2/26/2024 – The Viper is out of the race, a hole in the engine.

Hayden V -

Week 2 has been very enjoyable at UMS to say the least. Ulrik, Brendan, Eric, Tony, and Cuban have been incredibly welcoming. I did not even know if I was going to work on Monday since it was Presidents Day. So I walk in and learned the shop was open so I continued my day like usual. I went to help Eric work on the BMW and UMS had some people there to fix a sign on the roof. Eric told me to move an Evo 3 rally car, which was surprising he trusted me to move a car. Even though I drove it 15 feet, it was awesome to drive anyway.

After that I helped Ulrik work on some very expensive RB26 engines from Nissan GTRs. We were putting the oil pans and some other bolts in. The red engine has a billet block from Australia, which costs about $11k, just for the engine block. Ulrik was not pleased at all when he was working on it since some of the holes for the bolts were not fully threaded so the bolts would bottom out before the bolt would fully seat.

Everyone was having lunch so I went to buy lunch. But when I got back, Cuban asked why I did not just get my lunch before coming to work. I told him that I did not even know if I was coming to work since its a holiday and he started laughing. He said, “This aint no bank… Yea thats a Bank Holiday and we dont work off of those.” Eric and Brendan jumped in talking about how they might’ve gotten Christmas off last year. Eric said they got Hanukah but Brendan said Eric just didnt come into work for 12 days.

The next day we had to put a V10 viper motor on a pallet since the engine sent a rod out the side of the block. It was a process since the motor is so long that we could not just put the engine on a pallet with the engine hoist. We had to get a fork lift and put the engine on the pallet while it was on the fork lift. It was rather sketchy but it worked.

Later that day I helped Brendan tear apart a KA24 from a 240sx S13. I helped him get everything ready to pull the motor on Monday. He pulled the motor on Tuesday while I was gone, then I helped him tear it down for a rebuild on Wednesday. I bagged and labeled all the different bolts and mounts to make reassembly smooth and painless. The shop was very lively while we were tearing the motor down since all the workers were within about 10 feet of each other so it was easy to converse and hangout while doing our tasks.

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    alex_h
    How heavy are these engines?
    frank_l
    Taking apart and completely rebuilding the engines sounds like a pretty long and complicated process. Did you already know how to disassemble and organize the different pieces beforehand or did the other guys help guide you through everything?
    bella_o
    How does what you have learned from the people you are working with compare to the knowledge you had previously in order to work on these cars?
    hayden_v
    The Viper V10 motor is about 700 lbs and the smaller 4 cylinder we took apart was about 300 lbs.
    hayden_v
    I have personally taken apart about 4 engines so far now, so I had a pretty good understanding of the process. They did help me through taking the cam shafts out of the head since they are considered very fragile and can break easily. The cam shafts open and close the valves to allow air to enter and leave the cylinders during combustion.
    hayden_v
    Their knowledge is much more vast when it comes to different brands verses my knowledge being limited to older Nissans and BMWs. It also shows their experience when they can look at a bolt and say the thread pitch so I can grab them a nut to put on it. They also have much more experience when it comes to the electrical side of cars which is something I have very little experience with.
    tania_n
    Holes not being fully threaded is always a pain, how did you end up working with it since it doesn't seem like something you can just tap?
    Samantha Briggs
    I really don't know anything about car engines, Hayden, but I am enjoying your posts. I suppose you will remember to bring a lunch from now on!
    hayden_v
    The engine block is made of aluminum so its very easy to use a steel tap and die set to thread the rest of the hole. It just is a headache to spend so much on an unfinished product.
    hayden_v
    Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I have been remembering to bring my lunch everyday now.

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