Upcoming lifter/oil pan/rear cover seal/engine mount etc. etc.

[Turbocharged400sbc]

whenever doing front or rear cover work i highly suggest the first things done after removal are the wiping of the area's around the main oil galley holes with brake cleaner and lint free rags and small discs of blue tape placed over em to block em off while you scrape the gasket material off the block (cover T chain with rag, rear of crank, etc)

when scraping the gaskets i highly suggest buying a 100 pack of single edge blades and a good quality pushable blade holder. on the paper gasket youll find its easier to "slice" the gasket off than to push or cut it off...specially that damn sealant bead.....cut it like a turkey, change blades often and flip new blades over each cut to give yourself more "cut time" before the edge curl is destroyed and it no longer slices nicely.

be clean, i tend to blow 30-60$ on brake cleaner, 10 on kerosene (need a new "clean" batch for each motor) and 20 on towels and 2" blue masking tape.

that ****s cheap compared to a motor.

also get intot he habbit of never handing tools or moving things OVER a motor that open...crud stuck to the bottom of a sealant can...on a socket (you do clean your sockets beforehand right? dont want a barrel of rust from that last brake job fallin in there....

 

[yekimmrt]

All good info, thanks. I've got about 5 cans of carb cleaner, several rolls of towels, and many, many razor blades. Good info on the gasket and tightening technique, as well as taping over holes. I keep all my tools pretty clean, but i'll pay special attention as i get farther in to it.

 

[yekimmrt]

Where do you pick up the permatex 300? I've got some super black, grey and blue gasket maker lying around, along with several different kinds of thread lube/locker, I haven't seen any brush on gasket sealant in the auto place.

 

[aligater]

it can leak oil AND/OR coolant internally or externally.

this was a ~75k late 04/early 05 L26...CLEAN motor... but as you can see...coolant was gonna be mixing with oil REAL soon...

I had one that looked like a rear main or pan gasket, ended up dropping the sub frame and trans. I wanted to be able to pin point the leak and be certain it was fixed. With the engine running it took a few minutes to start leaking. The top right corner by the trans dowl would spew and run down the side of the rear cover making it look like the rear main or pan was the problem.

I've got a vid on my phone of the leak with the engine running if I can figure a way to post it.

And if your buying a cammed engine or need to confirm what cam you have this is an easy way to check without tearing half the engine apart.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

napa/most auto parts stores sell permatex stuff

 

[yekimmrt]

The first of many small goodies I've got to unwrap

 

[machinegunsquid]

Yay stuff.

As a heads up, go ahead and shake those cans up, and make sure the nozzles work ok. I got 8 cans and only 2 had usable nozzles (apparently they've had issues with them)

I contacted them and they sent me out 8 replacements, of which 4 were okay.


Just a heads up. ****ing sucked when I went to spray my first can on my prepped SD lip and it just splattered everywhere.

 

[yekimmrt]

Thanks. I'll check em out tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Exile]

Wow glad I read that about the cans machinesquid. I got some touchup paint in a 2oz bottle from them, which I was happy with. Probably will at some point need some rattle cans to redo my rear bumper cover.

 

[yekimmrt]

Update...spray cans worked. Scheduled this weekend to take out the motor and get done everything I can in four days. I'll have more pics of everything laid out. Sea foamed and changed spark plugs and wires today, AC Delco wires and plugs, iridium. This was partly in an effort to get rid of a stutter/stall I inflicted on my car after washing down and de-greasing the engine bay. I blew out the spark plug wells, checked the ignition coils, and changed plugs/wires...hopefully it will have it fixed, hard to tell with the sea foam treatment.
Old plugs a little wore out.

 

[yekimmrt]

Hey everybody. I've got the engine out, got the rear cover off, and have a question. Why is this hole here...casting mistake?? Does it see coolant or oil?

 

[yekimmrt]

Ready to work..see some axle grease and leaking rack boot therewhat my motor mount left behindmore leaksdirty transmissionwhat's left of my motor mountmy pops directing some engine movement therelittle leakage from the rear crankshaft seal cover platelittle gasket failure there

 

[yekimmrt]

First day got the engine out, got the PLOG on, new crankshaft cover gasket. Broke some vacuum lines, and vacuum manifold piece as well as boost bypass valve. All plastic welded back together, should hopefully hold. New coolant elbows on, water pump replaced. Tomorrow hopefully replace supercharger coupler and oil, oil pan gasket, VC gaskets, driver CV axle, both LCA's, and rack and pinion. Who knows about getting the engine back in. Maybe by monday.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

congrats

now arent you glad you yanked it out and regasketed everything? lol

by now you should have used nearly 50 of the 100 razor blades lol

 

[yekimmrt]

Yeah. A lot. A little bit of brass wire wheel too. Now I gotta track down a knock sensor pigtail to replace the one I destroyed...

 

[yekimmrt]

Sooo..finally the car is running again. The alignment is terrible, which it to be expected. I cut the wire bundle leading down behind the alternator to get the engine out cause I'm noobly to it and I was frustrated, and butt splice and heat taped it all back together, but now I'm getting no boost indication, a low oil pressure light, and a CEL saying no signal from my bank 1 number 2 oxygen sensor. I know i have oil pressure because i'm getting oil to my rockers and i loosened the oil filter and it shot everywhere. I also broke the oil pressure sending unit in two taking the engine out, so it has a new sensor installed, and I removed my oil filter adapter to make engine in/out easier. So it could be a bad connection or something with reinstalling that adapter. The no signal from the oxygen sensor I'm assuming also is a bad connection. The no boost indication I'm not sure of...I'm not 100 percent what sends that signal or where the wire is. I know what vacuum line it comes from and that is intact and definitely seeing vacuum...anyway. Troubleshooting more after work tomorrow. Any ideas would be awesome.

 

[yekimmrt]

The boost thing was an easy fix, the vacuum was loose on the MAP. Everything else was a couple of crossed wires. After an alignment she drives like new.

 

[Sven the Sexman]

The boost thing was an easy fix, the vacuum was loose on the MAP. Everything else was a couple of crossed wires. After an alignment she drives like new.

Good to hear you got it fixed. BTW, if you ever need a hand I'm not too far away.

 

[yekimmrt]

Good to hear you got it fixed. BTW, if you ever need a hand I'm not too far away.

Thanks man. I will def keep that in mind.

 

[yekimmrt]

Finally got the shift kit in too, with a new filter and obviously transmission fluid change. With the new suspension parts, PLOG, shift kit, spark plugs, etc it's like a whole new car. Rebuilt fuel injectors on the way, Now I've gotta fix the ****ty touch up overspray, then start planning my new springs/rockers install that I got from GMR B. It'll be a few months so maybe if I'm feeling extra froggy I'll put a smaller pulley on, too. Making my car more fun to drive is addictive. I need to focus on cheaper hobbies...where's my banjo...