Project 'orange roadkill' (bent valves rebuild & more)

[xintersecty]

Yesterday I finished pulling the pistons. As usual Tigger supervised from the chair. I found no 'major' damage or wear even. Didn't feel like grinding the shrapnel out, so I opted for new slugs.

Love the Tigger pictures. Keep those up! Now onto the car. How did you get to the pistons out of the block? Did you drop the oil pan and disconnect there? As far as I can see, you have not taken the engine out the car.

[06T200]

Thanks xintercecty, I figure this is one of the more boring projects at this stage - so the cat keeps it fresh lol

The pistons came out quite easy. I pulled the front exhaust pipe nuts and just moved the pipe out of my way, and pulled the oil pan, just 5 large 17mm bolts in the rear thick 'flange' part at the bottom, (had to yank the rear trans mount to get the rear bolt) then the 10mm bolts, and the two hidden bolts under the little rubber grommets. Then from there I just took my time and pulled the pistons one by one, stamping the rods as they came out, I wound up using a long (24") 1/4" extension and a rubber mallet to tap the rings out of the holes.

You are correct, so far this has only needed to be an 'in frame' job as I can see no reason to pull the main bearings, I am over doing it as it is now, as all damaged parts are now new, but it should run great when I get it wrapped up. Pistons should be here Tuesday, then hung on the rods by thurs, and hopefully get parts going back in this weekend.

[06T200]

I thought I would add, I found no successful way to test the lifters on the bench during the bleed process. Ones I thought were bad, were no different than brand new ones, which had the same variations in plunger stiffness/movement. Some are tight feeling, others bleed with ease. But all of them seems to be fine, so now I have about 12 spare ones. All springs had the same free height within a few thousandths, so they were all within spec and good to go.

[06T200]

Update: Pistons arrived from NC, so with any luck this rig should be rolling this weekend.

[06T200]

I found a really good article that pertains to this job, I thought I would share. This will explain why I am not deglazing the cylinders for new rings. This is an important step.

Careful with That Hone, Eugene!

[06T200]

First road test was a success! Had some lifter clatter on first fire up, even after priming the oil system for 30 seconds, but they quieted down as it reached normal temp with the RPM up around 2500, now quiet as our other 06. Pics to come.

[AndrewButler05]

First road test was a success! Had some lifter clatter on first fire up, even after priming the oil system for 30 seconds, but they quieted down as it reached normal temp with the RPM up around 2500, now quiet as our other 06. Pics to come.

Awesome!


-Andrew

[06T200]

Reassembly pics, valves before head install, then new pistons went in, rings, bearings, lifters, valves, new timing set, water pump, belt, hoses and anything else that looked funky was replaced with new parts. Runs great, happy with the result.

I thought it might need an idle relearn but so far it runs smooth and stable at idle.

[06T200]

Couple more

[06T200]

Next phase of the project will be new control arms up front with new ball joints and bushings to tighten up the front handling a bit. I heard a noisy ball joint so time for some new arms and an alignment. Motor is running like new, no leaks and no codes since charging up the battery and clearing the DTCs. Valve job- done!

Thanks to rockauto for keeping all the orders straight for this job!