Hello guys! Anybody here have rebuilt a very healthy (no butcheries) 2.0 ? All Std. parts. Love to hear tips, etc. . Low oil pressure, is that a real trait, Upgrade to 2.3 liter conversion? Superformance appears to be best option. Pistons, I'd have J&E build me a set. Use the same sleeves, ball honed, great shape now, no step on top. Std. bearings ? Thank you. Regards, Alberto
Dear Alberto. Not done a 2.0 litre but make sure you purchase good quality valve seals, dont use their [SF] valve tool either... its crap. Be prepared to double check quality of all new engine bits such as bearings etc. Aftermarket and possibly 3rd world sourcing is to blame, some are of very dubious quality. Multi source is the best option otherwise you could get a mixture of high and piss poor quality bits from one supplier. You may be able to gleen some useful info from this, its in French & Italian but that shouldnt be a problem for you https://dinospider.com/dino_manual/Fiat_Dino_2_0_Engine_Rebuild_Manual.pdf English version, not so much info as above document. http://www.dinospider.com/manuals.html I have heard but no knowledge that the oil pump upgrade is fine. Dont use Spesso head gaskets either. Tony
There's some art to it. Be patient. I love how the mains on the 2.0 are not keyed, or indexed. I very carefully aligned before tightening & torquing. And very true on what was said about new parts does not mean good. If you see something that looks off to you, it probably is. Example: I purchased a TO brg that was NOS in the original box with original cosmoline/wax paper. I spun it by hand with a little pressure, and it belt like races were badly pitted. I soaked in solvent, WD-40, Filled with oil, spray grease, nothing helped. This part died on the shelf. I optimistically told myself, it's got to be good! Well wrapped in original packaging. Nope - it's landfill.
I agree and in my experience, fairly common among many (older) car manufacturers, not just Italian. Over the years I’ve learned that many of the decades old NOS parts were likely assembly line rejects, but some manufacturers had workers set such items aside, to be re-packaged and sold later as spares or unloaded them to secondary market suppliers. Buyer beware.
I recently installed an NOS mechanical metering device component into a 65 y.o. car after careful unpacking, cleaning the cosmoline etc off & visual inspection (off the application testing not possible for an item like this), only to discover it doesn’t work as expected. Unfortunately these items are no longer readily available, even in aftermarket circuit, but I found a couple last week (bought them both, just in case) and should have them in few days. Fingers crossed that at lesst one will work. A few years ago, when rebuilding a +/-70 year old engine, I found a set of NOS/OEM pistons* and again, after a quite careful inspections, both by me and the machine shop guys, it wasn’t until during final assembly, I discovered one of the 8 pistons having a very unusual, small manufacturing defect. *Fortunately, the secondary market supplier whom I’ve done business with for decades was willing to honor our agreement on taking them back for full refund, if I/we find anything wrong with them, even when it had been several months between the purchase and discovery of this issue.
