Engine Rebuild Part II (The Assembly)

It is time to put the engine back together!

I got the engine back from the machine shop, but requested that they let me assemble the engine.  Again, this is the first time I have ever rebuilt an engine.  Please let me know if you see anything I am doing wrong by making a comment below.  I would love to know if I messed something up before I start it for the first time.
This is the 2nd time in this engine's life that it has been rebuilt.  It was rebuild once before back in 1993 (I think).

This is the machine shop that did the work for me.  Glen (owner) was very nice and was willing to answer any questions I had and give me a few pointers on what I need to do when rebuilding the engine.  His shop is located in Wendell, NC.  Highly recommend anyone to take their engine there if they need some work done.

I had Strickland's Machine Shop bore and hone the block (.60 over), hot tank the block, install the cam bearings, grind the crank, install new freeze plugs, install rods on the new pistons, pressure test the head, valve job, install springs, install new machine the head and block surface, order all new parts (bearings, cam, pistons, oil pump, timing chain, etc.), and clean up the oil pan.  I basically had them do everything that needed the proper machines to do the job correctly.  I got all of this done for just under $1100 ($450 parts, $650 labor).

Here is the block and some parts ready to be loaded into my truck.

Everything is loaded up and ready to come home!

Here are some of the old parts that I had the machine shop save for me.  I clean them up and save them for memorbilia reasons.

The machine shop ordered me all new parts.

Here is a shot of the head.

After pulling out all my manuals and doing a lot of reading up, I was ready to get started.

The machine shop already installed the cam bearings for me, so it was now ready for the camshaft.

New camshaft.

This was the assembly lubricant that came with my new camshaft.  I used this for almost everything that required oil.  Since this engine will probably be sitting for years before it is started, I wanted to use something that was a little thicker than regular engine oil.

Gave the camshaft a good coating.  I'm sure I over did it, but I figured it was better safe than sorry.

I also applied the lube on all the cam bearings.

Very carefully, making sure I did not nick any of the bearings, I slid the camshaft into the block.

Next was installing the main bearing.

I first made sure the surface on the block and the caps was clean before installing the bearings.

The bearings are easy to install.  You just have to line up the small grove and then press them in while making sure the hole on the bearing lines up with the oil hole on the block.

The cap bearings do no have the hole in it, but are installed the same way.  You just have to line up the grove and then press it in.

Placed the cap on the block to make sure everything lines up correctly

The #3 bearing is the only odd shaped bearing.  I found out from research that this bearing is called the "thrust bearing"

All the bearings are installed and ready for the crankshaft.

I placed the crankshaft in block to first check for bearing clearance with some plastigage that I picked up from Autozone.

I Placed a small strip of the plastigage under each main cap.  I then torqued down the main caps to 40 ft lbs and then removed all the caps.  Using the paper that came with the plastigage, I made sure the pressed plastigage was between .0010 and .0025.

Before completely installing the crankshaft I installed the main seal.  You can see the seal is resting on some instructions.  I needed to make sure I did this right.  The top one is the lower sear and the other is the upper seal. (remember I have the block upside down in these pictures)

I first coated the inside (pictured) of upper seal with some assembly lube and the outside with some dishwashing soap.

I then pressed it into the block.

I then applied assembly lube on all the main bearings.






The crank shaft is then placed on the block.








To be on the safe side, I also put some assembly lube on the surface of the crank shaft.




I then coated the inside of the lower seal with assembly lube and the outside with soap.  I also coated both sides of the lower seal end tabs with RTV sealant.

The lower seal was then pressed into the main cap.  I carefully wiped the RTV sealant off the surface of the cap.  Did this to make sure the sealant did not cause clearance issues for the bearings.

All the main caps were then reinstalled.  I cleaned all the bolts and then coated them with some engine oil before bolting them down.

I then torqued down all the bolts to 80 ft lbs with my new torque wrench I got for christmas (thanks sis!)

I then installed the new crankshaft sprocket.  It is installed by lining up the grove with the grove on the crankshaft.

Using a large socket and a hammer, I lightly tapped the sprocket onto the crankshaft.

