Engine Assembly: Paint And Core Plugs

Time to give the block a small facelift. Before paint I noticed that there was some loose rust and dirt still on the block so I cleaned it with a wire brush. This naturally created a lot of dust that found its way everywhere and would have to be cleaned later. I did not install the core plugs before paint so cleaning would be easier.

Next I masked all the gasket surfaces with some tape and started brushing. I was rewarded with a pretty nice looking block but some metal was still showing through. After letting the paint to dry for 24 hours, I applied another layer and let it dry again. Then I removed the tapes and cleaned the edges.

After paint I poured some water through the coolant passages to get the dirt out. Then I could install the core plugs. I applied some Hylomar sealant to both surfaces and let it dry for few minutes. By placing a suitable sized socket on the plug, it was easy to hammer them in. I will add some pain on the plugs later.

Block Party

It took a bit longer than expected but I got the block back from the machinist yesterday. I drove to Koneistamo Aaltonen in Mäntsälä and we went through the work that had been done. They had bored and honed the cylinders, cleaned the block, replaced the cam bearings, checked the head surfaces for straightness and checked the crank line for straightness. In addition to the work with the block, they inspected the connecting rods and replaced the pistons.

I also brought my new Comp Cams XE250H camshaft with me so they could check that it fit correctly. The cam was installed in the block but rotating it was harder than expected. The cam was inspected and found to be a few hundredths twisted. They straightened it and got it turning properly.

After getting all the parts to the garage, I checked the basic stuff. The block itself looked fine and just needed some paint.

The piston rings that I had bought were molybdenum faced and the cylinders had been honed appropriately. With moly rings the honing stone must be much finer as they do not need the coarse walls to hold the oil. Everything was good in that front.

Then I made sure that all the cam bearings had been installed correctly. Their surface was nice and you could see their oil hole through the main bearing channel.

Next came the pistons. I measured their weight and visually inspected all of them. I did notice that the wrist pin clips had not been installed. I'll have to make sure they are needed and then squeeze them in.

My crank had already been machined earlier. All the bearing surfaces seemed perfect. I'll just have to measure the clearances later.

After these basic checks I can start planning the actual assembly.

Disassembling The Engine Part 4

My engine disassembly is finally finished. I removed everything from the block while it was still in the car. Including pistons. They came out quite easily by wiggling them a bit. The steps in the cylinder walls were so small that the piston rings came over them without problems. Finally I bolted some chains to the block and my friend came over and we lifted it out.

I'll take the block and heads to a machine shop next week. We also removed two valves to see how they looked. They wiggled slightly in the guide but I'm not experienced enough to say if that was too much. I'll have to ask what the machinist thinks. While waiting to get my parts back, I think I'll have enough to do with the engine bay. I'll clean and paint it before putting the engine back in.

Rebuilding my Autolite 4100 carb also took a couple of nights. I cleaned it as much as possible and used a Hygrade kit to replace seals, needles, seats and accelerator pump parts. The carburetor was completely covered with black dirt so I used a lot of cleaner and tooth brushes on it. I did get most of the crud off and, while not like new, it is much better now.

Disassembling The Engine Part 3

Yeah, as the replacement engine turned out to be in even worse condition than my original, I decided to bite the bullet and restore the original motor now. That meant tearing it down. I had the Mustang moved to the rented garage and got to work.

A few hours later I had removed the intake manifold and pulled the heads. Things looked pretty good inside the engine.

I could feel a slight ridge in the cylinder walls with tip of my fingers but they did not catch my nail when running it across them. I'm really hoping it can be removed without overboring the cylinders as that would mean getting new pistons. Well, I'll take the block to a machinist and ask what can be done.