ok so im doing a 2.8 to 3.1 swap, i bought a 3.1 from a junkyard out of a 92 camaro rs, milage is unknown, motor is decently clean in and out besides one oil leak... no sludge, i have the intakes and valve covers off, everything LOOKS good

but im just worried because i dont know the milage,

i CAN turn the crank over and over with a ratchet, i feel compressions strokes but watching the valves it doesnt feel like im feeling ''6'' compression strokes.... should i be worried about compression? all the plugs looked the same, all kinda black like it was runny a bit rich. oil smells a bit like gas to,

i REALLY do NOT wana put this thing in after doin all new gaskets and freeze plugs to find out it has no compression or something,

How can i make sure its good enough to run?

i wasnt really wanting to pull the heads off because iv never adjusted valves before,but i looked inside the spark plug holes and all the cyls still have the "Cross-hatch" pattern on the walls... tops of pistions look kinda black tho... same as the plus

 

 

Can do a compression test on it. Hook up a battery and a push button to the starter solenoid.

Also check that all of the exhaust manifold bolts are OK. They tend to break and are much easier to extract with the engine out of the car.

RBob.

 

While its out of the car and if you get the engine. Change the freeze/frost plugs and toss in a new dizzy O-ring. It is so much easier to do those things when the engine is out and is good practice before those parts fail.

Agree on the comp test. Do the test on all cylinders. Plus or minus 10% from each other is what you want. For example my 3.1L pushes 147-153 psi in all cylinders.

 

Well, it's not in the car now, so...

1. Replace the water pump. You don't know how long it's sat dry, and the last thing you want is a $200 tow because of a $20 water pump going bad due to dry/cracked seals and bearings.
2. Full gasket kit. You don't want to put the engine in the car and find out that the RMS and/or the oil pan leak. Including the distributor o-ring and valve stem seals if you can get your hands on a valve spring compressor.
3. Loosen all of the valves and adjust them to about 5/8-3/4 turn after no lash. Should take care of lost compression along with head gaskets. Also check the cylinders while you have the heads off to check for wall damage that can cause a compression leak and also cracked heads (soak them in Purple Power or something for a couple of days after tearing them down to get all of the seals and what not off).
4. And take care of that broken exhaust bolt on #5... It's easier to drill straight with the manifold in place if you can't get it out with vice-grips or something along those lines. Replacements are M8x1.25.

 

WOW mav, i cant belive you caught that broken exhuast manifold bolt, im gona try an get the manifold off and get it out without drilling it

and iv never adjusted valves i dont know how thats why im a bit afraid to take the heads off.

and yea the one of the rear freeze plugs was leaking, and so is the "cam seal?" on the back of the block really bad

im mainly worried about compression, i have a new battery in my garage i can hook up to turn it over, what would i need to hook it up?

 

im not usin the manifolds either btw i was gona buy a set of headers

 

You'll want to use the manifold as a drill guide if you end up drilling out that broken bolt (need to get one for my 3100 heads as I too have broken bolts in #5, also had one in the same position on my 3.1 head along with manifold damage), so you don't end up going crooked and drilling into a water jacket or something .

You CAN get the heads off without touching the valves, but you said you think that the compression might be bad somewhere, so I'd do all of them just in case. I'd also replace the head gaskets and look in the cylinders themselves just in case.

 

ok questions, when i crank it over by hand with a ratchet should i "feel 6 compression strokes, as i watch the valves i feel lik it get really tight then exhaust valve opens on a cyl then it spins semi easy a bit then gets a bit tight again... just seems.... odd...


i have a battery charger, im gona put it on the stand tomorow and crank her over if i get a chance

 

ill still be posting majority of the pics and project updates in my project thread btw

 

i want to add my 2 cents here.

u have a motor out of the car that u plan on rebuilding, u already plan on replacing a bunch of seals .

for not to much more money u can get some really good gains out of it, theres alot of ppl here that can helpu along the way.

if i were u this is what i would be doing.

strip the motor down to a shortblock
remove oil pan and inspect rods for any dark colored ones(indication of a spun bearing) if they all look good remove the oil pump and shim the bypass with a single an washer
then replace oil pump

remove front timing cover while oil pan is off and pull the cam and slide in a 252 or 260 grind cam from delta for 105$'s and replace the timing chain while ur in there.

