edumspeed

The engine is from a 1978 Chevrolet Malibu station wagon from my best friend. He has owned it for many years and is of very special value to him as well as me. We're overhauling it bec. due to a broken harmonic balancer bolt the front of the crankshaft was ruined. This is my first engine overhaul. Hope it turns out good, as the next one will be my Mustang's 302.

I will update this thread as we progress, so stay tuned!

That's how the block came from the machine shop after being honed and before we cleaned it. With the first burst of air, it made a huge rust cloud from the water pockets lol!


That's the stock 19XX camaro bumpstick.


After we cleaned it, and with a light coat of motor oil on the bores to keep them from rusting.


It already had these goodies in it. Edelbrock performer intake, .40 flat top pistons, Moroso tall valve covers, polished factory radiator fan, Mr. Gasket chrome oil pan & timing chain cover, Accel dizzy cap & rotor

Painted motor mount plates & stock pulleys, rebuilt starter & alternator, edelbrock carb and some mid lenght headers from a brand I don't remember lol



Pics of the new toys. Almost all of the external bolts will be stainless steel.


Crank installed & oiled

David Young

Looking good!!! My first engine re-build was a 1963 VW 40 horse power LOL!!! It turned out good.

aston70

Looking good

edumspeed

Thanks guys. I've done cylinder heads & transmissions, but it's the first time I have torn an engine to the bare block. And it's been some time since I graduated from auto tech school, but all's getting back as I progress. We did not go any further that day on the assembly due to the extensive cleaning process, especially cleaning the piston ring seats And not to mention taking breaks to take pics. It was a great asset to have compressed air

This guy saw a lot of action

Next stage would be installing the cam, sprokets & chain, and decide if we'll replace or repair the threads of three connecting rod bolts, and install them.

Doogie

Man, that brings back memories as my first motor build was a '71 SBC 350 for my '68 Nova

edumspeed

This particular one is from a 73 El Camino that was later transplanted to an 80 Malibu coupe, that my friend bought and was later parted out. The engine has been in his 78 wagon for more than ten years now. It replaced the tired 305 it previously had. At that time it wasn't rebuilt, just disassembled to check the cyl heads and put new gaskets. The heads had some cracks so they were replaced with the ones in the 305. It pulled quite good down low with the stock 2bbl carb & intake, but was lacking at the top rpms. Then the edelbrock combo came in and woke it pretty well Now it will have matching cam & springs. We've been talking about getting some cheap Vortec heads and a new intake if he's not satisfied after the rebuild I've been told those are the best flowing factory heads for the first gen chevy small block.

Doogie

I was also running an Edelbrock combo including the Performer RPM intake, cams and at the time, their new carb (late '90s). The set-up worked out great and the car pulled very nicely. But I really liked not having to constantly mess around with the old Holley 4 barrel!
Yep, those Vortec heads work great for those blocks.

cdynaco

Cool!! Be fun to watch!

My first V8 rebuild was a 400 out of my 68 Olds 442. It sucked cause it was winter time in a carport.

My old GMC 2 ton cattle truck has a 350 @ 100k and its probably going to need it in the future. Haven't started it in about 5 yrs. My bad - other priorities.

Keep us posted Eduardo!

MARZ

Sweet! Whose pistons are you using?

houtex

Ok, since everyone else has...

My first engine rebuild was a 2.3L Ford motor.... but this was the one that went into 1986 SVOs.

Have fun with it, and make sure you get all them bolts done right once!

Slims00ls1z28

Looking good so far. Good luck.

edumspeed

The same ones it previously had. Don't know brand either. Have to take a closer look, but they look like just regular replacements.

Thanks dude.

BoogieNights

Ummm it might not be a good idea if you repair the threads. It might make them weak which in turn you will have a weak part that might cuz a lot of headache. It will be better to replace them.

edumspeed

The only threads damaged are the first ones, you know, the ones that are on top, so the other ones that actually handle the torque are good.

edumspeed

We managed to do a little bit today, contrary of what we planned, due to this:

The harmonic balancer bolt that normally it uses wouldn{t fit, since the rebuilt crank we got had the thread replaced with an M10 x 1.0 instead of the original thread, and it was a PITA to find the proper bold. Half a day later, we found one. We also found out that one of the main caps was reversed. No wonder the crank was hard to turn

block with a fresh coat of bright red paint and the bronze water seals polished. Yes, my fried has an obsession with small details.


