Another Rookie 3.0L rebuild

[jpnovak]

Your welcome.

Now, get that thing clean and on the stand so we can start putting the bottom end together.

[jdbunda]

Originally Posted by jpnovak

Now, get that thing clean and on the stand so we can start putting the bottom end together.

Right away, sir!

The case is finally getting clean. Progress was very slow with brake and carb cleaner, so I tried AlumaKleen which really sped up the process by unlocking a lot of the stubborn gunk. The inside of the case was pretty good, but some of the flanges had sealer residue that was stubborn, along with the usual grease/dirt staining on the outside. My goal isn't a gleaming polished concours-ready case, but I do want it to look like I made some effort. One more going-over and I think I can declare victory. Meanwhile, I have started preparing for the bottom end build.

I unpacked the crank today, and was pretty stoked to see that Ollie's did a great job of making it look not like it did when I sent it off. If you saw the pics earlier in this thread, it had some nasty scars on the webs, but otherwise looked sound. I was happy to see it shiny and looking like a worthy centerpiece to my motor.



I had it magna-fluxed, balanced, and cross-drilled. This pic shows the groove in the middle main journal to pick up oiling through the bearing and case (a larger hole is drilled through the case web to the oil galley at that spot).


Here I've got the crank bolted to a junk flywheel clamped in my bench vise. Should be pretty easy to assemble everything this way.



Time for me to do some reading and prep for assembling the rods...

[jdbunda]

Made some good progress today, with the help of silverc4s a.k.a. Bill Conway. We mic'd the crank, checked rod and main bearing clearances with Plastigage, and finally assembled the rods on the crank. Jamie and I had checked the crank before I sent it off to Ollie's, but following Wayne's admonitions about re-checking, went ahead and did it again, and main and rod journals were both apparently still in spec. Decided to check with Plastigage also, more than anything just out of curiosity of how it works, this being my first build and all. It is satisfying to see everything consistently within spec.



After checking the rods, we did the same with the mains - decided to do this because once the rods were put on the crank, it would be a lot more painful. Still, it does take some time to assemble and torque all of the case through-bolts, only to immediately take everything apart again. Here is half of the case case with the coated main bearings installed:



No surprises here, either.



Time to do some real work, and assemble the rods. I used ARP rod bolts, and assembled per the ARP instructions with the ARP stretch gauge, with the crank bolted to a junk flywheel clamped in my bench vise so we could work horizontally. This definitely makes this progress easy, I can't imagine trying to do this operation any other way. I had purchased the JEGS stretch gauge, and thought I would give it a try, but it will need modification in order to work, we couldn't get the thing to open wide enough for the 911 rod bolts. Fortunately, I had also borrowed an ARP gauge (thanks David) so no time was lost to that diversion. I was really glad Bill was there, it's a two-person job, or at least, a lot easier that way. Here we are about to stretch that last bolt.



Sure hope we are reading that stretch gauge correctly...



As Edd China would say, "Job done." I was impressed by the difference in torque needed to achieve the proper stretch among different bolts, and now find it easy to understand why the stretch gauge is preferred. Next up will be dropping it into the case, fitting the oil pump and intermediate shaft. But at the last minute, because of my engine's unknown history, I've decided to replace my cam chains with new, so I'll be waiting a few days for parts.

[jpnovak]

Now you are making progress. Assembly should go much faster now. And putting things together makes it visually appear like lots of progress is made.

[silverc4s]

You're gonna have that pretty little orange coupe back on the road in no time��

[frankc]

Great progress! I wish I could have dropped by today since I will need to be doing this myself sometime soon (and to also give my cam housings a nice ultrasonic bath), but I spent most of the day buying a car for my son.

[jpnovak]

Originally Posted by silverc4s

You're gonna have that pretty little orange coupe back on the road in no time��

Well there is not any orange on it right now. Its pretty naked.

Let's hope John's engine is built before I finish tub welding.

[jdbunda]

Lots of interruptions, delays, roadblocks, sourcing forgotten parts (IM shaft bearings), the Hill Country Rallye, and so on. I am finally moving on the reassembly again. Got the oil pump and IM shaft with chains installed, and the crank laid in place, I still haven't sealed the nose bearing o-ring or installed the flywheel seal, but it's starting to come together. Ready to lay the crank in on the coated bearings:



Kind of a challenge to get the crank in place and the nose bearing onto its pin with a single pair of hands, but I am here to tell you it can be done. Whoops, watch that oil pump O-ring...



