Block Prep
Start with greasy parts, spray with a degreaser and let it soak. Then blast that all off with a pressure washer or take it to a car wash. The water jacket on this block was filled with rust about an inch from the bottom remove the plug from the water jacket to make sure its all flushed out. Small brass brush to get in the cracks. Finish washing the block with strong dish soap and repeated rinsing. You can spray Marvel Mystery oil all over when finished to keep the metal from rusting.
Using an angle grinder with a Roloc 3m yellow ( 80 grit won't hurt steel or aluminum) bristle wheel or you may use a white wheel which is even softer if you like, clean all the machined surfaces. If you have a cylinder hone do that too. There is also a green and white wheel, the green will quickly remove rust from steel but don't use a green wheel on aluminum, white is safe for aluminum as is yellow. These remove gaskets easily and clean surfaces. The deck on this block was cleaned with a yellow wheel.
The block when cleaned up was ready to
inspect. Starting with ring gap, here's what I found on this specimen
below. Per factory spec. place a ring in the cylinder and square up by
pushing down with a piston. Then measure the gap.
Below Left is the top ring / right is the second. The first ring is within spec, the second is pushing the limit. This was a stock motor with std. size pistons and had apx. 115k miles. I will take this in to the machine shop so he can measure the bore to be sure it's safe to use with those stock std. pistons that have been in there for the past 17 years.
The pistons do show wear on the sides. I don't have a cylinder bore gauge or I'd show that and that is the reason I will take it in to have the machine shop do this part. The crank is in great shape, it's possible it had a new oil pump on it, at least the balance shaft guides had been off, the washer that is under the upper guide that pivots was missing and most the bolts were tighten far to much to be factory parts.
If not for checking the cylinders it's was ready to be painted and reassembled. The silent shafts will be retained. I do need to find a good upper shaft as it was scored on the heavy side too much to reuse but the lower shaft is fine.
Use a tap and start to thread that into the dowel then tighten in a long bolt and pull them out or use a slide hammer.
Notice the rear of the block behind cylinder number 4 in the picture below as this is where they tend to leak more often. Notice how there looks to be a low spot back there? The water port and oil return stay put when the studs tend to pull up the deck or is the crank pulling the middle down over time? Anyway, it's not perfectly flat but the spec. is 0.05mm with a limit of 0.1mm. No wonder they blow head gaskets in between the cylinders with a limit of .1mm now that should be addressed when you rebuild your motor or replace a head gasket. It's not necessary to remove the block from the car to do this and it sure won't hurt anything to do this either. Get a new stone so you're sure it's not curved, the stone obviously must be flat and make sure you totally go off each end so you aren't just removing material from the center. I put the timing cover on after this picture was taken below.
I got a head, a newer Marnel that had about 5000 miles use on it and it was still flat and then put a few head bolts in and tighten them up a little till about 30ftlbs and started checking for any gaps. I was trying to get a 0.05mm feeler gauge into a crack and couldn't. I wondered about the deck where it was between two cylinders so I flipped it over to checked that too.
You'd think they could get a better mold to line the combustion chamber up with the cylinder bore wouldn't you? Well I got my hand and the gauge down in the cylinder and I couldn't get the 0.05mm strip in the crack and not even a 0.04mm one and that was the thinnest one I had. This should work out just fine for me now.
I took this by the machine shop and asked them to get a straight edge and bring it out and tell me how I did. The minimum factory spec. for flatness is 0.05mm and I couldn't get a 0.04mm strip under the straight edge and that was the thinnest one I had. the one he brought out to use was a 0.03mm and he couldn't either. Milling the deck will throw your cam timing off. Would it have been fine to use if I hadn't done this? Well maybe, but I didn't measure it before but I'll guess it was off by more than the minimum of 0.05mm and in the very center it might have been off by the maximum of 0.1mm and that's where head gaskets blow usually is in between the cylinders.
