My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[gadget73]

What does the crank look like on #1 in particular? That much wear I'd wonder about oil starvation. make sure you mic the crank to verify the journals are in spec before buying bearings. Would also be worth making sure the oil passages are completely clean in both the crank and in the block itself. Feed to the rod journals is through the main bearings.

I'd also be concerned about the cam lobes if the lifer was pitted. Doesn't look like its totally wiped but if the lifter is ground flat it won't spin and it wears badly. the cam is also supposed to have a very wee bit of taper on it to work with the slight crown on the lifter to keep them rolling in the bores. The oil passages through the lifter bores should be clean, and the bores need to have a good fit to the lifters. They should slide through but not fall through or hang.

[Arquemann]

Took a closer look at the pistons and rod bearings, to me they seem STD.
Pistons say D9OE-6110-AA, according to someone on stangnet goes like so:
YEAR -- PART # -- Material/Type -- Weight (g)
79-84 -- D9OE-6110-AA -- Sand-Cast Aluminum/Four Valve-Relief Eyebrows -- 470

Conrod bearings say alot of things. Obvious being the Ford oval and P/N B8OE-6211-A-B
They also say "PC", "DAA" and "11-84-C"
I'll guess that 11-84C is a date.

What does the crank look like on #1 in particular? That much wear I'd wonder about oil starvation. make sure you mic the crank to verify the journals are in spec before buying bearings. Would also be worth making sure the oil passages are completely clean in both the crank and in the block itself. Feed to the rod journals is through the main bearings.

I'd also be concerned about the cam lobes if the lifer was pitted. Doesn't look like its totally wiped but if the lifter is ground flat it won't spin and it wears badly. the cam is also supposed to have a very wee bit of taper on it to work with the slight crown on the lifter to keep them rolling in the bores. The oil passages through the lifter bores should be clean, and the bores need to have a good fit to the lifters. They should slide through but not fall through or hang.

Cam seems fine with a cursory glance, but it and the lifters are kinda inconsequential, I'm not intending to reuse them. I've got the Exploder roller cam to put in.
Rod bearing journals look fine, still very shiny, they have some very uniform light striping. Can't feel any roughness with a finger.


The next step in this rebuild is to get the bores and crank journals checked by a machine shop. Goal is a quick deglaze of the cylinders and a green light from a machnist to reassemble with new STD size parts.

[Arquemann]

Bearings: rod bearings are 1-8, top to bottom.


First main journal (with some fibers from a rag)

Rearmost rod journal:

A pic of a bore, nr. 7 me thinks:


Also found an oddity on nr. 3 conrod. Looks like a piece of metal stuck between the rod and cap. I can feel it with my finger too. Yikes...

[gadget73]

wear looks reasonably even, just a lot of it. Kind of impressed you had enough oil pressure to keep the idiot light off at hot idle. Not sure about that booger of metal on the rod cap though.

[sly]

Yeah... that's a new one on me too. Nothing a quick sanding won't fix though. Though, if it's so flat it's just a stain, meh. Leave it for flavor.

[jaywish]

If they size each journal you can get individual bearings to fit if they are worn.

[Arquemann]

Block and crank are going to a reputable machine shop tomorrow. To-do list is:
- cylinder check and deglaze
- check and polish crank journals
- replace cam bearings
- a proper wash

Gonna ask the machinist about the deck surfaces, I'm not 100% confident what's good and what's not. Obviously I want to do things right, but I don't want to spend my very little money on resurfacing if it's not necessary. I've cleaned the decks with CRC gasket remover (nasty stuff), a new scraper and a scotchbrite pad.
Here's how it looks:

[jaywish]

Good idea to have then check the deck.

[sly]

I think spec is within .003 of flat IIRC.

[Arquemann]

Dropped off the block and crank to the machine shop. The machinist's initial impression of the block was excellent, "what, you're not bringing me thrice rebuilt, damaged and warped junk?", being an old american V8 afterall. He said the decks look pretty good, but either way they'll check the true on the deck surfaces. If they need to resurface the block, it's a bit spicy cost-wise. Resurfacing both banks would add two thirds to the total price.
Should be done by end of november or early december, fine by me.

The slanted nature of the cylinder heads also means they're more expensive to resurface, so I think I'll skip that unless there's something to be concerned about.

There's a pair of ported E7 heads for sale for 400€, but I'm pretty sure they're empty heads, listing says they're for 1,6" and 1,8" valves. Which makes it a bad deal for me as non-standard valves are expensive. Also they're at the other end of the country. Would go too far out of budget.

Now to figure out how to clean the heads and pistons without being completely miserable for hours...

[Arquemann]

Bought a bin, gonna fill it with diesel and let the cylinder heads soak in it. Or intend to do if the diesel doesn't melt the plastic bin. I can soak the pistons in a bucket.

Also got some free hubcaps. 3 base model (I think) box Vic ones and 2 from some late 70's Ford. They were free for a reason, but they'll work fine for mocking up and visualizing if I'd like them.

Wondering if I should order prefit piston rings and hope the gap is not too big on lightly honed cylinders or get a file to fit set and suffer filing them by hand...

[Brown_Muscle]

If you buy decent rings they shouldn’t be too much of a pain to file to the correct gap. I actually enjoyed doing that part. Make sure you measure the clearance of the rings with the piston as far as ring thickness goes. I had my middle rings be too tight even though they should have been fine. Double check all measurements and clearances and assume everything’s out of spec until you confirm they’re in

[Arquemann]

If you buy decent rings they shouldn’t be too much of a pain to file to the correct gap. I actually enjoyed doing that part. Make sure you measure the clearance of the rings with the piston as far as ring thickness goes. I had my middle rings be too tight even though they should have been fine. Double check all measurements and clearances and assume everything’s out of spec until you confirm they’re in

The cheapest and only file fit set (Speed Pro R9343) I can find in Finland is ~200€, pregapped sets are 130€ and up.
Can't find file fit sets on RockAuto, Summit has file fit stuff. Cheapest seems to be Total Seal CR9090 for $135.
For $25 more at $158.81 I could get a Total Seal CL9090 set, which have those fancy gapless rings.

So I'm thinking pregapped or those gapless doodads.

I've got stock pistons so they ought to be 5/64"-5/64"-3/16" like they should.

[Arquemann]

Well, shoot. The block and crank are ready and waiting at the machine shop. Decks are fine, all's went well apparently. I kinda had planned on having room in the garage for a biiiiit longer.
And I haven't even gotten the heads soaking in diesel yet, but atleast I have a tub to put them in.

[sly]

Nice. Seems like that block has never been hot then.