Thread: Engine tear down pics

Well, its not a full tear down. It is a 72K $250 junkyard engine. With the exception of the head gaskets and valve stem seals, every other gasket and seal is getting replaced. Whoever had this engine really took care of it as there is no sludge or buildup in the engine at all. No metal particles in the oil pan. Remote snake cam shows excellent hashing on the cylinder walls and not chips on the pistons.

In case you have never removed a harmonic balancer from one of these, they are very difficult. GM put some sort of reddish-orange sealant/thread locker on the bolt. It kind of looks like the stuff they used to seal the snout up to the supercharger. You can make a tool that locks the balancer in place by using a couple of the 3 slots on the balancer and locking it up against something, or, you can do what I did.... a 1" impact running 175 p.s.i. A 3/4" on 175 p.s.i. wouldn't even budge it. When I say " I ", I mean my garage monkey. I re-broke my arms where steel plates and screws are and can not do anything. So, I found someone that was willing to help, listen and learn to do the wrench turning.

Scotty, I wish I had a cam to put in it, but, I am not going crazy as this is my work car. I need to make sure its reliable and parts are easily found should something happen. Just running headers, 3.4 and 1.8 rockers. Don't want to have to mess with the trans at this point. Will rebuild the original engine and getting another trans. Will beef that trans up and toss a couple goodies in that engine.

Well, last two days have been working on the car. I realized why I quit working off the ground years ago. Getting too old for this $hit. I used eBay headers and while they seem like a nice pair, the top bolt on the 2-1 flange where the headers come together is a pain in the ass to get to. I had to use a few extensions linked together and go at it from the top.

I broke a rocker bolt. About cried as I figured finding one for it would be impossible without making a 3 hour round trip to Jegs. Fortunately, my local hardware store had them in stock and made by the same company....completely identical.

Got the engine out here:


Yes, I took the rear exhaust and flange out at the same time. It seems easier this way:

This is the back of the old engine. Notice the flywheel bolts are broken off in it. I was only doing about 35MPH when this happened. It is just that the engine scattering was so severe.

This is the inside of the oil pan. Its hard to make out, but, there was half of a rod cap, a couple bolts and tons of metal shavings. I cleaned all that out andput the metal shavings back in as I figured they would just help the new engine by joining existing parts and making them stronger :P/.

Putting some parts onto the replacement engine:

Little bit closer:

Engine settled into the engine bay. I went in much easier than I anticipated as installs usually are a pain. This is where I stopped at for this evening. Will go back tomorrow and hopefully get at least everything underneath the car done. With gracious amounts of good luck, may even get to start it up.

Yeah Scotty, I had a garage monkey helping me.......and he did quite a bit, but, there was some stuff I did on my own as he wasn't available or it was just too hard to try and explain it to someone that is just not in the know. Thank science for pain killers.

Well, car is running. Was about to get video and my phone died. There was some valve/lifter noise at first start up. This was expected as the engine has not ran for who knows how long. After about 5 minutes of idling, everything quieted down and the idle smoothed out. No CEL's. Couple hiccups to contend with. Power steering makes a rattling noise only when turning it to the right. Brakes need bled. Headers are driving me nuts. I have this droning sound in the cockpit that is a bit much for me. I am guessing it is because the resonator gets deleted with the header install. Thinking either some Dynamat is in order or possibly having a resonator put back in.

Took it out for about a 45 minute test drive. Runs fine under normal acceleration, but, when I get half pedal or more......it start missing/fluttering. All new vacuum lines, Turbo Blue fuel, new plugs, wires, GM coils. Also found the cause of the rattling noise when I turned my steering wheel to the right.....coincidentally, I also found a socket and ratchet I had forgotten about. Turn your speakers down if you watch the video.

Originally Posted by TwiztdWun

Well, car is running. Was about to get video and my phone died. There was some valve/lifter noise at first start up. This was expected as the engine has not ran for who knows how long. After about 5 minutes of idling, everything quieted down and the idle smoothed out. No CEL's. Couple hiccups to contend with. Power steering makes a rattling noise only when turning it to the right. Brakes need bled. Headers are driving me nuts. I have this droning sound in the cockpit that is a bit much for me. I am guessing it is because the resonator gets deleted with the header install. Thinking either some Dynamat is in order or possibly having a resonator put back in.

Since when does the resonater get deleted with header install?
Put a good res back on it if you don't have one and get rid of the drone!

Sorry 231, its not the resonator that got deleted..it was the cat. Thinking I will have a glass pack put in there to see if that helps.