Machine Work

Shortly after disassembly, I brought the block and rotating assembly to the machine shop to be checked for cracks and wear. The block was found to be in good shape, with just a slight deck warp.

Once I was told that the block was OK, I had it decked, bored, and honed with a torque plate. A torque plate is a large piece of metal which is bolted to the block deck in place of the head, so that when the bores are honed, the finished cylinders will have the same shape that they will have when a head is bolted on. Without a torque plate fitted, the bores will not quite be round due to some distortion which inevitably happens to the block when it is loaded.

The crankshaft needed to be turned 0.010" under on both the rod and main journals to get rid of the scoring.

The crank journals look good as new, thanks to turning 0.010" off of the main and rod journals.

The cost of inspecting the connecting rods was almost as much as going ahead and reconditioning them. Of course, reconditioning the rods costs almost as much as new rods, so I ordered a set of Eagle SIR connecting rods through the machine shop. They can handle significantly more power, and come with ARP bolts so I would no longer need to buy them separately. I sold the original rods on eBay for a small sum.

The pistons were ordered through the machine shop as well, and they fitted them to the rods for me, which is not something I had wanted to do.

New rods weren't much more money than inspecting and reconditioning the originals.

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Page last modified on July 17, 2010 11:24:38. (ID=390)