The new camshaft sprocket is installed by lining up the two different sized holes with the pegs on the camshaft.

Installed the camshaft sprocket retaining bolt and washer and torqued the bolt to 80 ft-lbs.  I used an old bolt and a crowbar on the back side on the camshaft to stop the camshaft from spinning when torquing the retaining bolt.

I then realized that its best to put the timing chain on before torquing down the retaining bolt (oops).  I removed the bolt and then installed the timing chain.  When installing, I made sure the timing marks on the sprockets were lined up.

To verify the correct installation of the timing chain, I turned the crankshaft to locate the camshaft sprocket timing mark at the one o'clock position.  This should put the crankshaft sprocket timing mark at the three o'clock position.  I counted the number of chains between the two timing marks and counted 15.  I did not take a picture of this, so here is a shot from the manual.  

Next, I prepped and installed the new pistons.  I put one of the old pistons in this picture to show the differences.  

I started with putting the new rings on the new pistons.  

First the oil rail expander ring was put on making sure the gap was put in the correct spot.

I'm pointing at the gap on the ring.  All the gaps need to spaced in the correct spot according to the manual.  Basically, none of the gaps are lined up next to each other.

The two oil control rails were then installed.

Next, the bottom compression ring was installed

And then the top compression ring.

Finished installing all the rings.

Did this for all six pistons.

The new rod bearings were then pressed onto the piston rods.  All the bearings are the same size.  I just had to make sure I lined up the grove, like I did with the main bearings.

I realized that it was best to remove the bearing from the rod when installing the piston in the block in order to prevent the bearing from falling out and getting scratched.  I also took two rubber hoses and slid them onto the rod bolts to prevent the bolts from scratching the crankshaft when tapping the rods into the block.

I cleaned out the cylinder and then oiled it up with engine oil.

The pistons are marked, letting me know which way they need to be installed.  ("F" = Front)

After double checking the gaps in the rings and applying some oil onto the piston, I carefully slid the piston into the cylinder.  

Using a compression tool that I rented from Autozone, I compressed the rings onto the pistons.

Using two hammers, I taped the piston into the block.

Installed!

I then repressed the bearing into the piston rod and applied some assembly lube onto the bearing.

Pushed the piston until the rod and bearing was seated onto the crankshaft.

Applied assembly lube onto the piston rod cap bearing.

Installed the cap onto the rod and hand tightened down the nuts.  (I will torque those down later)

Did this process for all six pistons.

I debated over and over when to paint the engine.  A lot of guys will wait until they have the engine completely assembled before they paint it.  I decided to paint it in sections.  Doing it this way is more work, but all the engines that were painted in sections that I saw on the internet looked a lot better.  The engines just looked cleaner and you can see the detail the owner put into the paint job.  

Here is an example of what I am talking about.  These are two different engines I pulled off the internet:

This one was taped and painted in sections and then assembled. 

This one was assembled and then painted

Although both look good, I want to show more detail in the paint job, so I am going to paint first, then assemble everything.

I started by cleaning and taping everything off.

I sanded everything down with 80 grit sand paper and then cleaned it real good with acetone.

Applied the first coat of primer.  I used Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator as the primer.  I read online that the rust encapsulator works great for engines that might still have some rust on it.  It holds to high temp too.

After waiting 10 min, the 2nd coat was applied.

I had the machine shop clean up the oil pan for me, but there was still a lot of surface rust and some old paint on the outside.

I took a wire wheel and some acetone and cleaned it all up.



I then sprayed the primer.



The machine shop did all the work on the head and even painted it black, which I am going to paint over.  I want to keep the head the same color as the block.  All I did with the head was sand it down a little to create a good surface for the top coat and then tape it up.







As I waited for the primer to cure and for a warm day to paint, I started cleaning up the rocker arms.  This was not fun at all.  Its comparable to scrubbing a frying pan that has caked on grease.  I had the rockers sitting in a mixture of diesel and simple green for a few days.  I then sat down and scrubbed and scrubbed everything until they were clean.

