[skills4lou]

Much to my wife’s chagrin, I have made the decision official: Bazuki is getting the good engine. No more farting around with the one that blew up twice now. So, it’s back in the shop so that I can begin removal. I’m going to need to do some cleaning and organizing before doing much real work though: there’s the good engine/trans/t-case, two other auto trans, a t-case, a front differential, most of a 2.0 engine, and a few buckets of parts already crammed in there. At this rate I’m going to need another storage shed just for vehicle stuff.

 

[skills4lou]

Man, between 50hr work week, playing at the lake and general life this project got put off a while. BUT, I have the next week off..mostly for chasing tasty critters around with pointy sticks but also I'm hoping to make some progress on the little dude. After work this evening I got the hood off and started disassembly. Wife has us scheduled for a date weekend away starting tomorrow afternoon, so I only have the morning to make some progress on this. I figure if I can finish getting the harness peeled back and maybe the exhaust out of the way that'll be enough. Anyone wanna help?

 

[skills4lou]

Finally making some real progress on this pig!

And, some carnage shots:

 

[rallison203]

At this rate I’m going to need another storage shed just for vehicle stuff.

I keep all my extra parts in my parts car. Slam the door and boom, I'm completely organized.

I thought yours was a 2.5? If not, please ignore. If so, I highly recommend a 2.7L swap.

Somebody here locally just sold a 99 Tracker with a Cummins diesel swap, which I thought was interesting. Lots of good ideas out there.

 

[skills4lou]

This one is the 2.5. The engine that's going in is one I picked up a couple years ago. Widow lady's husband had pulled it out of their car that had started rusting through (good drivetrain but body wasn't worth saving). She could remember what the vehicle was, only that it was a Suzuki. The stamps on the block/heads don't say H25a like the engine I removed, so it very well MAY be a 2.7 swap. In any case, whatever the 'new' engine is that's what's going in.
At this point the parts cars have been disposed of, so the Bazuki is as close as I have to a parts car. Wife is happy I got rid of the other two, but not really happy I still have this one.
OH, anyone want a 2003 Toyota Echo? My son didn't check the oil often enough and spun a rod bearing. So yea...one more junk car laying around. I listed in on CL maybe someone will want the nearly new tires at least.
If not, I'll haul it to the junkyard.

 

[skills4lou]

I got the engine bay cleaned up, and made some good progress today:

The replacement is indeed an H25, I found the stamp while cleaning:

and I still have a pile of other parts:

 

[rallison203]

I got the engine bay cleaned up, and made some good progress today:

This may have been covered elsewhere. But why do you have holes in your old engine?

 

[2013GV]

This may have been covered elsewhere. But why do you have holes in your old engine?

Easier inspection of internal components?

 

[skills4lou]

Short answer is that a connecting rod experienced a high speed come-apart and shrapnel made a rapid exit out the side of the block. Why that happened I haven't determined (yet), but my suspicion is that the #5 connecting rod wasn't actually in good shape like the machine shop told me. If anyone needs any parts from that (everything above the crank should be in good shape, heads had a valve job, new pistons/rings etc.) let me know. It'd be nice to see those do something besides go for scrap.

 

[skills4lou]

In amongst all the other projects that got dumped on me, I was able to connect almost all the wiring harness and various vacuum/emissions hoses. I have a few items to get from the parts store before I can fire it up, but she did crank over just a bit when I turned the key.
Parts to pick up include new exhaust manifold to pipe gaskets, some vacuum and power steering hoses, antifreeze, engine oil, and maybe some new drain bolt seal washers if I can't locate my supply of those.
It sure felt good to put the battery back in and at least have it turn over.
This engine is from the newer versions (I believe '02+) because the intake manifold vacuum taps are different. Aside from needing to reroute some vacuum lines though, so far it has been a straightforward swap.

 

[skills4lou]

Today I had a wheel bearing project on the XL7, then helped a buddy get his tail lights working. He had to make a parts run, so I picked up a few things for the Bazuki. Once I had all the other stuff finished I tried to install the new power steering pump hose. Of course, it's not metric sized and I ended up busting the nipple off the bottom of the reservoir.

So does anyone have a spare reservoir sitting around? I might have one in my parts pile, so I'll try that first. Why parts stores in the USA can't make the switch to actual metric sized tubing is beyond me. It's not like we have 2 or 3 decades of vehicles that use the far superior SI standards....OH WAIT..Yes we do!!!

Anyhoo, rant over.

 

[skills4lou]

Success on the reservoir! I found one in the parts pile, ready to go. And I also was able to pick up some Mahle exhaust gaskets for the cat to y-pipe connections. All I need now is a weekend to finish buttoning things back together. Unfortunately this is not that weekend. Wife and I will be taking a little anniversary trip.

 

[skills4lou]

I’m working along at my usual blistering fast pace, this afternoon I got the exhaust buttoned up, radiator in, and all the fluid filled back up. After one final check I went ahead and tried it. She cranked for maybe two revolutions and then fired up. I let it run for maybe 30 seconds, shut it off and checked things out. No issues, started up again and let it run for a minute or two, repeat a few times then let it run long enough to warm up completely. Any way, Bazuki is alive again!
I’ll have to finish up all the little things and get the hood back on, but so far it’s looking promising. The valve lifters are still chattering a bit, but I’m not too worried about that just yet. Sitting for over a decade probably was a good way to drain those down.

 

[skills4lou]

And the hits just keep on coming:

What I THOUGHT was just a blob of glue from when the PO installed a heater on the oil pan was actually a”repair” of that hole. It was leaking a bit oil, so I started cleaning it up and wondering how deep that rabbit hole goes. It turns out I really should have investigated further before install.
Does anyone know if 3M 4200 is affected by oil?

 

[L84sky]

I didn't notice the "glue blob" in your ealier photo. Is there any way to TIG weld that hole closed?

 

[skills4lou]

Yup, that's the little bastard.
Yes, it can be TIG welded. Which means I'm up against a decision: Pull the motor to access the pan, or drop the front axle and finish pulling the rack and pinion? I'm leaning towards front axle/steering. Any way you look at it the pan has to come off. And I already double checked the blown engine that was removed...big hole there as well.
I guess I'm happy it's not leaking from that oval o-ring where oil pump supply goes through block halves, so that's a win!
Of course that means this one is in the shop at least a few more weeks. Heck, at this point a few more weeks isn't going to hurt any more than the previous months/years of shop time.
Once I get this buttoned up I'm going to drive it a while to make sure all is good, and then I'm most likely going to sell it. We have too many vehicles as it is, I think five 4WD vehicles may be a bit much. Oh...six, I almost forgot the Can-Am Outlander.

Oh, before I drained the oil I ran the engine some more to warm things up. The lifters have all filled back up and the engine really sounds good.

 

[skills4lou]

OK, I'm back from a trip to Portland and Seattle (man, I'm glad I don't live there!). Hopefully this week I'll get a chance after work to work on the little dude. I need to get him outta the shop so I can do a MUCH needed cleaning in there.

 

[skills4lou]

It's been a little while since I updated this, but I did get the oil pan fixed and the Bazuki is running and driving. I actually just got back from a town trip. It wasn't quite running as smooth at idle as I know they can, so I'm going to swap out the coils/lances from the original engine, they are practically brand new. I didn't want to swap things over until I knew for sure this motor would be good, but at this point it all looks good.