2001 SL1 1.9 SOHC Engine Rebuild
 

Still working on my engine rebuild as time (and garage temperatures) permit. Head is back on as well as the timing chain. Cleaning timing chain cover and oil pump pocket. Pics attached. Hope to get the engine in this weekend assuming the boss doesn't have other "more important" things to do.

Everyone's looking, but nobody's talking.....

Lookin good ! Love that first pic

I'm looking too.

I had no idea that was a side mounted engine. Mine was vertical, not horizontal! LOL
Seriously, nice job of keeping it clean and tidy. I'm sure it'll fire right up one you get it back in and everything plugged back in. One question. Do you have to prime the oil pump before starting it? IDK and am just wondering.

I always disable the fuel and crank a fresh engine until the oil light goes out. I also use a lot of assembly lube. In the old days of distributor driven oil pumps, I would prime the pump with a dummy distributor.

OK, I'm back on the engine rebuild tomorrow. In the mean time I'll try to flip this pictures so that it doesn't look like a horizontal engine. I can rebuild an engine but the darn computer technology outsmarts me every time :confused:.

And yes, I too am using a lot of assembly lube and oil when putting components back in but will also be cranking the engine before actually starting it to make sure I get a good flow of oil thru all the passages.

Another word of advice from the machine shop who checked my cylinder bore was to hand cycle the engine thru several complete revolutions with you finger over the spark plug holes BEFORE installing the engine back into the car to make sure you fell the compression cycle to ensure the the valves and crankshaft are synced correctly once the head is installed and the timing chain is installed.

Soo many details......

Good advice from the machine shop. Did you use plati-gauge to check your bearing clearances? I really liked using it back in the days I did rebuilds. And assembly lube is a good idea too. I used to use STP if I ran out of the assembly lube. That stuff was really slick!

I'm ashamed to say that I did not check the bearing clearances. I know I probably should have. But I inspected my bearings for any signs of undue wear and they seemed to be in good shape. So I used STD bearing replacements. That's probably the absolute wrong thing to do, but that's what I did. :mad: But if I can get another 50K or more out of this engine that already has 206K on it, I'll consider this a success. (Damn, if the engine even starts after it gets it back in the car, I'll consider that a success as well.)

I did try to re-post those pictures yesterday evening to have them in the correct orientation, but once again I've failed computers 101.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the clearances. If there was any strange wear on the crank or rods, you should have noticed it by examining the wear on the old ones. Sometimes if a journal is a little out of round, it'll cause excess wear in one spot or another. I'm sure you'll probably get another 100-200,000 out of it. They're damn good engines.

I'm quiet because this is way beyond anything I'd try attempting. Not having a garage, jack, and decent tools kinda limits what I can do.

I'm only attempting to rebuild this engine because it was "dead" anyway. Figured I couldn't make it any worse that it was. So I'm out a few bucks for parts but the learning experience is priceless.

Some new pics. First two are the empty engine bay. Notice the awesome transmission support tool. The remainder are pics of the front and side of the engine with the timing chain cover now installed along with the pulleys and the water pump. The brackets for hoisting the engine are also in place so next task is to put the engine back on the hoist so that I can put the flywheel (flex plate) on the back work on the bottom of the engine to install the oil pump screen and the oil pan.

Getting close to dropping it back in the car. I also replaced the heater core while I had easy access to the firewall connections. You'll also see a new heater pipe that runs from the heater core connection on the firewall, along the right fender to the antifreeze tank. I crushed one end of this pipe while attempting to take a heater hose off so i opted for a new one rather than trying to straighten out the pipe and fight leaks.

So I'm making progress, slow as it may be.

One place where I'm going to have to not follow the repair manual.... torque of the front crankshaft bolt is something like 157 ft-lb. My torque wrench only goes to 75 ft-lbs. So that bolt will just have to be as tight as I can get it with my 18" cheater bar.

