Well, having done a lot of book learning, and figuring that if some of YOU
guys can take an engine apart and successfully reassemble it, I've taken the
plunge. Basically, I've taken it down to what I think is a short block,
that is, pistons and crank still in place.
This is a 1980 SD1 engine with around 83k miles on it. It was my spare that
came out of a parts car. The cam looks good to the eye, and the lifters
hardly even show the normal circular wear pattern. The stock nylon-toothed
timing gear was still in place, so I think the engine has never been opened
up before. Beyond that, the bores still show signs of the original
cross-hatching, so I think it's a pretty good starting place.
(Feedback, please.)
Someone whose opinion I value recommended that I install studs for the heads
and main bearing caps. As I said, I'm not going to replace the bearings.
Can I install the bearing cap studs by just backing off the max torque and
swapping them in without actually removing the caps and disturbing the
bearings?
(Feedback, please.)
The water pump on this engine had been replaced with sealant but no gasket.
There is some light scoring where the impeller in the pump made contact with
the timing cover. Is this enough to make it a bad idea to reuse this cover?
How much could this affect the amount of water pumped?
(Feedback, please.)
There is some carbon buildup on the faces of the pistons. A couple are bad
enough that I want to clean it up. Would a brass brush damage the pistons
if carefully used? How else would you get rid of this carbon?
(Feedback, please.)
The stock timing chain had a lot slack (you could move the chain laterally
quite a bit). Is this the result of chain stretch and wear on the nylon
gear? It didn't look too bad. Will the new chain be a lot tighter?
(Feedback, please.)
I'm going to install a Milodon true roller timing chain and gears. They
look very nicely made. The crank gear has the three key ways for setting the
timing before or after standard. I'm using an Edelbrock 500 cfm carb on an
Off/JWR dual port intake with a mild Crane cam:
Cam Specifications
Degrees Duration @ .050 Int./Exh. 202/210
Degrees Advertised Duration Int./Exh. 260/268
Degree Lobe Separation Open/Close @.050" 112 (6)
Cam Lift Int./Exh. 28 / 42 (12)
Lash Hot Int./Exh. .000 / .000
Gross Lift Int./Exh. .416 / .432
Should I just set this up with the standard timing or is there any reason to
go +/- 4 degrees?
(Feedback, please.)
I'm seriously considering drilling the two small holes Hardcastle recommends
in the front of the block to allow oil to drain into the timing chain area.
Any opinions on this? Seems simple enough.
(Feedback, please.)
Any other suggestions will be welcome. Just remember that this is my wife's
daily driver SD1 and I have to get it back on the road soon without doing a
lot of exotic engine mods!
Thanks
Glen
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