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... Tomorrow I need to disassemble the pistons to get the rods to the machine shop. I'm assuming they're floating pins, and all I have to do is pop that clip out to pull the wrist pin out, right? ...
The manual says to remove the snap rings, cook the pistons in your crock-pot (well, they don't specify the heat source, but recommend 140°F), and tap them out with a plastic hammer. http://web.archive.org/web/201004010...ine/9cylin.pdf
I hope you have access to the manual. Doing any work on an engine relying only on the opinions found on the internet (even MY opinions!) can lead to uncomfortable mistakes.
The manual says to remove the snap rings, cook the pistons in your crock-pot (well, they don't specify the heat source, but recommend 140°F), and tap them out with a plastic hammer. http://web.archive.org/web/201004010...ine/9cylin.pdf
I hope you have access to the manual. Doing any work on an engine relying only on the opinions found on the internet (even MY opinions!) can lead to uncomfortable mistakes.
This is true and I completely agree, but there must have been different tolerances for those pins back in the day. I read the same thing in the fsm so I was expecting a fight. Not only did the old ones slide right out at room temp (90°F), but the new pins slid in easily from the set I bought from 22reperformance. I called them cause I was concerned about the excessive clearance and they assured me it's normal and that the sets they use are among the best for the purpose in their opinion. 6000 miles later I still have no piston slap.
After hitting the pause button for a couple weeks for work, I'm back to finish up the rebuild. I came home to boxes of new parts from EngnBldr and a freshly machined block
Nice clean block, decked .010 and bored out .040. The crank was also ground .010 Clean head mating surface Cross hatching on the hone
I figured I should try to make it look pretty, so I painted the block red Painted the block for the 5HP bonus
With that out of the way, I assembled the pistons. It took a little playing around with the wrist pins to figure out which way they were honed for, but I was able to push them into the rod pin bushing and piston at room temp. After I got the pistons assembled, I laid the crank in. The clearances were smack dab in the middle on the mains. The rod clearances were on the tight end, but still within spec. The crank laid in, before the main caps went in Journal clearanceIt took a full day and change, but I got the rotational assembly taken care of. The next step was to put the timing components on The rotational assemblyThis is where disaster almost struck...or has it? I put the new guides and tensioner on, and then put the chain on. I torqued the timing cover to spec, but then realized that I needed to have the alternator pivot bracket on the timing cover, so I took the top driver's side bolt out and put the bracket on. The bolt wouldn't tighten, and I thought I had stripped the block threads. But no, worse, the block had cracked right where the bolt enters. I called the machine shop, who assured me that this can happen and that since it's not near an oil or water passage, it's okay. On his advice, I chased the threads and then RTV'd the crap out of the hole before carefully torquing the bolt back down. Hopefully this well be okay Disaster?With the timing cover on, the next step will be transferring the rocker arms and other accessories onto the new head. How it sits tonight Tomorrow, the head
Any special lube needed for the camshaft or will the regular old red assembly lube work?
The build looks really good so far, nice work. I'm building up another 22re right now and went with the factory paint scheme for the most part, but I think the red looks good too.
Sucks that the block cracked, but yeah stuff like that happens and you got lucky that it happened there. Oil might splash that area once in a while, but the rtv will keep it from dripping out. Btw, that alternator adjuster bracket bolt only gets 9 ft/lbs even though it's 10mm.
What kind of break-in oil or additive are you using? I like Joe Gibbs stuff because they have a compatible assembly lube to use with their oil so you know nothing is working against each other. You can use whatever you want but if your starting up with a new cam, something witg high zinc content is best for the first 400 miles. That's enough to allow the lobes to harden which prevents your cam from going flat.
I'm using Permatex Ultra Slick (the red stuff) and regular old dino 10W-30 for stuff like cylinder walls and for the initial oil up
Also, any advice for removing a few small spots of surface rust on the block deck? It's not bad by any means, it's just a few spots where the oil probably slipped off and I'd like it to be flush before I put the head on tomorrow
As long as the cam is already broken-in, that should be fine.
WithWith a new cam you'll do better in the long run with a dedicated break-in oil or at least blend an additive into the dino oil.
Mineral spirits are good at breaking down minor surface rust. Use a green scotch Brite pad and those spots oughta go away. Give a final wipe with acetone or any solvent that leaves no residue before you lay down the gasket.
You chased and thoroughly cleaned the head bolt threads in the block, right?
Big day today. Picked up my OEM head gasket from the dealer. $50 but I figured it would give me piece of mind. I'll keep the EngnBldr gasket as a spare for later on down the road if I ever need one.
