1g AWD quick rebuild...Blow BY

[NJdsmguru]

My car has lots of smoke coming out of the dipstick and breather. I have low compression in 2 cylinders. The cylinder head has lots of gummed up deposits from burnt oil. I can move pistons around in cylnders 1 and 3. Is this normal? The cylinder walls has no damage at all ...I can still see the cross hatching marks. I'm going to be doing installing new piston rings...1g Big Rods...new rod bearings...ARP head studs ...4 layer head gasket...New valve stem seals...3 angle valve job..resurfaced the head...valve seats. Would it be ok for me to use a bottlehoner for the cylinder walls? I don't wanna be installing new piston rings and have them mving around in the cylinders....If you have any tips or helpful hints ..let me know

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by NJdsmguru
My car has lots of smoke coming out of the dipstick and breather.

... Would it be ok for me to use a bottlehoner for the cylinder walls? I don't wanna be installing new piston rings and have them mving around in the cylinders....If you have any tips or helpful hints ..let me know

Right off the top the answer is yes to the bead hone. However that is predicated on their being no major scratches on the cylinder walls.

You will need some good quality feeler gauges, I like to use the "go, no go" which have a range of a couple thou step thicker portion so as you insert them say along the cylinder walls and the piston you will know for sure if you can't get one to pass. I hope you have read enough to know that pistons are not round and thus your measurments are taken at right angles to the crank.

After you take the rings off put one back in the cylinder and push it down 1/2" with an inverted piston. This keep it square in the cylinder so you can measure the end gap to see how much wear you have. You can then check various other depths where the rings have been riding all the way to the bottom of the stroke to see how much taper you have. You should not have a significant ridge at the top enough to catch a fingernail on or you will need to be concerned.

Some makers use to have what was known as "1st rebuild" rings, they were a couple thou larger but you used the original pistons and these just compensated for piston and normal cylinder wear. Otherwise you are stuck with stock rings.

When using the bead hone try to have a 1/2" drill for they turn slower and will give you a better job. A 1/4" spins at 2220-2225 rpm which is just too fast. Use kerosene as a lube and wash while working the drill up and down. Don't spend more than 5 min on each cylinder, DO cover the crank with rags and keep the bead hone away from them or it will snag and snatch the drill right out of your hand. Use an old ketsup or mustard squeeze bottle for the kerosene and have plenty of rags to wipe everything down. Put these rags in a special pile so you don't contaminate any new parts with the carborundum and metal waste. Spray brake cleaner is a pretty good final wash of the crank and inside the block.without being flamable.

If you have "Tyme" carb dip it will do a nice job on the pistons. After everything is clean then test a new ring for fit just as you did with the old rings. Use a good quality Moly assembly lube on the rod bearings, don't plug up any of the lube holes with the grease.

Do prime the oil pump balance shaft with a 1/4" drill and socket after the cams which also have Moly greased when the cam followers are in place. This will fill the lash adjusters to the proper level. Pull the engine through by hand a couple of revolutions (timing belt installed) and again use the drill to make sure all is okay. When everything is about filled with oil reduce the drill speed to very slow and check that all the cam lube points are squirting oil. If you don't slow the drill down you will have oil all over the windshield and 6 feet in front of the car. You must have a book to check all those wear specs for that is beyond the scope of my reply.

Do find out in advance who has what parts you will need for you don't want to get caught with your pants down when something doesn't measure right and you need to fall back and punt. The fact you are pumping a lot of oil past the rings makes it uncertain what you will find when you open it up. Lets hope you don't have to go for a bore job though you may find a mobile unit that will come out to your house and do the job. That will save you having to pull the engine and a week's wait at the machine shop. Some may be able to even supply you with rings and pistons which they know will fit their bore bore job.

If you have any questions just ask, this is not the time to be shy or worried about looking stupid when you consider what could happen if you don't ask.

Cheers,
GTM