Head bolts or head studs. These can't have any liquid on the threads or in the hole. As the bolt/stud is tightened down any liquid that is there if it touches the end of the fastener will result in being under hydraulic pressure. This gives a false torque reading, it changes with temperature, it can crack your block and let your fastener come loose. Only the two surfaces that are sliding against each other are the ones that need lubricant meaning the top of the washer and the bottom of the nut or bolt head but don't get lube everywhere and don't let it run down the bolt/stud either. That oil dripping off the bolts gets under the headgasket and contaminates the surface. If you are using head studs, as you install these into the block, wiggle them back and forth to let the AIR out from under them. Studs go all the way to the bottom of the hole and if there is any liquid in there it can prevent the stud from bottoming out and the oil is sealed in the threads and its the threads that are holding the stud in. It just needs to have a light coat of lubricant on it them wipe it back off or if you want to make sure it doesn't come loose, just put loctite on them you'll just have to use some vice grips if you want to remove them then hit them with some heat from a lighter or torch and the loctite falls off and you can use a pick and them blow it out of the threads in the block.
New bearings for the silent shafts went in. Same as in the other motors, the bearings were installed with the dealer tool and I opted for the aftermarket bearings with the center groove over the stock that doesn't. These below are of the upper shaft and the front bearing. The bearing for the front is made into the holder and if that is bad, you can get a replacement or have it bored out and install the new bearing insert that comes in the aftermarket bearing kit. When these three parts are assembled, there is very little loss of oil from this shaft, no more than from the gears in the oil pump itself. See the notches in the front bearing holder? Those are the for oiling as this also acts as a thrust bearing and there are notches on the back as well. If you don't have perfectly serviceable shafts you should replace them or just install a BSEK. The surface on the shaft at the rear must be free of scoring and grooves, if it has grooves it's junk. There are oversized bearings but it's not worth having these turned, just get new ones or don't have the shafts in your motor.
The new rear bearings are in for the upper and lower shafts, you can see the center oiling groove
The pistons came next. Notice the contours on the ring landings, they did this to the turbo motor and had different rings from the n/a engines. The bearing insert has a hole that lines up with the oilier in the rod so make sure that hole is open, pour some oil on your rings before you put the ring compressor on and tighten it slowly so that none parts of the rings catch and won't compress. There is a diagram in the shop manual how to line up the rings so the gaps are staggered: first put on the oil ring spacer then looking at the piston top with the arrow pointing to your left, the lower oil ring is at 10 o'clock, the upper oil ring is at 4 o'clock and for these two, just put one end in the crack and using your finger roll around the piston and they will slide on, for the next two use a ring expander. Careful, the rings will bend and twist so get the proper tool don't just try to stretch them on or roll them on that will ruin them, they will be twisted and bend and open up at the back. The lower ring gap put it at 6 o'clock and the upper ring put at 1 o'clock.
Info regarding the factory recall for aluminum alloy in the rod bearings:
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/bearingrecall01.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/bearingrecall02.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/bearingrecall03.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/bearingrecall04.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/bearingrecall05.jpg
Now that all the rings are on the pistons, here's a video below of Kurt installing one into the block. You can use a stick or rubber/plastic hammer handle to knock them in.
Mouse over or right click and save to view
Make sure your arrows all point to the front of the block
The skirt when the piston hits bottom protrudes from the block and is very close to the oil jet
In the factory service manual there are pictures that show the main bearings assembled incorrectly. It shows the half of the insert with the full groove going into the cap but it is supposed to go into the block. If you read the manual it states this but the picture it shows is backwards.
This brand was installed wrong but "correct" if you only look at pictures and are lazy and do not read, it (says "FM") has smaller holes to pass oil through and the results are obvious.
Federal Mogul part number 3818051 you can get at rockauto.com for ~9.00 for all the expansion/freeze plugs of 3-50mm, 3-40mm and 4-28mm and you get the three screw in plugs in that kit too: water jacket, rear oil galley and n/a oil sending unit plugs
This is just a close up of the deck after rubbing with the stone and the part number for that kit. I got this at NAPA but it was the only one in their database and had to come from way out west. I have looked for another but so far haven't located any. I'm saving those for another motor that will have some blue accessories. This motor will have yellow bolt on parts so the brass will fit in nicely.
Water pump mounts to the timing cover and passes through to the block. The block casting is rough. You could clean this up. The water jacket is fine its just the actual opening that has some material in the way and they never did any machining to this opening.
