Poor life choices - C4 content

In reply to RossD:

Not really, because an LS won't do me any good without all the C5 front end accessories/brackets to run it. If this engine doesn't need machine work, a crank, or anything else $$, I think I can rebuild it for ~$500 while upping the power a bit.

Your thread became slightly more relevant to me last night - a Spitfire bud is getting an '84 Vette (Yay! Cease-Fire Injection! ) from his wife's uncle. He's getting the car for free, but it doesn't run right now. On the plus side, it's been garaged for most/all it's life, so I think it's in fairly good condition otherwise. His tentative plan is to get it running and probably sell it.

In reply to petegossett:

Maybe it's just me but from the way the front of that engine looks I'd bet it spent some time under water. Have you thought of a junkyard VORTEC engine with a cam? Here on half off day that'd set you back less than $100 at the you pull it. You would need a VORTEC style intake.

In reply to Ian F:

Sweet! Good luck, hopefully it's an easy job to get it running.

In reply to Stampie:

Hopefully I'll have the pan off tonight and be able to confirm whether it's been submerged. I'm somewhat suspicious of that, now knowing how much water was on the floors and how crusty some of the underneath appears.

When pounding a piston to try to rotate the crank, hit one that's halfway up in the bore (or halfway down if you're a pessimist). The rod will be about 90 degrees to the crank, and will be putting maximum torque into the crank.

Best resource I used when building the engine for my van was an old guy! I mean my friend Don who's done it numerous times.

Find an old guy!

Day-28(4.5-hours):

I started out this evening cleaning off one workbench & organizing parts in preparation of engine disassembly. I decided that I might as well scrape off as much engine smegma as I could before I pulled the pan.

The oil that remained inside the pan had aged to ~90-weight, but there was no sign of debris.

Aeromoto was kind enough to stop by for a while to lend his expertise(and balancer puller), and with him doing all the hard work the pistons are out and the crank turns freely. There were two pistons that were fairly stuck, and another two that were really stuck, so it's no wonder it wouldn't budge.

He said the bearings look fine, and their wear seems to match the 63kmi on the odo.

Next up I'll pull the crank, then see if I can tap out the 4 stuck lifters from underneath. After that it's time to start shopping. Oh, and cleaning...lots and lots of cleaning, both the engine and engine bay.

Send me your shopping list, i have rings and oil pumps and some other new sbc bits kicking around in bulk

In reply to patgizz:

Thanks Pat! I'll message you tomorrow.

That doesn't look as bad as I was expecting. What do the bores look like now that the pistons are out?

In reply to Stampie:

Honestly, by the time we finished up last night I didn't think to look. After a quick hone the night before they looked better than I'd expected though.

Once I get the crank & cam out I'll give it a more thorough hone and post pics for feedback.

Don't drive the stuck lifters out from below. You're likely to gall the lifter bore with your removal. Instead, tap them up just enough to allow you to pull the cam out of the block, then roll the block back upright and tap the lifters down their bores and into the cam cavity and out that way.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie:

Thanks for the tip!

You can get a quick indication of bore wear if you measure the compression ring gap at the top and bottom of the bore. In a perfect world, it would be the same. More likely than not the ring gap will tighten as you go down the bore. Set ring gap on new rings at the bottom since it will be the tightest point.

This thread is a lot of fun to watch. You're showing exactly what may be done in just a couple hours every night without stalling progress.

Fingers crossed the motor is rebuildable.

Since everything came out, does this mean you could hone out this block?

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Oh I'll be honing it...whether the result is successful I should know this weekend. Although with the cold weather we're forecast for I'm not sure how long I'll linger around out there. It'll be in the low-20's tonight with a high in the upper-30's tomorrow - I moved down here to get away from that E36 M3!

In reply to petegossett: At least down South it only lasts a couple day's at a time, Sitting here waiting for the Snow to start now, mostly just cold rain. They make rings that are .005 thou.oversize....Gap them yourself they can account for some bore slack,but tight is right with bore size.

Day-29(1.5-hours):

I got the cam & crank out.

The crank looks fine, but there is visible wear on the cam lobes - is this bad?

Both of cylinder one's lifters were really stuck.

There's also some marking in the lifter bores, and I can feel it with my finger. How much of a problem is it?

I honed the cylinders more thoroughly, and they seem fine. There are still some stains, but nothing I can feel. Here's a before & after of bank-1.

In reply to GTXVette:

Good to know about the rings. Once again that's something I'd not even considered.

Could you not also get a small diameter hone to run thru the lifter bores ?

In reply to einy:

They do exist A cheap option for Chevy lifter bore hone

In reply to KurtAKX:

Very cool! Looks like another tool to add to the arsenal.

Another option for the lifter bore is to take a small steel rod a few inches long and split it lengthwise about 1/2" down one end. Then chuck on the non-split end in a die grinder and wedge a piece of emery paper into the split end and whiz away the ridge.

A brake hone would probably work too, just don't take off more than is absolutely necessary (pretty tight tolerances there) and clean the oil galleys out afterwards like the engine's life depends on it, because it does.