Part two of cylinder pics

 

Here's my .02 worth:

Two years ago, my 85 F250 popped a head gasket and hydrolocked. Rather than tear into it, I parked it by the shed and ran my 94 GM dually diesel. Things have changed and I'm now putting the old Ford back on the road. I've pulled the heads and I gotta tell ya, after sitting for two years with water in the cylinders there's definitely some surface rust. My heads and cylinders look worse than yours. Here's what I'm doing:

HEADS

1. The machine shop disassembled and vatted the heads. Then they were magn-fluxed to check for cracks on the firedeck, in any cooling passage or in any port. Both heads test good.

2. Glowplug and injector threads will be chased/cleaned and the prechambers will be pulled and decarboned.

3. The shop will clean up the gasket surface, install new guides, replace all exhaust valves with 7.3 exhaust valves and check the intake valves. The intakes will be ground or replaced as needed.

Total cost for two good-as-new heads - just under $500.

The block is a whole nuther story, but basically, Charlie will vat and magnaflux it just like the heads. If it checks good, he'll pick the roughest cylinder (probably #8) and run a few test cuts to see how much is needed to clean up the cylinder walls. Based on what he sees, he'll order the pistons and rings, then do the final cuts and hone each cylinder to match its piston.

Bottom line to all this is that it's the machinist who needs to check things out and make recommendations based on your specific block. This way you're not flying blind and making decisions based on guesses. Speaking of guesses, I'm not big on buying used motors or someone else's rebuild. I've done it in the past and don't have a very good batting average. I'd rather rebuild what I have and know that it's done right. This is not a hobby and I don't need the practice.

 

Sleeve it. Sad but true

 

Thanks for that. I'm encouraged. I don't think there's anything I could have done under the circumstances. The early blocks were thinner. The reason I went for this motor was that its an 87 with the 7.3 rockers and better block. I got it for $350 so I kind of figured it probably wouldn't be a straight drop in.

 

$350 for a replacement block is a bargain. The other stuff (upgraded rockers, larger displacement, etc) is simply icing on the cake.

 

My .02 cents....its looks good to me, I would definitly do what Dave did. Like I said last week, dont rebuild the entire thing, all the rockers and stuff is icing on the cake once again like dave said. Go for it on the heads, clean the rust and head guides on it. Magna-flux the heads, you look to be in better shape than most other dead engines(the one in my garage for example has been sitting for 6 years. no rust on it cause i covered it and it never got wet, but you get the idea)

 

I'm thinking of pulling it out of the shop. I get the feeling our regular mechanic doesn't want to do this work. he said he wouldn't touch it if it were his. I don't want someone working on my motor that doesn't have his heart in it! I found a place that has a machine shop as part of their setup so everything would get done on site from start to finish. If I had the time I would love to have done the tear down and rebuild myself but summer is for earning dollars and I'm already up to my ears in regular work

Auto Repair - Car Accessories - Schmidt Automotive Repair

 

Well I would say this bout the mechanic, never go back to him. He isnt a trustworthy mechanic and/or doesnt know what he is doing. I could do that job for you but I'm in Montana and Iraq tour gets in the way of things.