98 3.1L top end rebuild (pics)

[kevinb70]

I'm gonna keep a log of what I'm doing, best place to put it is here at AF....


I've put this job off forever, lumina is my 2nd car, LIM failure + bad ticking. Haven't street driven it in 2 years, just cranked regulary and a little driving in front of the house.

Debated just doing the LIM quickly or go further and tear off the heads. Yesterday I pulled the manifolds, then today I got the front head off. This is the 2nd LIM - first one was the felpro plastic - silicone seals failed in the middle of the gasket.

Exhaust manifold stud at #1 cylinder sheared off, wasn't using that much force, had PB'd everything beforehand. Did not surprise me having a bolt shear off.

Of the 2 bolts on the exhaust collector behind the engine, one would not budge. At all. At least it didn't shear off. Decided to cut the exhaust pipe and pull the rear head out with manifold and collector attached - I already have a new cat/pipe anyway - current cat is clogged.

The oem exhaust is pretty dam tough, dremel with a diamond cutoff wheel wasn't doing anything, angle grinder is too many sparks... picked up an air powered metal saw on sale today, my next task is cutting the exhaust off and getting the head off.

Going ziploc bag crazy, everything small goes into a labeled ziplok, keeps bolts together with the part, dumb-proof not mixing up rockers and lifters. Less sorting thru parts when I got to reassemble.

Not in a hurry, hope to not take over a month, little bit at a time. And like hell if I'm using Dexcool again. And totally missed out on the dexcool settlement didn't know about it being settled until 2 months after the deadline.

Plans:

sandblast parts, clean, primer, paint everything (silver)
send injectors off to Mr Injector for rebuilding and flow testing
lap valves, new valve stem seals
new cat
add twin turbos and 100hp nitrous kit (im kidding!)


Anyone need pics of specific parts/locations while the engine is torn down let me know. Pic with the arrow shows where that oil pump o-ring hides... often recommended here to replace o-ring when doing LIM gasket. Ahhhh so that's where it's at....
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UPDATE: here in this post is a summary of 'lessons learned'

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take pictures all along the way. save lots of time and have a machine shop clean everything (except rocker/lifter/pushrods as you want to make sure they arent mixed up)

replacing cat? needed to jack car up where at least 1 wheel is off ground, that will give enough clearance to remove cat - it gets stuck on power steering lines. you'll need to remove the heat shield below for clearance. replacement magnaflow won't be threaded on rear flange - use four 35mm-40mm M10 bolts/nuts.

support engine on jack with wood block, under oil pan - you'll be removing top motor mounts and will need support.

removing heads. remove the block drain plugs on each side of engine - this will prevent coolant from leaking into the piston cylinders when you remove the heads. front is near oil filter, rear is near 7x sensor. if you have small arms you can reach around near the belts and reach drain plug with ratchet/14mm socket.

pre-install on heads - clean pistons, i used brake cleaner to clean the tops and cylinders, then sprayed some in each cylinder, cranked to get the pistons moving and hopefully get some crud out of the rings. lubricate piston/cylinders.

installing heads - install rear exhaust manifold on head before installing head - easier to torque correctly. check compression immediately on install. leave all spark plugs out at this time. install spark plugs after compression test, easier to reach. use new headbolts.

exhaust manifolds - remove heatshields, then soak exhaust studs/nuts and flange studs/nuts with PB blaster OVERNIGHT.

rockers/lifters/pushrods - label order and put in ziplock bag. disassemble lifters for cleaning. pre-prime lifters with oil before reinstall. make sure pushrod holes are clear. i torqued each rocker bolt with the rocker in the 'relaxed' position.

