Pulling my engine to reseal, suggestions?

[scotts90ranger]

Got the head off my engine tonight, so far everything on this engine looks to be in GREAT shape!!! not sure how, but it looks like my engine was running perfectly? Combustion chambers have some deposits but not bad, valves are a good color and not too much build up, spark plugs are a good color, cylinder walls have some cross hatching and no super bad hot spots, I'll borrow the straight edge from work tomorrow and see if my head is warped like the other one... Apparently there's a burr on the rear of the cam by the retainer plate, so I have to do cam bearings but they didn't look too warn. I'm thinking this engine is as fresh as the guy told me when I got it, he said ~60-80k so just broke in... I've put about 20k on it since I put it in, should be good for a lot of years after I get it back together

 

[scotts90ranger]

Remembered the straight edge and valve spring compressor from work tonight, vales need a cleanup and the exhaust valves were most likely half of the compression leaks as their sealing surfaces are all rough, intakes are good but will still receive a 3 angle job...

The super good news is I put the straight edge across the head and my .0015" feeler gauge caught in the middle, this head is in much better shape than the last one I pulled, saved myself $50, unless someone thinks decking it .020" or something would help I'll use this head over the other one...

 

[Hagan]

Any progress? I'm thinking about picking up a a shortblock off of cl.

 

[scotts90ranger]

yes and no, found out 2 and 3 exhaust valves are recessed, so I have to get the first head I pulled surfaced and use it. That and the pistons have a bit of skirt wear, so I need to pull the pistons out of my second engine and see what kind of shape they're in... And I'm being sent to Australia tomorrow until the 10th so I won't be getting anywhere for a bit... I'll just start ordering parts while I'm gone so they show up by the time I get back...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I really started this project in May? Holy crap!!!!

anyway, I've been shipped all over the friggin place and now need to get the truck running and driving in February to go wheeling in April... long list of things to do by then but I'm getting the motivation...

Ok, making the order on Rock Auto, the rering kit doesn't come with the bearings I want (just aluminum, I want tri metal I believe) so I've been piecing things together and am up to $186 but am shy rings and valve springs, rock auto doesn't have valve springs and they don't have rings listed in the turbo coupe other than in the re ring kits. Are they the same as a NA rings? I'm pretty sure I just want cast rings not moly or something hard to wear out the cylinder walls and not break in reasonably, I can get the rings through Napa for around $90 (re ring kit is like $190)

The other day I filled the "trough" in the rear main cap with lead which I believe will work much better than the JB weld I tried last time ,there was oil leaking on the gasket side and the other side of the JB... I'm going to try to get the crank timing belt pulley off this weekend as it's STUCK from me breaking the crank key a few years ago... I have some ideas and hopefully one of them will work without breaking the front seal housing...

 

[aspevacek]

A good idea is to check with summit racing and look at total Seal rings. If your block has been machined then go with Moly rings, if nto get low tensions and get the block remachined. The lowtensions have a lower drag on them then the moly's menaing they require a finer finish then normal on the cross hatching.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Ok, found the measurements and it turns out they have the standard iron rings in standard bore for under $25 (sealed power E352X), no molly in standard bore. If I go to Ebay I can get Perfect Circle 41097 for $52 shipped, Sealed Power E352K for $49 shipped, or Hastings 2m5613 for like $111 shipped, anyone have a preference? I'd like to get the parts ordered by Sunday night so I have a possible chance of getting them next week...

Summit doesn't really carry any 2.3L parts, they're a pain to look through as I just found out...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Ok, went with the Perfect Circle 41097, total spent in about 5 minutes: ~$320 but that's a TOTAL rebuild for a 2.3 minus the head work I'll be having done shortly... should last me a good long time too since the thing doesn't get driven much...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Ok, things are starting to come together finally! The rotating assembly was installed today, and have the head back from the machine shop. The only parts that I know of that I'm missing are a front seal housing (needs to be the DIS flavor, had to break mine to get the timing belt pulley off), and 5th/reverse slider for the transmission, and a couple nuts and bolts here and there.

Next step is to do some port work on the head/intake manifold, and drill/tap the hole for the intake temp sensor for when I do the LA3 swap in the future, might as well while it's this far apart.

 

[scotts90ranger]

It's together and runs!!!!!! Rebuild complete!!!! I'm driving it to work tomorrow, I'd upload some pics but my phone's updating so I can't pull them off right now...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Congrats.

Richard

 

[scotts90ranger]

It even runs good, it used to idle at 15" H2O and when it was happy it'd go to 20" but sounded like I had a cam in it most of the time, now it idles at a solid 20" and is smooth, so far that's the biggest difference I'm seeing, other than it starts RIGHT up, most of it's quirks are gone...

 

[scotts90ranger]

well, since the new photubucket sucks, I don't know how this will show up... but in that group of pics there's a pic of me half way through the port work, a dark pic of the engine almost put together, one of the engine in front of the truck a couple hours before it was dropped in, and one right after it was dropped in, no pics of the whole package with new tires and such as I got too excited and just drove...

 

[Cameron1]

Your truck has come a long way since I saw it last, I really like what you have done with it!!

How does it feel driving it with the turbo, steep gears and 35s?

 

[scotts90ranger]

It is a very fun setup, it does everything I want and surprises me all the time now that it runs right . I didn't take care of all of the oil leaks but the biggest one right now is the output seal on the steering gear box...

I was very surprised at how it towed the trailer I took camping in April, a 5x12 enclosed trailer with a 6' inside height (taller than my truck...), over 7000lb combined weight (truck weighs 4000lb now, was 3200 back in the day) and I towed it over the mountain pass to the center of the state and it was able to hold speed, the cummins I was following was slowing me down (he had 7700lb just on his trailer axles, I didn't blame it).

I really wish I had done some things differently along the way to streamline the transformation so I didn't end up redoing so much over the years (especially the rollover...) but I can honestly say it is how I've always wanted it to be, still needs some tweaks but what doesn't?