Lets build an engine

Today we wash the block, 1st pic is, in case you don't know, is a bucket of kinda hot water with plenty of dish washing liquid in it...You wash each cylinder and the block, using plenty of that. Once block is washed and rinsed, again using plenty of water. Then you MUST dry it, I have a compressor so I have plenty of air to blow dry with. MAKE SURE you force air through the oil galley, till it is DRY. Then, and I use WD40 for this, lube each cylinder, you do not want your fresh clean cylinders to start surface rusting, now do you. Last pic is the oil galley plug behind the flywheel. You did remove it before you started washing, right?? Replace the plug using a new "O" ring, no sense skipping that and risking an oil leak there.
Tomorrow, we install the crank.
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An update. Installing the crank, did not like the way it turned, took too much force.. So I checked each bearing and found the #1 bearing was what I consider a bit too tight. So we checked the shaft, it is dead on the money. All we can figure is the block is the problem. This block went through a fire and none of the main bearing bore was acceptable. We line bored it and checked each housing. The clearance would be 0 on one side and as much as .003 on the other. So to save the block, we overbored everything. Once that was done, each main saddle was fitted with an insert. Now line bore was correct. I still did not like the way the shaft turned. We are going to polish the shaft to gain .001 extra clearance, then give it another try.

Oh another thing just to make my day, a main bearing 12 mm stud pulled at 62 lb torque. So I have to helicoil that hole. Hey the block was headed to the scrap pile to start with, so whatever I have to do, will do.
But hey, I have 2 extra blocks, and extra heads and cranks, I figure I am ahead of the game.
Till next time.

 

An update, I am sure that maybe God does not want me to build this engine. It started out with things like bearings being a bit tight, so I worked thru that. Next torquing in the crank, a stud pulled. So I helicoil the hold, trouble is it took me almost 3 weeks to get the correct part. Every time I ordered it, it would come in incorrect, I mean like 5 times,ordered and incorrect. Finally I get the correct part, installed, reinstalled the stud, install the crank and on the same main bearing cap the other stud started to pull. By now, well you know. So I helicoil that stud, and everything was going great, crank in, torquing things, and the original problem stud decided to pull. Well it was/is time to walk away. So now I have 2 stud holes with helicoil in them, but they are not holding. Little back ground here, the block did go thru a fire at one time, so I am salvaging it, I hope. So what next, any suggestions, keep in mind the main bearing stud is 12 x 1.75. I wish I could JB Weld the hold then drill and tap it, but pretty sure JB Weld will not take 62 lb torque.
OH well, I quit for now. For sure am open to any suggestions. I know there is a way, BUT block has been line bored, sleeves installed and bored, so any welding on block will distort it, at least I would think so.

Have a good weekend.

 

Well back at it. talked about crank not turning as free as I would want. Not the best picture, but if you look close on 1st pic, you can see the bearing is quite close to the radius in the journal, not what you really want. 2nd pic show what you would really want.
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Alright you have seen the problem,now how to solve it. 1st pic shows size of the bearing, which is too wide causing a problem. Now with a bit of work on a bench grinder, the a fine file, then 400 gr sand paper then a knife. You end w]up with pic number 2.

Crank now turns just fine and you do not have to worry about the bearing and the radius being too close and overheating causing a major problem down the road.

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OK, last week we showed studs pulling out, finally got parts to fix, BUT the helicoil did not work, pulled the studs again... So now, since a helicoil will not work, what do you do. Well you get something called a BIGSERT. Bigsert is Time Serts big brother.
Drill for helicoil or Timesert is 31/64's, Drill bit for Bigsert is 37/64's, quit a bit bigger. First 2 pics show block where studs pulled. 1st pic show hole after being drilled with 37/64's drill, getting ready to be tapped out for Bigsert. Pic 2 is of hole that has not been drilled. Last pic shows the Bigsert kit you can get. Like I said this is a salvage block, as it went thru a fire and nothing was square on it, but now it is. SO, if I am able to get Bigsert to work and studs hold, I will be moving on, getting things together. 409 Cu in worth of Lamborghini V12 engine for my Countach.
Have a good weekend everybody. Oh yea, week after next I go to VA to get my Cataracts taken care of. First on 9 July, looking forward to that.
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Well another day. But this day sees the crank installed, next pistons, in the next few days. Notice the shiny spots in the crank case, well you just cannot us a Murcielago crank in a 4 ltr or 5 ltr or QV block without a few mods.