upper intake - remove plastic vacuum hose and send to shop for cleaning

lower intake - remove fuel rails, injectors, coolant temp sensor - send to show for cleaning

injectors - send off for rebuild (Mr Injector)

heads - rebuilt at machine shop, cleaned, recommend retapping diagonal intake holes (M8x1.25 helicoil 5546-8) and rocker threads (M10x1.5 helicoil 5546-10). I didn't re-thread the vertical intake threads but that is an option too. if you get new intake bolts - reuse shorter diagonal bolts if replacement bolt is shorter (fel-pro kit ES72225 - diagonal bolts too short)

oil pump drive - felpro 70800 o-ring and felpro 70194 dist mounting gasket for extra protection

oil pump primer - use 8mm socket on extension. tape socket to extension so it wont fall off. careful not to pull oil pump shaft out of oil pump. you will not get pressure to the lifter galleries.

cleaning crankcase - added 1 gallon diesel fuel to crankcase, let soak overnight. primed. drain. add 1 gallon diesel fuel and prime. drain. add oil. change this oil again after you get it running.

keep thermostat out for proper flushing. you'll need to remove throttle body to get to it.

if oil in coolant, remove clip and coolant level sensor in rad (side of rad, below filler neck). NEED small hands. clean crud off sensor to prevent false "low coolant level" light.

[tblake]

Very nice job! I have done countless GM 3100/3400 LIM gaskets. Every job seems to go the same, but have its own little annoyance. When going back together, you can install a GM small block 350 distributer seal under that oil drive gear along with a new o ring for added leak assurance. Also make sure the pushrods go back in the correct order exaclty since the intakes and exhausts are different lenghts. Then when it is all back together, turn the motor over by hand a few times before you hit the starter to feel for and valve/piston contact. Just in case a pushrod got mixed up you dont bend a valve by cranking the starter (been there done that).

[kevinb70]

i put each rocker, push rod, and lifter in separate ziplok bags, labeled by cylinder 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b (lazy to match up intake/exhaust)

ill clean them all separately so they wont get mixed up.

waiting on word about the heads, dropped in for hot tanking and redoing the valves w/new stem seals



word to the wise... since you cannot presoak the exhaust manifold studs with PB due to the heat shields in the way, remove the heat shields, so you can spray the studs, call it a night and let it soak overnight. that 20 or so minutes I let it soak wasn't enough so broke 1 stud off each head (shop is taking care of that)


could not get one of the 2 collector nuts off, gave up, let it set all week with more PB, came right off next weeekend

if removing the cat, remove the tranny heat shield, my jack stands are set to to a low height, being too low made removing the cat difficult - collector flange gets hung up on the power steering lines. since i have another jack holding up the engine i dont want to mess with the height... it came out eventually with the right angle

building up part list now... still need to send off injectors

[kevinb70]

picked up the heads at lunch today. $149 for hot tank, valves, stem seals, stud extract/helicoil (to reiterate: after you get the heat shields off the exhaust manifold, PB the manifold studs and let soak overnight to avoid shearing off a stud)

heads look amazing! they also primered/painted it. i had some high heat silver but no need now.

finished up hand cleaning each pushrod, lifter, rocker. some were sludged inside, two which probably lost their hydraulic properties due to sludge buildup. ill prime them on install. this "before" rocker in the pic was probably the worst looking.


sludge in the oil pan. gonna get 2 gallons of diesel fuel and ill pour one gallon down the lifter valley to wash the sludge sitting the in pan - with plug out. then another gallon with plug in to soak the oil pump and screen. drain that out after a day. follow thru with a quart of motor oil and help push most of the diesel out. i will probably be neurotic and put 3 quarts of new oil in, prime the pump and see if i can wash more sludgy oil out, and drain it again.... last thing i want is sludge getting back into the lifters.

with this cleaning and devarnishing of parts, might have to run a higher weight oil due to loosening of clearances...

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by kevinb70

sludge in the oil pan. gonna get 2 gallons of diesel fuel and ill pour one gallon down the lifter valley to wash the sludge sitting the in pan - with plug out. then another gallon with plug in to soak the oil pump and screen. drain that out after a day. follow thru with a quart of motor oil and help push most of the diesel out. i will probably be neurotic and put 3 quarts of new oil in, prime the pump and see if i can wash more sludgy oil out, and drain it again.... last thing i want is sludge getting back into the lifters.

with this cleaning and devarnishing of parts, might have to run a higher weight oil due to loosening of clearances...

