[Gregski]

moving this post from the old forum please forgive if you've seen it already

I told my friends I thought I saw mud when I looked at the number four spark plug, but they didn't believe me. Then when I had all the spark plugs out I decided to spin the engine over by hand and mud shot out of the number four spark plug hole. Never seen that before! Well that would explain the $100 dollar price for it.

So tonight I decided to take the cylinder head off and see what lurks beneath. Here are some pictures of the "Mud Dog" for you, any advice on best ways to clean this mess up, please keep in mind I can not afford to send the block to the shop, so I need the shade tree mechanic solutions.

Click This Link For More Pictures Of The Block...[/URL]

Click This Link For More Pictutes Of The Heads...[/URL]

 

[Jonzo77]

you can always pop the piston out of the cylinder, and wipe it down with a rag, or 17... just make sure you can get a ring compressor before you push the piston out. if you don't have a stand, no problem, just put the engine on it's side, take the pan off, and do your business.
you might have to hose it down too, but after you dry it, spray wd=40 or PB blaster in the cylinders so it won't rust...

 

[Gregski]

my kinda advice

you can always pop the piston out of the cylinder, and wipe it down with a rag, or 17... just make sure you can get a ring compressor before you push the piston out. if you don't have a stand, no problem, just put the engine on it's side, take the pan off, and do your business.
you might have to hose it down too, but after you dry it, spray wd=40 or PB blaster in the cylinders so it won't rust...

Jonzo you are my kinda shade tree mechanic, I appreciate the advice. I am learning a lot and building my confidence as I do things myself, not everyone has access to machine shops and tons of specialty tools.

By the way I'm such as rookie I don't know what "17" is?

 

[Jonzo77]

whatever works.

 

[Zephyrman]

you'll probably need 17 rags to clean that up, is what he meant.

 

[Jonzo77]

you'll probably need 17 rags to clean that up, is what he meant.

yep. i must have missed that part...


oh and when you tip the engine on it's side, roll it over to the side with the head still on (opposite the muddy cylinder)
what engine is that one anyways?

the 289/302, 351W, and 460 all look the same stripped in pictures...

 

[Gregski]

not to be a ding dong but I thought I put that in the Subject line of the original post, and for newbies like me still learning 302 is stamped on the head in the valve train area, though I guess you could stick the 351 heads on a 289 or the 302 so that could be misleading, anyways it's the good ol' 302, here's a link to my webpage where I am documenting my strugles and tribulations and loving it, the wife not so much!

Small Block Ford 302 V8

 

[Jonzo77]

oh, and as far as the question you have on the link, yes, you can run a spacer that is non EGR, or you can do it like i did, take the EGR off, bolt on a block-off plate in the place of the egr, and that way you'll still have the port in front for the PCV

if you'd like i can show you pics of what i'm talking about

 

[Gregski]

The saga continues, drained the oil which looked nice and black no water in it that I could tell, dropped the oil pan today and pulled the number four piston out. Glad I did as the oil ring was nice and gunky. So I removed and cleaned the rings and put them back on. Then I honed the cylinder, (and forgot to take a picture of the mirror like shine), but here's some dirty cylinder and piston shots for you.

 

[mark v]

Wow! Nasty stuff.

 

[Jonzo77]

i was just thinking you should do that to all the cylinders, just in case...
honning it should make it dull looking if done properly. it's also galled deglazing...

 

[80 maytag]

Don't use PB Blaster on bare iron, for some reason, it will flash rust EVERYTHING in a week. I guess its because it doesn't leave the oily sheen like WD. My two bits, Rich

 

[Jonzo77]

i've never had that problem. but a also bought the bulk can with the metal Windex style spray bottle, so it doesn't have the direct stream

 

[Gregski]

Don't use PB Blaster on bare iron, for some reason, it will flash rust EVERYTHING in a week. I guess its because it doesn't leave the oily sheen like WD. My two bits, Rich

Thanks for the tip I did use PB Blaster but wipped it off and went over it with WD-40. But I had no idea PB and bare iron don't mix, now I do, thanks for the tip.

 

[Gregski]

i was just thinking you should do that to all the cylinders, just in case...

I agree:

Phase 1 of my project is do the minimum to get the engine running. Then take some measurements, compression, vacuum, temp, oil pressure, etc, just the vitals to get a baseline. Well now I have all new gaskets, LOL

In the following Phases do some performance upgrades, new rings, honing, (maybe boring), different heads, different cam, headers, EGR free intake, four barrel carb, etc, see the link below please

Small Block Ford 302 V8

 

[Jonzo77]

what do you plan on putting it in?

 

[Boghog]

So you wanna be an engine builder.Why are you wasting time putting the mess back together to baseline things that are going to change when you rebuild it.I hope you didn't put that piston back in with the oil control ring looking like it did.

If you want to build an engine, be clean and tidy.Use the right tools.I'm sure Keith Black didn't start out with a engine stand made of 2x4's.Get the right tools borrow or rent an engine stand.As far as your hone,basically what you have is a brake cyl hone on steroids.If you exceed the walls of the cyl you will put grooves in the stone and your cyl will come out like crap.Buy a ball hone.Harbor Freight has low cost tools good for the beginner.

Start off with a block and have it dipped to clean out all the rust and scale.Then have it lined bored and have new cam bearings installed.It will come back to you coated in cosmolene and in a plastic bag.Leave it like that until you are ready to install your lower end.If your going to install the original crank and rods,fit each bearing to each journal using plasti-gage.Depending on what you want to use for pistons,if you use old have the pistons bead blasted and check the ring lands for squareness.Install new rings and fit them to the bores.If thats all the money you have,wrap the motor back up and put it aside till you bank enough cash for the cam and heads.

Doing it in stages does not have to be put into the car and taken out everytime you want to change something.Do it right the first time and you will enjoy it more.There's nothing more deflating than doing what you are doing,missing a step or not cleaning and inspecting and having the whole thing grenade on you.

 

[Jonzo77]

how is the project going so far?

 

[Gregski]

how is the project going so far?

Well let's see I took a little tangent to learn how to weld, to see how I did and laugh your head off follow this link:

http://www.gregandsandy.com/302/welding.htm

Then I decided to build my own Engine Test Stand, again here's a link to that project:

http://www.gregandsandy.com/302/teststand.htm

... and now I'm back to wrenching on the engine hoping to bring it to life in July 2010, and yes there's a link for that, LOL.

Small Block Ford 302 V8

 

[printman31]

Damn I thought my engine was bad.. I just got through cleaning my heads & the top of the pistons. I used diesel fuel & a scrubbing wheel for the drill.. Get the brass wire brush for the rough stuff. Brass is less abrasive than the stainless steel brush. Then use a plastic brush for finer cleaning. But I would definitely try to figure out how the mud got in there. I've never head of mud getting into a CC..