Pulled out my engine today

[RaceDiagnostics]

If yesterday was slow progress, today was a snails pace.

I tried welding on another couple of nuts but made little progress getting the sheared off bolt out, so decided to try to drill it out.

First I cleaned up the end of the bolt to try to get the drill to find the centre.

The head wedged to try to get the bolt vertical, almost impossible without a mill and clamps.

Drilled out, a bit off-centre.

Cleaning up the threads.

Trial fit! I will use a 5mm longer bolt to ensure I get down into good threads as the hole is pretty deep.

Next I split the intake manifold and had a look at the remainder of the bolt in it, I gave the end of the sheared bolt a few hits with a hammer (it's been soaked in releasing fluid for at least a week now), there was zero movement. I will take it to the engine shop to get it drilled out on a mill.

Finally today I cleaned the oven cleaner off of the valves, it had an affect, but there was still bits of what looked like cement left, however it cleaned off well on the lathe using some emery paper.

Only half of the valves had been treated with oven cleaner, these cleaned up relatively easily on the lathe, the others took much longer to clean. This is one of the untreated valves before and after.

Note the valve stems were protected with a rolled up section of coke can.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I finished up cleaning all the valves this morning then this afternoon took the inlet manifold along to the machine shop to ask them to drill out the snapped bolt. They said they didn't want to do it as they wouldn't be able to secure it to their mill bed due to its odd shape. They suggested buying a second hand one which will likely be cheaper, it needs milling to remove the bolt, tig welding on the parting face to the head where I used the saw to cut through the bolt, then facing, that could easily be over £100, a second hand one is £110.

Any other suggestions (don't say drill it out, there is no way I can do that by hand)?


Anyway, I picked up the block, it's clean but will need a bit or work before being ready for paint.

 

[Seadog]

Heat it up and drift it out.

 

[roofman]

get plenty of oil on them fresh honed bores before they go redder than a dogs d i k...use the old inlet as wall art,price used from elswhere its not worth the hassle of more time into yours imho

 

[Matchless]

More progress today but then I hit a problem, two long cap head bolts that have seized and are rounded off, more on that later.

Engine transferred onto the stand.

Pulling the crank hub off.

It has a deep groove also, someone had been in here before me and fitted a new seal which wasn't working too well.

Front of the engine stripped.

OK, so here is the problem, there are two of the cap head bolts both at the rear of the intake manifold that are seized. As you can see they are long, I tried map gas and gentle pressure, then an impact and they stripped out.

My plan is to weld on a big nut but from the way they felt I think the bolt will shear off at some point along the shaft. Because they are at an odd angle the manifold will not lift off if they shear above the level of the head.

Any suggestions?

I had one of these rot through the front cover behind the water pump, the owner had the head gaskets replaced, then the heads overhauled with more new gaskets then brought it to me, took the sump off to see what I could see, water peeing onto the chain! technoweld did the job without removing the cover!

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Heat it up and drift it out.

Tried that with MAP gas, didn't budge, I would worry about warping if I took oxy to it.

 

[Seadog]

I would worry about warping if I took oxy to it.

It doesn't sound like you have anything to lose.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Or slot it?

I forgot to say that I also ordered some used cam bearings, they look to be in good condition.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Any other suggestions (don't say drill it out, there is no way I can do that by hand)?

Looking at your earlier pic,

could you make, then bolt a long transverse plate to your drill table? This would then allow you to use the tilt of the table to get the head/bolt in a vertical orientation [clamped SECURELY to the plate, obviously] - then you could drill to your heart's content, going up in drill sizes until you can pick the remains of the bolt out?

 

[minimutly]

Centre punch it, then with the help of someone sensible to help align it, hand drill it with say a 3mm drill. Hopefully this ends up still in the remnants of the bolt as it comes out. Then go up in sizes leaning in the required direction until the remains are thin wall and hopefully your bolt is just a thinnish tube . Then put your map gas up it, for 15 minutes if you need to. then, with a suitable stepped drift, bang it out.
If you fail you might still have learned something, if not buy me a pint in the virtual pub, I'm the one in the corner typing this.

 

[RichardM]

Bolt a lump of steel to one of the other holes with the mounting surface in the same plain, turn it upside down and clamp the steel in a vice on the drill press.
Align stud in middle, clamp up and use a centre drill to make the initial hole, then drill as normal.

If you have a welder, weld some bits of plate at the right angle to make a mounting jig, bolt through a couple of the other mounting holes, position in drill press and then drill the old stud out.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I decided to have one last try with the inlet manifold this morning.

I slotted the manifold down the length of the bolt.

Once all the way through I tried to drift the bolt out, it still wouldn't budge, so applied some more heat.

Then hammered again and eventually it started to move.

Cleaned up and ready for TIG welding, I'll get a price tomorrow.

This arrived today, should let me check on my old school torque wrenches.

Back to the block, and rust removal. Poly disc, wire wheel and finger sander with 40 grit.

It's a very rough casting so this was as far as I went.

Etch primer.

For the sides I used the wire wheel.

Then the 40 grit to give a key for the primer.

Prepped for 2k black.

The finished article.

 

[minimutly]

Waaay too much time on your hands....
Well done with the stud.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

What else are you going to do when your retired?

 

[Wallace]

Citric acid would have bought that up a treat. Cracking job and worth the effort.

 

[jpmillermatic]

solid effort yields a great result. I would not have imagined slotting the manifold then getting it tig'd up. brilliant, really...you persevered past the doubters. (I was on the fence, myself, but have been in your shoes...so had hopes for ya!)

JP

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Today I dropped the manifold off at the welder, £30 was the quote which was good news, and is ready to be picked up now.

This afternoon, I started cleaning parts, this will take a few days.

First the sump, spot anything in there?

Well it looks like someone changed the chain before me.

The inside cleaned up well....

However there is lots of corrosion on the outside that I can't clean up.

Similarly the front cover is badly pitted.

Any suggestions on how to clean these up better? The sump will likely be too large for vapor blast cabinets. I am not sure how it will look after grit blasting.

 

[brightspark]

don't use grit use kiln dried sand .. it brings ally up nicely without damage and gives a good key finish if painting if not painted and just left it would need bead blasting after the sand if u have a blast pot just do it outside with a mask and goggles sands only 4 and a half quid a bag

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I don't have any blasting equipment (apart from a little spot blaster kit) and was wondering what a soda blast finish would look like.

 

[brightspark]

I don't have any blasting equipment (apart from a little spot blaster kit) and was wondering what a soda blast finish would look like.

would take forever on rough ally . have you a decent comp .you could use a cheap shuts gun and a hose in to some sand and blast it easily