Come on, post em up. Let's see the good and the bad
Photos of the second rebuild of dad's 96' Saturn. (Blown HG)
Photos of the second rebuild of dad's 96' Saturn. (Blown HG)
Engine assembly pics
- Thread starter Fordtrucktexan
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Random photos from the head gasket/bullet proofing of my own Ford 6.0 diesel. Did a lot more than just gaskets and studs, but that's for another day.
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I'd have to go find my old pics.
Here's a few from my own 01' Saturn.
Original engine chucked a rod. Yay
It was sludged up aweful too
Got a core motor that smoked but ran. Tore it down for rebuild. Bored .020 over block
Went with Scat forged rods and Sealed Power pistons
Also ported the head
Ready to drop in! (forgive the quality, it was 2008 and I had a [censored] cell phone even by those standards)
After installation and 5 speed conversion
Oh no! dropped a valve after installing aftermarket cams. Check out the slick OEM cam installation tool. (Yes, it was removed prior to starting the engine)
Diss-assembly
Original engine chucked a rod. Yay
It was sludged up aweful too
Got a core motor that smoked but ran. Tore it down for rebuild. Bored .020 over block
Went with Scat forged rods and Sealed Power pistons
Also ported the head
Ready to drop in! (forgive the quality, it was 2008 and I had a [censored] cell phone even by those standards)
After installation and 5 speed conversion
Oh no! dropped a valve after installing aftermarket cams. Check out the slick OEM cam installation tool. (Yes, it was removed prior to starting the engine)
Diss-assembly
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After the "built" motor dropped a valve, I gave up on the whole ricer idea of making a Saturn fast. I needed to save money and driving a 4x4 F150 as a daily wasn't exactly helping. I had to get the Saturn going again, and for cheap.
Hence, the birth of the $200 engine
I had planned to scrap this block/rotating assembly from a parts car. It rolled around in the bed of my truck for two months, getting rained on. This is what it looked like the day I took it apart for rebuild.
Cleaned up the cylinders with a stone hone and threw in some clean stock pistons with 140k mile rings from another motor.
Re-used the main bearings from the 'built' motor. This is what they looked like
I actually spent money to re-machine a bad crankshaft and get matching bearings for it. I had intended to re-build the built motor and wanted to save a good stock crankshaft for it.
All done, assembled and ready to go. WIsh I had taken pics of the head. It was from the original motor (see the pic with the hole in the block) and covered in thick oil sludge. I let it sit in a vat of parts degreaser for a weekend and blasted it off at the car wash. I then had the machine shop do a clean up deck on it for $20.
With all these questionable parts and sketchy assembly, this motor still pumped out 210psi compression on all 4 cylinders.
![img]](http://i.imgur.com/bSDMxtm.jpg/img])
Hence, the birth of the $200 engine
I had planned to scrap this block/rotating assembly from a parts car. It rolled around in the bed of my truck for two months, getting rained on. This is what it looked like the day I took it apart for rebuild.
Cleaned up the cylinders with a stone hone and threw in some clean stock pistons with 140k mile rings from another motor.
Re-used the main bearings from the 'built' motor. This is what they looked like
I actually spent money to re-machine a bad crankshaft and get matching bearings for it. I had intended to re-build the built motor and wanted to save a good stock crankshaft for it.
All done, assembled and ready to go. WIsh I had taken pics of the head. It was from the original motor (see the pic with the hole in the block) and covered in thick oil sludge. I let it sit in a vat of parts degreaser for a weekend and blasted it off at the car wash. I then had the machine shop do a clean up deck on it for $20.
With all these questionable parts and sketchy assembly, this motor still pumped out 210psi compression on all 4 cylinders.
Why'd it drop a valve in the first place? Spring is intact. Did it run into valve float?
You do nice work! Did you get to run the $200 engine? How does it run with the 140K mile rings? The compression numbers are impressive that's for sure.
My latest project started with buying a 1998 Malibu with a pretty severe rod knock for $200.00. A friend and I loaded it up on a trailer and drug it home.
The car had 172,552 miles on it at the time of starting the tear down/rebuild.
Here is what I saw shortly after starting the tear down:
Here is a view of the car- really not bad for a rust belt vehicle of that age and mileage
Engine out, pan off:
Those chunks are rod bearing- the kid ran it out of oil...
The rod journal:
Because of the lack of a rod bearing, the piston was hitting the crank:
Pic of the bore:
Pic of the bent rod cap:
Bore cleaned up pretty nicely with a light ridge reaming and a three leg hone:
Block is cleaned up and ready to go:
Balance shaft assembly and new oil pump. Also put new bearings in the balance shaft housing:
Wrist pin had some burrs and the floating rods weren't moving freely:
A little emery and Scotch Brite fixed that:
The three good piston rods are pretty much ready:
Crank in and ready to go (it actually cleaned at .5mm- approximately .020" under):
Short block is back together. I re-used the 172k mile pistons, just cleaned them really well. I did have to replace the #4 piston and rod though.
