3.5 V8 Rebuild

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I managed to get 45min to tinker with the engine ... finally!

I got the heads off and the rocker shafts and game em a bit of a clean.
The heads were bogging, so the will need another clean.. mainly inside.
But i had a quick look at taking apart the rocker assembly, I faltered at the 1st pedestal as it didn't want to come of, and I didn't want to bugger it up...
Is there a technique to getting the pedestals off?

I did however get 1 rocker off to inspect, looks good from what I can tell, non of them have any play or much ware on the surfaces I can see.

I think the head gasket (at least) has been done before as the heads were done to the later 14 bolt torque settings already.





 
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Also, I check the liners and they all seem flush.
Also the gaskets were all in tact, however I did notice on a couple bores the gaskets were starting to .. wear? (if that's the right word)
 
After a lot of faffing about trying to find the valve spring compressor and failing, I popped the sump off (which was stuck with instant gasket may I add!) i went to removing the pistons for cleaning, the boores look good from what I can see.
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Oh, and I found the valve spring compressor almost in front of my face as I was leaving :doh:
 
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I put the pedestals in the oven when the other half is out and then just slide them on with a little oil. The problem is that they are rather soft and compress when you torque up the bolts thus becoming a little oval. Get them up to about 80degs and they just slide one. Real pain to get back off and on again and back off again because you are dyslexic about sorting out the handing of the rockers and the handing of the shafts!! You need to get it all right otherwise the oiling doesn't work.

Personally once you've got it all stripped I'd take it to T&L Engineering in Elstow which is not far from you. They did all the machining on my lump. They are a proper old machine shop and Barry has built numerous race engines from the RV8. He will go through it all for you and tell you what you need to do / replace, what it would be a good idea to do work wise and what would be nice if money was no object! He'll also acid dip it which makes cleaning so much quicker!

As has already been said there's no point in replacing bottom end bearings if the crank journals are oval. Equally there's no point in putting new piston rings in if the bores are 0.005" over size. Whilst I take the point that this is a 'standard' rebuild there isn't much point in spending all the time and money that you are going to, to end up with an engine that is still seriously worn in a number of major ways.

You'll also want to change the cam shaft bearings while it is all out and stripped at that mileage.
 
jonnyt said:
I put the pedestals in the oven when the other half is out and then just slide them on with a little oil. The problem is that they are rather soft and compress when you torque up the bolts thus becoming a little oval. Get them up to about 80degs and they just slide one. Real pain to get back off and on again and back off again because you are dyslexic about sorting out the handing of the rockers and the handing of the shafts!! You need to get it all right otherwise the oiling doesn't work.

Personally once you've got it all stripped I'd take it to T&L Engineering in Elstow which is not far from you. They did all the machining on my lump. They are a proper old machine shop and Barry has built numerous race engines from the RV8. He will go through it all for you and tell you what you need to do / replace, what it would be a good idea to do work wise and what would be nice if money was no object! He'll also acid dip it which makes cleaning so much quicker!

As has already been said there's no point in replacing bottom end bearings if the crank journals are oval. Equally there's no point in putting new piston rings in if the bores are 0.005" over size. Whilst I take the point that this is a 'standard' rebuild there isn't much point in spending all the time and money that you are going to, to end up with an engine that is still seriously worn in a number of major ways.

You'll also want to change the cam shaft bearings while it is all out and stripped at that mileage.
Click to expand...

I feel pretty confident about checking for bits that are worn, but I however did ring T&L and inquired about the chemical dip and glaze busting, they want £120 for the dip and £56 for the glaze bust.
I don't think I cant justify £120 for a clean! but the glaze bust is worth a gander, my question is... how much will it take off the bore, and will it require different piston rings?
 
I was under the impression that glaze busting was what you do if you're just slinging new standard rings in there to get another 30k out of the engine, as opposed to a rebore with oversize pistons and rings.

The thing I can't get my head round is if you speak to any old man he will tell you that new rings and glaze bust was the done thing, nobody rebored for the sake of it!
 
Mr Noisy said:
I was under the impression that glaze busting was what you do if you're just slinging new standard rings in there to get another 30k out of the engine, as opposed to a rebore with oversize pistons and rings.
Click to expand...
sounds about right, but i worry how much they have to take out, i dont want to start getting piston slap!
 
I think the principle is that nothing to speak of is taken out, they just bust the glaze.

When you think that half a mm is a rebore, it's a pretty small amount whichever way round.

Sometimes my mind boggles at the smallness of these measurements!! :eek:
 
rehone or glaze bust has to be done so its actually made a new surface ,and 1 thou or a little more off bore to make a good surface is better than less with poor cross hatch sat on glazed surface ,personally im not a fan of glaze bust especially if theres any wear on thrust side of bore bores dont wear all the way round and prefer rebore +20 ,with bores bored 1-2 thou under piston clearance size and honed out to size which wont be exactly +20 as pistons can vary several thou in size between batches so you need to measure each one to ensure there the same before having it bored ,3.5s dont have liner issues ,cranks unless knackered benefit by having a little polished off to give good new surface will take off not to heavy scratches and water marks etc
 
jamesmartin said:
rehone or glaze bust has to be done so its actually made a new surface ,and 1 thou or a little more off bore to make a good surface is better than less with poor cross hatch sat on glazed surface ,personally im not a fan of glaze bust especially if theres any wear on thrust side of bore bores dont wear all the way round and prefer rebore +20 ,with bores bored 1-2 thou under piston clearance size and honed out to size which wont be exactly +20 as pistons can vary several thou in size between batches so you need to measure each one to ensure there the same before having it bored ,3.5s dont have liner issues ,cranks unless knackered benefit by having a little polished off to give good new surface will take off not to heavy scratches and water marks etc
Click to expand...

ok so i suppose it comes down to how much thrust side is worn to whether its worth a hone or a bore, but your right, an oval bore isn't much use!
 
I agree it sounds a lot but the dipping will get all the crud and muck from the oil and waterways. Places I doubt you'll get to by cleaning alone.

After that mileage there is bound to be wear isn't there? 0.020 over and you've effectively got a new block in that respect. You can balance the pistons pins and rods too!!
 
I would go for cleaning definitely. It's a no brainer.

The rest is up to you, as we all know I am running a bodged block at the moment and although it seems perfect, how long will it last and could it have been better?? :D
 
Jonny, you are definitely too keen! BUT when I'm building a high-rev motor for my tvr (which I don't own yet by the way!) you will be the man I contact! :D
 
You think I'm bad...

Valve to Piston Clearance? - RV8

To be fair I can't really comment on the bottom end too much as the machining on my 3.5 was prohibitively expensive and I ended up buying a reconditioned 3.9 block for £900 with oversized pistons and a reground crank. The block is still sitting there for when I run out of projects though / a liner slips on my new block!
 
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