Finished cleaning all the rocker arms and head bolts.  I did not mess with the push rods in this picture.  New push rods at Autozone were only $2.50 each, so I picked up some new ones.

I had a little bit of time to waste while waiting for a warm day to paint, so I started messing with one of the old pistons from the engine.  I sandblasted the piston, cleaned, painted, and then put a clock on it.  It made a good desk clock for work.

Because it was very windy outside and my cheep Harbor Freights paint gun creates so much overspray, I threw up another simple paint booth.  This paint booth is just some PVC pipe and four $1 shower curtains that I picked up at the Dollar General.  I think I spent about $20 for the whole setup.  I mainly just wanted to keep my garage from being painted.  This booth worked perfect and is easy to put up and take down should I need it in the future.

After lots of research and debating, I decided to go with Eastwood's engine paint.  I chose the "Buick Red" color.  I think this darker red color will make the engine stand out without being too bright.  It should work well if I paint the engine bay the original dark blue color.
This ceramic paint got great reviews and is supposed to be very durable.

I started with the head and the oil pan.  I sanded both with 400 grit sandpaper, then cleaned it up with acetone prior to painting.

This is after the first coat was applied.  The paint instructions stated that it was best to spray two medium coats while waiting at least 20 min between coats.  I put three coats on everything.

Final coat

Carefully brought the head and pan out of the paint booth to dry.




I then wanted to get a couple pictures out in the sun once the paint dried some.






Next was the block.  Again, I sanded and cleaned every inch of the block prior to painting.

Untaped the block

Untaped the head






Installed the new lifters.  I covered the outside and the small groves of the lifter with assembly lube prior to dropping them into the block.

Used break cleaner and cleaned the surface of the head and block very well.

Put the new head gasket on.  Everything I read stated that it is best not to use any gasket sealant in these  Fel-Pro gaskets.

Carefully placed the head onto the block.  Its starting to come together!!

I was about to put the head bolts back on but decided to read up on torquing them down.  After reading some of the manuals I have, I decided that it would be best to trash these bolts and order some new ones.  I thought this would be easy, but the bolts I ordered through ARP were on extreme back order.  It took two months to receive them in the mail.

ARP has a kit for the 258 engines, but not for mine.  I found out (after ordering the wrong size bolts) that in 1981 AMC changed the head bolt size on the 258s from 1/2in to 7/16in.  The head bolt kit from ARP is for the 1/2in size.  I ended up calling ARP and ordering the exact sizes I need.
Here are the new bolts next to the old ones.  ARP bolts are supposed to be one of the best bolts you can find.

So again, I put the gasket back on the block

And again put the head on the block, making sure everything was lined up.

 ARP has instructions and their own torque specs for their head bolts.  I followed their instructions and used their ARP Torque Fastener Assembly Lube.

Part of the ARP instructions was to put the assembly lube between the head and the washer and also on the threads.  The #11 bolts uses thread sealant to keep the water out.  I used Loctight 592 in the #11 bolt.

 Following this torque sequence, I torqued down all the new head bolts.

I torqued down all the bolts to 80 ft/lbs, which was ARP's recommendation for their bolts with their assembly lube.  The #11 bolt was torqued down to 75 ft/lbs

The old pushrods were very gunked up and dirty.  I picked up new push rods from AutoZone for about $2 each.  That was a lot easier than cleaning up the old ones.

Dropped all the pushrods into position.

I then installed the original rockers.



After hand tightening down all the rockers I noticed that some of the bridges were bent, which was not allowing the rockers to line up with the springs.  I called up AutoZone and ordered some new bridges for the rockers.  There is always one more thing to slow me down.

 While waiting for the new rocker bridges to come in, I pulled out my new Alluminum valve cover I pick up off Ebay.  I got a great deal on this cover!  The only problem is the color.  I think I might get it powder coated a different color down the road.  I wait to do that later.




To keep everything clean, I placed the valve cover on the head.  This valve cover requires me to drill and tap a couple holes on the head for proper install.  I am going to wait and do that at a later time.
I also picked up a new timing cover which will need to be painted.  I put the timing cover on just to keep everything clean at this time.