To answer the earlier question, I did chase the bolts, that's what I spent about 4 hours doing today. I figured it would be a pretty straight forward process, but holy hell those bolt holes were buggered. I'm really glad I did though, hopefully the head bolts will seat. I was pretty slow and careful to make sure I didn't mess up the existing threads, and after I got them started I got to a point where I would make 5 half turns, then back it off 3 half turns, then make 5 more half turns, and so on. All the while keeping everything lubed. Eventually though, I got them all chased.
Next I wanted to clean everything one last time. I rubber banded the chain and cam sprocket so that it wouldn't move and mess up the crank sprocket, and then flipped the motor over. First I sprayed the bolt holes with acetone, and then blasted the holes with air from the compressor. All the leftover crud came out and didn't get on the motor. Then I used an acetone soaked sheet and wiped everything down, then hit it with some air, and kept going back and forth until it was as good as I was going to get it. After flipping the motor over and relubing the two cylinders with some clean oil, I moved onto the new head.
The head is the EngnBldr RV head, and it looks pretty. There seems to be some grease on it, but I'm sure all the lobes will need some assembly lube. I wiped the underside down with some acetone, and then got ready for the head gasket.
I put two small beads of RTV down where the timing cover meets the block as per the FSM, then laid the head gasket on. Then, I carefully lowered the head down, and it's resting on the block now.
I didn't RTV the entire timing cover, but perhaps I should? It's not a new timing cover and I don't want leaks. It wouldn't be hard take the head off, as it's not been bolted down yet.
Tomorrow I will bolt the head on. Anything special needed to be done for the rocker arms? I cleaned them pretty well, and they look to be in good shape. They just seem to sit on top of the head, nothing crazy.
When I got my engnbldr stock head it was coated in some kind of preservative oil. It smelled weird, almost fishy but I knew it was preventing corrosion during shipping. There's a large coolant passage that I didn't want oil of any type in so I sprayed the head down with brake cleaner and removed all of it. Might not be necessary, but that's what I did and have no problems for a full year now.
Can't give you any good advice on the timing cover, I got a new one so I laid down dry gaskets. The old tc's gaskets were rtv'd but it leaked a little anyway, but like I said before the engine had a bunch of small leaks all over so it was probably just not assembled clean enough.
The rocker assembly is probably fine it looks clean, the arms rotate easily and they don't have a lot of sideways movement slop.
Almost forgot to say, the timing cover has a channel inside that hugs the bottom of the chain around the crank gear. This design will not let the chain move off the teeth, so even if you were to drop the chain down in the cover, it would still be in the same place when you pulled it out!
You might have a fight getting the cam gear onto the cam. What I do is take a huge flathead, shove it through the top-most hole in the gear and use the front rocker tower as a fulcrum. With enough force, the chain will push the tensioner in and the gear will pop right in. Make sure the cam is rotated so that the alignment pin is pointing up, and just a hair to the left.
Looks purrty! Wishing u the best on the build.
Pls also share experience on installing head cover and gasket. Need to do that soon. Debating whether to use rubber half-circles or the aluminum ones.
Looks purrty! Wishing u the best on the build.
Pls also share experience on installing head cover and gasket. Need to do that soon. Debating whether to use rubber half-circles or the aluminum ones.
I've gone through a few sets of rubber half moons and just switched to alloy.
The alloys will never need replaced or rtv'd ever again. They only get gooped on the bottom so they won't stick to the vc gasket like the rubber half moons, which needs rtv along the top to have a chance at sealing well.
What a pain, glad I finally got them.
P.s. I got two different sets, one from yota1performance and 22reperformance. On my stock EB head, the rear half moon cut-out is smaller than the front. The yota1 set is machined for this difference, has a channel to hold a small bead of rtv and is c-n-c engraved with their logo. The 22re set are equal size to each other, have no channel and no logo. I liked the 22re set better but had to machine the rear half moon down some. I just layed it topside-down on the flat part of my angle grinder disk and finished with a file wrapped in sandpaper. I love knowing I never have to pull these out of the head.
No pictures tonight, as today was pretty frustrating all around
Prepped the head to go back on, decided to take the cam caps off to make sure the cam was lubed. As I was torquing it back down, I stripped the middle cam cap bolt threads. Both of them.
Ran out to the store and got a helicoil set, took a while but was able to helicoil both bolt holes. Back on track! Cleaned up all the aluminum shards off the head, and then got ready to bolt the head down.
Followed EngnBldr's torque guide (Hand tighten, then go to 50%, back off 1/4 turn, retorque to 50%, back off 1/4 turn (do this three more times) then torque to 75%, then torque to 58lbs. Boom, head is on!