Head is back from the shop with a fresh valve job:
Skipping several steps (was in a rush), the engine is back in the car:
A little farther a long:
I tried to save money in several places- re-using what ever I thought I could, buying parts from Rock Auto and Amazon. In the end, I got hosed on the rings and bought from a different supplier. I rebuilt the injectors with help from fellow member "Trav" givng pointers and supplying the screens/o-rings. The car start and ran right off and hasn't missed a beat since. I did replace the timing set because I thought it was the cause of some noise (it was), but the replacement set did the same thing... It eventually went away. Dunno? Car now has 183k on it, runs perfectly and doesn't burn a drop of oil in 6-7k miles.
If you want to read the "whole" thread, CLICK HERE
The car had 172,552 miles on it at the time of starting the tear down/rebuild.
Here is what I saw shortly after starting the tear down:
Here is a view of the car- really not bad for a rust belt vehicle of that age and mileage
Engine out, pan off:
Those chunks are rod bearing- the kid ran it out of oil...
The rod journal:
Because of the lack of a rod bearing, the piston was hitting the crank:
Pic of the bore:
Pic of the bent rod cap:
Bore cleaned up pretty nicely with a light ridge reaming and a three leg hone:
Block is cleaned up and ready to go:
Balance shaft assembly and new oil pump. Also put new bearings in the balance shaft housing:
Wrist pin had some burrs and the floating rods weren't moving freely:
A little emery and Scotch Brite fixed that:
The three good piston rods are pretty much ready:
Crank in and ready to go (it actually cleaned at .5mm- approximately .020" under):
Short block is back together. I re-used the 172k mile pistons, just cleaned them really well. I did have to replace the #4 piston and rod though.
Head is back from the shop with a fresh valve job:
Skipping several steps (was in a rush), the engine is back in the car:
A little farther a long:
I tried to save money in several places- re-using what ever I thought I could, buying parts from Rock Auto and Amazon. In the end, I got hosed on the rings and bought from a different supplier. I rebuilt the injectors with help from fellow member "Trav" givng pointers and supplying the screens/o-rings. The car start and ran right off and hasn't missed a beat since. I did replace the timing set because I thought it was the cause of some noise (it was), but the replacement set did the same thing... It eventually went away. Dunno? Car now has 183k on it, runs perfectly and doesn't burn a drop of oil in 6-7k miles.
If you want to read the "whole" thread, CLICK HERE
Awesome thread! Wish I had the time do take on projects like these.
My HG, clutch and timing belt job on the soob:
http://webfors.com/of_pics/engine/
My HG, clutch and timing belt job on the soob:
http://webfors.com/of_pics/engine/
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Why'd it drop a valve in the first place? Spring is intact. Did it run into valve float?
Nope. Dropped the valve nearly instantly. I'm still not 100% sure why it dropped, but I think the roller might've been just slightly tilted and when I started the motor, it froze up and allowed the spring to compress way more than it should've. Just a guess though.
Funny post story - the $200 motor spun a bearing this past November. (I ignored a worsening oil leak) - and since it was already knocking and needs to come apart anyway, I threw the custom cams in that motor just to see if it would drop a valve too. Nope, runs good and has a nice lope at idle (for a Saturn) lol.
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
You do nice work! Did you get to run the $200 engine? How does it run with the 140K mile rings? The compression numbers are impressive that's for sure.
The $200 engine ran rough and gave us a fit at first but it was my fault. In my hurry to assemble it, I put the cams in backwards - intake cam on the exhaust side, exhaust cam on the intake side. The Saturn 1.9 has to be one of the few engines you can make that mistake. Once I corrected it, she ran like a dream and was beat on mercilessly, until this past November when my ignorance of an oil leak caused it to spin a bearing.
Why'd it drop a valve in the first place? Spring is intact. Did it run into valve float?
Nope. Dropped the valve nearly instantly. I'm still not 100% sure why it dropped, but I think the roller might've been just slightly tilted and when I started the motor, it froze up and allowed the spring to compress way more than it should've. Just a guess though.
Funny post story - the $200 motor spun a bearing this past November. (I ignored a worsening oil leak) - and since it was already knocking and needs to come apart anyway, I threw the custom cams in that motor just to see if it would drop a valve too. Nope, runs good and has a nice lope at idle (for a Saturn) lol.
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
You do nice work! Did you get to run the $200 engine? How does it run with the 140K mile rings? The compression numbers are impressive that's for sure.
The $200 engine ran rough and gave us a fit at first but it was my fault. In my hurry to assemble it, I put the cams in backwards - intake cam on the exhaust side, exhaust cam on the intake side. The Saturn 1.9 has to be one of the few engines you can make that mistake. Once I corrected it, she ran like a dream and was beat on mercilessly, until this past November when my ignorance of an oil leak caused it to spin a bearing.
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
My latest project started with buying a 1998 Malibu with a pretty severe rod knock for $200.00. A friend and I loaded it up on a trailer and drug it home.
I'm surprised, I thought most modern cars had gone to MLS head gaskets. Wow
My latest project started with buying a 1998 Malibu with a pretty severe rod knock for $200.00. A friend and I loaded it up on a trailer and drug it home.
