B18 Engine Rebuild In 24 Hours (LSVTEC)

86,400 seconds!? Sounds plenty... But is it going to be enough time to get the car back on a road??

One of you asked: "How did you become so knowledgeable with rebuilding engines? You learned from others? Went to school/college? Read books then applied knowledge through trial and error? I'm very curious.."

It all started in 2010. The car was completely stock. I was delivering pizza when the engine lost the power. Someone said it was a rod knock based on the sounds of it. Only I had no clue what that meant.

$10K in credit card debt I was broke and couldn't afford a mechanic. To my surprise, a co-worker, who was into drug racing offered help. Free, but under three conditions. One, I had to remove the engine. Wait what?! (I only knew how to change oil and maybe a headlight). Two, I'd have to come up with the necessary parts. I began engine removal as soon as I got home. What other choice did I have? Even if I failed, at least I have tried. I worked on it every day. Basically removing everything that connected the engine to the car. Made numerous trips to a parts store as my tool inventory was limited. Took many hours. When engine was ready to come out I borrowed a cherry picker from a friend. Connected the chains to the intake and exhaust manifold studs. Removed engine to tranny bolts and pushed the long block of the dowels. That's when I realized that I should have removed harmonic balancer as the engine got jammed. I didn't account for the pressure plate that required an extra clearance. After rocking the engine back and forth w/o success, it became obvious that the balancer had to come out. But I couldn't get a socket on it. So I decided to mate it back with the tranny. That didn't work either. I guess the chains weren't even because the block was hanging sideways. I tried to jack it up. Felt like I needed just a little more leverage from the top to make it work. So I inserted a steel pipe inside the upper radiator hose housing. As soon as I pulled up on it the housing broke. It was getting pretty late and I was exhausted. I decided to call it a day. To my disappointment, I couldn't lower the garage door because the hoist was in the way. I had it in front of the car, instead of connecting it from the passenger side. So I turned off the lights and exhausted passed out inside the car.

To make the story short, no - I didn’t go to school, nor did I read any books. I just desperately needed my car back. My co-worker Mark kept his promise. He actually came and got the engine out. He basically forced it by clocking it about 45 degrees, so that harmonic balancer got the clearance it needed (by the headlight). He explained every step of the way while taking it apart and putting it back together. I put it back. This was Mark's last condition. To my surprise, the car started and ran. It didn't last very long because I messed up on the oil change at 500 mile mark. Installed bent oil filter and ran out of oil. Spun a bearing, again. I could tell disappointment in Mark's reply when he found out. What a shame. I told him that I'm going to rebuild it myself. And I did. This second rebuild within months of the first pretty much sealed my knowledge. In the next 5 years I went through another 3 engine rebuilds. The one you saw in the video was the last one. Because I finally found the culprit. A $10 switch from Autozone that I installed on the fuel pump wiring. It was starving me of gas under high RPM. Too bad it took 3 engines before my tuner pinpointed it for me. Regardless, I enjoying every moment until the winter of 2019. When i suddenly lost my mom to cancer. That's when I realized how consumed I was with the car and neglected my mom. She should have been my first priority. Please forgive me Mom. You're always in my heart. I love you.

Now go ahead, get those wrenches out. If I can do it, so can you. Just remember not to repeat my mistakes.