Rebuild tips and random stuff

Ok, today I went out and bought a 1000lb Enigine stand from Schucks for $75. I knew I was going to have to do some modifying to the standard "H" arms to adapt it to my motor but I wasn't sure how big of a pain in the ass it would be or how many arms I'd be able to secure to the engine.
Well after a bit of eyeballing the "H" assembly (the plate with the 4 arms that fitsin the yoke) I started tinkering.
And..."AH HA"!
I found a way to get all four arms to attach to my engine with out drilling a single hole in any of the arms! All I ended up doing was taking a grinder to the little tubes on the attachment arms. They were about a 1/2" too long to allow the studs on my engine togo through enough to get a nut on behind it.
If what I am saying interestes any of you contemplating doing a rebuild but don't want to fork out the $400 for a factory stand but don't understand what the hell I'm trying to say then email me and I'll take some very clear pictures of what I did. (Whew...can you say "compound sentence??")


Anyway, I spent about 2 hours removing the bottome set of 12 head studs. Oh MY GOD what a pain in the butt!
My hands are acheing from pushing and pulling so hard on the wrench. For most of them, double locking two nuts and rotating it counterclockwise (Anticlockwise~for you Limy brits). But some of them were more stubborn so I added the use of a large pair of Vice grips in conjunction with the locked nuts.
I got all of them off fairly easily this way. The "BEAR" was the "DAMNED" snappped stud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AKK! I threw more tools than I actually used. (Pay attention here Superman) I ended up gently placing the snapped stud in a bench vice with the case half still attached, tightening the absolute ***** out of it, then turning the case to loosen the stud. LOTS OF WORK!
But I got them all out ok and now it's on to the Hot Tank at the local NAPA store next week. They have a tank for my aluminum heads, case and cam towers. I already removed the two oil pressure relief valve pistons from the case halves... just stuck my finger up there and pulled them out ... no problem...

After I get the case and stuff tanked, I'm going to have the crank measured, maged and Micro polished as well as the rods measured and new small end bushings installed. Then I can reassemble the bottom end!

Whoo Hoo!

I'm getting there people...don't give up on me!



[This message has been edited by Leland Pate (edited 05-06-2001).]

On you 4 pole engine stand, be sure to use washers that have one side cut away so that they mount flush with the offset on the case.

I am surprise that explosives where not used to remove the head studs. Seems like a good option.

Really-wouldn't a few inches of primer cord and some strategically placed bits of C-4 made things go a lot faster?

Probably would have been a lot more fun, too..

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Clay McGuill '66 912, '97 Jeep Cherokee www.geocities.com/the912guy

Don't forget to have the crank and rods balanced. It's not expensive, maby $100-$150 for the whole engine (crank,rods,pistons,flywheel,pressure Plate). You will be glad you did when your engine runs so smooth.
Bob W.

Bob, I was under the impression that the connecting rods, and pistons were ballanced at the factory. And since I am putting the same components back in the same spot why should I have to balance anything?


C-4 was a very viable solution to fo*king with that damned broken stud. I'm still fumeing about it.
Anyway, everything else went pretty good, I put a crankcase half on the stand and sat there listening to music and scrapeing every bit of jointing compound free of the mating surfaces and blowing out oil passages.
pretty good night.
I also laid out my mess of a rebuild kit and found homes for alot of the "mystery pieces".
One item still has me very confused...there is this "Big" gromet looking thing... aprox. 2 1/2" to 3" in diameter black rubber, looks like the type of gromet you'd have on a firewall for an electrical harness to go through...but i haven't a clue where it goes...
I have some questions about measureing my piston rings but I'm going to start a new thread for that.

I used my vise today too, Leland. And my vice too. Go, Leland, Go!!

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'83 SC

Make a tech article about your engine stand...after acquiring a digital camera, I am doing that for all my projects...and we should talk wayne into giving people who write tech artciles that get used on this site a 20% discount on their next purchase over say...100.00!!!

I have one in the works right now

and your engine stand article would be perfect for when I start my engine rebuild!!

And Jim I am not sure what you are talking about cut washers!!!???

[This message has been edited by 82SC (edited 05-06-2001).]

I will take some pictures of the stand...I was just too lazy to do it tonight.
He is refering to the beveled lip of the engine on the flywheel side where the engine stand mates to the studs...i found some washers that worked fine
.

In response to the question of cut washers, the engine case of a 911 motor has a raised lip on it where it mates up to the tranny. The 4 studs that stick out of the motor that the tranny connects to are right next to the raised lip. Therefore, you need a couple of washers on each stud to get a flat surface for the engine stand to sit flush with the motor. To manufacture the washers, you have to cut one side of the washer so that they can sit flush against the motor and not on the raised lip. Without the washers, the steel part of the engine stand can dig into the case. On the washers that I used, I believe I used a bench grinder to remove the excess metal.

I just got back from my friends shop. He is rebuilding the top end of a 3.0 motor. This motor had more broken head studs than any motor I had ever seen, like 10. We used a tourch to heat up the case. Once the case was hot, the head studs were relatively easy to remove. I guess the factory uses some special locktite.

Anyway, there were 4 broken head studs that were snapped near the case. We welded 10mm nuts onto the remaining part of the stud. Then, the broken studs came out just fine . We were able to remove all the studs in less than an hour.

Maybe a little more effective than C-4, but not nearly as much fun.

Just a word to the poor bastards (like me) that have magnesium case motors. Jim's comment about Locktite on studs is true.
Trying to remove the studs without enough heat to melt the locktite can (or will) result with the mag threads coming out with the studs. Bummer....less you're gonna put in
case savers, nohow....which are not immune to
performing the same act.

JPIII
BTW, my 2.7L hot rod motor is in and running pretty damn good, cept for a couple of stuborn oil leaks in places I wouldn't have thought to be a problem.
Not too bad for a first timer....I'd rather be lucky than good any time.