Engine advice

[Duster1]

Pulled the engine yesterday and stripped down.
Was expecting this to be a minor overhaul but now think not.
From the pictures can anyone advise as to wether they think the crank is salvageable, at present the bearings are +10thou, can we go any further with grinding. Just asking for any advise before I get a machine shop to have a look. Also the metal fragments found in the oil pan, have checked every over and can’t see anything as to were they might have come from.
Cheers
Andy

[Pete]

Check with a magnet to see if they are ferrous - it looks like bearing material to me but I can't be sure.

I think you need to get the crank checked to see if it is out of round / Tapered as well...

[Dave999]

bearings are available for most motors to go up to 40 thou if you need to
however depends on what you want to do with the motor. i'd suggest most would be wary of basing a race orientated motor on a crank that is 40 thou under on everything

KingBearings do a range of "get the clearance right for the application" bearings as well in sizes such as 0.021 etc if you ask them

well they do for slant 6 hemi 6 and small block

they can also do one with a thicker thrust face as a block re claimer for blocks that have been machined on the thrust face journal by the factory or just taken a battering.

i can't remember the correct term but if you get your crank ground you will need to decide if you want the standard style undercut at the side of each journal. it helps with oiling but is a stress point. if you don't get it put back you will need to hand chamfer the sides of the bearings and closely check the side clearances to make sure there is some way for the oil to get out the sides and only at the right rate....

if the knurl on the crank for a rope rear seal is gone you will need to use a rubber rear main seal, worth in this case using a "stop rear main seal leak" rearmost bearing while you are in there. https://www.manciniracing.com/rbanlemabe.html



or make one yourself with a dremmel or a good sharp triangular file, quick smooth with the smoothest wet n dry (1200 +) to take off rough top edge, lubed with WD40 or diesel and then brake cleaner off all contamination from the bearing once done

Dave

[Duster1]

So we've had a machine shop have a look at the complete engine, stripped down. They have come back with a figure of just over 2k for labour only for the machine work, that they say is needed.

*Regrind crank
*Re-bore and hone piston bores
*Clean block
*Pressure test cylinder heads
*Fit new valve guides + new valves
*Re-seat valves
plus other bits.

Is this a fair price for the work, as this is the first time down this road.
The work to the cylinder heads alone without any parts, comes to just shy of £900. They informed us that nobody usually has any work done to the heads and purchases the Edelbrock RPM Performer heads 60779.

If we went down the route of replacing the heads, is there anything that needs to be taken into consideration, will flat top pistons be ok or will pistons with valve reliefs be required. We are going to require new pistons due to the re-bore.
I've read on a lot of forums that people seem to go for Keith Black pistons.
Any info much appreciated.

Andy

[mopar_mark]

I don’t think £2k is too bad, when considering the amount machine work, set up, etc.

Also nice of them to suggest going with an aftermarket head, instead of just taking your money. Good advice in my opinion, plenty of benefits in going this route.

I can’t answer the KB question, that said valve relief will be dictated by camshaft, Rocker Ratio selection.

[Dave999]

I haven't had anything like this done in 10 years.

i found it to be expensive but some are much more expensive than others


I have head work done by Dermot at PowerforPeanuts. seats guides etc but keep in mind you don't need hard inserts on the inlets just the exhausts
https://www.facebook.com/power4peanuts/

ask him to check guides and come up with solution to fix. make sure you ask him to machine guides for the type of seal you want to use.
check his facebook see some action shots....

he put 2.02" in and 1.6 Ex in my head. new guides and seats on the exhaust
bored and honed my block.
cranks that are too big he sends out to a Jag and Daimler place in surrey and it gets expensive mine was a long crank yours is shorter.
he profiled my pistons to fit my head
fitted the pistons to the rods.
i paid per job..... just popped in and handed over cash when he wanted it. which spread it out nicely


he'll join 2 sets of oil pump gears together and make a new drive and a recessed cover so you can double the capacity of you oil pump if you ask him nice....we didn't go that far.... but let him tell you what he thinks you need and discuss.

very reasonable... his area of expertise is really ford/jag 6 and v12 but a chunk of cast iron is a chunk of cast iron, he builds escort engines and well anything really... from midget speedway engines to the kind of special clearances you need to run an motor with little cooling for banger racing. been at it since the 60s
knows his stuff...has is machine shop in his back garden. but you must be quite when you visit. 1) it upsets the neighbours and 2 ) it upsets the neighbours

and i have had heads skimmed and crank ground by https://www.cramersltd.co.uk/index.html in watford. all good not cheap but not the most expensive either... helps to go in and speak to the chap that does this work. ask at reception.

and although i have never had anything done by them JenkinsMotorEngineers in whitton have a good rep with the retro ford boys.

they have a full engineering shop tucked in a back alley behind a pub in whitton. you knock at a stable type split door tell em what you want and they say Yes we can do that or No.... They said no to me due to the complexity of what i wanted them to do with a fragile aluminium casting, but the shop is full of engines and machines to work on them. they too have been at it for years

It pays to shop around and this list have all been around so long that they must be doing something right.

Dave

[Derek]

It may be cheaper to get Dave B to rebuild your enging to the spec you want, then all you have to do is drop it back in the hole, or a crate motor from Summit racing, if you go down the route of a re grind and so on you still have to put it all back together yourself.

[Dave999]

indeed mine was in and out 3 times until i was happy... all my own fault.. if i did this everyday i wouldn't make so many stuuuupid mistakes like getting distracted and taking the spring off the value that has not been choked up..and watching it fall into the combustion chamber...

or indeed following the instructions for installing the rings to the letter....i even questioned the apparent mismatch between pictures of dots to show top on the top rings no dots on second ring and the text about and profiled edges. worked out how i thought they fitted and changed my mind after reading the bloody paperwork..... this makes no sense i said in my best Mexican accent.
seemingly these are Moly coated standard style rings. they just go in like standard.... OK..... i should have known that the instructions covered every type of ring apart, from the ones in the box....

cheaper the rings the less likely they are to be mentioned in the instructions you get with the rings

pitfalls many
most of the engine building is done before you pick up a spanner to assemble
and don't assemble if you are not in the mood, leave it for another day when you can concentrate and not be rushed.

its also very easy to mark a freshly ground crank with a micrometer, you wouldn't think so, but it is.....

[three counties]

I agree with Derek,I had my 383 engine fully rebuilt by Dave b this year, nice fella