You now know more about your car than 99% of all people. Shops will not be able to sell you something you don't need. I do this for a living and my wife just had her tires rotated on Friday. She came home with a $600 quote for new rear brakes, I don't think so! You are getting close, keep up the good work!

Wow $600 for new rear brakes. I'm in the wrong profession. But then again, I couldn't live myself trying to cheat someone like that.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

There are greasy things that go putt putt and boom boom under the metal cover thingie. When I throw a wrench and hammer at it, it fixes itself. Pardon me while I go check my headlight fluid.

As long as you kept a written step by step with pics, we can make a 22 page sticky with it. Nice!

Are you really supporting the tranny front with chicken wire and a Budweiser aluminum bat?

Must be a mechanical engineer to know that the hollow cylinder of the bat is actually stronger than a solid aluminum bar w regards to bending.....

In pic #2, I noticed he leftmost upper strut mount nut looks to be about 1/2 a ft lb too light. Be careful when tightening that you dont exceed the spec. If it is saturn issue, it will twist off right after the spec.

Also, if you've never changed the idler pulley or belt tensioner, if you're ever going to, now would be the time. Personally I have 251K on the originals w no issues, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Just saying you might want to replace some parts that are not defective with some new ones. Because you can. Watch out for the belt tensioners -- i think some of the aftermarkets are slightly too large and cause a problem. Do your homework if you proceed

Nice job, man. Slow and steady wins the race. Looking good!

Haven't posted anything recently regarding the engine rebuild but I will be adding some more photos soon. Dropped the engine back into the car yesterday and I learned some things NOT to do when rebuilding the engine that I will share with some new pics soon.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. I sure hope this engine lives again when I get all the parts reinstalled.

You'll be just fine. As long as you labeled the wiring harness and know where everything plugs in, that is! LOL Oh, and make sure you put the drain plug back in the oil pan. I had an older neighbor once that rebuilt the 350 in his Cutlass and kept adding oil to it. He put in 5 to start and then checked the dipstick. Nothing on it. He put in 2 more. Not on dipstick. I tried to tell him what was wrong and he told me to shut the F up, that I was 14 and didn't know S about cars. Once he got the entire 12 quarts dumped in with nothing on the stick, I told him to look under the car and started laughing and went home. Dude was a douchebag!

Speaking of overpriced, I just looked up the price for a new fog light/dimmer panel for S-series.



Are you sitting down?



$75. And that was the cheapest I could find out of two websites that are selling new ones. Guess I'm going yard walking and looking for Saturns with fog lights. (Bg info: My car has lights installed but no button on the dash to turn them on.)

Be sure to heck the wiring coming to the plug to ensure that the wiring harness coming to the panel contains the wiring for the fogs....


Would have been cheaper to build them all the same but you never know

Yeah, I have a suspicion that a previous owner put fogs into the bumper to complete the look. I don't know if SC2s came standard with fogs or if they were an option. There is a fuse for the fogs in the fuse box....so...I dunno! I don't need the fogs, so they can sit there and look good for all I care.

They were an option in 97 IIRC. No clue for 2002. Sounded like you wanted to hook them up. If they still use the 3 button panel at the top of the console, that's what I'm referring to. Back in the days when Traction control was an option, if it wasn't selected, the 3 button panel had a solid 1st panel. So I meant that you should check the wiring there to see if there are leads to that switch that are currently unused. If not run your own

Ok, enough thread jacking ( in which I was a willing participant and for which I apologize). I'm supposed to be setting an example around here.

Let's wait for Baldguy's next post about his build.

Yup, I'll make a new thread about it.

LOL - you guys kill me!

I am what I am.

No more.

Usually less.

And NEVER on time

Mistake No. 1 - these engines go in sideways, i.e. the front of the engine faces the right wheel well not the radiator. DUH!

Also have new radiator installed. (no, I did not run the engine into the radiator when attempting to drop the engine into the car).

