from the Junkyard to the Track - engine build. 56K deth

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This is a guide to help you take junkyard crap and turn it into usable crap.
I will include a few pics to help you along the way, as some of you have never attempted this before.
All of the work in this (except for machining) has been done by me....you may want to find someone experienced in mechanics / tuning to help guide you if you try this yourself. (It's easy when you get the hang of it)

I will start with a shit block, and then show you a shit head. Both will be in great working order when finished.

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here is a block that I pulled from a junkyard. It looks like shit, because it is shit.
You can clearly see that it had a leaky head gasket.








The gasket material is still stuck on there. Don't be discouraged if you find one of these for your next project. All of this is fixable. (assuming no cracks)







When I pulled the oil pan, I was shocked at how much sludge was in there. Someone used Pennzoil or one of those other parrafin wax added brands. There was a 1/4" layer of shit covering every single component in there. You can also see in the picture that a few rod bearings were spun, which heavily scored the crank journals.

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At this point, it's time to completely disassemble the block to prep it for cleaning. Take out everything....if it has a bolt head, an allen head, or whatever, now is the time to remove it. You'll notice that the main caps are numbered, which keeps things simple. Keep the bolts in a spot where you will remember what they go to, if you plan to re-use them. Taking lots of pics may help for you first timers out there.







My favorite place to clean off dirty parts is the local carwash. The pre-soak is a pretty strong de-greaser. The tough stuff comes right off after a few minutes of soaking and a blast from the high pressure gun. I also use a hot alkaline parts cleaner at Saturn of Carrolwood. Your local dealership might have one of these parts washers...they will probably let you use it. They aren't doing anything with it.

After you've got it pretty well cleaned up, it's time to get any necessary machining. This particular block is getting over-bored, and surface prepped. The overboring consists of making the cylinder larger to accomodate larger pistons, which would increase displacement.
The surface prep is highly recommended, as this block was a junker and may have gotten warped from that blown headgasket. They will make sure that the deck of the block is nice and flat. This would help get a better seal on my headgasket. Better safe than sorry.

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After getting the block back from the machine shop, I like to paint it. I'm into the painted block, sue me.
I also installed the oil galley plugs, the oil pressure sender for my gauge, and a few other little odds and ends. I think it looks halfway decent now.







The deck of the block is nice and flat now, thanks to the surfacing they did. You can see the circular pattern on the block where the machine shop ground it flat.

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As you can see, I have a few goodies waiting to go into this block.
I had a crank turned and I polished the journals with some 1000 grit wet sand paper strips. In the pic I also have some new connecting rods from Crower, new slugs from JE, and a headgasket from Titan.









The rings I picked for my pistons are "File to Fit", which means I have to put the right amount of ring gap in them to work properly. The tool I am using there (leaf guage) helps me gauge the gap while the rings are in the cylinder. As you can see, I use a piston to put the ring into the bore a little, which also keeps it straight for a more accurate measurement.
I prefer these type of rings, because I usually try something a little different, so the regular fit won't work out.
This engine will see some nitrous, so I am using a larger than normal gap. Of course, I check the manufacturers suggested gaps first. (sure I do)
The Top ring calls for .004 gap X bore in inches + .004. That would make my top ring around .017 gap. That's given a 3.3" bore and some decent nitrous use.
The second ring calls for .005 gap X bore in inches + .005. That puts me around .021 gap.
The oil control rings don't need to be filed, they are sized appropriately.
The numbers on the block help me keep organized. Each bore may be slightly different from the other, so numbering them makes a consistant ring gap in each cylinder.








Here you can see that I label the rings (in the white envelopes) for each corresponding bore. Each one may be slightly different. Even if it's only off by a hair, the rings are measured for each cylinder to give just the right amount of gap in each one. This may seem anal, but it's a better way to build.

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After you have the rings filed, it's time to start assembling again.
Start with the crankshaft and the main bearings & caps. Be sure to have a decent lube on hand and a trusty torque wrench. You'll want to check a Haynes / Chiltons / or Factory Service Manual for the proper torque specs, clearances, and for any torque sequencing. If you are using the plastigauge, check the clearances at full torque spec with minimal lube, and refer to the manual with your findings. Check all of the clearances for accuracy.
Without the right tools, endplay, or "crankwalk" is tough to measure. Usually, with a good crank, and new bearings, you will be within spec. For an engine that may be pushing its limits, you should gauge the play, and check for tolerances in the manual.
Next, get the slugs and rods connected. I had a heck of a time wrestling with the spiro locks on the wrist pins, so you won't find any pics of that. Most piston makers will use a wire lock, or a spiro lock. For sanity sake, get the wires if you have a choice.
After you've got the rods and slugs together, number the pistons so you can have the right ring set with the right cylinder, then put the corresponding rings on. (If your pistons & rods were balanced, they will be numbered already from the shop that did the work) Make sure that they rotate in there, and that there are no snags of any kind in the ring slots.
Although rings do rotate (faster rotation with sharper cross hatch angle on the cylinder) on the pistons when in the engine, I like to install them with opposing ring gaps, using the top ring gap at the intake side, 2nd ring at the exhaust side, and the oil control rings gaps at each wrist pin.