I'm surprised, I thought most modern cars had gone to MLS head gaskets. Wow
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
I've been involved in and performed a number of builds over the years, mostly SBF's but a few of the ones I've been involved in were SBC's. The SBF projects, one was for a friend who purchased an F-150 for a plow truck that needed a motor, another was my own 302 out of my '87 GT T-Top and the last one was a stock HO shortblock build-up that saw a few different iterations and a couple of different cars. This belonged to a buddy of mine who didn't have a lot of mechanical experience so I helped him out.
302 build #2: The engine I pulled out of the '88 F-150:
The 302 HO low mileage shortblock that went in:
The HO pan cleared the cross-member despite being massively different from the truck version.
302HO build #3:
This was a car that had a built 302 with a custom cam in it that blew up at the track. Engine had lunched a lifter and had some serious scoring:
]
Heads and cam were salvaged, intake and carb were sold and replaced with a Victor Jr. topped with an HP 750 Holley. The MSD 6AL took a dive shortly after the car was put together so we swapped in the Crane HI-6 box out of my Capri project that I had determined I wasn't going to be finishing at that point. Engine pulled like a bear to 7K.
This was 302 build #1 (my '87 GT T-Top):
This engine is still sitting in my garage after I wrote off the car, embarked upon building a Capri, and then sold it when I got the M5. Stock shortblock, professionally ported GT40 irons milled and machined for Fel-Pro lock-wire head gaskets, had a TFS-R on it with a BBK 75mm TB (now has a Weiand X-Celerator with a Holley HP750), Camshaft Innovations custom grind cam, 1.7 roller rockers....etc. Don't mind the silver spray paint, that was the PO who apparently went crazy with it, LOL!
Part 2 of 302 build #3:
The '85 was sold (back to its original owner, it ended up with a turbo GM LS swap) and the engine we put it in was swapped into this '88 GT.
The engine swap (old one out and apart, it was parted out, shortblock was toast):
New engine in:
Which later had the TFS-R swapped onto it.
302 build #2: The engine I pulled out of the '88 F-150:
The 302 HO low mileage shortblock that went in:
The HO pan cleared the cross-member despite being massively different from the truck version.
302HO build #3:
This was a car that had a built 302 with a custom cam in it that blew up at the track. Engine had lunched a lifter and had some serious scoring:
Heads and cam were salvaged, intake and carb were sold and replaced with a Victor Jr. topped with an HP 750 Holley. The MSD 6AL took a dive shortly after the car was put together so we swapped in the Crane HI-6 box out of my Capri project that I had determined I wasn't going to be finishing at that point. Engine pulled like a bear to 7K.
This was 302 build #1 (my '87 GT T-Top):
This engine is still sitting in my garage after I wrote off the car, embarked upon building a Capri, and then sold it when I got the M5. Stock shortblock, professionally ported GT40 irons milled and machined for Fel-Pro lock-wire head gaskets, had a TFS-R on it with a BBK 75mm TB (now has a Weiand X-Celerator with a Holley HP750), Camshaft Innovations custom grind cam, 1.7 roller rockers....etc. Don't mind the silver spray paint, that was the PO who apparently went crazy with it, LOL!
Part 2 of 302 build #3:
The '85 was sold (back to its original owner, it ended up with a turbo GM LS swap) and the engine we put it in was swapped into this '88 GT.
The engine swap (old one out and apart, it was parted out, shortblock was toast):
New engine in:
Which later had the TFS-R swapped onto it.
Nice! Love 5.0 builds.
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
302 build #2: The engine I pulled out of the '88 F-150:
Wow. Kinda hoping he's taking better care of the new one.
302 build #2: The engine I pulled out of the '88 F-150:
Wow. Kinda hoping he's taking better care of the new one.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
The engine that came out came with the truck. He bought it knowing the engine was toast and got it for a good price. We were absolutely appalled at how it looked when we tore into it. Supposedly it was maintained "regularly" with Quaker State. We both had a hard time believing that. The engine that went in was run on AMSOIL its entire life up until we bought it (it only had 60K miles on it) and it has since seen Mobil 1 religiously.
It now needs a new home actually as the body has rotted off the truck.
It now needs a new home actually as the body has rotted off the truck.
I don't have any "in process" pictures, but here's a couple finished engines I've built.
Originally Posted By: Sport_Injection
I don't have any "in process" pictures, but here's a couple finished engines I've built.
I've got one of those,albeit its a bit smaller. I've got a cat telescoping forklift. 10000 pound lift,53' boom iirc.
500 hour intervals and it's running like a dream with 5000 hours on the engine.
I don't have any "in process" pictures, but here's a couple finished engines I've built.
I've got one of those,albeit its a bit smaller. I've got a cat telescoping forklift. 10000 pound lift,53' boom iirc.
500 hour intervals and it's running like a dream with 5000 hours on the engine.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Love those kitty-cat's!
Pontiac 301 Turbo
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
2001 Pontiac Montana 3400
Did a UOA on it randomly and it popped for coolant.
So, talking to my Grandparents (it was theirs) it had never had any engine work done on it so I figured it was the LIM
Did a UOA on it randomly and it popped for coolant.
So, talking to my Grandparents (it was theirs) it had never had any engine work done on it so I figured it was the LIM
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