Nice revival :)

^agreed. muffin tin for the win!

Yep - good idea with the muffin tin. I had been using plastic egg cartons but they're a tad bit bendy for my liking.

How many miles on this engine?

What did the skirts on the Alusil pistons look like as far as wear?

I ask because I'd be really curious to see one of you guys in the engine building business:

1) Take a well used KS piston from an Alusil set and rub it with a magnet then....
2) Drop it in a bucket of iron shavings and see how much and where it attracts

only so those of us, er, ok, ME! that are running an Alusil piston in a Nikasil plated Alusil bore can at least have 1 data point of just how much iron/tin plating is left on the skirts of a well used piston that makes this combo a "bad idea"!

What do you do to remove the old sealant on the case mating surfaces and prep for reassembly? Looks rather shiny. Is this an aluminum or mag case? Did the mains need to be line bored thus facing the mating surfaces?

The engine is a mid 80s 3.2. It had been opened before and I had to clean dry 574 sealant from around the studs on the perimeter.
Bruce

Hi everyone- That is my 3.2, supposed to be an '89 that the seller, Ben Merman, another Pelican member, said only had 40K miles on and had never been apart -ever. Obviously that was not the truth. Consequently, I am very glad I decided to take it all the way down and make it fresh. Bruce did a terrific job and I was happy he accepted the job. It was built stock except for the 964 profiled Web cams (20/21) and a Wong custom chip. It will run through my stock Six heat exchangers after they are cleaned and ceramic coated feeing the stock muffler. Thanks again Bruce.