Lessons learned - when lowering the engine into the car with the tranny still in the car, it's almost a must to have the crankshaft pulley off and it might be helpful to have all the belt pulleys off. There is almost no clearance to get the engine down to clear the bushings on the tranny without the pulleys right up against the right fender wheel well. Plus is helps if you can get the engine level before attempting to lower it. I had the engine nose down which causes interference with the flywheel (flex plate) and the block to the bell housing when lowing the engine.

Back on it today to get the engine to torque converter connected and start on the intake manifold and exhaust manifold.

Dude! Turn on a light in that garage. I can't see what you're doing. LOL

DUDE !!! DId you truly forget how the engine came out of the car????????

LMFAO ROTF

That has got to be up there in the top 5 funniest things I've ever seen posted on this forum

we still love you, in a Saturn comradery sense.

Well I do, anyway.

You know derf, I come from the age when front wheel cars were the oddity, 90% of the cars all used the same round headlight, either the dual beam or the low and high beam, and 3 oil filter part numbers fit almost all the cars on the road either Ford, GM, or Chrysler. The only foreign car was the Volkswagen Beetle. So I claim old age and senility for trying to put my engine back in as a rear wheel drive.

Glad you got a kick out of that photo.

Thank you for the background, sir.


Indeed the automotive world has diversified greatly, now encompassing many models and brands designed and controlled w rival technologies-----most just as unreliable or quirky as the next

Hahahahaha laughing too hard. looks nice and shiney, reminds me of when I was rebuilding my twin cam a few years back, learned alot along the way. good to see you thought ahead and replaced everything hard to get to behind the motor before you threw it back in.
ready for another 200k :D

I'm still working on this engine. Seems like I can only find an hour or two a week to work on it.

Last night I got the EGR valve on, the power steering pump installed, the serpentine belt on and the upper motor mount (which i had to open up the two holes that tie it onto the fender bracket since the OEM welded the lower plate on off by about 1/8 inch). Only have the coolant bleed line and the secondary air source vacuum line to install before putting the valve cover on and re-filling fluids.

But of course I ran into a new problem that I'm hoping some of you experts can help me with. Apparently I lost the fitting that goes between the coolant bleed line and the head. The coolant air bleed line screws into a fitting that screws into the head just above where the upper radiator hose attaches to the head. Does anyone know what threads are in the head where this fitting screws in? Or where I could get a replacement fitting? The coolant air bleed line has a flared end and a nut on the pipe that should screw into this fitting. I just need to figure out what threads are on the head. Any suggestions?

seems like someone w a parts car should be able to help you out by either figuring out the thread or sending you the missing pieces.

I'd hate to see your rebuild stalled out over something like this.....

I found the part at GMPartsGiant.com. $1.11 for the part and $9.55 for shipping. That sucks! Oh well, I should have the part in about a week and by then, that should be the last thing i need for finding out if I'm successful or if I should never pick up a wrench again....

OK, I'm getting closer. Just need that darn fitting for the coolant air bleed line.

So while I'm waiting for the fitting to arrive that I ordered..... I tore into another engine. It must be a sickness. I can't help myself. Although this wasn't a Saturn engine.

But it is a beautiful day, I have (had) a 12 pack of Amberbock and a Cub Cadet that was coughing and sputtering every time I engaged the PTO clutch - so what's the best thing to do? Of course, take the engine out. That seems to be my fix for everything anymore. If it's broke, take the engine out. Well in this case it turned out to be a good thing. Taking the engine out, I found that the primary and spark plug wire to one of the magnetos had rubbed thru and was shorting out to ground. Sorry, I know this isn't Saturn related so I'll shut up and go back to searching for parts for my tractor. Thanks for listening.

I hope you took the engine off that trash can. The weight of it could eventually collapse one side and then you might end up with a fractured cylinder or head or that! Please use a work bench or saw horses with a sturdy 2x6 or three or four! LOL Looks like a fun project while you're waiting on that cheap, high dollar part!

Relax Rube!. The engine is back on the law mower frame. Now I'm waiting on parts for it. Wonder what I can tear apart now??????