Next step is to to put the charry cover bolt on, which I immediately stripped. I was being really careful too, hand threading it, but it just pulled the threads right out of the timing cover. So balls. Now what?
I guess in the morning I'll have to helicoil that bolt. Which probably means taking the head off. Which probably means getting a new head gasket. Wonderful.
Unless anyone else has any good ideas. I don't think I can helicoil it through the head, not sure I should do that anyways.
Did the bolt strip while you were just threading it in by hand? Do you have a lower-range torque wrench for those bolts? The caps get 14 ft/lbs and the top t/c bolt only gets 9 ft/lbs.
I have an old army-certified craftsman 3/8" 0-50 ft/lb beam wrench that I always use on small fasteners into aluminum cause I'm tired of stripped threads. That being said, I recently stripped 3 water pump bolts cause I gave em 9 ft/lbs and they're only supposed to get 6. A few extra lbs can ruin the day.
You can't helicoil without removing the head. If you want a quick solution that a random internet guy says works, I've found JB weld can hold a bolt in stripped aluminum threads pretty well. With the much lower heat at the front of the head, it should hold up as long as you need it to. Clean out the hole as best you can (q-tips and acetone?) and smear a dab of JB on the clean bolt threads. Barely snug it down and the next day torque it to no more than 9 ft/lbs.
Getting the engine mated to the tranny isn't easy, especially solo.
I've only done it twice before but what I found works best is to:
a) Remove the lower rubber parts of the engine mounts (leaving the upper part bolted to the block).
b) If you have the engine hanging in the bay already, lower it and the tranny down as far as they'll go without the oil pan contacting anything.
c) Tilt the engine in whatever direction you have to to get it flush with the bellhousing. I use that flat plate bolted behind the flywheel as a guide to the edge of the bellhousing. Just look and feel around it to verify the space is even on all sides.
d) Use a breaker bar and 19mm socket to turn the crank back and forth a tiny bit as you're rocking the engine into place.
Even with these tips it takes patience and a little time but you'll get it. Avoid the temptation to smash it in there with all your strength. It takes some force but you don't want to damage anything in the process.
Time it takes. I thought it would take about a week to reassemble but tomorrow will be day 12. Hopefully though, we will have ignition some time tomorrow. All that remains is putting in the radiator and the air box, and figuring out what to do with the exhaust (I sorta destroyed it)
But I should back up. When last I left, I had just stripped that dumb charry cover bolt that is hidden beneath the distributor cap. Well, I decided to throw caution to the wind and installed a helicoil through the head. I bored out the hole just a little bit more to accommodate the tap, and then put in a helicoil and copious amounts of RTV. It was at this point in the project that the goal of creating the most perfect 22RE engine ever designed transformed into "can I just please get this thing back in the truck and running?"
With the timing cover and the head on, I put the distributor back on and tried to clock it as best as I could to get the rotor on #1 with the engine at TDC. If this thing starts, I'll get the timing sorted out then. Next I adjusted the valves. .008 on the intake valves and .012 on the exhaust. I never bothered to actually check the valves before I pulled the head during teardown, but the gaps were absurd, and probably contributed to the damn noises. After that, I put the valve cover back on, and started putting the damn thing back together. Back EGR cover and the plug plate went onto the head with new gaskets, then the exhaust manifold, air pipe, and lower intake. On the block I installed the oil pressure sending unit and the knock sensor, the motor mounts, and the alt and AC brackets. Then I installed alt and the PS brackets.
Back on the head, it was time to put in my freshly cleaned injectors, delivered from Witchhunter. It cost $100 with shipping to have them checked, and even though the printout showed them to be in decent shape when they got there, I feel better knowing they're freshly tuned. Those went in, and then I started routing vac lines. I upgraded to new vac lines from LCE, along with a new PCV hose and other large black hose on the valve cover. Word of warning, the red hoses are pinker than you might expect. But, as noted above, I've reached the point of not caring. Another word of warning. You need every centimeter of the 12 ft hose. Don't cut it to match the existing lines, run it and cut it right on the vac lines to maximize space. I ended up having to reuse one of the old lines because some of my first lines were a little long.
It was at this point that I found that the vac line running to the PAIR valve had broken, or more specifically, the nipple on the PAIR valve had broken off and was in the old vac line. I pulled it out and JB weld'ed it back on. Will this fix it? Remains to be seen
With the vac lines routed and new spark plugs and wires installed, the only thing that needed to be done was to raise the motor and put a new flywheel and clutch on it, which I was ready to do
06-21-2017, 06:00 PM
