The Coupe-ula Build Thread (Page 6/10)
IMSA GT FEB 22, 12:19 AM
I'll tell you what one of the most important parts are to clean and that is the oil return passages. They get caked up over the years and restrict oil flow. My biggest fear of cleaning the internals without a complete disassembly is that if you loosen the debris, it could find its way into the crank journals and block the bearing oil ports which means a spun bearing. This one is a toss up due to safety. You could get away with it but it is risky. The worst part is that the debris may not immediately block a port, it may do damage 6 months from now.
86fierofun FEB 22, 04:08 AM
I wouldn't use degreaser on anything still attached to the block. I would just scrape what I can.....
fieroboom FEB 22, 09:54 AM

quote
Originally posted by IMSA GT:

I'll tell you what one of the most important parts are to clean and that is the oil return passages. They get caked up over the years and restrict oil flow. My biggest fear of cleaning the internals without a complete disassembly is that if you loosen the debris, it could find its way into the crank journals and block the bearing oil ports which means a spun bearing. This one is a toss up due to safety. You could get away with it but it is risky. The worst part is that the debris may not immediately block a port, it may do damage 6 months from now.



Well, it's almost completely disassembled, so I can get at the bottom and the top, and the kind of cleaning it really needs is a flush... so what's the best thing to do? I'm taking the oil pickup off, and I'll flush it out & weld the tube, but what of the rest of the block? Does anyone have experience with an engine teardown & clean similar to this?
fieroboom FEB 22, 10:51 PM
Wow, either my thread is extremely boring, or I'm the first one with this kind of scenario...
mattwa FEB 22, 11:34 PM
Its not boring, its the opposite, in fact. its just that the deepest i got with my engine is the upper plenium. So i have no clue.
Tony Kania FEB 23, 12:26 AM
You know that you are not boring. I just think that no advice is the strongest advice that we could give. If you are going that far, why not miss Daytona, and build her up right? I know, money and such, but if you do it yourself...I just think that no one here has just washed down a partialy torn down engine. Usually we just explode them, then start over. I for one feel that you deserve good things to happen. I would hate to see that engine blow apart after you have gotten this far on the teardown.

Any one have any good advice for Fieroboom? I know that this guy and his wife would help anyone. So let us help them.
toddshotrods FEB 23, 10:43 AM
At the very least I have always taken a peek inside the bearing caps, when I had an engine that far down - unless I knew the history of the motor and had no concerns. I had two Goodwrench Chevy motors (1-350 & 1-427) that still had hone marks in the cylinders and were very clean inside. One guy, who has a lot of mechanical experience, was watching and was begging me to just throw some new gaskets on the 350 and get it back in the car. He insisted that if the motor was that clean it had to be okay. I pulled two bearing caps - everything still looked great. He was almost screaming at me to just button it back up, but I kept going. When the third cap came off he shut up - spun bearing.

The problem is you just never know for sure on a motor you don't know, until you see. I've been watching daily and trying to think what to say. When you said you want to wash the assembled short block down I cringed. I'm good with a set of tools and have even rebuilt engines, but since mechanical work is not my specialty, I have been waiting to see what people with more experience would say.

[This message has been edited by toddshotrods (edited 02-23-2009).]

fieroboom FEB 23, 12:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by Tony Kania:

If you are going that far, why not miss Daytona, and build her up right?



HA! Missing Daytona is NOT an option... The rooms are already reserved. The only question is, go in this, or go in the Jeep.
And from the looks of it, I'll be going in the Jeep. Looks like it's time to do a complete teardown, and a mild rebuild.... Might as well go ahead and get some headers, because these are cracked, do the DIY port & polish, grab some rings, get her honed, etc etc.
Thanks for the input guys, I was hoping to get away with some cleaning, but alas, life isn't easy, huh?

EDIT:
Guess it's time to whip up that engine stand I've been wanting to build...

[This message has been edited by fieroboom (edited 02-23-2009).]

IMSA GT FEB 23, 11:46 PM
It's a shame that you aren't closer because I need to get rid of an engine stand and a 2.8 engine block

Let me know if you want dimensions on the stand.
toddshotrods FEB 24, 10:24 AM
Did you PM Clifff about changing the name of this thread for you? I did it before. The 27 thread was originally something like "32 Fiero Land Speed Racer". I just posted in the thread that I was going to rename it before I asked Cliff to change the title, to let the viewers and posters get used to the new name.