I painted the block and timing cover with Duplicolor Cast Iron and Cast Aluminum paints.
The crankshaft front oil seal. This is easier to install if you wait until the timing is on the block.
Put a light film of oil on the outside of the seal and using an old silent shaft chain drive gear, slide that onto the crankshaft and it is the same size and is flat on one side and makes for a simple tool to push the seal in evenly. Use some round extension tube to push the seal in using a plastic hammer or if you have the old timing chain drive gear that will fit over the crankshaft stub and push on the first gear, just tap it and the seal goes in. Its fully in when the face of the seal is flush with the timing cover and you'll hear the sound change when you are tapping it, sort of like a hollow sound as it goes in that changes to a metallic sound when it hits bottom.
The holes in the water jacket, you have to clean the surface of paint and rust or you'll just be making these plugs harder to install. You can see that by removing these you can really clean the rust out of the water jacket. This block was in pretty good shape as far as not being crusty inside.
Now that those are in, I masked off the surrounding block and painted the plugs with clear paint so they wouldn't tarnish.
The timing gear is all on the motor too. Important: When retaining the silent shafts, you must use the lock washer under the bolt for the upper guide to keep it in place because that upper guide pivots and is adjustable from this point. If you don't use this washer, your alignment of the guide to the chain is all thrown off so again, this is very important!
If your engine didn't have this washer it should. Details of that here:
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/26%20pump%20chain1.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/26%20pump%20chain2.jpg
http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/26%20pump%20chain4.jpg
Next you can install the oil pump pick-up tube. Pay close attention as this is where your rebuild can turn into a disaster very quick if you screw this part up. You need to use a NEW o-ring on the pick-up tube and lube it before you press it into the pump. You first need to check the alignment of the tube without the o-ring to see if anyone before you has bent it. It needs to sit flat against the two holding arms and be able to sit in the center of the opening in the oil pump. If it's allowed to be installed with a gap at the sealing area you might not get the seal you need to get the oil to suck up into the tube.
If you have a Conquest or Starion and want the page for your service manual showing this pickup tube click here: http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/oil%20pickup.jpg
These are both wrong ways in the two pictures below of how the tube can't be allowed to rest in. There is enough slop in the holes in the arms to be able to adjust the tube into this position. You need to center the tube.
Don't put the tube in dry-I put some assembly lube on it so it will seat easy and the lube will wash off when the motor is started. The o-ring is fatter that usual that's why it's seals so well, you can't just use any o-ring for this it's too important so get the right part for the right application; same goes for tools.
Now, you got the o-ring in so start the two nuts with lock washers onto the head bolt towers but only finger tighten them, then tap the tube around until you get the tube in the center of the pump opening then torque them down.
Below is a reman'd head that came with Keiths' car, it was a nasty rebuild and I don't know who did it but they were pretty harsh on the poor thing. We tried it on his motor with two sets of different sets of valves and neither would hold enough compression on numbers 2 and 3 so I think they didn't get the seats ground square to the guide and the head was not able to be used. I had the seats enlarged to fit the 1mm oversized stainless valves we have used recently on other motors with great success. The combustion chamber is going to take some work to get it smooth again, they must have used gravel in their blaster when they cleaned this head up instead of glass beads. The shrouds for the jet valves I knocked out and we're going to grind the tip of those open then weld up the hole and then grind down the end so it's flush with the chamber roof then press them back in.
Here's where the benefit happens from using these valves, its not so much they are 1mm larger in diameter but it is the thinner profile of the back that allows more air to flow and to flow so much more as soon as the valve starts to open and can do so when its closing too, it just gets more air in and out and that's a good thing.
Right: Ivam valve you usually get at the same time with a new Marnel head from some GP.
Left: the OS valve.
In the two pictures the valve is opened the same amount; I think you can see what I'm talking about.
The pointer is the seat contact area with the valve, its far out on the intake and they grind away one of the angles that is down lower in the seat but the sealing area for the exhaust valve is only moved a small amount outward as the angle is changed position
There's more on these valves HERE if you would like to see how they fit in a Marnel head.
Pan gasket sealant applied outboard of the bolts will let oil leak around the bolt threads
you only need it on the inboard side of the bolts, apply to both sides of gasket
