New to the TIII game

[kreel]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to say hi as I've recently acquired a 1991 Spirit R/T. Technically, the car is my brother's...but I'm the one doing all the work on it. He's a newb mechanic in progress, lol. I've been playing with TD's over the past couple years (and a lot of 3.0L's ), but this is my first TIII I've had the pleasure of working on. There aren't a lot of them kicking around here in Canada, and definitely not many in Winnipeg.

So I brought the car up from Minneapolis. I drove down last week-end and drove it all the way back without any real issues. Overall the car is in very nice shape. A rust free body (but typical paint peel), excellent interior, and only 93k on the clock. The tranny feels strong. The motor runs pretty good too. Cylinder 2 has low compression. Leak-down test shows it coming out of the exhaust. Cylinders 1 and 3 are ok with ~135 and #4 is up around 150.

I did notice if I went WOT for a bit on the highway some oil sprayed over the valve covers and intake. I later notice a big crack in one vacuum line going to the air box and a couple more in front of the intake. A bit of blow-by from the rings? There wasn't enough pressure to blow the dipstick out, but there was enough to make it noticeable on the air filter and even made a small pool of oil in the intercooler pipes. Is this something I should be freaking out about yet?

Yeah, so I'm pulling the head now but is there anything else I should do while I have it pulled? I'll be putting in the aluminum core plugs for sure. There hasn't been any sign on cracking yet but I might as well put them in. There's quite a bit of casting flash that I was thinking of taking out too. Oh, how I can't wait to get this puppy back up to its full potential

[turbomini]

welcome to the game lol got pics of the car?

[kreel]

Yeah, I'll try to take a couple outside shots of it tomorrow.

[xtrempickup]

blowby is normal on these cars and the pcv system is inadequate really. my car as im driving it now has 115 in 2 and 3 cylinder and 135 in 1 and 4 and my car stills puts down close to 400hp but until the new shortblock is in im not pushing it any harder. it did make 408whp prior to what i think caused my blowby

[mopar2ya]

Replace the plug on the bottom drivers side read of the head, its prone to leak. It looks like a little freeze plug about the size of a pencil, tap it and use a hexhead plug with sealant.

[bansheenut420]

all great advice thats been given, cant go wrong there.
Welcome to turbododge.com! glad you found us.
And, please post some pics of the car, and if you have a couple min do a write up and post pics in the RT registry. Official TD SPiRiT R/T & IROC R/T Registry
Thanks, and again welcome!

[movaldes]

Welcome aboard.

While you've got it apart you should replace the timing belt tensioner with the rebuildable one Lengel is selling...

[TurboFrank]

Is this a white car? Cant wait to see some pics!

[kreel]

Yep, it's a white one It's sitting in the garage now, but I'll try to get a couple outside shots tomorrow.

A big thanks to everyone else's suggestions

[Blue Iroc R/T]

The BEST thing you can do while you have the head off, is replace the Valve Spring Retainers with the Titanium Retainers. They will take about .080" off the install height, which will reduce tension on the cams and timing belt. This increases Belt Life, Oil Pump I-Shaft life and lets the engine rev easier & about 500 rpm higher. IMHO, This is one of, if not THE MOST important mod for a T-III.
Oh, and when you re-install the Timing Belt; BE SURE to use a Timing Belt Gauge and tension it to 95 psi. DON'T JUST GUESS AT IT!

Good Luck and Welcome to the T-III's!

BTW, send me some pics and I will add a gallery for you in the Spirit R/T section of my Photo base Site. www/pbase.com/rmscott send pics to Mopar4Evr@neo.rr.com

[TurboFrank]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kreel Yep, it's a white one It's sitting in the garage now, but I'll try to get a couple outside shots tomorrow. A big thanks to everyone else's suggestions

Did this car come from the St cloud area? If so i might have a couple pics of it.

[kreel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurboFrank Did this car come from the St cloud area? If so i might have a couple pics of it.

This one came came from Minneapolis. The guy that had it before me got it from someone in Minnesota but I didn't ask from where.

On another note, here's an ugly shot of it in the garage. Once things are back together I'll pull it out and get some better pics.

...and there's the culprit valve causing low compression in cyl #2

[mopar2ya]

someone needs a new valve.