Next up was to clean up the block and head.
I attacked the head first, and it wasn't too bad at all.
A gentle brass brush, gt85 to agitate, then brake cleaner to degrease and clean afterwards:
Turning my attention to the block, it wasn't so easy.
Despite the bores being in good condition, the waterways of the block were really giving away its age. Perhaps a sign that it's been run on pure water for a while in the past?
The waterways where they meet the head gasket were fairly badly fouled up with solid debris:
The waterways between cylinders were probably as much as 50% reduced in capacity:
About an hours careful work with a sharp knife, and taking LOTS of care to ensure none went back into the waterways, I had them looking clean again:
I've decided that the engine is going to be flushed out repeatedly BEFORE any rad is connected and with no thermostat installed. I want to push as much fluid around as possible before connecting the rad or heater matrix so any residual crap isn't washed into the rads to cause a potential blockage.
I then turned my attention to cleaning up the surface of the block:
Continuing the theme of block prep, I turned the engine over, resting it carefully on something soft, and whipped off the stock sump to reveal the IE Tuscan rifle drilled rods and ARP2000 bolts:
With the block cleaned and ready to accept my baffled sump, I cleaned it up ready to install:
The oil pick up and windage tray were thoroughly cleaned:
Then using a fresh tube of sump sealant, the sump was installed
No pics of this, but it's worth noting that I turned the engine on is side for this process.
With the steel gates in the baffled sump, it's possible for these to invert if fitting upside down, and worse case they can catch on the windage tray, and either get stuck open, or worse, break off when you torque down the sump!
With the engine back up right, I dug out the new head gasket:
Dropped it onto the block:
And then, finally!
It looks like an engine
Torquing it down was interesting.
I was fine with 30nm all round twice.
Equally fine with 60nm all round twice.
I even managed the first 90 degrees all round with the engine upright and held between my legs!
For the last round of 90's, I had to find another solution thoogh, and lay the engine down partially on its side supported by a wooden block.
Starting high with the breaker bar, it was actually fairly easy to do the last 90's by pushing the breaker downwards to the floor to get the final torque required.
So, all that was left to dinwas update the list!
Day 1 jobs complete on day 1! Plus a few day 2 jobs complete ahead of time.
I've written this whilst sat on the train to a London with Victoria, so I had to stop working at 4pm, and I didn't start until 10 due to a midwife appt first thing, so for a short day, I'm very happy with progress
Day 2 off work tomorrow, and I'm hoping to get all day 2's jobs crossed off the list, and possibly even make a start on day 3 plans if I'm to keep on track for firing it up this weekend
Its getting there. Slowly but surely, but it IS getting there: