Block surface dots

[David Rodgers]

I haven’t used a rotary tool (roloc) on it yet. Only hand sanded with maroon (finish) 3m pad. Sounds like I should just finish with the pad (keeping dust out of cylinders) and then go from there.

 

[David Rodgers]

Thanks guys. Trying to go slow and be as deliberate as I can. This is the first one that I’ve ever done.

 

[David Rodgers]

Stop or keep going?

 

[SNLC]

Anything short of a brass wire wheel on the die grinder will remove material. Red, yellow, green, blue doesn’t matter, on the die grinder they eat metal. Wire wheels also eat metal, crept brass wire wheels.

Clean it by hand. Check for true-flat.

Cheers

 

[David Rodgers]

Does it look like I should keep going or is that clean enough?

 

[Rwhat]

Good time to remove your oil cooler, clean it and replace the O rings.

 

[Rwhat]

Does it look like I should keep going or is that clean enough?

looks good enough. You running factory head bolts or studs? Use your vac and clean out the threaded holes.

 

[David Rodgers]

looks good enough. You running factory head bolts or studs? Use your vac and clean out the threaded holes.

Factory head bolts new. I’m going to tap the bolt holes and let sit with wd40 and blow them out before the new bolts go in. Thank you for the advice.

 

[David Rodgers]

Good time to remove your oil cooler, clean it and replace the O rings.

I’m going to. I actually already wiped some of it down. I had a valve cover leak and it was covered with oil. Thanks for the info.

 

[SNLC]

I’m going to. I actually already wiped some of it down. I had a valve cover leak and it was covered with oil. Thanks for the info.

Try and pressure test your old oil cooler if you plan to re-use it. Last thing you want is a pin hole in it causing you grief when you get all done.

Cheers

 

[BILT4ME]

Try and pressure test your old oil cooler if you plan to re-use it. Last thing you want is a pin hole in it causing you grief when you get all done.

Cheers

Don't test with more pressure than the oil pressure system is designed for or you'll make a balloon.....

 

[ajax1]

Hylomar and Toyota gasket, good to go stop cleaning. Put a little oil on the cylinder walls and run the pistons up and down and wipe the cylinder each time to get any carbon or crap that is in the piston rings

 

[David Rodgers]

How do you apply the hylomar? Is it a spray or paint?

 

[bhsdriller]

How do you apply the hylomar? Is it a spray or paint?

LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You

For all those people who find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than to Google it for themselves.

lmgtfy.app

 

[Malleus]

So there’s a bunch of debate on this one.

One group says:
no abrasives...I get it but I don’t know if I ever could get the surface good enough for a gasket

the other group says: rolok and 3m with rags in the cylinders (with grease or wd40)

I scrubbed for 5 hours with scraper, brass brush, chemicals, safety razor (plastic) and it still looked terrible.

Then my friend said to use a stainless steel cup brush on a drill. Cleaned on it for an hour or so...spinning with the brush, cleaning in between with acetone and wd40. Still looked like crap.

Used the 3m and it looked way better in 10 min.

The guys that say use no abrasive, how do you get it clean? I had no success.

As dirty as my block was, I don’t think I have any choice but to use abrasives.

I did a bunch of research before I started. Thats why I started using no abrasives. But as I went along making little progress, I knew that I’d spend months cleaning if I don’t use abrasives. I don’t know if I could ever get it clean (no matter how long) without abrasives.

I'd look at the contamination problem this way (and yes, it's better to disassemble the engine before cleaning the head mounting surface, but I live in the real world too and realize that isn't always possible): anything that gets between the ring and cylinder wall is likely going to do no more damage than the normal use wear contamination your filter is supposed to take care of.

