Next I liberally applied assembly lube to all the bearing faces and the crank.
Once i had every thing lubed to satisfaction
I carefully installed the crank.
Then I installed the cradle and torqued all the main bolts to spec using 30wt motor oil and the method described in the factory service manual. Once all the bolts were torqued i checked to see if the crank would spin with little resistance. It did
Once the crank was in and the cradle all bolted down I checked the end play of the crank. I did this by attaching a dial indicator to the end of the block. Once the needle is set to zero I pried the crank each way and watched how much play was present. There was a total of .005", which is with in mitsu's factory specs. Again I was happy
Now it was time to install the pistons and rods. First i cleaned the bearing mating surfaces on the rod and rod cap, as well as the back sides of the bearings. I used a clean rag and brake cleaner, just like on the main bearings. I then inserted the bearings into the rod and cap. Before installing each piston I soaked them in new motor oil. This makes a mess, but makes it easier to slide the pistons and rings out of the ring compressor and in to the block.
While the piston was in its oil bath
I lubed the bearing surfaces and crank rod journals with assembly lube. I applied assembly lube to the cylinder walls to help lube the piston as I inserted it in to the cylinder. I also coated the ends of the rod bolts with the ARP molly lube.
Next I pulled the piston out of the oil and put the ring compressor on it. I tightened the ring compressor till it was pretty snug.
I rotated the crank so the rod journal for the cylinder I was working on was at the bottom. I then carefully lowered the rod into the cylinder making sure the mark on the piston was facing the correct direction. Once the ring compressor was flush with the top of the block I gently tapped the piston into the cylinder with a handle of a plastic mallet.
Once the piston was all the way into the cylinder I slowly pushed it down the cylinder as I guided the rod on to the crank with my other hand. Once the rod was tight with the crank I installed the rod car and tightened the bolts to spec. I repeated this procedure for all 4 cylinders taking my time and being careful not to catch a ring on the top of the block, or knick the cylinder wall with the rod.
Now I had the rotating assembly all together.
I decided to go with ARP head studs for good measure and perhaps some future boost
I installed all the studs till they were snug in the block and about the same height.
Next I cleaned the head and threw on a new mitsu head gasket.
Next i bolted up the oil pump and front cover, timing belt tensioner, t belt tensioner arm, water pump, timing belt gear on the crank. Something I didn't mention earlier is that I decided to eliminate the balance shafts. I re-used the factory balance shaft bearings to block the oil holes, and I replaced the balance shaft in the oil pump cover with the stub shaft. I used the same method described in the VFAQ. I have done 6 or 7 balance shaft eliminations this way not and recommend it.
Next up was the head. After cleaning the mounting surface of the head and checking it to make sure it wasn't warped I put it on the engine and torqued the nuts to APR's recommendation using their molly lube. I used a 3 step torquing process following the factory pattern. Once i had the head on I put the timing belt on, and started bolting up all the accessories.
Unfortunately I could not attach the main seal and its holder with the engine on the stand, due to the bolts holding the arms on the stand. So I had to hang the engine from the hoist to put the main seal on, along with the oil pan.
Here it is, one engine ready to go back to its home
And FINALLY its back in. I finished installing the engine exactly 2 weeks after I rolled the car into the garage.
I have only got to put about 150 miles on the engine so far. I had to wait another week to get my License Plates
But now here it is, my new 2.3L EVO.
Hope you enjoyed this, I think it took me longer to write this up than it did to build the engine.
If you have a 56k modem its probably on fire by now, you may want to put it out. :l