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Did a head job on a 90's suburban for a guy a few years back, pulled it all apart and sent the heads out. Cleaned up the block, sprayed some kind of petroleum lube, penetrate, etc on it, tossed a plastic bag over it and pushed it back in the parking lot for a week. Pulled it back in brake clean and install.
you can do it with a tarp. If the project isn't going to take months it should be fine with oil soaked rags and a simple tarp. Use the brain and see if you can imagine water or dust getting in wherever it is sitting. i.e. I wouldn't leave a car outside with the heads off, even under a closed hood, I would still want some kind of tarp over the exposed block. Even if big droplets don't get in there, it will still be very high water content in the air when it rains nearby, and wind will always be around to kick up dirt, dust, debris.
Seran wrap, plastic wrap, rain coats, theres all kinds of protective things you can throw over, no excuse to let it open
That's weird. I've always wiped surfaces clean with brake clean and have never noticed surface rust form.
I always do with brake rotors after they're machined. If you're doing it properly, you're washing them with either dishwashing liquid or preferably unscented/ dye-free laundry detergent. You do this to eliminate micro-granules of iron/ contaminants from the machining you just did. Same goes with an iron block, just like iron rotors. All that surface area exposed without a protective film of some sort will allow the iron to oxidize before your eyes. Literally. Had a shop manager try to fuss at me once trying to tell me I didn't resurface rotors, looking at them 10 minutes after I machined and washed them. I machined a junk rotor for him, told him to wash it and put it next to his keyboard and tell me what happened.
Even with brake cleaner, you're still leaving behind a layer of 'stuff' from the ether based solvent evaporating.
I have noticed this happen with a bloke I knew who washed a block off at a car wash, but never paid attention to it with an engine in a car. I used to spray my surfaces with WD-40 if it was left for more than a few days outside while in an engine bay, but have always just left the motor dirty until it was time to clean. I'll have to look at my short block in the garage closely to see if there is any rust.
Maybe I'm behind on the times but I was at Home Depot and it turns out they sell WD-40 in a spray bottle now (as opposed to the traditional aerosol with a hose). That seems perfect for something like coating an exposed block in oil. Thought that was neat and worth sharing.
Yes, but because it's a light oil, coatings needs to be applied frequently. Hell, why not just dunk the engine in cosmoline!
Gotcha. So I'll just stick to motor oil if I need to. But like you mentioned earlier, I just won't clean off the engine until the second weekend when I have everything ready to get put back together.
I've been trying to find seal washers for the steam pipe. Managed to find these at O'Reillys. Will they work? They are branded as oil drain plug washers. The originals are the top silver ones. These new ones have a smaller outer diameter and less rubber material.
I've been trying to find seal washers for the steam pipe. Managed to find these at O'Reillys. Will they work? They are branded as oil drain plug washers. The originals are the top silver ones. These new ones have a smaller outer diameter and less rubber material.
No - do NOT use them. I used the same washers (thread here) and they disintegrated in 90 days. Get the OEM washers
I think they are the same as A/C seals used. You can go to NAPA with the original and try to match them up. Remember you need two per banjo bolt.
I have two new A/C seals because I'm replacing the compressor during all this too. The outer diameter is the same but the inner diameter is larger. I just went ahead and ordered 4 from summit.
Got the power steering pump, A/C compressor, and steam pipe installed last night. The steam pipe bolts are supposed to be tightened to 30 ft/lbs but no torque wrench is fitting back there so I had to use a crescent wrench. I tightened until there was decent resistance but I didn't want to push it and strip the threads. I figure there's somewhere between 20-30 ft/lbs on those bolts. How important is it to get those right at 30 ft/lbs?
Also did some more reading and watched a Youtube video on head swaps. Now I'm second guessing whether I coated the head bolts correctly, specifically the top 4 bolts on each head. I didn't use sealant on those, only grease. When I cleaned the bolt holes, I noticed the top 4 on each side didn't enter coolant passages, they were just shallow bolt holes that didn't bore through to anything. Now I'm wondering if I checked each one thoroughly enough to make sure that they were all the same. Since the heads are now installed, can I remove and replace each of those 8 top bolts one at a time and be ok? Or would I have to remove all head bolts and install them in sequence again? When I cleaned the holes I used one of those gun barrel brushes and I'm 90% sure I bottomed out the brush in each bolt hole to ensure it didn't enter a passage.
Yes, but because it's a light oil, coatings needs to be applied frequently. Hell, why not just dunk the engine in cosmoline!
older reply, but when i rebuilt my harley i used SP400 which is basically cosmoline. puts on a light coating, easily visible, and comes right off with a drop of brake cleaner. we use it at work a shitload. was just gonna spray this on mine when i get to it.
we have customers who return unused items for retest when theyve been sitting in their warehouse for eons. there will be rust on the the lot of it but whatevers been sprayed with 400 looks brand new since the day we machined it.
How important is it to get those right at 30 ft/lbs?
As long as they're good and snug. To tighten I've used a 6-point socket with good luck.
When I cleaned the bolt holes, I noticed the top 4 on each side didn't enter coolant passages, they were just shallow bolt holes that didn't bore through to anything.
I could've sworn those tapped into the water jackets. If it were me in that situation I would do that one bolt thing, but would then run through all bolts using the proper bolt numbered sequence at whatever highest torque value you used, but again, that's just what I would do.
I could've sworn those tapped into the water jackets. If it were me in that situation I would do that one bolt thing, but would then run through all bolts using the proper bolt numbered sequence at whatever highest torque value you used, but again, that's just what I would do.
Right now all head bolts are torqued to 70 ft/lbs. So I can remove and replace each bolt one at a time and not have to worry about warping the head or anything?
Also, I checked my pushrod length with this "pushrod length checker" tool and wanted to double check with all of you that I'm safe keeping my current set. I read about how people usually use the method where you install a light spring, use marker on the valve and crank the engine by hand but I want to see if I can get away with this other method. The tool is resting on both the valve and pushrod, no spaces at all. Right now both 4 and 7 are TDC and they both had the same result.
02-16-2018, 10:41 AM
