camaro1185

This winter the engine will be coming out. It runs excellent (85K Miles), no head gasket leaks feels like its got lots of power (dyno’ed low though) but it leaks oil from ever gasket and puffs blue smoke at start up and on occasion when I take off.

I am wondering how far should I go with replacing parts while the engine in out.

Heads:
Since no head gasket leaks, should I even bother getting them magnafluxed (checked for cracks) and decked.

Since they will be stripped to replace the seals, should I replace the valve springs?

Oil Pump:
I always have great oil pressure – 40-45PSI at cold idle and around 30ish at warm idle. When accelerating it goes up (obviously). In fact when on a very cold day it will max out the gauge and on an occasion go past. I run Mobil conventional 10W-40.


Lastly, what bolts should be replaced? Head bolts, intake bolts etc

Thurman_Merman

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I'm pulling my motor because my freeze plugs are rusted out and leaking coolant. I want to get more power out of my engine while I'm at it so I'm putting in a cam, valve springs, intake and exhaust manifolds while I'm at it.


Since you're pulling the motor I'm assuming your front and rear mains and oil pan gasket are leaking along with your valve seals. I wouldn't take the heads off unless there is a problem with them, you can change valve seals with the heads on the car. If your timing cover is leaking too might as well do a cam change, something mild to improve your powerband and keep good mileage.


As far as oil pumps and springs, you could not change them and something could fail 100 miles after you get the motor back in.....OR.... you could get replace it and get a bad part from a bad batch and it could fail 100 miles later. I'm of the mindset 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', but that's just my opinion.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

Smoke on take-off just needs valve guide seals a lot of times.

Do a compression check on all cylinders, cold and warm.

Also, use some engine cleaner and find out where it's actually leaking. The 86-up engines are pretty good about pan leaks since they have a 1-piece gasket and one-piece rear main seal. If it's just the intake manifold, do that and the VGS and run it.

AutoRoc

iTrader: (1)

I would do new oil pump, valvesprings, valveseals, headbolts, stainless exhaust manifold bolts, timing set, a little portwork on the TPI parts, clean injectors, install an aftermarket Fuel pressure regulator.

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

if it were me, and i had the cash, i would replace everything (rings, bearings, gaskets, seals) and have a "new" motor ... i know 85k is not many miles, but 0k is still 85k less ... i would also have the valves cleaned and seats freshened up, new springs and have everything hot tanked ... thats if i had the cash ... if not, just replace what is bad and dont take anything apart you dont need to and just replace gaskets and valve seals

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Do a compression test at least. If the compression test is good, I'd leave it alone. Just fix the leaks.

There's really no reason to "freshen up" a street engine that's running healthy. Seems like the worst thing you've got going on is valve seals, and those arent really a big issue. I'd attribute puffs on acceleration to something else, not necessarily bad rings. Do a compression test and find out.

86LG4Bird

iTrader: (1)

I'm with ^this^ guy.
No offense, but nearly every time a hobbyist "freshens up" an engine, they end up hurting more than helping matters.
Don't fix what isn't broken.

camaro1185

The plans on the Camaro have changed, I decided to do the clutch, headers and fix the leaks and just enjoy the car until I build a motor for it.

Here are my leaks.

Looks like they should be pretty easy fixes. Is there anything you guys can see from the picture that may help me fixing the leaks?

Trans is leaking from the speedo cable. Its a brand new cable, maybe It didn't have an o ring behind the nut?


Engine looks to be leaking from oil cooler or oil sensor and front oil pan or timing cover area.