Engine Assembly

[wdills]

Starting to put my engine back together. I verified all my oil passages in the block, crank and rods were open this morning. I washed the block out, dried it and appiled a very light coat of oil to all the machined surfaces to make sure I didn't get any flash rust.

Tomorrrow I plan to set the crank and verify the clearance on the mains using plastigauge. Then I will check the end play and hope I have the correct shim. Assuming I have the correct shim I will install the rear seal, install the flywheel bolts in the crank flange, lube everything up, install the crank and torque it down.

Any tips to save me some pain and agony?

[Dan Timberlake]

I like to check the runout (crank straightness) of the main journals , snout, and flywheel flange with the crank lying in the front and rear mains. A decent test for the main journal accuracy, and block main line is, With all the main bearings installed and oiled, after the clearances are checked, the crank should turn very freely. The rear main seal adds too much drag for a good test.

[wdills]

Installed the crank today. All the mains clearances were good. According to the plastigauge scale, 3 of my mains were right at .002, the front main was between .0015 and .002 and the rear main was between .002 and .0025.

The rotatioin was very easy prior to installing the seal. Thanks for the tip Dan.

The end play ended up at .004 but I had to use a stack of shims about .020 thick. More than I expected. The crank is not original to this block. Is having that much of a shim stack a problem?

[wdills]

Hoping to assemble the pistons on the rods and install rings this weekend. The pistons and rings are new.

When you guys build an engine, do you check every ring end gap and groove clearance or do you spot check a few or do you just put it together and assume it is right when you are using new parts?

Thanks

[Tom Bredehoft]

Do it right, check each ring for end gap. If one's too tight you want to know that. Assume its right? You gotta be kidding.

[Dan Timberlake]

How did you clean the cylinder walls? A white rag should stay white ( no gray ) when rubbed on the lightly oiled cylinder.

[wdills]

I washed the cylinders and the rest of the block with warm water and dish washer detergent. No residue seen since then. I will break out the lint free white rags and very cleanliness this weekend. Had not thought using a white rag to verify, thanks for the tip.

I didn't expect to hear that you guys assumed all the rings were right, but I didn't know if you took the time to check every ring or not. This is the first automotive engine I have ever built and I was just curious how far I needed to go on checking stuff like this.

Based on the speed our local rebuild shop turns out engines, there is no way they do all the checks that are in the Stude service manual. Maybe they figure time is money and it is cheaper for them to rebuild an engine if it comes back than it is to check all these tolerances when putting one together.

Thanks again

[DEEPNHOCK]

If you have a raw, dry cylinder exposed to the air for a whole week, you need to prep them again.
You will get some oxidation (surface rust) on those cylinders just from sitting like that.

Other than that, it sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it.
My advice is to check EVERYTHING twice, or thrice.
And I mean everything. Some oil in a bolt hole will mess you up.
A slightly bent pushrod will mess you up.
One piston ring gapped wrong will mess you up.
A slightly cocked rod bearing insert will mess you up.
Take it one step at a time...one part at a time.
Check it after each part is installed.
Check your rotation after each part is installed.
Better to catch a problem where you only have to go one step backwards, than to wonder which one of the 74 steps caused a problem.
It isn't a watch, but it will be a better engine if you treat your assembly of the engine like a watch.
Besides, you want to assemble the engine for that Stude once every 60 years, right?
Hang in there... You'll be fine!
Jeff

I washed the cylinders and the rest of the block with warm water and dish washer detergent. No residue seen since then. I will break out the lint free white rags and very cleanliness this weekend. Had not thought using a white rag to verify, thanks for the tip.
I didn't expect to hear that you guys assumed all the rings were right, but I didn't know if you took the time to check every ring or not. This is the first automotive engine I have ever built and I was just curious how far I needed to go on checking stuff like this.

Based on the speed our local rebuild shop turns out engines, there is no way they do all the checks that are in the Stude service manual. Maybe they figure time is money and it is cheaper for them to rebuild an engine if it comes back than it is to check all these tolerances when putting one together.

Thanks again

[wdills]

Thanks for the encouragement Jeff. I did apply a light coat of oil to all machined surfaces after I washed the block to prevent oxidation. I just didn't think about checking for cleanliness with the white rag.

[whacker]

Apply that light coat of oil to the entire engine. You can wash it off after you are done and before you paint it.

[Pat Dilling]

Since you said this is your first engine build, congrats for taking on the challenge! If you do not know to do this already, when checking ring end gap, use the piston for that hole, turned upside down, to push the ring down into the cylinder a ways. That will make sure the ring is square in the bore and will give you an accurate measurement. Then mark the ring envelope with the cylinder number and put the rings back in the envelope to make sure you get them back in the same holes.

Have fun!

[wdills]

Well, this weekend turned out to be a complete bust. The honey-do list eat up all of my time on Saturday. I got out to the shop today and quickly discovered the nuts for the pinch bolts had some galled threads. So I decided to measure rings and install them on the pistons. Opened up the piston box and couldn't find any markings to identify which piston went to which cylinder.

Guess I'll go see the machine shop and find out how he identified the pistons and buy some new nuts for the pinch bolts.

Does anyone know if the pinch bolt nuts are grade 5 or grade 8? I would guess 5 but that is just a guess.

Maybe next weekend will be more productive!

[wdills]

Talked to guy at the machine shop today. He said he didn't mark the pistons because they were all the same size. I was suprised to hear that so I asked one of the quality guys where I work to measure them. Turns out all fell within a span of .0003, so I guess I will start installing pistons on rods when I get some free time.