This being my first time at this, my progress is painstakingly slow. It's been long enough since I took it apart that the memory is not exactly crisp, and I'm afraid I will forget some critical part - always checking the exploded parts diagrams, etc. Sure seems like my gasket kit as a lot of little parts that I don't remember removing from the old one.

[frankc]

Looking good, John. Looking forward to seeing it come together on Friday.

[iiXii]

Good luck man, we follow you !

[jdbunda]

Some major progress this weekend. Friday night Jamie (jpnovak) was kind enough to come to my garage and lead a tech session on case sealing with my motor as the guinea pig.


We had a full house of onlookers who apparently had nothing better to do on a Friday evening. Here is the maestro explaining something vitally important as we all look on enraptured.



We did the necessary prep work then started the 45 minute drop-dead timer. I did think to take one photo just before the halves went together:



23 minutes later, we (I use the editorial we, as Jamie did much of the work) had it closed up. I was pretty busy the whole time trying to assist (i.e. get in the way), and forgot to take any other pics as we went along.

I took this one today after putting the o-rings under the acorn nuts, test-fitting the breather cover and thermostat, and beginning to install the Supertec head studs. The '72 beauty that this lump will go back into when complete can be seen in the background.



Onward!

[arbita1]

Did you not put the o rings on with the initial sealing procedure?


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[jdbunda]

Originally Posted by arbita1

Did you not put the o rings on with the initial sealing procedure?

Not on the nut ends. We did put o-rings on the head ends of the through bolts, because that can be done before applying the sealant. Not putting them on he acorn nut end speeds up getting he case halves torqued into place in the race to get that done before the sealant starts to cure. The next day, with the sealant cured, I could go back and one at a time, pull an acorn nut and washer, install its o-ring, and re-torque. This technique has been discussed in other threads here.

[Trackrash]

Originally Posted by jdbunda

Not on the nut ends. We did put o-rings on the head ends of the through bolts, because that can be done before applying the sealant. Not putting them on he acorn nut end speeds up getting he case halves torqued into place in the race to get that done before the sealant starts to cure. The next day, with the sealant cured, I could go back and one at a time, pull an acorn nut and washer, install its o-ring, and re-torque. This technique has been discussed in other threads here.

A lot of good info here. I'm at about the same stage as you, so I will be following closely.
A shot of my motor

[mikedsilva]

Originally Posted by jdbunda

Some major progress this weekend. Friday night Jamie (jpnovak) was kind enough to come to my garage and lead a tech session on case sealing with my motor as the guinea pig.


We had a full house of onlookers who apparently had nothing better to do on a Friday evening. Here is the maestro explaining something vitally important as we all look on enraptured.



We did the necessary prep work then started the 45 minute drop-dead timer. I did think to take one photo just before the halves went together:



23 minutes later, we (I use the editorial we, as Jamie did much of the work) had it closed up. I was pretty busy the whole time trying to assist (i.e. get in the way), and forgot to take any other pics as we went along.

I took this one today after putting the o-rings under the acorn nuts, test-fitting the breather cover and thermostat, and beginning to install the Supertec head studs. The '72 beauty that this lump will go back into when complete can be seen in the background



Onward!

I'm interested in the installation of the head studs.. is there a special tool?
How tight should they be? Do you use thread locker? What about the heights, is it critical?
MIke

[jdbunda]

Originally Posted by mikedsilva

I'm interested in the installation of the head studs.. is there a special tool?
How tight should they be? Do you use thread locker? What about the heights, is it critical?

Mike - there are some special tools for inserting and removing studs, but double-nutting them works just fine (i.e. thread two nuts onto the end of the stud, tighten them against each other). As for height and thread-locker, this depends on the studs.

I believe Wayne's book calls out red Loctite for these. When using factory-style barrel nuts at the head end of the studs, you need to make sure the studs are deep enough in the case that you don't end up unable to turn the barrel nuts due to the top of the stud protruding into the 10mm hex opening at the top of the nut. The book has the height spec.

I am using Henry Schmidt's Supertec stud kit, though, which is a little different. The head ends of the studs are finer pitch, and the kit includes 12-point nuts, which the tool grips on the outside instead of inside. This eliminates the need to worry about precise stud height - you just turn the studs in until they bottom, then back out 1/4 turn. Blue Loctite is used instead of red with these.

[frankc]

I can contribute one photo from the evening of the sealant being applied:

[jpnovak]

Yum. 574 and Threebond. A tasty combination.

Can't wait to see the rest of this go together.

[Kemo]

cant believe I missed this thread! looking good and thanks for posting!

[911 tweaks]

keep on rollin' guys... looking great as any progress is ALWAYS a good thing...