Begun engine removal

[travelair]

Spent three hours disconnecting everything this morning. Only the mounts and transmission holding it in. What is the vacuum line on top of the manual transmission? Mine is missing. What are the vacuum lines under the intake for? Mine were cracked pretty badly and probably to blame for the high idle.

[Ruley73]

Originally Posted by travelair

Spent three hours disconnecting everything this morning. Only the mounts and transmission holding it in. What is the vacuum line on top of the manual transmission? Mine is missing. What are the vacuum lines under the intake for? Mine were cracked pretty badly and probably to blame for the high idle.

What year and model?

Without knowing anything else, I can tell you there is no vacuum line going to the transmission. There is a part on the top that looks like a vacuum fitting, but it is only a vent and nothing should be connected to it.

The vacuum lines under the intake are probably those for the EVAP solenoid. If you have a 2000-2002 DOHC there is a hard vacuum line that connects to the throttle body for this.

[Cat Fuzz]

Usually if it's a manual trans, the trans will have to come out with the engine. Not enough room to pull the engine away from the trans input shaft.

[travelair]

96 SL2. After removing every pulley off the front, I was able to pull the motor. Getting it back in will be another story.

[travelair]

Putting it all back together:

Crank required grinding with undersized bearings. Bearings were lightly scored and the RMS was shot.

Due to being covered in an oil bath, thanks to the RMS, the clutch had plenty of disk material remaining. I'd guess 50%. Not bad for 170,000+ miles.

Cylinder head was in great shape. Hand lapped the valves and all is well.

Original cross hatching is still evident in the bores. No ridges. New rings are too short and the end gap is excessive.

New pistons are tight longitudinally, but wobbly across the bore. Way out of tolerance.

I'm toying with the idea of using oversized rings and filing them down. I DO NOT want another oil burner.

But, I'll probably let the machine shop have the block to bore out. I'm in too deep to cheap out now. Really kinda bummed about it though because I'm at my $800 budget, and this will blow it completely.

That's it for the update.

[Cat Fuzz]

At least take it to a machine shop and have them measure the cylinders for taper and out-of-round. If it's within tolerance, have them re-hone the cylinders. A good hone is crucial for new ring break-in.

[travelair]

UPDATE:

I did take it to a machine shop. They disagreed with my measurements and said it only needed to be honed. They mic'd the pistons, dipped it and called me to come pick up a very shiny aluminum block.

It went back together easily. The book says to remove the engine and transmission as one unit. I probably should've. Maneuvering the engine into alignment was a 2.5 hour ordeal involving the hoist, a come-along and two crowbars. In the process, I snapped the clutch hydraulic line and de-freoned the air conditioner.

So after getting it all connected, I dry motored the engine to check oil pressure. The plugs were out, and the accessories/crank pulley were not installed yet. Also in the equation was my battery charger/starter which contributed 55A to the process. Oil pressure stabilized at 50psi. I cranked for 30 seconds and then let the starter cool for 5 minutes. Did this several times.

I also managed to fry the ICM. After assembling everything, and trying to fire it up, I have no spark. Rookie mistake. I'm currently awaiting parts, and hoping that my next update will be to say that it's running.

[travelair]

It runs!