Project 'Keep the mrs happy'

[joff-turbo-nova]

Cracked on with the engine work today....

Got all 4 pistons cleaned up and new rings and shells installed and put back into the block...



New GM oil pump was added as well ...



Cleaned up the pickup pipe as it was rather cruddy and reinstalled with an new o ring....



Torqued everything down and then put the sump on with some sealant as these engines don't have a sump gasket....



Next up was starting on the cylinder head , all 16 valves are rather caked with carbon...





This was an inlet valve before.....



And this is after cleaning .....



Also thought it would be rude not to get the dremmel out and polish out the ports as they seem to have a very rough casing on the inside, I have left it roughish as I understand these engines work better with the inlet rough, will give the exhaust ports a good going over ....



Need to finish off the polishing with a longer sanding bit.

Enjoy!

Joff

[Spudly]

Seriously Joff, you find yourself needing an extra project, ill happily let you rebuild my engine/store my nova over winter, ill hoover up and clean the windows, mow the grass happily in exchange

[joff-turbo-nova]

Been busy today...

Finally got the head stripped down ports cleaned out.

Next job was lapping in the valves which is a rather boring job but worth doing to get a good seal on the valve seats.

This is how the valve and the head started , note the nice and shiny ring around the valve and valve seat....






Once lapped in, there is now a constant "grey" ring, where the faces have been ground together - job sorted only another 15 to do







The exhaust valves where a bit pitted as you can see here .....



But with a little extra work on the lapping process ......



Also had to remove two studs which had snapped off into the head. One washer, nut and migwelder later and the problem was solved....



You put the washer over the stud hole and then start welding at the base of the stub, the washer protects the head. Once the weld is at the height of the washer, put the nut on and fill it with weld till it glows cherry red.

With all the heat this put through the stud, you just let things cool to just below red hot and then simply undo. The heat breaks down the crud on the threads making it easy to wind out.

After all the valves were lapped in next job was getting it all back together. 8 exhaust valves fitted....



And then the inlet valves....



Started on the camshafts and put the inlet one in, notice the cam caps are nice and clean...



These are the exhaust cam caps awaiting a clean....



Next job tomorrow is get the exhaust cam fitted and then I can put the head on the engine and get the water pump and timing belt stuff fitted.

Joff

[Andy]

Have you marked up/are the cam caps marked? As its pretty important they go back where they came from..
Everything still within tolerance?
Rebuilding engines is indeed therapeutic.I have to agree.

Good work.

[joff-turbo-nova]

Have you marked up/are the cam caps marked? As its pretty important they go back where they came from..
Everything still within tolerance?
Rebuilding engines is indeed therapeutic.I have to agree.

Good work.

They are each numbered like on the C20XE engines which is handy !

End float was good and the gaps on the piston rings was bang on .

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Update...

Got the exhaust cam on and then the head onto the block and torqued down. I was surprised at the tightening sequence, 40nm, 90 ° , 90° , 90° then 45° . I think the head stretch bolts have now lived up to their name



Then got on with getting all the timing gear and water pump back on....



1st time round I was a tooth out, but got it on the 2nd attempt!

Then it was on with the covers and I put a set of both inlet and exhaust studs in and placed the gaskets ready for the manifolds.





Next job is to strip the engine out of the meriva and swap all the bits onto the new block.

Joff

[Spudly]

Good work Joff, you dont hang about do ya, i trust the back isnt giving you as much grief now and youre back up to speed?

[nova_niek]

Nice read Joff, well done. Rebuilding engines is awesome work. As said, very therapeutic! :-)

[MK999]

Looks good... not sure if it's different on what I assume is a Z18XE, but it looks like you might be missing a camshaft sensor? Goes under the top cover between the cams.

Not bad torque on those things too not the best I've seen though! BGA MLS gasket on a 106 gti... 80Nm, 90, 90, 90, 90!! I was sweating at the end

[joff-turbo-nova]

Looks good... not sure if it's different on what I assume is a Z18XE, but it looks like you might be missing a camshaft sensor? Goes under the top cover between the cams.

Yes you are right, this engine came without sensors, will need to swap things over from the other engine sitting in the Merv.

Joff