Click here to go back to the engine page.

On this page we take a closer look at the short block and some pictures of the engine mocked-up.

The pictures below are of the short block.

If you remove your balance shafts be sure to plug this hole. It's an oil passage to lube the balance shafts. Dennis used a 5/16" coarse allen head set screw. You'll need to drill the bedplate hole out larger and tap it 5/16" coarse in order for your plug to fit. If you skip this step your engine will die a quick death.

It is also an excellent idea to use the balance shaft mounting holes to locate an oil pan baffle. Gary Donovan was the first person to do something like this, but in a 2.5 Turbo engine for his 10sec Reliant. The balance shaft carrier acts as a quazi oil baffle. Once it has been removed the oil can slosh around quite a bit, possibly starving the oil pump pickup while accelerating hard, braking hard, or cornering quickly. If you leave the shaft assembly in, but disconnect the chain, you still need to plug the oil supply hole anyway.

Apparently when the engine was removed from the car at the salvage yard they might have put a hole in the oil pan when the car was being moved from its spot in the yard. Initally Dennis tried to put a plate over the hole with some JB Weld and some testing with water showed that it didn't leak. But once oil was put in it somehow the oil managed to slowly leak out of the pan a drop at a time. Rather then have that leak I wanted to replace the pan with a new one so as not to worry about it leaking.

Below are some pictures of the engine mocked-up on the engine stand.

Click here to go back to the engine page.