Bob]

Well, it looks like I am going to do the top and bottom :-) I pulled a cylinder and it was well oversized. I figure the bottom end has never been done but the top end was done not too long ago and the piston rings were probably replaced. The cylinders are Alusil as well.

I figure I will replace them with Mahle Euro pistons (95mm) and cylinders. I already have new SSI headers, GHL exhaust (2 in 1 out), and Wong chip. My suspension is also off the car so I could install the Poly Bronze bushings. This should be a fun car when all is finished. Any other performance mods that I could do while rebuilding that will not set me back too much further?

[slodave]

Originally Posted by efhughes3

How long do people think oil coolers last without some sort of failure? Spend the $200 and do it right. Mine only cost $170. It looks brand new.

Ed, While I agree that the oil cooler can go bad, mine is still not leaking at 227,xxx miles. I replaced the three rubber rings last year and cleaned the cooler. Still looks like it did last year. If nothing else, a cheap test could be performed to check the condition.

Dave

[efhughes3]

Originally Posted by slodave

Ed, While I agree that the oil cooler can go bad, mine is still not leaking at 227,xxx miles. I replaced the three rubber rings last year and cleaned the cooler. Still looks like it did last year. If nothing else, a cheap test could be performed to check the condition.

Dave

The point was I didn't think mine was bad, no major leak of any sort, but it did have a pinhole. Much easier to check it out while off the car!

[Bobboloo]

Well it's a good thing you checked the cylinders. I forget that they were still using Alusil sets for 3.2 motors.

Just curious. How did the pistons and ring land spec out? There's been a long running debate on the logic behind re-ringing an Alusil P+C set and my experience has been that the cylinders wear out before the pistons and rings on Alusil sets. It would be nice to know as a data point.

Do you have pump gas with high enough octane to run the Euro pistons. Here in California the highest octane is usually 91 at the pump which isn't high enough. I'm not sure what the minimum is for those Euro 10.3:1 pistons.

[Bullet Bob]

I really haven't got in there and taken the measurements I need to as I am still in the teardown and cleanup phase. I will keep you posted of the developments as I go. I have been talking around and it sounds like the 98mm pistons and cylinders would give more bang for the buck but that would require twin plug. I am considering this but I need to get a better idea of what the engine needs before jumping into something like that. This stuff gets expensive fast, even when one does the work themselves. I need to digest it all a bit before moving on.

I thought that I read in Waynes book (under favorite engines) that the chipped 3.4 twin plug engine produced ~320 horsepower. Is that a misprint? It seems like more than it should be.

I also need to work around 91 octane gas and it sounds like any major modifications to the CR will require twin plug.

[efhughes3]

You won't get 320HP out of a 3.4 twin plug engine. The rule of thumb is that you should be twin plug on a 95mm high compression or any 98mm setup if you are on 91 octane.

The bang for the buck on 98mm is going into the sunset when most places are north or $4K for a new set of Mahles.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by efhughes3

The point was I didn't think mine was bad, no major leak of any sort, but it did have a pinhole. Much easier to check it out while off the car!

I just have a high mileage ego .

Yes, far easier to check things while the engine is out.

Dave