Dave Thomas

What the hell is wrong with you Loren? Seriously, I'd like to know. Were you abandoned or beaten as a child or something? Your behavior is borderline sociopathic. Are you so filled with hatred that this is all you can do?

I can't believe that the moderators here and at Pelican haven't permanently banned you. You poison every thread you post on.

Ed Hughes

I got the cylinders off today, and they look pretty good with all of the cross-hatching intact, and no scratches. They'll get cleaned up and will go off to be inspected for roundness and taper. I didn't have time to get the pistons off, but did a quick check of the top ring's side clearance on one of them-it was .006", which is fat, but the rings to get smaller, and at just under .058"/1.473mm thicknness on the old ring, probably get me right on the borderline of tolerance there. I'll defer to the machinist's judgement on the usability of the old pistons.

I'm going to pop the pistons off next, which is pretty quick, then remove the Dilivar studs from the bottom side, which won't be quick I'm guessing. They looked good in light of the reputation they have, and mine are 23 years old with 130,000 miles. Probably the Texas weather has something to do with that, as we don't have a lot of corrosion issues here.

It is amazing how many parts I've got laying around the garage. It looks like enough to build several engines. Now's a good time to buy stock in Glad bags, I must've used 30 or 40 for parts by now.

I wish I could go for a drive....

Loaded

Ed it looks like your doing well. Nothing more stirring then a man on a mission.
I hope yu can pull the parts out and show us exactly what damage was done even if so small as to not see it visually

Ed Hughes

This is about it on the damage, other than some slightly bent valves that the camera won't be able to show. I'll keep the running story going.

theiceman

Man that is great work .. just love those wheels....

If you could keep a running cost of the bills that would be great info too. , if you don't mind sharing that is ..

SeattlePorsche

Awesome Ed. This is gonna be fun watching this...

Ed Hughes

iceman, I'm throwing them all out so my wife doesn't see 'em!

Just kidding, I'll be happy to share the costs. For starters, my spreadsheet/buildsheet is at about $5400. This is on the assumption that I can reuse the pistons and cylinders, but I've got a pretty comprehensive list of parts, so I'm not cutting any corners. In that price are some costs that could be done away with or reduced, but I'm going to do a little tweaking while I've got it apart. My guess is I could drop the price by $1500 if I went back all stock. These engines are pricey. It's easy to see how a lot of guys go north of $10K when they start building them more exotic.

I was at 204 RWHP a couple of years ago, and I hope to pick up another 20 or so when she goes back in. That would make it close to 250/260HP at the crank. I may look for a little more lightening while it's up on the lift, further improving the all important power-weight ratio.

g-50cab

Pistons look good Ed - evidence of that good Texas gas - congrats on the shortblock - with the studs just remember heat is your friend - you have to break the locktite bond - then turn em.

I swear my piston tops looked worse at 56,000 miles than yours do at 130k! any half moons on the tops of those pistons???

Ed Hughes

Thanks Jeremy. I try to remember to run a bottle of Techron in the first tank at DE weekends, I think the stuff works well, particularly at 6500 RPM.

All of the pistons had the slight marks where the exhaust valve would hit. I've got my big oxy-acetylene torch ready to go!! Just kidding there, it would probably melt the case. I've got a little Mapp gas setup I'll use for the studs. Here's a little better pic of the pistons showing the marks:

theiceman

Not a bad cost for a rebuild all things considered.
keep up the great work.

purplehaze.

Great work, Ed!

Keep up the progress and photos. I'm learning as you go!

BrokenE

Ed,

Very cool project. Where exactly is highland village? I live in sugarland. If you're not too far, I sure would like to come by and check out your handy work. Heck, I'll even bring six guys, all named Sam Adams with me.

Alfonso.

Ed Hughes

Alfonso: Thanks for the offer, but I live in the Dallas area. Having said that, if you're in the area ever, you're more than welcome to come by.

BrokenE

Ed, PM sent.

Ed Hughes

Got your PM, thanks Alfonso.

Not much new here, other than I took the pistons off yesterday. Those circlips that hold the pins in are like missles when you pop them out. The pistons all looked pretty good. The questions are: 1. Are they round? 2. Are the ring grooves worn or are they still in spec?

Next step is removal of the head studs, which can be a tedious job, but the good thing is I have plenty of different torches to heat the case and melt the Loctite. I'm probably going to replace all of them, the Dilivar because it's only a matter of time before they go, and the steel studs on the intake side because they do show some corrosion and I don't want to take any chances. I'll get to the studs next week, and then split the case.