Hope everybody is enjoying the weekend.
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The other day installing the crank and torquing everything, I had a 8 mm stud pull. Hey it only takes 21 ft lb, but it pulled. So I removed it and found a helicoil there. Expecting the worse I removed it, and, take a look at the pic, what I found was the one on the left. Couldn't believe it, you have a hole that is about 1 inch deep and you use a 8 mm long helicoil, made no sense to me. If you have a hole that is around 1 inch deep , use, take a look at the pic again, you use the 18 mm long helicoil. So I took the tap sent to me with the helicoil kit and ground the end off and tapped the hole as far as it would go, and installed the 18 mm long helicoil. Problem solved, 8 mm stud torqued right to 21 lb ft. When you do that you get the maximum strength and less chance of problems down the road.
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Here we are again. Now, as I have said already, you cannot just drop a Murcielago into a 4, 5ltr or QV block without some mods. Well here is todays mod, see the pic. 1st pic shows skirt of piston, well, if used like that the piston skirts will touch at BDC, that won't work. So, see pic #2 I just trimmed the skirts of the pistons, now we have plenty of room, no problem now.
My wife has me moving furniture today and on Saturday, but she does not ask for much, so Lamborghini work will have to be on hold till later next week. Monday and Tue I have to go to the VA for pr op for my cataract surgery. So it will be Wed when I can get back to it.
Everybody have a great weekend.
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Well wife gave me the afternoon off so right at 2 PM I started installing as you can see in the 1st pic 6 pistons. It is now 5:30 PM and it took me all that time to install those 6, look at pic #2 and pic #3 and you can see why. Each rod/bolt had to be ground on and the block had to be also done. Only 2 of the 6 had rod/bolt clearance in the block. Well, like I said, you just cannot install a Murcielago crankshaft in any of the 4 ltr, 5 ltr or QV blocks without a bit of modifications, like lots of them.
But hey at least I have 6 in and only have 6 more to go, lets hope it does not take me 3 1/2 hours to install the last 6. 409 Cu in here I come.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
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Well all pistons in ,windage tray installed ,took almost 3 hours, the extra 10 mm in stroke, nothing wanted to clear. oil pump and timing chains in. all in all, almost 6 hours work, but it is done. May get the heads on tomorrow, BUT first have to TDC everything, then heads.
Looking forward to the 9th when the VA is going to do my right eye cataract installing a distance lens for me.
Hope everbody is having a good weekend.
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Well engine at TDC, next heads on. First the spacer plate, only had enough "O" rings to do one side, I do not use the factory "O" rings, I do not like them, too thin for my way of thinking. Same thing for the string the factory stuff is around .050 OD the stuff I use is .065 OD. I just like the extra protection I get using the thicker part. So tomorrow, I am off looking for "O" rings that suit me. The next day off to the VA for cataract surgery. Looking forward to that.

 

And the BAD news is. I have both heads on and torquing them, so far I have pulled a head stud on both banks. So everything has to be taken off. This will be quite a job as one of the studs just turns when the nut is being backed off, BAD NEWS. That means stud will only come out when the head is removed, that is going to be LOTS of fun.
Well the block is a salvage block having gone thru a fire so the metallurgy in the aluminum has changed. Aluminum is OK when it is forged, but it does not like to be reheated to the temp of a fire. So, I suppose the best thing for me to do is Helicoil all the head studs, a job for sure, but better than doing 2 or 3 studs and installing everything and finding another bad stud.

Oh well, off to the VA again tomorrow for cataract surgery, did not get done yesterday due to problems, so we give it another try tomorrow 11 July

 

L 407 engine, rebuilt by who knows, and I hope you never use them.
First pic is of the thrust bearing, as you can see, it is eaten up. Next main bearing cap showing damage. Then another cap showing damage, then the main bearing saddle in the block, notice the ridge.
The crank in this block has been waking back and forth for quite a while. Notice the thrust area on crank.
Whoever built this engine should be avoided all all cost, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
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