I used to work in the railroad maintenance industry and we had almost monthly conversations with the railroads about our recommended maintenance procedures. The railroads are really big on maintenance, due to the extremely long distances between yards; they just can't afford to have equipment stranded halfway between here and nowhere, so it makes economic sense to spend now and not later. Anyway, the long and short of our discussions were based on recommendations we received from our filter manufacturers (we used both Detroit Diesel and Cummins engines). They told us that we could buy and recommend any filters we wanted, but from an economics point of view, any filter that caught any particulate less than what slipped past the rings was wasted money. If it can get past the rings, it's really floating anyway and chances are it's not touching the cylinder walls and therefore not a problem. Yes, I know there's a diffence between gas and diesel engines, but the theory is the same.

So, back to your concern about contamination, vacuum up anything on the top of the piston and upper ring, plan on changing the filter 3 times and the oil once, before you drive it (I'd recommend running it at idle for 15 minutes each time) and you should be good.

HTH

 

[Malleus]

when I cleaned mine up I used a vacuum, scraper, and cut out Circles of cardboard to fit the cylinders to help keep junk out while cleaning.

Also, what you think is leftover gasket material is actually worn grooves in the deck from the head gasket heat cycling. Stainless against cast steel. Stainless is harder.

x2: the gasket will "print" itself on the block.

 

[David Rodgers]

LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You

For all those people who find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than to Google it for themselves.

lmgtfy.app

I’m a noob. I have never done a head gasket. I’ve spent probably hundreds of hours researching this because I’m scared, and I’m really good at prepping myself for things that I don’t know about. I’ll bet I’ve watched the OTRAMM head gasket series 20 times. I’ve read through the manual at least 10 times. I have my phone in hand watching the OTRAMM videos and the manual on the windshield as I’m doing this junk.

I asked one question that could be answered in 1 minute and get that response. It probably would have taken less time to answer it than post a negative response. This is supposed to be a community helping each other so that we can keep these great vehicles on line and help out people that can’t afford keeping one of these going without help.

I’m currently in a long thread with a noob about to do this same thing that asked me “if I had any problems that could help him out”. I’m gonna help him out in any way that I can.

Please ignore any posts that you don’t want to answer and let people help each other... Remember what Mom said “if you don’t have anything nice to say........

thanks again for everyone that has helped me. I sincerely appreciate it. You have no idea how much it matters.

 

[David Rodgers]

Ok, so I’m a little stressed sorry

 

[BILT4ME]

I finally have a little time to put toward a reply for this.

I'm sorry for your loss on the HG.
I would have stopped cleaning about 8 hours of labor ago. Yes, I am detailed when it comes to cleaning things, but I have also done similar thing before, and part of this is how we learn. We make mistakes and learn from them (hopefully).

You have cleaned to the point that I am concerned you have started to damage. The top of that block needs to be flat. There is a specific tolerance for that. The pads, scrapers, whatever you have used are made to be abrasive. They are designed to REMOVE material. The hardness of the material does make a difference on how much is removed, but you are removing material.

Stop scraping, sanding, and polishing.

Now use a vacuum, grease, oil, and solvent to clean up what you've done.

I believe you have gone so far overboard on your cleaning in an attempt to remove the dots that you may have caused damage.

Max warp for the head is only 0.0059" (0.15mm)
I did not find the flatness spec for the block in my very brief perusal of the FSM for this engine.

BTW, It tells you exactly what to do for cleaning on the block and head prior to installation. Do you have a FSM for your year truck?

I think you need to rent or borrow an engine block flatness gauge and use a set of feeler gauges to check the flatness of the deck of your block. Since you have rubbed hard on some areas, make sure to take measurements in those areas. Google "engine block flatness gauge" and you'll find results on what it is and how to use it.

Think of what you're doing as if you're rubbing a paper towel on a scratch in the paint. It will very slowly eliminate the scratch, but your hand movements will cause the areas around the scratch to also be worn off, creating a much larger area with rubbed off paint. Eventually you will rub through the primer and you will still see the scratch.

 

[David Rodgers]

I sent the head off and had them check straightness, check for cracks, do a valve job, clean, and install new valve seals. Didn’t need anything else and everything turned out great. 5 weeks to do since I told them that I had some time to wait (building an addition on my house at the same time). $422 dollars. See before and after photos.