[Chaparralman1974]

5/8/2023 - 5/20/2023
Engine Machine Work
I finally was able to pull away from the chassis to focus on the engine. After calling all around town and interviewing machine shops I landed on Arizona Engine Rebuilding located in Phoenix. I loaded up the block, crank, rods, intake manifold and sheet metal and took everything down for machine work and hot tanking. Additionally, I decided to take the heads down to have them checked out to be on the safe side. Even though I was told that the heads were “bolt on ready”, they ended up not only failing the vacuum test, but the valve guides, seats, and seals were shot. So, it looks like the guy that sold them to me was less than truthful. That seems to be a regular thing on Facebook Marketplace so I plan on being a bit more diligent in my quest for parts, but I digress…..
The block ended up needing overboring to .040” and the crankshaft was ground .020”/.020”. I had the shop hang new pistons and clean up all of the sheet metal and intake manifold. They also pressed in new cam bearings. I told them not to install the oil and core plugs so that I can do a complete block cleaning and painting.
After getting the parts home, I started to check the oil clearances. Since I don’t have a dial bore gauge, I had to use Plasti-gage to check tolerances. Main caps 1 and 2 seemed to have less than .001” of clearance so I have taken the crank and block back to the machine shop to have everything double checked. Once I get the block back, I will be able to begin assembly.