Thanks Brad. I will keep that in mind.

 

I did watch some videos on lapping the valves. Doesn’t look to terribly hard. So to examine the bores to see if the valves would fix the air leak problem I decided to pull the heads off the used engine to take a look at the valves. That is where the momentum train derailed. I only had time to pull one side. So I pulled the passenger side head. Apparently at some point in time during storage before I bought it water made its way into cylinders 7 and 5. I was hoping to just hone the cylinders and re-ring the pistons and be good to go. However that doesn’t look promising at all.

I took pictures of the bores. 7 and 5 look rough to say the least. Cylinders 3 and 1 has a nice crosshatch. It’s a shame, if they all looked like 3 and 1 I think I would be in business. No up and down grooves that you will catch your nail with however it’s 99.9% certain a honing isn’t going to fix it. It will need machine work is the general consensus. Same as my old engine.

Here are the cylinder bores with the coresponding valves. Cylinders 7,5,3 and 1.

 

That's a blown engine. That oil didn't mix with water while just sitting there on a crate... it had that before the engine was pulled. Crap. Here I sit with a spare engine that need a little love in one cylinder, but shipping would eat us alive.

 

Not a blown engine.. Might as well be though.. Engine may have been exposed to elements at any point with missing components.. And since then he's been turning it over and over..
Shipping may not be as bad as you think


kyle

 

 

Heads are salvageable, dont worry. Even cylinder 5 and 7, judging by the pics, a hone can clean it up as long the cylinder isn't pitted.

 

 

I tried honing cylinders a couple times, never was happy with my results. Hard to get the angle and pattern consistent.

But the engines did run, just used a bit more oil than I liked.

Since you are looking at a complete teardown and reseal, roll up a price and call a machine shop that has a hone for a labor quote?

Would be great if the cylinders do clean up with just a hone. But also get a price on pistons in case you have to go oversize to get clean bores.

For the heads (we love pics), I do see a lot of rust which would cause the poor sealing you observed. The valves might clean up with lapping, and that is something you can do in a home shop. Still need to fully disassemble and inspect. Hopefully the stems and valve guides don't have a lot of slop, and the valve seats and mating surfaces are not heavily pitted.

I rebuilt my first engine when I was 17, no youtube videos or forums back then. Read some Petersen books and went for it.

 

Personally, I would start with a thorough cleaning. Scrub everything so you can see what's there. Be sure to use bottle type brushes and clean all the oil passages as well. I purchased a block that had hardly been used because they kept having valve train problems on the left bank. Turned out there was a piece of slag in one of the oil passages.
Once clean you can try honing that cylinder but I have my doubts it will clean up. You will need to check the cylinder for roundness and then put a fresh piston ring in and check for proper end gap.

 

 

Solvents won't hurt the steel surfaces but some of them could eat be hard on rubber components. Brake/carb cleaner works good and I haven't had it eat any rubber (yet). I use Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), which was available at Lowe's last time I got a gallon. It's probably banned in Kalifornia and it is the best solvent I have found since tricloroetyhlene but keep your nose away from it and only use it in a well ventilated area. I prefer to use brass wire brushes and scotchbrite pads work well and won't damage anything, neither will steel wool.

 

Since you are looking at a rebuild with a motor like this (which at this stage only makes sense) all the gaskets and seals will be replaced anyway. Pull the oil pan, crank, pistons, etc.(disassemble the motor) and then start cleaning.
Ideally a hot tank would be best but for those of us without access to one any standard automotive degreaser will remove the bulk of it. From there soap (detergent, Dawn, simple green, etc.) and water and lots of elbow grease. Make sure everything is rinsed well and dried with compressed air. You can soak smaller parts in solvent if necessary.
I like to use an automotive paint Wax and Grease remover and brass wire brush to final clean the block and head castings prior to painting (if that is the plan).
Once clean take a real close look at your problem cylinder, valve seats, etc. and then make your decisions on what machine work needs to be done.

 

 

Yes and yes. Make sure they go back in the same place and direction. I usually start in the middle but for the most part no.

 

You can lay things out on a piece of cardboard and label them, put smaller parts in a plastic bag and write on the bag with a permanent marker, poke holes in a cardboard box and stick valve stems in them and label, etc.
Take pictures of things you aren't sure of so you can reference them later.