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My 82 SC was acquired with 181k miles and the engine already apart for a head stud job. That said, the car had a superb service history with frequent oil changes.
I'd done some engine repair before but never a complete overhaul. I really enjoy wrenching and even the cleaning, bead blasting and reconditioning required by this project. I was not/am not flush with cash and had to budget carefully.
A big early win was after fretting about my Alusil Kolbenschmidt cylinders...would I need to have them converted to Nikasil? It proved not: a local guru, Tom Butler (Tom1394Racing here) saw my post and offered to check my P&C's out, found they measured ok, did a special honing process on the cylinders, and soda blasted the pistons. They were fine, didn't even need new rings....great for my budget. I also bought used parts from Tom which sped things up, such as heat exchangers and a muffler.
I then obsessed about opening up/splitting the case. At some point someone here basically told me to man-up and just do it, which I did, and was glad that I did so. Despite my engine having had oil changes every 3k miles, it needed rod bearings, the intermediate shaft bearings were worse and both camshafts had galling. I replaced those those and other consumables, had the cams done by John Dougherty, had my heads and valve rockers done by Craig Garrett (CGARR here), then just took my time and was pretty meticulous. The main bearings amazingly showed no wear (great design). Wayne's book is seriously good to guide you through the process.
Net net the engine rebuild was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. I've put around 8k miles on it and it runs sweet and leak free. Tom, John and Craig were superb to deal with, as was Len Cummings (did my fuel lines while engine was out) and others who chimed-in here on PP when I had questions. You join a special brotherhood when have your first rebuild under your belt. Best of luck, John.
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