turns out my motor is a time bomb..

[novaderrik]

i pulled the motor and trans out of my car yesterday to do some cleanup, seal some leaks, and put some better parts in the trans.
anyways, since i had it out i'd see what i had. i knew the motor wasn't the original- the guy i bought it from said the stock motor blew up in late '92 and he put a parts store replacement long block in it- which promptly blew a head gasket in the spring of 93 and got parked until i got it in 2004...
so i wrote down all the numbers and looked over at Turbo Regal Web Site to see what i had.
the block is a 25506397 which is a late 70's carbed motor.
the heads are 25506393, which are 80-81 castings.
the rods have 3 dots and no two have the same numbers on them.
i couldn't see if the crank had the rolled fillets, but i doubt it.
but it does have the correct baffled oil pan, so that's something. i think it also has the correct turbo flexplate on it..

looks like i need to find me a 4.1 and some money. i think i know of a 4.1, which only leaves the $$$ problem.

 

["Turbo-T"]

If someone told me they put a "parts store replacement" engine in a TR I think I'd run the opposite way. Heard way too many horror stories with those "parts store replacement" engines. And to top it off it's apparent the last owner was not only dumb but also beat on it. I know this is now hindsight for you. I do concur with you though...a 4.1 should be a nice engine.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

All turbo engines are time bombs.

 

[Grumpy]

All turbo engines are time bombs.

yup... NOT "if" but "WHEN" Why not run that motor till it blew up

 

[novaderrik]

If someone told me they put a "parts store replacement" engine in a TR I think I'd run the opposite way. Heard way too many horror stories with those "parts store replacement" engines. And to top it off it's apparent the last owner was not only dumb but also beat on it. I know this is now hindsight for you. I do concur with you though...a 4.1 should be a nice engine.

well, when i bought the car, it had a blown head gasket that the previous owner thought was a blown piston- so i bought the car on the assumption that it needed a motor, anyways. the only reason i didn't catch the "wrong" parts back then was because i didn't know anything about TR's- or the Buick V6 in general- so i never bothered to look up the head castings while i had it apart for the head gaskets..
and the guy wasn't "dumb"- he builds his own big block Chevy engines for his dragster- he just wasn't a Buick guy and never really had any interest in the car. it just sat on his used car lot for 11 years before he decided he wanted it gone and sold it to me for $2k..

 

["Turbo-T"]

and the guy wasn't "dumb"- he builds his own big block Chevy engines for his dragster- he just wasn't a Buick guy and never really had any interest in the car. it just sat on his used car lot for 11 years before he decided he wanted it gone and sold it to me for $2k..

Ok maybe not dumb...so why did the engine blow up then spit out a HG? Probably due to detonation? Why? Did he run 87 octane? Something tells me he obviously didn't know how anything about these engines and probaby didn't care to try. Maybe I should have said he was ignorant?

 

[novaderrik]

Ok maybe not dumb...so why did the engine blow up then spit out a HG? Probably due to detonation? Why? Did he run 87 octane? Something tells me he obviously didn't know how anything about these engines and probaby didn't care to try. Maybe I should have said he was ignorant?

he said the first motor went bad when pieces of the stock turbo got ingested into the motor. he had the mechanic put a remanturbo on it when the new motor was put in.
there were a couple of issues i found when i tore into this motor to do the head gaskets
1) the knock sensor wasn't hooked up- the wire was just hanging down on top of the trans.
2) every head bolt was barely snug- i damn near fell down when i went to loosen the first bolt with the 1/2" drive breaker bar... i used my trusty 3/8" craftsman ratchet to loosen the rest of the bolts.

yup- gotta love the quality of some remanufactured engines.
but whatever- as it sits, i've got less than $3k into a nice 84 T type with under 70,000 miles on it. just needs some bumper fillers, doors, and paint to be pretty and a mild 4.1 to be fast enough and reliable..

 

[BlackBandit]

yup... NOT "if" but "WHEN" Why not run that motor till it blew up

x2

Really, just stick it in and run it. That would give you time to build your 4.1 without any time constraints and if blows who cares.