The new rocker bridges came in from AutoZone....and they are not bent like my old ones!!

Installed all the new rocker bridges onto the original rockers.  I put a little thread locker on the bolts and torqued them down to 19 ft/lbs.

Flipped the engine over so that I could instal the new oil pump.

I covered both sides of the gasket (to the right) with some gasket sealer.  I then placed the gasket on the new oil pump (to the left).  I do not know why the oil pump looks black in this picture.  Must be the lighting.




I then placed the pump onto the engine block and bolted down the two bolts.  I did put some thread locker on the bolts.  Torqued the smaller bolt to 10 ft/lbs and the larger bolt to 15 ft/lbs.

I picked up a new oil screen at AutoZone.

Getting the oil screen on the oil pump was a bit tricky.  I taped up an open end wrench with electrical tape to keep from scratching anything.  I put the wrench around the oil screen.  Then then used an old handle from a hammer and wrapped one end in duck tape to keep any wood pieces from falling into the engine block.  I put one end of the handle on the wrench and hit the other end with a rubber mallet.  This pressed the oil screen onto the oil pump.

You can see the oil screen is pressed in and also being held down by the large bolt (which I had to re-torque down).

This is my old timing cover.  You can see that the little tabs on the inside are almost worn off.  I found a new timing cover on Ebay for $20 and when it arrived it did not have the tabs in it.  I guess I could have just ground down the worn tabs on the old one.

I decided to use the new timing cover anyways.  Using the new one was a lot easier than cleaning up the old one.  I forgot to take pictures of me painting it, but here it is after it was all painted and ready for the new seal.  I painted it with Eastwood's Aluminum Blast.  I picked the seal up from AutoZone.

I coated the outside edge of the seal with some gasket sealant.  I then used the block of wood and the rubber mallet (in picture) to press the seal in the cover.  I then took another light layer of sealant and rubbed it around the top of the seal where it meets the cover.

Finished and ready to be installed.





Cleaned and prepped the block surface with break cleaner to get ready for the timing cover.

Used a thin layer of this sealant on the block where the gasket sits.

Placed the gasket on the block.

I had cleaned up the old oil slinger in the blasting cabinet a while a ago.

Slid the oil slinger onto the camshaft.

Put a thin coat of sealant on the timing cover and then placed the timing cover on the engine block.

 Picked up a stainless steal engine bolt kit from Totally Stainless.  This is a great kit and will make the engine look a lot better.  This bag is marked for the timing cover.

Installed all the bolts with a coating on anti-seize on the threads.  Tightened down all the timing cover bolts.

Next was to put the oil pan on.  I first cleaned the surface with some break cleaner to get ready for the gasket.

The master rebuild kit I had came with this cork gasket.  Everything I read online recommended not to use these gaskets if possible.  The one piece gaskets are the way to go if you are willing to fork out the money.

I decided to do it right the first time, so I ran down to Autozone and picked up the one piece Fel-Pro gasket for $20.

There was a huge difference in quality between the one piece gasket and the four piece.  Now I can see why a lot of guys recommend using this gasket.

To play it on the safe side, I placed a layer of RTV sealant all around the surface of the block before I put the gasket on.





I then placed the gasket on the engine block.

I played it on the safe side and added another layer of RTV sealant on top of the gasket and then placed the oil pan on the block.

The stainless kit came with bolts for the oil pan.  Here are the new bolts sitting next to the old bolts.

Put some anti-seize on the bolt threads and then placed them in their proper locations.  The small bolts were torqued down to 5 ft/lbs and the larger ones to 11 ft/lbs.  I torqued all the bolts down in a circular pattern starting with the bolts in the middle.




ALL FINISHED!!!
Obviously I still have all the external parts to install, but at least the engine is sealed up and and all internal parts are rebuilt.  This engine should be as good as new!

Here are some before and after pictures

Before

After





Before

After




Before

After




Before

After

Before

 After

I still have a lot of work to do, which will come in later post.
I did take some time and painted the blue oil pan gasket with a small brush.  Trying to be as detailed as I can!