Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

a que tip, seriously? is this guy really that anal

um, have you meet The Greg!

[Gregski]

and the block all squeaky clean and Piston Ready

[SkinnyG]

If you could get the pistons out fairly easily, you can probably get away without removing the ring ridge. Theoretically, the new rings won't hit the ridge, or be damaged by the ridge. We hope.

I like the flex (ball) hone for finish better than the cylinder hone you used. It will still work either way, as long as the glazing has been removed.

My block had 0.007" taper, and it took a bit of wiggling to get the pistons out. I got half-way through cleaning the pistons (Easy Off over cleaner works great - just don't
let the cleaner linger on the pistons. Soaking in Diesel works well, too), and decided I didn't want to be here again in 5 years, so I had it bored 0.020". And balanced. And with a torque plate. And the cha-ching cha-ching for machining.

Is this the original block?

[Jake Wade]

It would be wise to get that cylinder head magnafluxed, that buildup on the spark plug is from coolant.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Jake Wade

It would be wise to get that cylinder head magnafluxed, that buildup on the spark plug is from coolant.

Never heard of buildup from coolant, wouldn't it just evaporate, I think its from oil blow by cause of the bad/stuck/broken oil rings, but we shall see if when I put it back together and drive it for a while, its all part of the learning process

[Will206]

Yea, it didn't seem like coolant to me, I think I mentioned in another thread it might be rings.

As much as you have in exhaust gaskets Gregg, you could have just got some better fitting headers lol

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Will206

As much as you have in exhaust gaskets Gregg, you could have just got some better fitting headers lol

AMEN to that!

[Gregski]

best part of working on the truck is that it comes with it's own workbench

[Gregski]

time to clean these jugs

[Gregski]

then it was time to clean the heads

now we aint going for perfect here, just more better

[Gregski]

and the exhaust side, all the gaskets like to stick to stuff

[Gregski]

the intake gasket was the worst, it was stuck around the water passages real good, I can't recall if I used any adhesive around these ports or not

[Gregski]

and the driver side cylinder head

[Gregski]

went with these standard size Sealed Power cast iron piston rings on a recommendation from an old machine shop old timer, he said these seat better than the stainless steel ones or them fancy ones

[Gregski]

got a proper tool for the job, an eight dollar ring spreader

[Gregski]

'Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

[LT7A]

Dude, you are prodigious! I can't believe how far you got into that motor in such a short amount of time: Let's see. ..wife's gone, the football game is over, kids don't need to eat til six thirty. ..why don't I pop the top off the motor and have a look-see. Hmmm, still got some time. ..I'll pull the pistons out too.

Dang!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Dude, you are prodigious! I can't believe how far you got into that motor in such a short amount of time: Let's see. ..wife's gone, the football game is over, kids don't need to eat til six thirty. ..why don't I pop the top off the motor and have a look-see. Hmmm, still got some time. ..I'll pull the pistons out too.

Dang!

thanks, ha ha, you forgot take kids to iHop, drive son to rehersal, drive daughter to practice, take girls to the mall, etc... its crazy man, but we must get Rusty done

[Gregski]

well it's 9:00 AM, took today off, so let's see how much we can git done today?

[Gregski]

well by lunch time, so three hours later the pistons were in and torqued down to spec, I'll be honest with you I didn't think it would take me this long to drop them in, but hey I'm a One Man Circus Act

so here's how we did it

first I do NOT recomment this piece of junk adjustable piston ring compressor, but hey it's what I had I bought it back when I was young and stupid, now Summit got them non adjustable funnel tappered ones which are awesome

[Gregski]

always use protection

[Gregski]

we also went with Sealed Power brand con rod bearings but these were from Mexico, I dabbed these in oil to give them some stick-to-it-a-vness

[Gregski]

so around 9:30 am we got our first piston in...

[Gregski]

... the others went a bit quicker

I did them in numerical order - just because, but making sure I could fully rotate the crank by hand after each one

[Gregski]

the driver side all done