M7 87 DD SR5

[BlackStar]

since the car came carbed. i'm gonna leave it that way. plus, i have never owned/ wokred on a carb'd car, so this would be a good learning experince

[JDMwhiteboy]

My 86 is my first carb car, its just something else to learn with cars. not too hard

[BlackStar]

got an update, started taking apart the head. I want to clean it out as best as possible, dont want any of that old junk oil to be chillin in there. What are the torque specs for everything on the head. I have a haynes manaul, but they aren't always the most reliable. I dont have a picture showing it, but I am taking everything off the head. The rocker are out, the cam is out, and when i get a valve spring tool, the valves too. I am also gonna buy a full head gasket set, make sure everything is replaced now since the engine is out of the car.



I have a question on the distributor. this is where i think TDC for piston one is on the dizzy, is this correct? Keep in mind, where i have it marked with the tape, that's the only place where i could mark it, i think the dizzy might have been stabbed in wrong. anyone shed some light?



Speaking of the engine, I'm a but nervous to show this, but could this be a problem?

cylinder 1


cylinder 4


The shortblock turns over my hand smoothly, and numbers 2 and 3 dont have these markings. I picked up this shortblock from a guy on club4ag, and i recall the engine being uncovered. is this just some light surface rust that will go away? The piston rings seem fine, i pored oil into the cylinders, and close to none of it drained out. I tried to search for other images like mine, but i haven't found a thing. I don't have the money/ time for a complete rebuild, but i dont want to have a junker smoking short block. any input? I'm ok with 1 and 4 not being the best, at least acceptable compression and reliable.

[JDMwhiteboy]

I would measure the diameter of the cylinder side to side and front to back, then measure the taper from the top of the cylinder to the bottom. The stop bore is 81mm

[BlackStar]

a;right. but what am i measuring for? <--niib

[JDMwhiteboy]

Any out of roundness and taper.

[BlackStar]

ok, so lets say i do so. The measurements i would be taking would have to bee in a certain parameter. so if those measurements are, i'm cherry? and for taking the bottom measurements, would i have to tkae the rotatin assemble out, or just get the piston down to the bottom?

[yotarolla]

http://4ac-powered.forumotion.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; if you haven't been here there's some good info on 4ac stuff, I'm on there too.

[BlackStar]

I actually am on there too, same build thread and user name too. just put a new update on there as well, will post it up here when i get a few things figured out

[BlackStar]

so it looks like i have piston ring scroging, whatever that is. what it really means is it will have to be taken to a shopped and bored out, since the marks in number 4 are noicable by touch. So i'm gonna have to think about my options. recall I got two other engine too. a bare 4a block, and a 4ag block with a bare head. did some diggin and found the add for the parts i bought. aparantly the bare block is cleaned and ready to go. the rotating assembly in the 4ag need new piston rings presumably. see where i'm going? An i like the look of erics carb'd 7age build.



catch my drift yet?


on a more technical question, any way to check if bearring are bad? i was thinking about filling the the engine with oil, turnning it over/let is soak, and see if an bearing material comes out. Hw hard are piston rings to install?

[86boy]

there's plastigauge you can get and you basically smash it between the bearing cap and the bearing to know your clearances. you can pick it up at pretty much any auto parts place. so you can see how much of a gap is there. I would personally get new bearings anyways since your right there and also then you know you have new good bearings. just my opinion.

piston rings are easy if you take your time and don't force them. getting the piston into the block is 1000000 times easier with a piston ring compressor.

[86boy]

if i had extra pistons or would have know before my block was back together I would have taken a video for you on the piston rings. also the rings have to be facing certain directions. generally there's a top and bottom to the rings and the openings need to face certain ways on the pistons before installing.

[BlackStar]

update. did a lot of wokr, but not much progress



cleaned and checked out my spare 4A block, yup, it needs to go to a machine shop, couple of marks on the cylinder walls. atleast its already stripped, and thye aren't that bad(compared to my other blocks).












kinda bummed, but wait, theres more. my idea was touse the rotating assembly from the 4ag blokc i had. Pulled of the head, and went to town. First time digging into an engine this far, was not that hard, expect for those f-bombing crank pullies! still havent gotten them off. Anywho, tore it down, and the news just kept on getting better



thought it was two, but on further inspection



yup, but still got one survivor!



the crank is good though, and the bearings were good, no scoring



but i couldnt get that f-bombing pulley off. I'll have to clamp it down, drown it in pb blaster and get a pulley puller

And the 4AG block needs a lot of work, less then my 4ac, but it isnt pretty



So i decided to yank aprat the 4AC engine to see if i could use those pistions. thye are all fine, but i dont like how the piston doesnt move back and forth on the rod easily. The 4AG pistons moved easily on the rod, the 4AC pistons not nearly as muhc, porably a bunch of gunk oil and rust freezing them up. The crank looks ok though. I gave up after getting the psitons out, so i havent taken the crank out, no real point.





so, did a lot of work, and just ended up further back from getting this car done

some random pcis

[86boy]

well its getting there man. keep it up!

[JDMwhiteboy]

Progress, I like it