Engine Assembly: Intake Manifold

With the valve train adjusted, I was ready to drop the intake manifold on the engine. I consulted Monroe again and he suggested that you should add some sealant around the water passages in the heads so I spread a little Hylomar there and around the exhaust crossover ports to keep the gasket in place.

I also had to cut a little corner away from the water passage holes but otherwise the gaskets fit well.

The top side of the gaskets already had sealer around the passages so I did not add any. Next were the front and rear gaskets that are the most common places for leaks. I spread some Hylomar again to seal them properly.

Then I carefully placed the cork gaskets on the sealant and added some more Hylomar on top. After letting it dry for a few minutes, I placed the intake manifold on the engine. I had a few studs in the heads to guide it in the correct place. The bolt holes were a bit tight but they still fit even thought the heads had been lowered a lot. I followed the correct sequence and torqued the bolts in.

Engine Assembly: Oil Pan

Time to close up the bottom end. To make sure the oil pan would not leak, I cleaned the surfaces and used Hylomar to glue the cork gaskets in place.

Then I placed the gaskets on the block and lightly screwed the bolts in to make sure everything was positioned correctly.

Then came a long pause in the oil pan installation. I noticed that the drain plug threads were pretty much gone and probably would not hold oil. I searched around for a new pan but only some chromed parts were available quickly. I wanted to retain the original look so I decided to fix the threads. I took the pan to a friend who welded a nut inside it. With that I could screw in a different bolt to use as a plug.

Finally I pushed the rubber end seals in the block, spread some more Hylomar on the gasgets and I was ready to install the pan.

After dropping the pan on the block, I torqued the bolts in many steps. First until they just pulled the pan in and then half a turn at a time so the flange would not bend. After a few rounds the pan was installed.

Engine Assembly: Cylinder Heads

It was time to assemble and install my cylinder heads. I gave them a final clean and got to work. I spread some assembly lube on the valve stems and pushed them in the guides. Then I dug out my spring compressor and installed the retainer and spring. Unfortunately I also found another problem later. The new springs were larger than the old so the original retainers could not be used. I had to take the springs out again and buy larger retainers. After assembling the heads a few times already, it was getting to be a routine...

I also installed new valve seals but used the original rocker arms and nuts. I thought about getting new roller rockers but those are usually so large that the original valve covers can't be used. As I was trying to keep the stock look, I settled for the standard parts.

Before installing the rocker arms, I cleaned them and lightly sanded the tips. Mostly just to get the crud off. Otherwise they seemed to be in good condition.

Then it was time to coat all contact areas with assembly lube and drop the rockers on their studs. Repeat that 16 times and I had two heads ready for installation.

My gasket set included Fel-Pro 1011-2 head gaskets. Their instructions mention that they should be installed as is without painting or doing any other modifications so I just dropped them on my block.

Both gaskets have "FRONT" stamped on one edge so I made sure to position them the correct way.

And then it was time to install the heads. I carefully positioned them on the block until the two dowel pins contacted and steered them down. I gave a light coating of oil for the bolts and screwed them in. To correctly torque them, I followed Monroes book. They must be tightened in correct order and in three steps. Steps are 50 ft-lbs, 60 ft-lbs and finally 70 ft-lbs for the 289 engine. And with that my heads were installed.

Engine Assembly: Water Pump

I noticed a small problem with my oil pan: the threads were pretty much gone from the drain plug hole. I do not want to risk it opening during driving so I'll have to fix it before installing the pan. Perhaps by welding a nut to the inside of the pan.

I let the pan wait and installed the water pump in stead. It had a small problem too. I had opened the back plate to inspect the insides but it seemed that the gasket there was not included in any of my kits. Neither is it included in my friends "complete engine gasket set" so I had to visit the parts store to get it. Just remember to get it separately if you plan to open the pump...

To seal the back plate to my cast iron pump, I spread some Hylomar on the gasket surface...

...placed the gasget on it and added more Hylomar to the other side...

...and installed the back plate. To make sure it was located correctly and to give the sealer time to dry, I added a bunch of bolts and tightened them to squeeze the gasket in.

After letting the back plate settle, I removed the bolts and installed the rear gasket. It had to only seal the water passages so I added Hylomar around them and set the gasket on it.

Finally I placed the pump on the front cover and located it with the bolts. I used new locking washers on all and torqued them to 15 ft-lbs. Pump installation done!

