Broken Piston Rod

[Oren09]

The is a continuation of the "Junkyard Festy" thread in General Discussion.

I figured it would be best to create a repair help thread as the repair has become more than a head gasket.

When I pulled the head off today, the cylinder 1 piston was at the bottom of the cylinder and would not move with the other pistons.
I thought something was wrong with the bottom end so I took off the oil pan.
The pan was full of pieces of piston rod. The rod itself broke into 3 pieces and the piston skirt shattered into many pieces.

The top of the piston appears to have a mark from valve collision. I know these are non interference engines but there's a lip of metal on top of the piston.

What should I do now in the repair? Can I buy just one piston, rod, rings, etc? How difficult would it be to fix? Would I have to drop the crank or pull the engine? How do I check the cylinder wall and crank journal to make sure they're still good?

Pictures of the carnage:





















What would cause the parts to break like this?

[FestYboy]

looks like an over rev condition... i wouldn't touch that crank anymore, not worth the machining time to get it right again. time for a new bottom end there bro. the block may still be useable but i think another engine would be your best bet for cost and speed of repair. i have a few short blocks sitting around up here, but shipping would be quite prohibative.

[hofficergrover]

new motor for sure man
If were close i would sell you a good running b3 for like 50 bucks because don't need it for any thing all other cars are not in need of b3 parts.

[villageidiot]

Time to go get the motor from the aspire that ran at the junkyard. And swap yourself an engine

[Oren09]

Eek.
I don't have an engine hoist and I don't know how to swap engines.

Does the Aspire engine require anything to be swapped with it? Such as the computer?

[villageidiot]

Often you can rent an engine hoist from local equipment yards. As far as I know from valve cover to oil pan is the same on the aspire. You'd have to swap over intake and exhaust manifolds and flexplate if its an auto (not sure about mtx flywheel and clutch) and accessory pulleys alternator etc.

Just remember. Its nuts and bolts. Take something off. Bag and label it. And continue. Its easy peezy

[Oren09]

The Aspire is an auto. I don't want the auto.

[91blufestiva]

^ just swap your clutch and flywheel onto the aspire motor. Just remember what hoses and wires go where, you already took apart the whole motor, not much left to gettin it out! Go for it! You can do it!

[Oren09]

Alright. Now to get an engine.

[zoe60]

You'll need a big crank snout pulley unless your car is a '93.

[FestYboy]

just swap over the waterpump and alternator pullies and use a new belt for an aspire.

[Oren09]

Alright.
So, me, my dad, and any cousins/friends I can round up will be going to the junkyard Saturday. My cousin has an engine hoist I can borrow for the transplant.
The yard said they have help on Saturdays and can use the loader to pull the engine when we get it loose. Do y'all have any tips for quickly pulling an engine from a donor car?
Also, how do you disconnect the transmission and keep it in the car? I don't want the ATX from the Aspire and my engine is down to a short block, so I think it would be easiest to leave the MTX in mine and just drop in a new engine.

[villageidiot]

There's 4 main 17mm bell housing bolts. 3 bolts 14mm at the starter. 2 brackets from the engine block to lower bell housing 14mm. The lower bell housing cover to get to the torque converer 10mm bolts. There are going to be 4 torque converter bolts 14mm. Cut all the hoses. Unplug what ya can. Cut what you can't. And yank that thing outta there.

Should only take an hour or so

[villageidiot]

Make sure you take every variation of 10mm 12mm 14mm and 17mm you have access to. You'll also need a 13mm for the main cable to the starter. And having some side cutters and prybars never hurts either.

I just removed and reinstalled my motor over the weekend. Its not hard. Nor does it take too many tools.

[iceracerdude]

If your clutch is not newer, or you're not sure of it's mileage, consider changing it at this point.