I'm even more paranoid than that...I'd chase the solvent with oil, change oil, run to operating temp, change oil again, then one more time after a couple hundred miles.

Using cheap oil, of course, until I put the oil that was gonna stay in there.

I always worry about that stuff ruining the treatment on the paper element in the filters and making it come apart or hog up...

[kevinb70]

jeff... we are about same level of paranoia.

* last night i poured a gallon of diesel (fuel, not oil) down the lifter valley to loosen up crud in the oil pan
* this morning i primed the oil pump until diesel came out of all the lifter passages
* drained the diesel
* put in 5 more quarts of diesel
* primed oil pump til it flowed clear
* drained the diesel
* refilled with cheapo dino oil
* primed oil pump til oil flowed, then ran the pump another 30 seconds

*this fresh oil will sit there til I get everything together and the engine running
*after first test drive I'll change out the oil and filter again (since there is still a bit of diesel inside)
*change oil again after about 1000 miles with more dino, then after 3k ill switch to synth blend, and eventually go full synthetic.


by the way, our oil pump is hex shaft, so it will need a ~8mm or 5/16-ish socket to drive it. I used a socket on a 1/4" flex shaft attached to my drill (go clockwise). I'm going to add some washers to the flex shaft and try to imitate the "Barrel and Cap" parts on the GM oil primer so I can fully prime the engine.

the GM oil primer with the aluminum barrel and cap will not work out of the box. You will need to mod it to fit the hex head. I don't know of any barrel & cap type oil primers with a hex head.


Parts list (just ordered a few minutes ago)

ACDELCO	14373S	 Coolant*Hose
ACDELCO	16028M	 Coolant*Hose
ACDELCO	14001S	 Coolant*Hose
FELPRO	70194	 Distributor*Mounting*Gasket
FELPRO	60983	 Throttle*Body*Gasket
FELPRO	MS98004T Intake*Manifold*Gasket
FELPRO	ES72225	 Intake*Manifold*Bolt*Set
FELPRO	MS95586	 Exhaust*Manifold*Gasket
FELPRO	ES72892	 Cylinder*Head*Bolt
FELPRO	ES71044	 Valve*Cover*Grommet
FELPRO	70800	 Distributor*O-Ring
ACDELCO	14	 Spark*Plug
AUTOLIT	96832	 Spark*Plug*Wire*Set 
FEL-PRO	9957PT	 Cylinder*Head*Gasket

Rockauto beat out all the retail parts chains.

Costs so far:
Gaskets/plugs/wires/etc $263
Rebuild heads $149 (Local shop)
Injectors rebuilt and flowtested $100 (mailed to Mr Injector)
Direct fit cat ~$160

Still need to clean up the upper/lower intake, TB, and a few other misc parts.

[kevinb70]

absolutely not running dexcool. probably go xerex original green. twice shy of OAT based coolant...

[kevinb70]

tomorrow have to go house hunting but plan to put in a little wrench time


slowly hand cleaning the lower intake during the week

have an air siphon sprayer, will use it to blast the parts with diesel. will go much faster...

parts from rockauto came in couple days ago, and today the injectors arrived.....

here's the flow report....

[Schrade]

Good for you pal... This is how all repair/resto' work should be done UH HUH. Photo-doc'ed and dated.

SO MANY BENEFITS:
You get to KNOW your vehicle.
You learn how stuff works, where it is, and if something gives out later, you know right away what's up YUP.
You have fallback reference if you forget how it re-assembles.
When you $ell, you have photo-doc'ed repair work, and get more $$$.
Others get helped.
The website gets more hits.

I got multiple threads in vette forums for my vette, OVER 20,000 hits uh HUH.

