1. Rebuild/overhaul the existing power plant.
2. Buy a rebuilt engine.
3. Pull an engine from a salvage yard and hope you get a winner.
Options 1 and 2 are pricey. I'm kinda broke right now so I decided on option 3.
We always pull engines from a wrecked car; because, it was obviously driven to the wreck.
The plan was to tear it down with the exception of pulling the crank and pistons and put all new gaskets in and drop it in my truck.
Sounds like a solid plan right? Right.
So this last weekend we started the cleanup and tear-down, and things went..inevitably...sideways about twenty minutes in.
While de-greasing and power-washing the engine we noticed a pinhole in the timing cover that would have let oil escape the engine. Right next to that little hole was a great whacking blob of JB Weld. Ever the optimist, I soldiered on and finished cleaning the engine.
Once we had it back in the shop, we started the disassembly process. When the oil pan came off, my buddy said, "I really don't want to, but we should probably check the bearings on the crank." And that was when the bell tolled on my hopes of a re-seal and send it. The engine had very obviously been oil starved at some point and the bearings and crank were both shot.
On the upside the block is solid and the cylinders were not in need of machining. No need to involve a machine shop, but still getting a new crank, all new bearings, and new piston rings as well as new gaskets and seals. It'll be better for it.
It's a good looking block, but now it sits on a stand with a box and a bucket of bits beside it waiting while we gather the requisite bits to put it all back together.
I guess my junkyard jewel is just a diamond in the rough.
-Tole
2 comments:
90% done, 90% to go...
Snerk... agree with Wing!
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