I would do this.First,since the motor is already out,I would totally dissassemble it and clean up everything.Second,I would get a rering kit for the motor from Northern Auto Parts(about 120 bucks).In this kit you get rings,rod and main bearings and gasket set.You will have to determine whether the crank is good then.At least get it polished before re-using.If you need a crank,you can get one of those from Northern too around 120 bucks too and you can return the bearings you get with the kit for credit.You can get an oil pump rebuild in the kit as well.I read your other thread about the exploding oil filter.A member on here solved my similar problem by instructing me to take the oil pressure spring nut(a big nut on the timing cover near the oil filter)and removing the spring and also the check valve in there.Mine was stuck thus producing too much pressure and the filter explosed.I would think some of your "gunk"may have gotten in there sticking the valve.Make sure you clean this area thoroughly.You may also opt to get an adjustable oil pressure set-up like the one TA sells.I also use brass freeze out plugs that I get from Napa.You should also inspect the cam bearings and replace them(if needed).It is all in how far and how much you really want to go with this motor but cleaning it up will for sure help greatly. Pat
In one of your earlier posts you mentioned you are 15. That's the same age I was when I tore my Nailhead apart and rebuilt it (even though my dad was not very happy to say the least). He later supported me, and since the day that motor fired up, he was very proud of me until the day he passed away nearly 18 years ago. It sounds to me like you really want to do this, so mechanical reasons why to do it are not important. The things you will learn are experiences that will follow you for your whole life. You can brag about how you rebuilt a car engine to your freinds and family. Your dad will be proud of you. Now get out there, start taking that thing apart, and get to work! And take some pictures, you'll cherish them when you get older.:bglasses:
My dad decided that we will replace the rings, he want to take them out from the bottom. Is that possible, to take out the pistons, with rods, from the bottom without removing the crank shaft to. And another question, if we remove the bearings, will the oil passages be visible? Thanks Slawek
you should be able to take them out the bottom but i dont think you'll be able to get them back in thru the bottom. and im not sure if you;d want to push them past the ridge at the top. Nate
To the best of my knowlege, you can't take pistons out from the bottom. They will hit the web of the block even with the crank out. Anytime I ever just replaced rings on any motor I had, I later wound up regretting it. The best way to do this job is to just do the whole thing. You can't cut corners on this or you will certainly have problems. Just get a used motor if you don't want to spend a lot of money. You can take apart the old one you will learn a lot from that experience. :bglasses:
wow! Hi guys, i got some progress to talk about, my dad and I just came out of the garage and we took off the intake manifold and the cylinder heads. Bores look nice, exept one cylinder we had our eye on that is a little rusty than the others, but my main concern is: this picture What is that stuff?, i had a LOT of it in the headers area, I didn't think it would be in a blob like that. Any suggestions what to do next?
looks like sludge like that cylinder was running a lil lean or the intake manifold had a small leak of antifreeze and the chemical reaction of the oil and antifreeze did that. but I could be completely wrong.. mine had simmlar look under the intake manifold along the back wall of the block. Nate
Gonna agree with Nate here, manifold leak from the big crossovers. Definitely go for the rebuild. Yes, it's a lot of work and cost. 6 months after you get it done that won't matter, but the fact that you didn't have to rebuild it again will matter.
Maybe, but still wierd that its all in one place. Well...we got the heads off, what step is next? Whats the advantage of rebuilding the heads?
Nah, the exhaust gases that leak through mix with the oil to create that tar. It'll stay pretty much localized. For longevity: improved valve guides, better seals, new valve springs. For Performance: bigger valves (stg 1), unshroud the valves, ported etc. Most of the Buick performance gains are meade in the heads.
Alright... Today my dad and I took out 2 cylinders, #8 and #7. #8 cylinder as we expected was bad, there was absolutely no spring to the rings and there was no compression. #7 was fine. This is where it gets a little confusing, the "bearings"(not really, half metal circles that go between crank and rod), were in bad shape and they are preaty scored. And as we also expected and feared, is that the oil passages are dirty and full of nylon CRAP! :af: , we took a break for today and will take the remaining cylinders out tommorow. We plan on taking the crank out and sending it to a machine shop to get the "area"(where the rods rotate on) smooth, then my dad said we can get bigger whatever (plates) and we'll be alright. Any advice? Where should we also clean? Thanks, I can't wait for this thing to run,.:bglasses:
advice Alright, we got out the rest of the cylinders and all we have now is a bare block with the lifters. As it turns out, we might send this thing to a machine shop to get the crank remanufactured, or we just get a new crank, cam, rings(of course), and i forgot what else. or we get a whole new remanufactured engine Whats more worth it, my dad wont trust a remanufactured engine, i would like to go with "do it ourselfs" too. any advice?