of if u tell me the intended use of the car i can spec u out a custom grind delta can grind u for the same price

take the heads apart and clean them, maybe do some port work while u have them apart u can ask fasteddi it isnt hard as he recently just did his first set then reassemble the heads.

before bolting the heads on spray the tops of the pistions down with oven cleaner , yes i said oven cleaner, and then put on gloves and get a scotch bright pad and clean off the piston tops, then wipe everything up and spray with wd-40. do not let the oven cleaner sit on the pistions to long , for those of u that do not know oven cleaner will eat into aluminum.

instead of using oven cleaner u can use diesel fuel or seafoam , butoven cleaner works the fastest.

then reinstall the heads.

befor eu put the intake back on take the gaskets and mark the intake were ever the gaskets are andport them so the openings match the gaskets


200crank hp should be pretty easy to get with that lil bit of work and u will have a motor u know nothing is wrong with

extra cost to u versus just droping it in will be about an extra 200-250 bucks by the time u buy the tools to do the porting, cam and gasket set

 

"project 89" i got say, u have one badass v6 and i apreciate your input

honestly i just want my car running to be a daily driver, i have an 85 iroc Z28 thats my go fast project car ya kno

id LIKE to see a lil more pep from the 3.1 if possible but im trying to keep my budget low

now im a mechanic, its what i do for a living but iv never pulled a botom end apart thats where im hesitant....

id love to rebuild it lik you say so i know its good and will last for daily use but i dont wana mess up and get 1/2 down the road and start hearing the clack clack clack of a rod know that the 2.8 has thats in the car.....

 

honestly if i can skate away without pulling the crank rods pistons ect then that would be great, but should i be worried about worn rings?

remember i have no clue what the milage is on the engine, the car had 187k, its at a friends junk yard, the owner said it wasnt original engine tho, could be way more or way less... no idea

 

dont touch the bottom end , just the oil pump, shimming that valve will give a lil mor eoil pressure which will help

252 cam will give more down low grunt , with a lil more power in the mid rpms
260 cam is more for the mid to upper rpms

pilsbury has a 252 cam in his car and i will say it has awsome off idle grunt and then the turbo takes car of everything else

 

do the compression test before u pull it apart just make sure the engine is upright and has oil in it, turning the motor over that much with a starter without oil can do damage.

anything in the 130+ range is good

if u can still see the crosshatch im willing to bet the rings are fine

 

Which is another reason to pull the heads. And to also make sure the cylinders themselves aren't cracked (like was on an episode of MuscleCar or something a few weeks ago ).

You never know what you get from a junkyard... I got a set of bad injectors, bad water pump (or going bad water pump), leaking oil pan and RMS, cracked head gasket between #3 and 5, and that broken exhaust manifold bolt. Which is why a thorough inspection is due since you're doing a basic rebuild anyways. You don't need to pull the pistons out of the cylinders, but I would at least strip it to the short block and flip it before getting some Plastigage and making sure that the main and rod bearing oil clearances are within specs (and not out of even project's clearance range... He prefers his loose).

 

Don't know if you have access to a welder, but I've found that broken bolts are easily removed if you stick a nut on the end and weld it in place. Generally the weld is stronger than the torque required to remove it.

Worst case it'll break again

 

haha what i run for bearing clearances most ppl call way past out of spec, but loose clearances and hi oilpump volume and presure are needed for high rpm use

 

Yeah, I remember that from my hybrid thread... You wouldn't happen to have the base MSQ for a hybrid, would you, so I can get it loaded to the other laptop (and eventually to the MSII if I ever decide to get the parts together for the adapter card)?

 

no i dont have anything setup for a hybrid but if u give me the ignition setup and injector sizing i can make pone for u. also need to know which version of code u will be using.

just let me know in a pm and i can get u a rough startuup tune made pretty easy

 

alrite, looks like compression test is not happening, motor doesnt have a starter... and im not taking the stuff off of the Sport coupe till the motor comes out because as of right now i still need it running

damnit..

ok so list so far is

oil pan
full gasket kit
o-ring kit
water pump
oil pump
cam
lifters
push rods
timing chain and gear set
whatever it is i need to port intakes/heads