Huge THANKS Petros and his wife

[Bluebelles Mom]

A over night head gasket replacement turned into a complete engine swap when we found a piston pin had come lose in the number 4 cylinder and has gouged it pretty deeply.

Friday night: The head came off and the damage to the cylinder was discovered.
Sat morning: The block came out.
Sat Afternoon: After Petros contacted a friend with a block that wasn't needed we drove to his house and removed the block from his vehicle and took it back to Petros house. Swapped out generator mounts.
Sunday: Cleaned parts, checked for any damage in 'new' block, pulled #1 piston and checked main bearings (block was 'donated' due to valve getting punched through the head by #1 piston), block re-assembled.
Monday: Starter, Power Steering pump installed, Head and Block sanded down to remove old gasket material. More parts cleaning. Block installed into Bluebelle. Head 'rebuilt' (new exhaust valves and new valve stem seals) then head was installed, oil added.
Tues morning: Generator installed, belts, vacumn hoses, distributor, valve adjustment, carberator parts swapped out for working equipment. Engine started and timing done.

End result is a Tercel that feels entirely different and wonderful.

My heartfelt thanks go out to Petros and his wonderful wife for their hospitality and willingness to accept a lodger for a much longer time then first anticipated. And to the donor of the block for his kind assistance. These debts will be repayed but I will always owe you.

[dlb]

holy doodle petros, mad props! you're a true gent and saviour of T4's. and very classy of BBM to be so gracious.

what a great group we have.

[Petros]

Well what else could I do? We started out knowing we had a slightly warped head from an overheat, and it had a few other incongruous symptoms. I volunteered to replace the head gasket to help Bluebelle's mom out, and after the head was off we found the block was basically trashed. Poor bluebelle needed major heart surgery. The thought occurred to me to just put it back together, it was running but consuming a lot of oil (like 300-400 miles per quart). It was amazing it was still running, no telling how much longer it was going to last.

I had never seen this kind of failure; the pressed-in wrist pin came loose some how, drifted into the cylinder wall and gouged it out. It appeared too deep of a gouge to even overbore, I was surprised it was not leaking coolant into the cylinder. It created an oil pump of sorts, pushing engine oil up into the combustion chamber.

It just so happened that a friend of mine here in Arlington was working on an engine swap with a 4ac, the original was a 3ac that sucked an exhaust valve and trashed the head. So I called him late friday night so see if he would donate the short block to Bluebelle, since he had no plans for it. Lucky break for Bluebelle, he was agreeable so we came over the next day to remove it and take back to bluebelle. Despite the dents in the piston top, the short block was in decent shape, no critical damage to the piston nor rod, the bearings all looked great. The rings were worn but not too far out of specification (not bad considering the engine had 225k miles on it). So it became the new short block, using the original head. Though the head was warped, we hand surfaced it with a granite block and 300 grit wet-n-dry paper. Lapped in some new exhaust valves, new stem seals, and it all went back together, with the Petros head gasket mod of course.

Started up first try this morning, after setting the timing, the test drive went great without incident. It ran smooth and powerful. And we were finally done. Way more work than we ever anticipated, but once the car was apart it was either Bluebelle's mom takes up permanent residence in our basement, or we get it fixed and running so she can drive back to Tacoma. So it appears it made the trip home running well.

We will get pictures up soon.

[Bluebelles Mom]

AND I forgot to mention the rose I got from Petros on Valentines Day...what a gentleman!!!! I will never forget the kindness shown to me by the whole family. We are truely blessed here in this group.

[deejay1272]

What a great story. Thanks for sharing...

[Mattel]

Good on ya Petros!

[ARCHINSTL]

+ + + !

[toughtercel]

It good to hear Bluebelle' car back on the road , you did a good job Petros, While I visited last Friday ,Due my hearing plug ,"Bluebelle'" is that the name of the car or name of the person. It was dark while we were talking .

[Bluebelles Mom]

It good to hear Bluebelle' car back on the road , you did a good job Petros, While I visited last Friday ,Due my hearing plug ,"Bluebelle'" is that the name of the car or name of the person. It was dark while we were talking .

Bluebelle is the cars name. I am her Mom. I did enjoy meeting you Friday night, my name is Christine (when I am not in 'mom mode'.

[hberdan]

You are an amazing mechanic, Petros!

I wish all of you had the chance I did to meet Petros when he drove across country to Texas in a caravan with his daughter. Great guy.

[ARCHINSTL]

Great guy.

By now (and long before) - I don't think any of us need convincing on this point!
A really nice tribute, hberdan!
Tom M.

[Toys4US]

Wow, after reading this thread.. I must say "Hats off to Petros and his family for helping out a tercel owner in distress" a true knight in shining armour! Thats the kindness and appreciation where one can share to help others in need. I must say "Your amazing, a true trooper".

[tobiastercel]

when i was just starting on this forum, petros was the first to offer detailed and considerate advice, even though i had no idea what i was doing.
he also offered me a place to stay without having met me more that three days prior.
it is because of petros kindness and willingness to help that i am a proud owner of a little car that makes me(and most everyone else here) HAPPY

just driving in the nail alittle farther
thanks for everything petros

[skyerunner]

Nice work!
That sounds about like the time that I spent two nights in Petros' basement while learning how to replace my clutch, except that we didn't have to pull the whole engine. Someday I aspire to know that much about cars...

[ohcanada_00]

since we're on the tell Petros what a great guy he is kick, I've had the pleasure of ahnging out with him twice now and both time he left me wanting for more (heh heh!) So much knowledge about cars, and to be honest, I was hanging on his every words when he was talking about his days with Nissan. Incredible resource we have there and here here to him just being a hell of a great human being!