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I purchased a non-running 2002 MCS as a project car in March 2022. It is Chili red with the white top. Body was in great shape for the 245k miles and the lack of rust/corrosion was remarkable for the Michigan area.
I am the 3rd owner and the PO said he bought it with a blown head gasket, replaced it, and drove it for a summer before it died again.
The battery was completely dead since the car had been sitting for over a year before I got it. After charging, I found that the engine was completely seized, to the point I could remove the balancer bolt with 0 movement.
I proceeded by slowly removing components until finding the source of the issue. The #2 and #3 rod bearings were completely seized. Mains were in good shape and there was almost no metal in the oil. #3 piston was also very clean, indicating coolant intrusion. Head gasket was fine abs head appeared ok at first glance.
in the meantime, I sourced a used short block locally,
with much lower mileage. I started working on the head and as I was lapping the valves, I noticed the very small cracks running from one of the #3 exhaust valve seats, all the way into the coolant jacket next to it. There were no heads locally available but I was able to source one on here (thank you to nuk3s)
This tells me the head gasket was most likely never blown in the first place. The reason for the rod bearing failure was even more interesting. When pulling the filter, I noticed it was completely dry and sucked in. Underneath the filter, I found the plastic
drainback valve just laying underneath. I assume this was enough to starve those bearings until they seized.
After getting it all back together, I have been able to put about 2k on it, very fun to drive! I have done a lot to it but wanted to include a list and some
images as well.
• New to me short block
• Rebuilt cylinder head
• Supercharger service
• Water pump
• 15% Alta SC pulley
• Colder plugs
• Adjustable tensioner
• Alta cold air intake (already there)
• Alta car back (Already there)
• Aluminum 3 row radiator
• Wheels and tires (Already there)
• Parking brake cables
• New pads and rotors
• Lower ball joints
• Inner and outer axle boots
• Engine mount
• R56 seats (front and rear in redwood lounge leather)
• Kicker component set (front) and Kicker 6x9 (rear)
• Boss 7” floating head unit
• Refinished the worn parts of the interior
Last edited by John Jordan; Aug 24, 2022 at 10:31 AM.
More engine stuff You can see the crack in this image Burned valve from #3 as well Before After (I ended up polishing and sealing the water outlet covers after this photo was taken)
Method I used to remove the SC pulley. I cut off the belt ribs using a dremel and drilled three holes in the remaining pulley face. This allowed me to use a steering wheel puller to remove the pulley.
More recent images of the exterior and interior. Just waiting on new shift abs ebrake boots. Also need to redo the headliner. More completed interior refinishing Center area refinished. Would be good if the radio would adjust up another 1/2 inch, but that is all it’s got Before refinishing
I took the speaker grilles off and masked everything else. To remove them, I used an old soldering iron that I keep for plastic welding. I was able to heat up the center of the plastic rivets and pop the speaker grills out with slight downward pressure. Put them back in by re-melting the rivets. Same could be done with the inner trim but I decided against it since all of it has to come off to get the inner "Y" out. Even with masking, it only took about 1 1/2 hour per panel.
Last edited by John Jordan; May 24, 2024 at 06:42 AM.
^^^ FWIW, those aren't "plastic rivets" but instead, heat staked posts commonly used in plastics assembly. As an example of that, pic below shows door cards with the replacement NOS card ready to receive the OEM replacement grille (not shown) which utilizes posts as part of the injection molded grille which protrude through those holes. Rather than attempting to replicate the heat staking procedure, the selling dealer furnished round spring washers to push down onto those grille posts and secure snugly against backside of the door card. Apologies if off-track to this topic but better to be aware how those door cards are assembled before attempting to drill out non-existent "plastic rivets"...
Agreed, I was unaware of the correct term for those. I had great success with heating and reheating them to remove/reinstall the grilles. No issues so far. I also read somewhere that people were using small self tapping screws to reassemble these.
Found one of my lamps full of water so I ordered these. Would have preferred the dark Union Jack lamps but couldn’t justify $400 for them right now. Before After. Said it was black metallic but came out more of a gunmetal color. I may try tying this color into other areas. Glad I removed this to refinish it. I found it was only hanging on by one stud. Had to reattach the other 3.
Here is a pic of the new brake and shift boots. Got these from JF customs and the quality/feel is great. Brake boot was the most difficult part due to the leather being thicker.
