I bought a project 96 Saturn SC2 car.

[Xringer]

I once had a 1991 Laser RS. The 2L engine was from Mitsubishi Motors.
Some jerk in Japan forgot to put sealant on two screws in the motor wall between the live engine and the timing belt area.

As I drove, oil leaked out of my brand new engine and got all over the timing belt.
The stealership gave me the runaround for months, changed things that weren't leaking,
one of those things was the main crankshaft bearing+seal. They installed the new seal wrong. It was canted, just a bit
It didn't leak, but the two little screws kept on wetting the timing belt and pulleys.

When some idiot used an air-tool to put the small screws in the valve cover,
and stripped some of the holes.. I got very upset. When they put the left front wheel back on,
they over-torqued the lugs and warped the rotor so bad that my brakes were shot..

I took my old VHS camera and made a video of me using an 8 foot breaker-bar,
trying to get those nuts loosened.. Also showed the stripped screws in the valve cover+ a good rant..
I gave a copy of the video to the dealership and said, "that's the copy of the tape I'm sending to the CEO of the Chrysler Corporation".
They called me within the hour with good news. The expert from Mitsubishi would be in town tomorrow..
He found the problem, and screws were sealed, belt changed and the car was fine!
For about 40,000 miles, until that main seal popped out..
A local shop repaired it for $450 and I took it back the next day.. The timing was off.
One tooth off on the belt.. It's no wonder I like Toyota cars now..

[pinballlooking]

That is crazy. I am sure glad I have never experience anything like that.

We had a warm day today. I was able to do the headliner.
I put a new OEM fuel filter on it. Installed new heater core hose. I installed new front seal on the transmission.
I was installing the valve cover and the last bolt did not want to go in. I look down in the hole and there was a bolt broken off in it.
I sprayed PB blaster in the hole used a screw extractor and it actually worked.
The valve cover is now on.

[pinballlooking]

I installed a new temp sensor in the transmission. Connected up PVC valve.
I also cleaned up the coolant hose fitting.
The motor is ready to go back in Friday night.





I will have to pressure wash the transmission after the motor is running.

My son takes his drivers test on Sunday. He has over 100 hours driving with us.


This is the Saturn Start up procedure

To prime the oil system on a Saturn engine after a complete overhaul, head replacement, timing chain replacement, re-ring, or long term storage perform the following steps.
-Fill crankcase with 4 1/2 quarts of fresh new 5w-30 oil if this is the initial fill following a rebuild otherwise use 4 quarts of oil. Use a decent quality name brand oil.
-Fill a squirt pistol type oiler with the same oil.
-Squirt oil into the square port on the right side of the filter base do this several times until you can not get more oil to stay in it. This will take 4 to 6 ounces of oil.
-Fill the new oil filter a bit more than 1/2 full and screw it in place.
-Remove the PCM B fuse from the UHJB (under hood fuse box). This will prevent the fuel pump and injectors from operating while priming.
-Remove spark plugs.
-Place 1 squirt of 5w-30 oil in each cylinder.
-Turn key to crank and crank engine with the starter until the oil pressure light goes out. This may take several 20-30 second runs of the starter.
-Release key when the oil pressure light goes off.
-Turn key to crank and crank engine again until oil pressure light goes out. Repeat 2 times.
-Replace spark plugs.
-Replace PCM B fuse.
-Prime fuel system by turning key to on but not crank and wait until pump stops, turn key to off, wait 30 seconds. Repeat 2 times.
-Start engine.
*********************************
After start.
-If engine running as expected continue to let it sit and idle while you inspect for leaks and other off normal behavior.
-Do not touch the gas!
-Allow to sit and idle until the fan cycles on and off twice.
-Shutdown engine and allow a 30 minute oil drain down time
-Replace the oil and oil filter with a WIX 51516XP or Mobil-1 M1-209 (do not substitute) filter and a name brand high quality synthetic oil, or high quality name brand synthetic blend oil.
-Drive car conservatively, no steady RPM operation and hold max top gear RPM to < ~3000 RPM
-Closely monitor oil level by parking in the exact same spot and checking level after a 6 hour minimum drain down time. Maintain oil level at the Full mark or up to the lower edge of the "U" in full.
-Once it has been established that oil consumption is zero change oil and filter.
-At this point using a high end 100% PAO synthetic oil is the best option. Amsoil 5w-30 Signature Series or Amsoil
Series 3000 SAE 5W-30 Synthetic Heavy Duty Diesel Oil is recommended along with the WIX 51516XP filter. Do not run these filters more than 7500 miles but oil change can be done by oil sample results and no more than 700 operating hours. Buy an hour meter and hook it up.