Engine Assembly: Oil Pump

Final task before closing the bottom end was installing the oil pump. I had a new pump and after checking the old pickup tube, I decided to replace it too. The old one was pretty dirty and I did not want the crud getting loose in my new engine. Weird thing about the new pump was that it included the gasket between the pump and the tube but not the one between the block and pump. None of my other sets included it either but luckily my friends had an extra that I could use.

Before installing the pump, I unbolted its cover to check the inside. Everything seemed to be clean and good for use.

I put the cover back on and started the install. I lubricated the pump drive shaft and dropped it in its hole. Next I placed the correct gasket on the block and bolted the pump in place. Monroe said not to use any sealant in the pump gaskets so I left it out. But I did use a little drop of thread locker in the bolts so they would not come out while driving. I also checked that the drive shaft could not be pulled out of the pump and torqued the bolts to 25 ft-lbs.

Now I could bolt the pickup tube to the pump. The gasket went in first and then I just bolted the tube in place. Again using some thread locker before torquing the bolts to 15 ft-lbs.

Engine Assembly: Harmonic Balancer

My original damper was otherwise in good shape but I did notice a small groove where the front seal had ridden on it. Tom Monroes book mentions that you could buy a small sleeve that is installed over the seal surface. Luckily US-Parts had them in stock so I went and bought one. The box contained some glue/sealer that was first spread on the damper and then the sleeve itself was carefully tapped in.

The groove most likely had not been large enough to leak but I don't want to take any chances. Now I could install the damper. First I spread some lube on the seal surface and inside the bore.

And it was time to put the damper in. I pushed it as far as I could by hand and then put the crank bolt in to finish the deal. Quite soon the crank started turning with the bolt so I had to prevent that. I used a small pry bar that I placed between the counterweight and the block.

Now I could torque the bolt to 75 ft-lbs and the damper installation was done.

Engine Assembly: Timing Chain Cover

I was reusing the original front cover but it had a small problem: one of the water pump bolts had seized and broken in it. I showed it to my friend who luckily managed to get it out by heating it with a small torch and applying enough force with a pipe wrench.

Before installing the front cover, I had to replace the crankshaft oil seal. The old one proved to be quite hard to remove but little by little it came out by hammering it enough. The new seal was also very tight but by working it gradually around the edges, it went in.

I wanted the timing chain and fuel pump cam to have some lubrication from the first start so I covered both with assembly lube.

Then I went through the gasket surfaces one more time with cleaner and started spreading some Hylomar on the cover.

I put the gasket on the cover and spread some more sealer.

And by using two of the bottom bolts, I loosely placed the cover on the engine. The bolts do not accurately position the cover though so before torquing them, I placed the damper on the crank to use as a guide. When the cover was centered as well as I could, I screwed in the rest of the bolts. I was not going to install the water pump yet so I used a large stack of washers for the really long bolts. This way they all squeezed the sealant and hopefully would guarantee a leak free cover.

Engine Assembly: Installing The Pistons

Next task on the assembly list was installing the pistons. First they needed to be ringed though. The ring gaps had been inspected so I got on with it. Oil ring assembly was first. They were made from spring steel so installation tools were not needed. I just spread the expansion ring and pushed it in the bottom groove. The side rails followed. I was not worried about the gap positions for now. I'll set them right before installing the pistons.

The compression rings are a bit harder so I bought pliers for them. They were only a few euros and made installing the rings really easy. I just had to make sure the moly faced ring was installed to the top groove and that they were installed the correct side up. This was indicated by a dot on both rings.

Then it was time to insert the pistons to their cylinders. Before the final install, I wanted to check the bearing clearance though. I did that only for the first piston as testing all of them would have been somewhat pointless. First the bearings.

Then pieces of rubber tubing over the bolts to protect the bores.

And installation. I had a cheap ring compressor that I screwed around the piston. I sprayed WD-40 on everything and then tapped the piston in. The compressor unfortunately got stuck a bit and broke as I pulled it out. So much for cheap tools. At least I got the clearance measured with Plastigage again.

As with the main bearings, the result was about 0.002 inches. Acceptable range should be 0.002 - 0.003 inches so I was fine.

I did some reading and apparently the best tool for installing pistons is a tapered aluminium ring that is precision tooled for a single bore size. So I went an bought one by Moroso.