[Schrade]

To get the most 'jam' from the pan, you need a THIN fluid, not thick. GASOLINE.

It will move downward through the block quickly, and the faster it moves, the more jam it will carry with it. AND, gasoline will solve even carbon deposits on pistons and head surfaces (except for yours being redone), so you know it will loosen the Campbell's chunky jam in the pan as it moves through.

All the vapors will be gone by the time you pull the trigger, so that's not a problem either...


Did you push a pipecleaner through the pushrods?

Good call dumping the Dex-crudge. Been there did that x 4, including one bought NEW '02 Express.

When you pull the trigger first time, leave out the plugs. That makes the new oil really flow good, with no fire.

Little late now, but every time a part gets out of the way, the bolts go back in the empty hole, til it's time to chase/clean the bolt and hole. Bolts never get lost that way, and you think more about each part - good for the noggin'.

[kevinb70]

nuts and bolts went back in place or attached to the part and bagged with it.

all the pushrod holes are clean and clear, eyeballed them all (bagged with its lifter and rocker and labeled)

took lots of photos for assembly and marked connectors

piston heads are clean, keeping cylinders and pistons sprayed down to prevent flash rust

first crank will be plugless, make sure nothing is seized and having the engine destroy itself under power

ty for the review

[kevinb70]

cleaned and painted the exhaust manifolds (VHT 1200 degree paint)

[kevinb70]

every part i removed has been cleaned . feel like danielsan wax on wax off. various body parts are sore, and the sound of wire brush scraping now permeates my every thought.

i was about 75% done with the lower intake manifold, then looked at the upper. uh.. no way i am able toclean that... so dropped both manifolds at the machine shop that worked the heads for cleaning (i can't blast right now)

aside from the intake manifolds, if it didnt have paint from the factory, it gets painted. alternator excluded - i dont want to take it apart to paint it, might brush paint it sometime later.

last set of parts have only 1 coat on one side, had to put them away for some lady time today.

been thinking about the colors and decided to go with all silver, except the upper intake, which will be black with silver letters ("3100") since alot of parts are already black from the factory, or black plastic, i dont think it's going to be a wash of all silver under the hood, the black will make a good contrast. I picked silver because if you paint it black, you cant see anything under dim light and hard to see leaks. i think the silver/black is going to look good.

[kevinb70]

HEAD INSTALL TIP: Go ahead and get the exhaust manifold bolted and torqued onto the head before you install the head which is nearest the firewall. Lot easier to torque the manifold bolts while off the car!




question about head bolts.

got my new fel-pro head bolt set. you got a bunch of the regular type bolts, one with a 1" round extenton coming out of the head (for the bracket that bolts on which the motor mount attaches to on the passenger front of the car.

One of these bolts has a thread on TOP of the bolt head... where does that one go? i dont remember this bolt, is it extra? I havent found all my old head bolts so i dont know if this is extra or not... in case anyone knows before i figure it out on my own....


i've viewed pics on google for lumina 3.1L's but didnt see any headbolts installed on the engine that has a thread on top of the bolt head.

the fel-pro pic doesnt have the pic of the bolt i am talking about but the rockauto kit does have it.. its the 2nd from top left. Is that extra just so this kit can be used on various 3.1L?


i see in the pic there is 15+ two specials... i am thinking that you use ONE of the top left two. = 16


GOING TO ANSWER MY OWN QUESTION: in my box of head bolts, there are 15 regular bolts, and these two specials... so only one is used. i was pretty sure i didnt see that double thread bolt as i was pulling the heads.

[kevinb70]

finished painting today

the black factory painted parts i didnt have to repaint, i just cleaned them up. paint has held up well over the past 13 years. i finally got a car with decent factory paint, inside and out

my bolt painting booth, black lower intake bolts will be good contrast against silver lower intake, silver upper manifold bolts to contrast the black upper manifold...

i am going to have to clean and dress rest of engine compartment to match the engine. little by little as i address certain parts of the car, i'm going to refinish the parts like here.