Pulling my engine to reseal, suggestions?

[Hagan]

Any more progress?

I dropped off my 2.3t block off at a machine shop in Salem on Wednesday. I'm hoping to get it back sometime this week and start reassembly!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Got the valves out, thinking about ordering parts (have to wait until after the 16th, broke) and realized the cam bearings are shot, so there's another $16 on rock auto... Will probably grind the valves this coming week at work, there's been some serious fuel put through the engine I got the head off of, but they don't really look burnt, will find out after I take the wire wheel to them.

I might be taking a road trip to the other side of the state to get some flow bench work done on the head (from an expert engine guy that's made records years ago on drag car engines) but that won't be for about 2 weeks, plan is to get a before flow measurement then get his help on grinding it there I believe. In the mean time I'm going to bring the head home tomorrow and sand blast it since it's a bit rusty... I haven't touched the engine in the truck yet, going to wait until I have more parts together.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Found out today my spare head is warped .004" in the middle, now I gotta find a shop that will surface it... was told to look for a shop that uses a CBN machine... now for the search for that.

 

[Hagan]

Sounds like you should take my head with you so you can port it for me and you'll get lots of practice! lol Anyway do you recommend a machine shop in Salem? I dropped my block off and they said it will need to be bored. I'm not sure if they are a reputable shop but they looked very clean and organized.

 

[scotts90ranger]

no idea on shops, I just googled stuff to find one near work so I can take it in, most places in Salem seem to only be open 8-5 M-F which rules them out for me... I might be able to work something out through work though.

 

[Hagan]

So did you make your rock auto order yet?

So if my block needs bored do you have any opinions on pistons?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm broke until this weekend, so no order yet.

On pistons, all I can say is go forged... I don't want to go as far as boring the thing out as pistons are expensive, when I get the engine that's in out I'll measure them both and see which block I should go with I guess. I have two sets of stock forged pistons and looking at my spare block it looks better than the head is looking but I didn't look close at it... I think my two sets of pistons are ok, at least one set looks usable...

 

[Hagan]

I'm broke until this weekend, so no order yet.

On pistons, all I can say is go forged... I don't want to go as far as boring the thing out as pistons are expensive, when I get the engine that's in out I'll measure them both and see which block I should go with I guess. I have two sets of stock forged pistons and looking at my spare block it looks better than the head is looking but I didn't look close at it... I think my two sets of pistons are ok, at least one set looks usable...

I thought my block was fine too but apparently they think it will need a bore. I'm kinda irritated because they told me it should take 1 day to measure the bores/pistons and that was last Wednesday. So they've had 7 days.

I don't want to spend $300-$600 on a new set of pistons.

 

[scotts90ranger]

So far it's a $280ish order from Rock Auto with shipping, they ran out of valve springs while I was clicking on them... the bastards . I'll finish up the order tomorrow night I guess, I'm sure there's something I'm missing.

Still haven't got the head surfaced or anything, been too busy relaxing and trying to have some fun.

 

[scotts90ranger]

welp, probably going to pull the trigger tonight on the parts. I believe I found one of the running issues on the Ranger, I sprayed the engine down with foaming engine cleaner and hosed it off on Thursday I think, went to drive it today and it hydro locked, started pulling plugs and some soapy water came out #4 meaning either the #4 injector O ring is shot or the intake manifold gasket is gone on that cylinder... That and I looked down and saw the stud for the passenger side motor mount broken off...

The thing was running really good the last time I drove it, thought all was well, now it's telling me it wants some serious attention... go figure.

I NEED to drive the tires off of it before winter... they are ancient apparently and don't air down well since the beads are hard and not sticky, hard to drive the tires off of it when it doesn't run

 

[scotts90ranger]

heh, things have been a bit screwy in my life since my last post in this thread was in LA the week after I posted last then in Saskatoon the week after... been trying to make the most of summer while it was still here and fixing my Tracker with the rest of it... and lost a great aunt and great uncle...

Anywho, never ordered any parts, finally got the engine and transmission pulled a week ago (that extra day off helped) and have been attempting to degrease them which is a heck of a job... I got a wild hair tonight while cleaning up and wanted to find where the water got in, and it was definitely the intake manifold gasket, #4 was cracked in 2 places and a piece was missing from #2, and the part around the coolant port was about to blow... that explains a lot runability wise.

After a bit more scrubbing I'll pull the turbo and head, going to pick up a pressure washer on thursday to help with things, it's a disaster under the hood...

 

[Hagan]

Sorry to hear about the Aunt and Uncle!

But glad to hear you are still working on the turbo. I'm decided to rebuild mine this week. Need to start ordering some parts!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Back a couple months ago when I started looking into ordering parts and started to confuse the Napa guy (not hard with the combination of parts on my engine ) he then started asking me questions that I wasn't 100% sure of like if the crank had ever been turned or if it was stock bore, which were important questions that I didn't look into before, so that's part of why I put off buying parts, that and I'm yet again broke until next week...

On the plus side, the oil pan is now about 50% clean and the exhaust manifold is now off the engine, turbo is in great shape! well, at least there is no shaft play at all...

Sunday night or monday or something I'll make an order for my parts including tranny rebuild, probably be in the $500 range depending on the condition of the head (probably find out tomorrow)

 

[Hagan]

Couldn't you used plasti-gauge (I think thats how its spelled) to check and see how close the tolerances are on the bearings?

 

[scotts90ranger]

yeah, but while I"m there I'm just going to replace them (most come with a re ring kit anyway, cheaper to get gaskets that way)

I'll try to get some done tonight, will start in a bit...