Thats literally what i was going to say, either way when you check the fluid its supposed to be with the tranny in gear so just add in however much you took out and keep an eye on it.

as far as clutch material floating around the oil, that shouldnt be happening if the trans has a filter. And if it is happening then you have major problems.

 

I replaced the heater valve today, and swapped in the new LCE braided brake hoses.

Sunday is my next day off, so that may be when I try to get this done!

 

Looks really good. I would consider blacking out the radiator because it's a a bit to flashy compared to everything else.

 

Oh, thats not too bad of an idea. I'm not a fan of how high the rad sits, might look for one shorter and wider in the future.
I do have to pull it out to re-solder the bung that goes in foe the turbo drain, maybe I will hit the top with some matte black.

 

You could tape off some an area on the fins in in the shape of the oldschool toyota teq logo as an Easter egg. Painting radiators and intercoolers black acutely helps with cooling. One trick to spraying the fins and not having paint build up is running a vacuum to draw to paint through.

 

Doesn't painting the fins insulate them and prevent cooling?

 

Na paint has no r value worth damn and no thermal bridge to help it. The biggest problem with painting is you can block air flow. That's why you have a vacuum to draw it through.

 

So I started the engine today! ran for a short while, but ran well.... kina. I think I really messed things up. The engine ran, but there was such a loud rubbing/grinding sound. It was so loud that it was hard to pinpoint, but I think it was coming from the bellhousing.

I first primed things by "starting" with the distributor unplugged. I then plugged everything in, and started the engine. Started right up, revved up a bit, and evenned out in RPMs, and things would have seemed fine to a deaf man. I stopped the engine, and started some investigating. I checked fluid levels. The engine oil was pretty good, went from at the full line to about 5/8 up from low to high, so I topped it off. The trans fluid went from full hot to low cold, so I filled it back up. I put a ratchet on the crank, and spun it around. No grinding noises. Cranked it around a few times more while under the engine, and sure couldn't hear any rubbing or high friction anywhere, but did hear a little gurgle from the torque converter area. I then popped the upper transmission cooler line, and it looked dry. I guess fluid isn't getting pumped through the system?

 

I'm not sure if this is any different on an auto but the backing plate bolt has a shorter head then any other bolt because it will grind on the flywheel. Might be your source of the sound.

 

I had suspected that as well! i did use replacement bolts, so I checked their heads, and they didn't look shiny. I may pop em out, and grind them down anyways though... gotta have something to do, right? haha

 

22re proformance is the one place that sells them if you want to go that route.

 

I can also confirm oil pressure was alright, forgot to mention that

 

Oh, of course! Jim is so wonderful. He and my mailman helped build a lot of this engine haha

 

I pulled one of the bolts, filed down the head, and sharpied it. I'll pop it back in, spin things around, and see if the sharpie is scraped off at all.

 

Well, i thinned down the heads of all of them, but no luck, still making them sounds.

 

Damn I was hoping it was something as simple as that.

 

me too! haha

next I'm gonna drain a lil fluid from both the engine and the trans to see if there is anything sparkling. If that checks out, then I will take the return line from the trans fluid cooler, and dip that in the bottle of fluid to see if the pump sucks any of it out.

 

I did both to get a good idea of everything. Sure enough, the trans is indeed pumping fluid, that seems to be clear of contaminants. The engine oil, however, had faint waves of fine sparkles. I swept it with a magnet with no results, so I'm thinking it has to be aluminum from somewhere.

 

Fuuuck! There's no way to isolate the sound? Like front/middle/rear of drive train? Top or bottom? From what you described it does sound like a lubrication issue..

 

Flexplate?