rebuilding an engine

[Camaro84]

rebuilding an engine is it a hard job to do. i want to replace all the gaskets, beirings, and rings. but im not sure if i should have someone do it for me or do it myself i have the engine already on a standand all the tools. but im not sure if a intermediate mechanic like me can do it. thanks.

[ROUDA]

Yes I think you can do it. Just get a book from the parts store like autozone, I forget the name of the books but they make them theyl tell you how to do anything you want. Just make sure you get the one for the year of car you have and it will have some pics and exact directions on how to do it.

[wrightz28]

Gaskets and bearings, that's the easy part. If it were me, I'd 'blue print' the engine to make sure it's in healthy operational order (since you're going through the hassle right?) You"ll want to check the taper of the cylinder walls and out of round for bore purposes as well as determine what size rings you'll need after some metal gets shaved, if that's the case. Taht way you know that the cylinders are all nice and sealed and making the maximum amount of power possible.

But, if you're not all that concerned and want to do it just to do it, that's cool too, rebuild kits from summit and so on are relatively on the cheap side. But again, you'll need some precision tools and a little patience.

[Camaro84]

About how long will the process take

[wrightz28]

Originally Posted by Camaro84

About how long will the process take

Same answer for all projects, one word: BUDGET

To check the engine itself: cylinders, deck, bearings, not long at all

[Camaro84]

well i got the money.

[Camaro84]

Yeah i got the money for parts but im just wondering if it will be a day or two or maybe a few days or weeks.

[silicon212]

Take your time with it. Assuming that all of the relevant machining has been done, it should only take an hour or two to put it together.

For any engine, I recommend the following machine work:

If cylinder taper is within tolerance, surface honing the cylinder will get you by, but I recommend a "cleaning" bore, to the next oversize, to ensure you're dealing with a surface that meets or beats GM specs from the start.

* Have them remove ALL plugs, freeze plugs, oil galley plugs, etc
* Professional cleaning - you'd be surprised at what passes for a "clean block" from some machine shops.
* Cylinder bore
* Cylinder finish hone with torqueplates - your machinist will know what this is.
* Align hone and deck the block
* Mill cylinder heads flat
* At the minimum, 3-angle 'NASCAR' valve job
* Silicon bronze valve guides (NOT the thin sheaths)
* Positive-lock valve guide seals on all intake valves, factory O-ring seals on all valves
* Balancing of the complete assembled bottom-end including the pistons that you are going to run

Once you get the block back from the machine shop,

* clean the oil galleys along the cam with a rifle brush and some gun oil - pretend they're rifle bores! Follow up with compressed air. Reinstall oil galley plugs - for the press-in kind, once installed, stake them in with a chisel
* clean the oil passages from the cam bearing locations to the main bearing saddles using pipe cleaners and gun oil, use compressed air to blow out any remaining lint

ALWAYS use a new oil pump, they're cheap!
ALWAYS have your machine shop remove and replace cam bearings! They're cheap, too.

[demon9766]

if you have all the parts and the machine work done , to put the motor together the right way will take maybe 5 hours.

[Camaro84]

Thanks i almost have all the parts and the machine work so im not to far from being done. thanks.