You can only use it for 4.030 inch bore size but I don't think I'll be building another engine any time soon. After pulling the first piston out again, I prepared it and the crankshaft for final install. This meant spreading some assembly lube on the journals and bearings...

...then turning the correct journal to bottom dead center (BDC), oiling the bore, locating the ring gaps and using the tool to tap the piston in. For ring gap positions I used the ones instructed in Millers book.

I have to say that the installation ring was an excellent tool! I did not have a single problem with any of the pistons. They just smoothly slipped in the cylinders. I pushed the piston in until the bearing contacted the journal.

Final step before placing the cap on the rod was checking that the locating tab on all the bearing faced towards the center of the block.

This meant that the rod had been installed correctly on the piston. Everything was OK in that front so I torqued the cap nuts to 24 ft-lbs. And after a few hours of work, all the pistons were in!

Turning the crank was naturally much harder now but everything still moved smoothly so this job was done!

Engine Assembly: Installing The Crankshaft

With the camshaft in place, I could now install the crank. I had already measured the bearing clearances so it was ready to be dropped in. First I wiped the block bearing bores and the bearings one more time with brake cleaner and then installed them.

Next I had to put the rear main seal in. My block still had the old rope style seal before but now I used the split lip seal as it was easier to install. I pushed it in its groove making sure the lip pointed towards the engine and that the ends did not line with the block surface. Finally I lubed the seal so the rotating crank would not tear it apart.

Last step before putting the crank in was lubing the surfaces. The bearings got a pretty red layer of it.

Now there's a comfortable place for the crankshaft to be laying in. Hopefully for many years to come. Then I gave the same treatment for the journals...

...and carefully lifted the crank in the block.

I started to rotate the crankshaft until I noticed that this will spread the lube all over the bearing ends. I wiped them clean so it would not interfere with the main caps. Speaking of main caps, the fifth one needed some attention before installing it. As I mentioned, my engine had a rope rear main seal. There is a small pin inside the cap groove that holds it in place. It has to be removed to use the split lip type seal. This leaves a small hole inside the groove.

I filled the hole with Hylomar sealer to block any oil from leaking through. Then I moved on to prepare the caps for use. Monroe says to very lightly file the mating surfaces to remove any burs. I did that, cleaned the caps and installed the bearings.

The fifth cap required some more work again. I pushed the main seal in and added some more sealer to the rear edges. And after spreading some oil on the seal and lube on the bearing, it was ready to be installed.

And naturally the other caps needed some lube too.

I had installed the caps many times already while measuring the bearing clearances so it had become a routine. Place the cap in its register, thread one of the oiled bolts in a bit, tap the side so it seats in and torque the bolts in three steps; 50 ft. lbs, 60 ft. lbs and finally 70 ft. lbs. Repeat five times and the crankshaft was in!

I turned the crank and it rotated really easily. Only one more check to do: measuring the end-play. I did not have a dial indicator so I had to use a feeler gauge. I pushed the crank forward and got 0,15 mm (0.006 inches). The acceptable range is 0.004 to 0.008 inches so I was right on the money.

Engine Assembly: Installing The Camshaft

After months of preparations I finally got to the best part: actually putting the engine back together. First order of business was installing the camshaft. I dreaded this part as doing it wrong could destroy the engine during break in. I checked all the instructions many times and tried to be really careful.

The cam lobes must have lubrication immediately when the engine is first cranked so they have to be greased. I talked with an experienced engine builder and he used Schneider Extreme Pressure Cam Lube so I bought it too. It was a really thick paste that would stay on the lobes even if it will take a long time to build the engine.

I used my finger to spread the lube on the lobes.

There was just enough lube for the camshaft and the lifter bottoms that I'll grease later. Next I needed to lube the journals and bearings. For that I used Red Line Assembly Lube. It was also much thicker than normal oil so it would stay on the surface of the parts.

I placed the timing gear on the cam to use as handle and carefully started feeding it to the block. Before setting it in completely, I spread the assembly lube on the journals. The cam seemed to turn without much effort so I removed the gear and installed the thrust plate.

My rebuild book mentions that the thrust plate should have an groove that feeds oil to the distributor shaft passage but mine didn't. The passage seemed to leave directly through the front bearing so I guess it did not matter which way the plate was installed. I placed it on the block and torqued the bolts in.