Some people use rubber vacuum hose on the rod bolts at piston installation time to keep the bolts from scoring the crank journal. You may want to do that. Put the pistons in a ring compressor, and line up the rods & pistons for insertion. I usually leave about 1/2" of the skirt sticking out of the compressor to get the piston to sit in the bore a little. Apply some downpresure to the compressor to keep it tight to the bore, and tap the piston down into the bore with a dowel, or a rubber handle of a hammer. Some get it in one whack, some tap it in slowly. I like to get the rings deep enough into the bore in one whack - just enough so the compressor is empty, then tap the pistons into place, being careful not to score the crank journals with the rod bolts.
After installing the pistons (eyebrows toward the intake side) it should look similar to this. I used alot of oil in there, you don't need that much, but I had started drinking shortly before taking that picture. It fell in. Some people prefer installing everything dry. Your call.
The windage tray is pretty easy, just follow the manual. I don't have any pics of that. Same with the oil pickup, and the oil pan.
You most likely removed it to begin with, so you can figure that out.




block guide disclaimer

There are a few things not photographed for space savings.
I also want you to have someone with you that has a good idea of what is going on in an engine before you try this on your own.
I will not be held responsible for anyone screwing up their stuff because you tried to do this and you don't know your ass from your elbow.
I am not responsible for diddly squat on this one.

Enjoy your next project!

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Now starts the head. There, you can see rust and mold growing in a port. This is my friend Dan's head, it started it's life pretty rough.








The head had been sitting in a storage container somewhere, and it must have been exposed to some weather or something. There is alot of damage to this head.

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Time to disassemble this bad boy. The toughest part of taking it apart is the valves and springs. That is the rig I use to assemble and disassemble valve trains on the saturns with the large bucket lifters. It's a 6" clamp, a piece of a polyurethane bushing (best use of a twistec product yet), and a modified windshild wiper puller. It works like a charm. The rubber portion is for the valve face area, and obviously, the windshield puller goes into the lifter bores to compress the valve springs....which will release the retainers. I use a small magnet to pick up the retainers. I have big fingers.







Now that the valves are out of the way, we can see what we're working with. Fortunately, it's not so bad. yeah, it's pretty dirty, but the valvetrain made it look worse than it was underneath.
This head is going to get a port, polish, and shave to help improve the flow characteristics, and bump the compression slightly.

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Here is the kit I use for porting and polishing. Nothing fancy really, but it gets the job done.








Everyone has their own way of porting, and their different degrees or stages. I'm not everyone, so I'll show you how I do a n/a - mild nitrous port/polish job.
In the pic, you'll notice I like to blend the valve seat to the port wall. This helps with low lift flow. The majority of time spent is at low valve lift, not at peak....so I like to start there.






After getting the valve seats matched up and checked, I'll start shaping the ports. It takes a while, but patience is key. You want to strive for uniformity in size and texture. Shape can differ, as the outside ports might get re-shaped to direct the flow towards the bends of the header being used.

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After a while, the efforts will start to pay off. As you gradually get down to a finer, and finer texture for the exhaust ports, they will start to shine. As you can imagine, you will need several different grit levels to work with.








Here's a close up of an exhaust port polished up, and reshaped for better flow. I don't have a flowbench, or any other way of measuring the percentage of increase in the flow....that's why this is a do-it-yourself guide, and not a take-it-to-a-shop guide.
Take it for what it's worth, it looks alot better than when we first saw this thing.







I do some things different on the intake side, and I'm not sharing exactly what right now, but I'll tell you this. You don't want the same shiny floors as the exhaust has....you want it somewhat rough to help the fuel atomize as it passes through.
After the ports were opened up and polished to my liking, I sent the head to a machine shop to get shaved. The shaving increased compression slightly, which should help it act like a fresh engine for a longer period of time, among other things.
When I got the head back & after a trip to the car wash, I took out the hard edges in the combustion chamber.....these edges could become hotspots and create pre-ignition, or detonation. That would be a bad thing, especially with nitrous use. The machine shop had left the edges pretty sharp after shaving the surface. Taking out the edges means just that, remove the sharpness, not an actual removal of noticable material.
Once again, I used that rig from the previous section to re-assemble the valvetrain. Make sure to keep everything clean. Assembly oils like to make dirt cling to your stuff.

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New springs were used in this head.....you saw what was on there before. The old rusty ones were obviously not re-usable. The valves seals were also replaced.









New valves were installed as well. I numbered the valves after using an abrasive and grinding them to the valve seat, so they'll make a decent seal in the combustion chamber. The numbers keep me organized, and the valves are paired with the fitted valve seats.

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head disclaimer

don't blame me if you screw something up. This stuff takes practice. I don't know it all either, you know.
Again, things were left out so that we could save space, and so that you will have someone on hand that has some experience before you try this yourself.

enjoy your next project!