Overhaul

[Mat-Moo]

I've been very generously donated a 2litre pinto block (205) by a good friend on fime (Thanks Spike). I've already spent some time cleaning up the bottom end but as the sump will be coming off for modification I want to give the bottom end a basic overhaul. What is the easiest thing to do (don't want to take it all apart and redo, just check it etc. as I'm still on a tight budget). Also I've got a 2lt head which I've been working on but I need a new cam - best place to get it from?

[Guest Angel Boy]

Can't help but would be interested to know an answer as I am in the process of doing the same thing. See other posts.

 

Andy

[Guest GeordieJim]

I've just done the same thing with a 2.0L recently. Basically I took off the big and small end bearing caps and looked for any scoring on the bearing shells (make sure to keep them in the right order!). In particular look for grooves where the oil holes are and also on the crankshaft. If you can its worth while measuring the ovality of the crankshaft itself, though this will mean taking it out. I used a digital vernier which was accurate enough. The Haynes manual gives details on ovality. If its OK and theres no scoring then fine. However if its scored or oval it really depends what you're going to do with the engine. If its not going to be tuned and its only going to do 2000 miles a year then perhaps its best to just put it back together and leave it. I decided to get my crank reground and fit new bearing shells as its easy to do with the engine out, but not so with the engine in the car. The regrind cost £80 at my local engine remanufacturers (I just looked on the Federation of Engine Remanufacturers web site). The new bearing shells were, I think, about £40, but I am not sure. One thing - the rear bearing cap can be a swine to remove and may need some persuasion with a hammer.

 

When the bottom is off it is definitely worthwhile replacing the oil seal at the cam belt end of the crank, again easy to do with the bottom end off. You don't want oil leaking onto the cam belt! I also replaced the small wedge seals and the rear main bearing housing. I got the parts from Burtons, cost about £5.

 

One mistake I made when putting it back together was to use graphite based paste on the bearings (as recommended in some books). Basically its too thick, so when I torqued up the bearing caps it locked the crankshaft in place so it wouldn't turn. Plenty of oil is all thats needed. I did feel a bit of a prat when I took the crankshaft back to the garage complaining it hadn't been ground properly!

 

One other thing, make sure you flush through the oil ways properly with white spirit (or something similar) to get out all of the black gunge, but also make sure you blow them out afterwards. I got a huge plastic tub from Ikea for about £10 which gets all of the engine bits in (including the block) and is great.

 

I found rebuilding the bottom end (and the whole engine) pretty straight forward and I have never done anything like this before. Saying that I haven't run it yet, so I may change my opinion in about 6 months!

 

Hope this helps,

 

James

[Big Jim]

Mat, if you're going to take off the caps, ie, big end & mains, check out how I did the Vauxhall engine on my article. You don't need to take out the pistons or anything, but as Geordie jim says, do replace the oil seals in the front & back of the crankcase. If the crank doesn't look worn, then you don't need to start messing about measuring it. Put new shell bearings in with plenty of clean oil all over them. Make sure you use a good torque spanner not one of these cheapo things. You don't need to change the big end/mains bolts, they can be reused. Do put new valve seals on if you have the head off, if it's not off, then you need to borrow my special tool.

I have a spare camshaft out of an injection engine, in good order that you can have if you want it.

[Mat-Moo]

The top end is easy, as I bought a unleaded head on e-bay (with proper hardened seat valves) and I'm doing a bit of basic gas flowing on it (probably to stage 1.5 ish!). Guess I'll get teh oil out, replace the seals and inspect...