Aurel`s engine rebuild thread

[Aurel]

Little update: while waiting for some tools ordered from our host, I`ve rebuilt and repainted the hot air blower.



Aurel

[Aurel]

Update: the motor is on the stand; I found this 1T stand for 40 bucks at pepboyz. Next is removing the heat exchangers. That may be the first difficulty. Repainted the bar too. I use HT paint for BBQ stoves...Things are going well so far.





Aurel

[304065]

Summit racing sells a nice polyethylene drip pan that fits on that stand, not super expensive and you will save a fortune in cardboard

[Aurel]

I`me made some headway tonight. Time to slow down and read before I do something stupid. I removed the cam covers, and found that the tensioners look updated, with this red anodized aluminum piece. However, they are not oil pressure fed. Does anybody know what those are?




Aurel

[Aurel]

Okay, I have old style tensioners, but a safety collar was installed. That is this red aluminum piece.

Aurel

[Aurel]

Update: I took the chain housings and the heads off last night. All went well, except that I cracked my left chain housing with the stupid crawfoot wrench. Anyone has a spare one? So there were two broken exhaust studs on each side, lots of carbon deposits, and you can see the oil leaks on the cylinders with broken studs. My cylinders are alusils. I am not sure what to do about them. I have seen some pitting on my cam lobes too. If the machine shop says they need to be reground, I may opt for a 964 profile, JE pistons and QSC cylinders from supertec Anchor Atlantic will do the heads, and clean the oil cooler.

As for the gearbox situation, I found that bodymotion can replace all the syncros for $675. That sounds like a deal. I'll ask them to replace the differential bearing too, and that should fix all the tranny problems.








Aurel

[robmog]

aurel,
how far are you going with the rebuild?
you can't split the case the way its mounted now.
good luck
bob

[Aurel]

Bob,

I am not splitting the case. This is just a top-end rebuild. At 110,000 miles, there is no reason to go into that trouble. I have no reason to believe there is any problem with the case.

Regards,

Aurel

[AngM018]

Originally Posted by Aurel

Bob,

I am not splitting the case. This is just a top-end rebuild. At 110,000 miles, there is no reason to go into that trouble. I have no reason to believe there is any problem with the case.

Regards,

Aurel

If your not going to split the case, make sure you check for any leaks around the case, and look inside to see if there is any metal/damage. it would be a good idea to lift and lower each piston rod a few times to see if there is any resistance from metal on metal.

I almost didnt split my case, but glad I did b/c I had a shot journal on the crank.

[911pcars]

The red anodized chain tensioner collar looks like its bottomed out on the tensioner housing. There should be a gap below the installed collar. No gap indicates the tensioner has collapsed (bad o-ring). Plan on replacing/rebuilding them.

Sherwood

[MatthewBrum]

Hello Aurel,

I am also in the process of rebuilding my 1980 SC engine and I am enjoying your thread. I was in your same situation with no intentions of splitting the case. When I pulled the p/c's out one of my rods one was stiff on the crank. I was very surprised with only 100K on the motor. I then split the case and one of my main bearings was a little scuffed, had crank polished all is good. Also splitting the case allowed me to remove the head studs that were broke near the case with a milling machine. Just wanted to share.

-Matt

[gigem75]

I vote to split the case. You'll sleep better at night.

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

The red anodized chain tensioner collar looks like its bottomed out on the tensioner housing. There should be a gap below the installed collar. No gap indicates the tensioner has collapsed (bad o-ring). Plan on replacing/rebuilding them.

Sherwood

I was planning on installing carrera tensioners. Thanks for giving me one more reason to do it .

Aurel

[dtw]

I have seen several engines that otherwise had no reason to split the case, but came apart anyway. The majority had intermediate shaft bearings that were completely shot and showing copper. Some showed marginal oil pumps. It makes no sense to me to take a 25 year-old/100k+ engine down to the case and stop. All the expense is up in the top end. You should be able to get the bottom end done for well under a thousand. Check spigot deck, check crank, polish, resize rods, check intermediate shaft, replace sprockets. New main, intermediate, and rod bearings, check oil pump, check nose bearing. You can get all that done under $1k unless the oil pump is shot - and if it is, wouldn't you have wanted to know?

[Aurel]

I screwed up last night ; I was trying to remove the cylinders+pistons altogether, but I pulled one cylinder too far and the rings slid out of the cylinder. It is not easy at all to remove the circlips and wrist pins with the cylinders still there. Has anyone tried it before?
I have five more chances to do it right...

Aurel

[shbop]

After looking at your tensioner, I wanted to mention that I was unable to install the collars. With new chains, ramps, tensioners, etc., there wasn't enough room to slip the shim piece between the top of the tensioner housing and idler foot. The collars themselves would have fit, but it would have looked a little like yours. I left them out, opting for clearance.

[gigem75]

I understand you might want to reuse the PC&rings and I know this leads into the infamous 'while your in there" but new rings would be very wise IMHO.

btw, I also forgot the speedo cable but caught it on final inspection before the final lowering

I also was not planning on splitting the case but it really isn't that hard and with all the help here it is definitly doable. Not the mention the satisfaction you will feel everytime you shift gears after it is back on the road!

Mine is all back together and will be installed tonight or this weekend.

[hcoles]

there are a lot of threads re. cleaning various parts/methods....
re. the machine shop pictured... I would wonder about it... too clean. ;-)

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by hcoles

there are a lot of threads re. cleaning various parts/methods....
re. the machine shop pictured... I would wonder about it... too clean. ;-)

This machine shop is at my workplace, but it does not work on engine parts. I may just use it for making little parts, as I already did. It is not the one I will be contracting for the head work.

Aurel

[hcoles]

np - I was just kidding.. looks much like the machine shop I have at work after I cleaned it up.. in a couple of years they will sell all the tools and that will be that but I'm hanging on as long as possible...