lots of engine rebuild questions

[Bort62]

You don't think he'd take it back do ya?

Isn't there a "code" not to do that? haha...

A code not to lie about the condition of something?

Yeah - it's called not being a douche.

 

[rommaster2]

It probably is a runner.

Doesn't mean it runs great.

yeah exactly, mine was labeled as "ran great" took us about twenty minutes to get it to start just needed gas to make its way into everything. Then it ran ok (smoked) for about half an hour of us trying to get it home, then died, put more gas in it, and it wouldn't idle. So then the guy payed for a tow truck and gave us gas money, and money for food then offered us beer while we waited for the tow truck. This was after knocking $200 bucks off the price. When we took apart that motor we sure found out that nobody took care of it, one bad lifter so it was on five cylinders (still ran great *shrug*) and tons of crap caked in everywhere. Still once we rebuilt the carb and tuned it the damn thing started up everytime, sure it spewed black smoke, but it started up faster then my other cars did and ran good too.

These sixes are tough as nails is the point, so don't worry about rebuilding this one just because of that, as long as the cylinder walls arent messed up you've got a good candidate for rebuild i'd say.

 

[Bort62]

Okay, here's what I would do if I were you.

If I understand correctly - your car is down because something happened to the motor that is in it, and you need to get it running again.

So -

Take that engine you got. Clean out the rocker area as best you can. Take the rocker shaft off and really get in there with a wire brush and some gasoline.

Soak the rocker shaft in whatever sort of solvent you have avaliable. Do you have access to a pressure washer ? The work great for this sorta stuff.

Take the oil pan off and clean it out. If you have the pressure washer, flip the block upside down and pressure wash in the inside of it to knock all the crap out.

By the way, if you do pressure wash with water, let the thing dry out and then coat it all with a spray of WD40 to prevent it from rusting. I don't know what the humidity is like in Texas, but here in Mojave if you leave something wet outside, it dries in about 2 seconds and won't rust for 2 years. I am lucky. However, if your humidity is high (like above 0%) then you should dry it out by using compressed air and/or a heatgun/blowdryer. Get all the water out and then coat it.

If no pressure washer, wire brush and gasoline (or diesel, less dangerous) time. Get all the grit and grease out of there that you can.

Now, take each of the rod bearings and try to wiggle it. It shouldn't. It should be tight on the crank. I am sure they are.

From under the block, Look up into the cyl wall. Look for any obvious signs of damage. It should be smooth but not shiny. Spin the rotating assembly by hand and make sure everything moves smoothly and like it should.

Now, once you've verified that there isnt anything visibly wrong with the engine. flip it back over. Beg, Borrow, or steal a leak down tester or some other way to get compressed air into the cylinder via the spark plug hole. Pressurize each cylinder and listen for where it leaks. (Do this with rocker shaft off).

If you hear it leaking out the exhaust, then the exhaust valve on the cyl leaks. If out the intake, the intake valve leaks. If neither - then you are golden. A little leak isn't' the end of the world, but a big gush of air indicates a pretty bad valve that may cause it to run like crap.

Some air will leak past the cylinder rings. Get a qualitative feel for how much each cyl leaks past the rings. If one is really bad compared to the others, it may need new rings. If they are seem about the same - then you are in good shape.

Also check to see if air is leaking anywhere else it shouldnt, like the cooling channel or out the side of the block - to indicate a bad head gasket.

So, Now - assuming you haven't identified any big problems with this process, you now have an engine that you can be pretty confident will run well. You also haven't done anything that requires any sort of mechanical skill at all. My sister could do it.

Now, if you want to try your hand at a few more complicated tasks, you can hedge your bets even more by replacing the valve seals and pulling the rod and main caps to check bearing condition, but doing each of those risks screwing something up - so it depends on your abilities and what you are willing to try (altho none of it is brain surgery).

But, if you do what I have suggested above, you will know whether or not the engine is a runner (excepting some odd problems) and you won't have invested anything except maybe a saturday of your time. If it passes all the above tests, throw it in the car and fire it up.

If not, get back to us as we can tell you how to fix whatever is wrong with it (and on the cheap, too. I did exactly what I describe to get the 200 in my ranchero running, and I spent barely anything at all. I even rebuilt my own head. )

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with bort62 on everything except the use of gasoline. Use diesel fuel, do it outside (not in garage) and no smoking.

BTW, he is near Dallas, and the humidity never gets below about 80-90%.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and saviour, this wouldn't have been the case if you'd bought my engine.

 

[mysavioreigns]

yea yea...hindsight is always 20/20

Thanks Bort, I will follow those steps, and see what I can figure out.