No Crust Racing

The advice came from a good panel beater mate of mine. Too rigid causes cracking in seam sealer (if used) and paint over top. Makes any repairs harder to do. There's always flex and having them fully welded can move the forces elsewhere. When removing the factory tubs, they were just spot welded in also. Re the towers, I'll only be stitching those at most, it wont be full seams. I think I'm comfortable going with his advice, was just asking what you did/how it's held up.

Any chance of swarf making its way into the pan?

Did you full weld those tubs in? I was advised to just stitch mine in to allow a small amount of flex and make it easier to remove/repair. Feels weird to not fully weld a piece of body panel though 0_0

I've got a 10L one, love it. Also have the basic SCA parts washer, that mostly sits there as an extra work surface but is very handy when needed.

Good news mate - well done for no crunchy noises Ya just gotta asleep it off, go rest.

Sorry to hear on both fronts. We had our 2nd round a few weks ago, thanks kids.

Bro, you don't say the quiet parts out loud....

For me a few things compounded the issue. - Wanting to learn a few aspects, such as hand lapping valve seats (10hrs-20hrs) - Wanting to balance the rotating assembly down to 1g on cast parts, (15hrs easy) - Not knowing this wack FWD platform, 10hrs to remove to remove the subframe/engine etc - Having never used mic or bore guages etc, thinking I was doing it wrong, finding out 2 rods were oval and I was correct (10hrs easy). And the list goes on, each shed session was 60-90mins so it takes a lot of them On the contrary, when I sold the CA/Box/ECU it was 3hrs to remove, split, put on a pallet solo having never done it before. This is the reason that the XR5 will get sold and I will go back to a JDM daily. Euro stuff is painful to work on.

That sucks about the pipe. Life loves to bend you over sometimes. Catch can idea seems sound to me.

I am embarrassed by how long mine took given what you've gotten done 0_0

Mega effort mate well done. If it makes you feel better... - My new front and rear mains leaked immediately, meaning I had to redo timing again and remove gearbox to replace. - When testing the rear main ws good I had the selector cables off the box (box in neutral, no drive shafts in) but there was enough vibration for it try and grab a gear at idle speeds and it spat the diff shims out, so box had to come out again... There's always "something".

We all gave him some options and opinions, he can choose the one he likes. Move on.

It seems 2 out 2 handsome DIY mechanics agree that you can get away without it.

They help, especially if you are going solo This job is 10x easier with a second set of hands and if you have a helper, you can get away without the leveler. I also used ratcheting straps to help change angles. It's cheap, can sell later and recover most of the cost if you want to.

Absolutely put it in as 1 piece.

Making rapid progress. Can't comment on the pump, never had to do that.

I'd like to think the standards are higher than me building one in my shed is my point Duncan lol

Not really comparable though? I would expect a brand new performance engine to have been assembled in a very clean environment using high quality components and have most variables finally controlled. Heck, that'd probably include the knowing how much "material" the first oil fill will need "hold" from the break in process (if they are not being broken in on a dyno and having oil dumped immediately after). Not quite the same as refreshing an engine that's had a spun bearing go through it or similar where you're re-using some parts that may or may not be hiding a plethora of debris. Cost of engine rebuild? Many many thousands usually, $$ you save using plain mineral/something else oil vs break in oil for the first change? $50 - $100 if you're lucky? Break in oil is not exactly expensive. Good mineral diesel oil ~ same cost as break in oil anyway. Would rather use the product specifically designed for the process personally with my extensive engine building experience (1).

Interestingly, my petrol toyota engine specs the exact same oil as the diesel variant of that car, and guess what, those petrol engines are known to last forever and be clean as a whistle inside...

True of almost every aspect of cars really...

lol well I like my mower, 12-13yrs going strong so I dont wanna risk it. Is it weird to get attached to things purely because they have lived a long life?

I used break in oil, was told to. Have 2-3L left over I have no idea what to do with, put in the mower? Not sure what high zinc content will do, will do some reading.

Very common, worked fine for me. Have seen vaseline also, you just want something that will dissolve in your break in oil, assembly lube "fits the Bill" nicely

Windage etc as Duncan said, the CA ran a "balance tube" from factory though and it ran on the intake side. Anything will help, many people claim there's SFA oil actually flowing in them anyway and they end up just being a pressure relief as in the CA.

Those clearances are fine, as is mixing bearing shells, which I have done on my big ends to open them up a little as they were too tight for my liking (in spec) but this engine is known for spinning big ends and I was always going to mod/tune etc. "0.001" of clearance for every inch of journal" or there abouts is a very widely accepted range. Just spec your oil accordingly, i.e. my engine could have big ends down to to .013mm which is too tight for my liking and specs a 0w-40 oil, I aim for 0.0425 to 0.046, but am running a 5w-40. My mains were pretty much bang on the same as yours (yes different engine and one less cylinder).