I need some engine advice

Of course I know friends that can't find their car keys because they are in their other hand. People wonder how I know where everything is in my garage or work van. Nothing is organized in their view but I know where everything was stashed years ago. Oh, a heater fan for a '68 Volvo, it's over there on the shelf, second shelf up in the middle. A fuel pump for the same year, right here under the work bench. A cam, which do you want, for a B16 or for a B18? I do sometimes trip over the T90s and D18s out in the middle of the garage. A 2 1/4" socket, you want that in 1/2" or 3/4" inch drive? I got stuff. Probably time to sell a bunch of it off, but all of my friends are older than me and I know what I would get from a pawnshop.

 

Chris, I've been watching this thread for a few days while you continue to report what terrible condition your old motor is in........I fully understand you would like to do this as cheap as possible and I'm all for that as long as the end result pays a greater benefit than the time , labor and cost it takes to get it there ............and with all due respect and you know me well enough by now when I tell you , Sometimes there really is no upside in trying to use junk to patch junk unless your forced to do so under unmitigated circumstances like being off the pavement 100 miles from nowhere with no other choices..............
You say you have several used motors , maybe you should cannibalize each one , extract the good parts , measure everything and rebuild one that will last and perform to your expectations............
The old adage "Pay me Now or Pay me Later" fits this quite well.

 

I completely and totally agree with you. You are fully correct in thinking that this is what i should do and it is what i plan on doing sometime in the near future. Right now I need to prioritize and since I am still paying for insurance/registration on this vehicle, have a new frame that needs set up, need to rebuild the sm420 and d/18, I need to leave something for later. I want a running engine to work all the bugs out of my setup and will pull it later after I make sure the rest of it all works appropriately. Once everything works its not a big deal to pull the engine and replace with one that makes bigger burnouts!!!!!!!

I can't imagine I can get the machine work done for less than 800~1000 bucks, maybe more plus 5~700 bucks for stock replacement parts.. Cant do that right now. I really need this jeep as my second vehicle as my truck is beat and I cannot, refuse to, afford a car payment.

Thank you for your advice.

 

Went to 4 different auto parts stores looking for a dingleberry style hone. one guy looked at me with a stewed up look on his face and asked what a cylinder horn was, 2 other stores said they don't carry it, one said they would order it if they had to and the last said he would get it to me by tomorrow.

I just dont care that this point. I am going to wrap some maroon scotchbrite around something and rough up the walls a bit and be done. The walls aren't even glazed as there is only 1000 miles since I put the last set of rings in. Didn't bore it then. The engine should run about as well as it did before the nut and washers fell into it. That was pretty good.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ball+hone&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=ball+hone

 

Not sure you'll get much cross hatch pattern from the ScotchBrite as compared to say some abrasive cloth or the Ball Hone.........but in either case the end result will be about the same as neither have the ability to straighten the bore out or keep it round.

 

The ball hone will make the cross-hatch pattern you need for your rings to seat. On crooked bores, you must use inexpensive cast iron rings anyway, so they may seat ok without prepping the bores. But maybe not.

 

Yeah, scotchbrite didn't work. It just polished the bore. I went out and bought a cylinder hone with med stones on it. I can't find mine. Looked everywhere. Anyway there is scoring on the walls. It was there the first time around too.
This is after honing with the 3 stone setup.

Far from perfect, but it will run as well as before.....hopefully

 

Heck yeah, I bought the cheap cast rings. I don't plan on this engine being permanent. Going to rebuild one of my spare engines tis summer or next winter or a heck of a lot sooner if this doesn't work out.

Its raining today, so I want this engine together today. Should have ordered the ball hone last week, but I really though they carried it at auto zone and I didn't lose my 3 stone set up....

 

Get Amazon Prime. 2-day delivery in all Prime items, 1-day for $3.99.

About the only brick-and-mortar stores I buy from now are Market Basket, Costco, Home Depot and the local liquor store.

 

Did you pull the crank before you honed it?

 

I did not pull the crank before I honed it. I stuffed some big rags down there. I didn't go nuts and made sure I used oil to keep metal dust down and of course lubricate. I only did the passenger side anyway. didn't pull the cam or the other side pistons either. Yeah, this is quick and dirty. Thats why I have it in the off topic discussion so that no one uses it as reference. more of an entertainment quality for you guys. Like an engine repair that starts off, "hey, hold my beer".

Interestingly, looking up the head torque sequence, I found that my engine can be no older than 1966 as 1965 had 11 head bolts and mine has 8, the first year being 1966.

Yes, I pretty much buy everything online now. It turned out ok though. spaced that ball hone. My cylinders are pretty straight though and the 3 stone job worked fine.

 

I was waiting for 47v6 to say something unique like, "Put cut up sticky traps at the bottom of the cylinders to catch the debris..." Love this semi-serious thread!

 

guess I coulda tried to clean off the oil and duct taped the bottom of the cylinders! "Handymans secret weapon"!

 

Back when I rebuilt the first L heads, all we had for hones were the stone types. Too far in, oops, too far out, oops. In HS I rebuilt the Corvette SBC. I wondered what that strange bottle brush looking thing was. When a friend did the jugs for my Harley, His ball hone was set up in a solvent tank with the fluid flowing in the entire time and the drill was hanging from a spring so he didn't have to lift it, just move it up and down at the correct speed.

 

10-4

 

It looks like knurling a valve guide is really easy if you have the appropriate tools. correct reamer and then the knurling tool. I don't think this is a great idea for perfectly rebuilt engines, but It can certainly add life to a hobby engine for a cost effective remedy.

 

Yeah, but how much is the cost of the knurling set? I would expect that it's way more than the price of having a machinist knurl the guides for you. The knurling head probably isn't very expensive, but I would expect the cost of the reamers to be significant.

(Quick check - I found a knurling set for about $500).

Knurling is an acceptable repair in many cases. It does not last as long as the integral guides, because of the reduced contact area of the knurled material. However, it lasts pretty well, I'd guess more than 50K miles. Fine to get more miles from an old car, or for a hobby car that will see limited use anyway.

 

I dont think you would need an entire set, just one reamer of the appropriate size and 1 knurler. 500 bucks is way too expensive though. For that money i am sure you could have new guides cut in. I have no real plans of doing the knurling.

 

Lapped that used exhaust valve from the doner head.

the suction cup thing kept slipping off. I did remove all the carbon and wire wheels the valve too. I guess it gets a couple particles of the silicon carbide valve grinding paste on the cup and thats it for suction.

Fixed that issue.

slow one direction, slow the other, repeat. The valves have noticeable side to side movement when open. Guides are worn out for sure. Didn't measure it with an indicator because I know they are worn out.