Engine: Cross post: Champion Engine Re-manufacture

[JohnM15]

Thought it might be good to let you all know that I'm having my M15A champion engine re-manufactured. The company is called J & M Machine located in MA:

http://www.jandm-machine.com/

They are expensive but from what I can tell from them and from their clients, they are the best. Basically, I shipped the engine to them on 8/3 and they received the engine today (8/5). They have disassembled the entire engine, baked and cleaned it, and magnafluxed the block. They found two cracks that they will pin. So far they have sent me two emails with pictures to keep me up to date on the progress. I am posting the pics and progress on my blog here:

http://studem15a-20.blogspot.com/

[PackardV8]

from what I can tell from them and from their clients, they are the best.

Agreed, from what I have heard from the classic car and boat guys, J&M Machine does only top quality work.

They are expensive

Agreed - J&M is not for CASOs. Let us know where goes cost-wise. You may end up with the best, most expensive stock remanufactured Champion engine ever.

jack vines

[FlatheadGeo]

"Gunk in the sump" sounds like a New Wave band!!! They certainly got to work quick! Please keep us posted.

[JohnM15]

Besides getting the truck ready for the engine to go back in, in about a month, I planning to build the oil "pre-charge" apparatus that others have used on a virgin engine. I'll probably make mine out of PVC and have a valve to stop the flow before air gets in.

Yes Jack, very expense. The quote I got was $5,500 to $6,800. The variation accounts for how much, if any pinning needs to be done, whether cylinders need to be relined and the extent of grinding that needs to be done. I expected a lot of grinding of the crank because this engine has not had decent oil pressure in a while. As it turned out the previous owner had the oversize rod bearings installed but not the main bearings. Oddly, the cylinders were ridge reamed but there appears to be no piston or ring work. The engine has sloppy lifters, also to be expected. J & M says that the lifter bores seem OK but until they get some measurement done won't know for sure. I have made it a point that the lifters *must* be tight because the oil galley feeding the lifters is not restricted. When they wear, they will then receive the lion share of the oil flow and not more important things like main & rod bearings.

I may or may not keep this forum updated along with Truck Talk, so save the blog link 'cause I'll keep that updated...