When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I cleaned, prepped, and weighed the pistons last night with rods, rings, and bearings installed. They could have been balanced better. I've learned that for best performance, it's best to get them within a tenth of a gram. This can be easily done if I take off some material from the inside of the piston, but they are already within 2 grams of each other from MAP...
1: 1138.3 g
2: 1137.5 g
3: 1137.6 g
4: 1139.4 g
I installed the rings according exactly to Wiseco's instructions in the following order.
*Oil expander ring gap at 6:00 and ends not overlapping, only butted together at the top.
Strange thing is, you can't really overlap this ring, it looks very, very off when you do. This ring is interesting because it actually has edges in the back of it that keep the bottom and top oil rings moving as one unit. It also keeps the oil rings from actually touching the inside wall of the oil ring land. Once all your oil rings are installed, they rotate together as one unit with some resistance so it's best to get your gap locations close to where you want them before installing the top oil ring.
These oil rings/rails get cleaned, but not gapped and can be installed with any side facing up.
Bottom oil ring gap at 1:30
Top oil ring gap at 10:30
Second compression ring gap at 9:00
First compression ring gap at 3:00
The second compression ring is slightly thicker than the first and will not fit into the 1st ring land anyway.
Within 2 gams is fine. MAP probably didn't do any balancing on those. 2 gram range is what most piston and rod manufacturers use as a range to group sets of rods and pistons together.
Within 2 gams is fine. MAP probably didn't do any balancing on those. 2 gram range is what most piston and rod manufacturers use as a range to group sets of rods and pistons together.
I had a feeling that was a case. No material was taken off any of the inside beveled edges of the pistons.
Pistons and rods are in! I will never use a manual ring compressor again. The tapered solid units sold by Wiseco and ARP are perfect and make this job a cake walk. It's impossible to use the old style piston ring compressors without accidentally rotating the piston rings while you tighten it, clocking them out of proper position. Then it's anyone's guess as to how the hell they are sitting in the block.
I torqued the rod bolts to 45 ft lbs first checking for stretch as well. ARP recommends a stretch of 0.0058" - 0.0062" but I was only able to achieve 0.0048" of stretch with 45 ft lbs using my snap on torque wrench. Bolts had plenty of molylube on the threads and heads. I ended up taking it up to 55ft lbs on each bolt and left it there as the ARP bolt stretch gauge is only accurate to 0.0005."
2 in!
My workbench
Tapered piston ring compressor
Packing oil pump with vaseline
Oil pump front cover cleaned and installed.
All pistons in their new (old) home. All rings clocked properly
She is starting to look pretty now! Let's hope it runs as well as it looks. No concerns yet.
I decided to upgrade to ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs because I did not like that you can't even touch L19's without wearing gloves. You can reuse these head studs multiple times ..and you can touch them without worrying that an accidental drop of coolant or skin oils can break these studs. I'm probably exaggerating. Has anyone seen proof yet that L19 corrode that easily?
New head gasket on. 4th one in less than 2 years?
Cylinder head, bolted to the shortblock.
Timing set.
My custom JDM rear crash beam and anti parachute bumper bracket came in. I am very pleased with it.
Building an engine from scratch is actually not building an engine. I spent more time cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, measuring, cleaning, measuring, and cleaning again. If I had all the parts clean from the start, I would have been finished by now lol. Cleaning the oil pan was a big PITA. The only way I know to take off old sealant is with razor blades and scotch bright.
Yea L19s aren't that bad, just need to be sure they stay oiled when they're sitting around.
Next time you find yourself cleaning off RTV go get some lacquer thinner, that stuff will help dissolve the last thin film bits off that are a pain in the *** to scrape.
Cleanliness is key to having a problem free build so you're definitely taking the right approach to it.
The concern with L19's is hydrogen embrittlement. As long as they are clean and oiled upon install, you're good. The AGE's are nice though.
Originally Posted by ayoustin
Yea L19s aren't that bad, just need to be sure they stay oiled when they're sitting around.
Next time you find yourself cleaning off RTV go get some lacquer thinner, that stuff will help dissolve the last thin film bits off that are a pain in the *** to scrape.
Cleanliness is key to having a problem free build so you're definitely taking the right approach to it.
Originally Posted by mines5
Thats alot of hardwork and patience my friend.
Thanks guys! I currently have the L19's sitting in an oil bath for now. I will try the lacquer thinner trick in the future, beats the hell out of taking paint off the oil pan.
Thanks guys! I currently have the L19's sitting in an oil bath for now. I will try the lacquer thinner trick in the future, beats the hell out of taking paint off the oil pan.
Someone also told me that touching yourself at night will cause the L19's to break...
Almost there. You should drive to Vegas for the ER dyno day. Have Aaron finish up your tune in person on the dyno.
If everything checks out and the car proves reliable to our standards, I will shoot for it! I'll try to blow it up before the trip so that I don't have any unexpected surprises. I'd rather it blow up in my backyard than 6 hours away. If I can't blow it up, then i know it's ready LOL
Nov 9, 2017, 11:59 AM