Pistons in place

We finished pretty late due to the ******* bolt. My friend will torque the rod bolts tomorrow. Next on the agenda, the cam & related components to finish off the shortblock. And to locate an oil filter adapter, since it got lost @ the machine shop and since it's been a long time since it was there, we won't waste time going back to reclaim it

edumspeed

Forgot this thread completely. The camshaft's in place, but couldn't go any further due to the fact the cam sprocket bolts went missing Got an oil filter adapter from summit and a new fuel line with gauge for the carb. Other issue we found was the crankshaft key. This one has a two piece key way, and the previous one was one piece, and the ones supplied with the crank had just one of the short ones. Another part hunting trip. Luckily my friend found it. The cyl heads went to the machine shop for some new seals, resurfacing, valve and seat refinishing, cleaning and to deal with a damaged rocker arm stud. We hope they're finished by today so we can finish this motor and put the wagon on the road again. If all goes well, the next one is my 5.0L.

GT40 2

I rebuilt an engine once, it was a B&S lawn mower engine. It was siezed when i got it, but ran good when i was done with it.

edumspeed

I've only done 28-32cc line trimmers before and cyl. heads on automotive engines before doing this one.

ford4v429

my first rebuild had some sentimental value- my 429 came from a copcar my mom/stepdad bought at a police auction- 69 2 door gal detectives car that had all the cop car goodies underneath...they got it when I was about 8, at 16 the rusty hulk became my first car, which I promptly totalled...after the wreck, went to the place I had it hauled, torched away the bent up stuff and started her up- ran fine... had the aircleaner off and when we shut it off it backfired (ran backwards EVERY time it was shut down since we got it in '71) and blew a flame out the carb- my buddy panicked and started throwing handfuls off dirt on it to put it out...well it was ok up till that point...as it now needed cleaned out, ordered parts for a taxicab style rebuild...bearings/rings/pump...cleaned it all up, test ran it in the back of a old pickup...that was 1980.
got a 81 dodge pickup in 82- slant 6 that was a toad...had a 396 chevy that was way tired- did the cheapo rebuild on it-bearings/rings/pump/cam/rollerrockers and drove that dodge for over 10 years- was a excellent truck motor(hey the 429 just wouldnt fit ok...)
Smallest one Ive ever worked on was a Saito 90T twin opposed model airplane engine- single crank meant odd firing(lopes like a harley at idle) and no crankcase pressure, so every season had to put bearings in it...tried afterrun oil, etc, nope- the blowby from model airplane fuel if left to accumulate makes a mess. that POS engine caused me more greif...I ran a 16x8 prop on it, 90% of the time on climbout it would lose a cylinder and I'd have to put it in the weeds...put new carbs, perry pump, fulltime heat, advanced/retarded the cams, nothing helped...last time I had it apart, I actually ground the cams on a bench grinder- hacky as that sounds, remember the valesprings in this motor were lighter than found in a ink pen- not a lot of load on the lifters. I ground ONLY the base circle down about 1/32", maintaining the same timing/profile, did in steps checking for piston clearance...in the end it had about 1/16 inch increased valve lift, and that little sucker revved like never before...ran so good got a bit too brave and its last flight immediately after a full throttle touch and go, decided to fly under the railway wires at the end of our field- pulled up a bit early, confetti...

anyways, on the rebuilds, just keep it clean...a buddy at work JUST rebuilt a 455 for his jet boat- told him be sure to get a gun brush/clean all the oil galleys /pull all the plugs/etc...he decide to have the machine shop do it, they missed a plug at the back of one of the main passages and it was full of crud from the hottank behind that...he found it when he pulled it back apart due to a spun bearing...always pays to doublecheck, as one grain of sand/metal chip in a oil port cant 'flush' thru a bearing, so can only eat its way back to the sump...
even if reusing the old cam/lifters(same old lifter must run on same old lobe) I'd still put a dab of break in lube on each- seems the two biggest issues Ive ever seen that required a teardown were dirt or cam/lifter galling

edumspeed

Good story Tim, and thanks for the advice. We cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned again just to make sure nothing's inside it to cause any harm. Water and compressed air FTW!