Builds Work In Progress aka: Badass (2 Viewers)

[NeverGiveUpYota]

But the piston rings... folks don’t do those from below?

 

[Infinity00]

Unclamp them from below and bring them out the top.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Unclamp them from below and bring them out the top.

Only if you’ve got the head off.

 

[John McVicker]

Fel, I think I would do as evil suggested and put a rubber hose on those threads for the next ones you do. Too easy to make a mistake and the consequences are high. I used fuel hose.

 

[cps432]

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do piston rings with the block still in the truck. You would have to pull/install them from the top after the head has been removed like you suggest, but I would think that pulling the head, at that point, would be a piece of cake. Heck, if you're doing an entire build you'd have the head off anyway. Don't you have to have it off for the camshaft work anyway? I would also think you could flatten the top of the block with the granite countertop/sandpaper "theory"... honing the bore should be a walk in the park if you've gone that far and pulled everything out. Incredible work, Felicity! Keep at it!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do piston rings with the block still in the truck. You would have to pull/install them from the top after the head has been removed like you suggest, but I would think that pulling the head, at that point, would be a piece of cake. Heck, if you're doing an entire build you'd have the head off anyway. Don't you have to have it off for the camshaft work anyway? I would also think you could flatten the top of the block with the granite countertop/sandpaper "theory"... honing the bore should be a walk in the park if you've gone that far and pulled everything out. Incredible work, Felicity! Keep at it!

Head is in place. I was just talking hypothetically about the piston rings and honing. Everything I’m doing now is from the bottom w/ the pan off. Cam shaft was pulled w/ engine jacked upward and a little trim and bend of the front cross member.

 

[cps432]

Awesome! So you pulled the camshaft with the head still installed? Maybe I missed the details a few pages back. Obviously you know more about this than I do!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Yeah cam shaft lays parallel to the crank on the bottom of the engine.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Incredible work

thank you for the kudos. It’s a lot for sure esp since I’ve never done any of this type ever before. Lots of baby steps and thinking things through over and over. I like to visualize stuff before I do it. Book reading doesn’t do squat for my ability really understand steps I need to take.

 

[g-man]

The ring compression tool needs to be held in place on the piston with one hand and the other hand has to turn the allen wrench to squeeze the rings. Another person then taps with the handle of a long rubber mallet on top of the piston to get it in the block. I don't think you could do this from the bottom of the motor as there is no way you can get your hands on the allen wrench with the compression tool in there going at it from the bottom. I have been known to be wrong so if anyone can do it, it would be you. And before any of this happens, yes cover the studs with short (3") fuel lines.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Can’t help it but I’m laughing at the fact that my thinking and pondering outloud has run away on its own!
I’m NOT doing the piston rings. I just had it in my head thatca bottom end included them but clearly I was wrong. That’s it.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I will say that is interesting to see the tool. Now I find myself pondering. Couldn’t the tool be used opposite?
Nope. I see it only squeezes the uppermost part of the piston and ring and is then inserted, as you said, from the top. How much of the piston is held in that sleeve?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Just toss a big X through all that. Crank would have to be out, pistons probably wouldn’t fit through the 30 year old bore holes... list goes on.

 

[g-man]

Are you replacing the main bearings on the crankshaft too? At this point you could at least pull the bearing retainers off and look at the bottom 1/2 of the main bearings.

 

[cps432]

Hell, since we're all postulating with our keyboards, why not just pull the whole engine out and rebuild it in a shiny new shop with computer guided cnc mills?! Transmission too...

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Are you replacing the main bearings on the crankshaft too? At this point you could at least pull the bearing retainers off and look at the bottom 1/2 of the main bearings.

Ppppsssh, I ordered only con rod bearings.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Did con rod bearings 5-3 and then stopped to head over to a friends house. Him and his husband bought a big fancy house back in the winter and have gone wild adding fun spots in the yard. He wanted advice on adding plants and shrubs to close up the rear yard from prying neighbors.
Clay bath, dual outdoor shower, circular fire pit lounge area, path into the woods.... jokingly it’s a gay mans haven but I’d take it too. I’m totally coming back for a dip in the clay once the water seeps out. We got about 2+ inches last night.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Ok I share or I not. I always bare my ugly, just be kind and remember I don’t have a big weekly pay check.... what I observed which I’d personally like to attempt to forget about is that the connecting rod below piston number 3 has a tiny fingernail detectable gouge in its surface. The bearing had the same. Would seem the bearing started to break down and the fragments got pressed into the rod bottom? There’s also some diagonal side to side scratches. Zoom in the rod pix and it’s pretty easy to see.

 

[Infinity00]

That looks ugly. I only know the same as you, that everyone is going to say stop and pull that crank. Here’s the thing, you got really lucky it sounds like to have found those bearings moving before they wrecked your engine. Will something like that damaged journal cause the bearing to spin or can you clean it up enough and get away with it? That’s a tough one knowing what it means to pull the crank, vs leaving it and possibly later ruining your engine. This is all theory and speculation. I’d want to talk to an engine builder who has seen this before and knows the risks.

By the way, I must be a gay man because their place sounds wonderful.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Glowing plastic rocks!