[pinballlooking]

It is in now on to connecting everything back up. It sure looks better here than on the engine stand.





It is much closer to running.
It looks like my washer fluid container is missing.
I will be heading to the Junk yard to pick up a couple things.
It was no fun installing power steering pump the installing the wire connection after I installed it. If I do that over I will put the wiring on first.

[pinballlooking]

One of my radiator brackets was missing.
One radiator top bracket made. I will pick up one sometime when I get a chance and I am picking up other stuff.



I just don't like the feel of the OEM flex hoses the rubber almost has a brittle feel front is worse than the back. Off to rock auto I just ordered new all hoses. Safe and dependable is what I am going for.



The wheel cylinders are installed. Now time to rebuild the Calipers (all rubber parts the slider bolts are new) all those parts are here.

My rotors get delivered tomorrow the rubber flex brake lines have shipped. I am replacing front and back.

I finally paid the car sales tax yesterday wen to DMV got a plate and transferred the title to my name and my sons name.

We are getting very close to getting it on the road. I have never driven the car I sure hope the transmission is good. The sell said it was good but he also said it did not burn oil.
I know it burned oil the two bottom rings were frozen on the pistons. I hope he was truthful about the transmission. I will know soon the transmission fluid looks new.

I still hope the transmission is good it was his daily driver until the head gasket went out.

Bad news on the caliper rebuild the one piston has a nick in it and the inside both calipers were pitted. I am going to return the rebuild kits.
I ordered new calipers from Rock Auto. CARDONE Ultra Premium Caliper Exclusive Weatherproof Coating.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1266825&jsn=44

I have to return the cores but they have a 10 year 100,000 mile Warranty.

The brakes should work great the only thing left is the brake lines I rebuilt the master cylinder.

[pinballlooking]

We have Zack’s car on the road. It is running great. We have one CE code that is intermittent that I am tracking down. We have 225 miles on it so far. I filled it up at ½ tank and we got 28 mpg.









I needed spark plug wire keepers so I printer some out of PETG.



On a side note I have been keeping track of all the parts cost since we bought the car/rebuild.
We are at $1,200 this includes the $325 I paid for the car.

[pinballlooking]

Here is an inexpensive ELM OBD2 code reader that works with Torque
I wanted to leave a code reader in my son’s car. I did not want to spend that much but it needed to work with Torque so he could clear codes.
This one is $12.95 shipped with prime and works well with Torque.
It is a little bigger than one I have but much cheaper than my other one.

Torque Pro cost $4.95 so for just under $18 you can read and clear codes.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did buy a cheaper and smaller one off ebay but it did not work with Torque so it is just a paper weight.

I have a OBDLink LX that works great and I use with my Chevy Volt and my son's Saturn but the one above connects just a quick and works well.

I am using these with android phones.

[jeff5may]

I have a few of the BAFX brand elm327 scanners. For $22, you can't go wrong. It has worked better than some of my buddies' 200 dollar rigs, finding and controlling more stuff than theirs could. They won't work with iPhones though.

[pinballlooking]

The car was throwing a code and we were able to find it with a Tech2 clone tool.
So useful.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/tools/...2win-gds2.html
I took my other son's injectors and this fixed it. I went to the junk yard and got the 99 some replacement injectors. They are working well.



This car is now running great. Very good idle shifts just right now. He is getting his windows tinted tomorrow.
How a car can make it 22 years in the south without tinted windows is beyond me.



He is out of school now but he was putting on 40 miles a day. Good news my new Volt is not putting on 80 miles a day now.
Not a bad trade off.

[pinballlooking]

Over 5K miles on the on the new motor rebuild it is running great.
We are getting it ready for paint.
It sure takes a bunch of time getting it ready.