[Firebird455]

Ok, so I finally all the parts I need to start assemling my mean 455, but the problem is Ive never built an engine from scratch but I'd love to use this situation as a learning experience and so I can say I built my 11 second car with my own 2 hands. So all you backyard mechanics out there please leave me some helpful tips for building an engine. Where do I start? Where can I find torque specs for bolts? once its together and in the car is there anything I need to do before I turn the key for the first time and hear the 304 adv duration cam through open headers? I hope I havent gotten myself too far into this...cuz I cant quit now

Project: Black Hawk
See the saga unfold here: www.geocities.com/gta305tpi/Blackhawk.html

[Firebird455]

Ok, so I finally all the parts I need to start assemling my mean 455, but the problem is Ive never built an engine from scratch but I'd love to use this situation as a learning experience and so I can say I built my 11 second car with my own 2 hands. So all you backyard mechanics out there please leave me some helpful tips for building an engine. Where do I start? Where can I find torque specs for bolts? once its together and in the car is there anything I need to do before I turn the key for the first time and hear the 304 adv duration cam through open headers? I hope I havent gotten myself too far into this...cuz I cant quit now

Project: Black Hawk
See the saga unfold here: www.geocities.com/gta305tpi/Blackhawk.html

[Brian Baker]

Don't forget to oil your piston wristpins.

['ol Pinion head]

Brian,
any specific quantity of windshield washer fluid in the gas tank?

[Tom Vaught]

Talk to GottoGETaGoat as he is going through the same process. step by step.

Tom V.

[ponchopete]

One of the best things to remember while building an engine is to thoroughly clean everything, and keep it clean. A lot of people will just brush out the cylinder bores with soapy water, dry it, and call it good. Be very thorough in cleaning all of the oil galleys with some engine brushes. When it comes time to clean the bores, a brush works well to get some of the dirt out, but you'll need to take some time and thoroughly wipe down the bores by hand also. If the bores get any flash rust while cleaning, I recommend using CLR for the initial wipe down. It does a good job of cleaning, and will get rid of any flash rust. I then like to wipe them down with WD-40, which seems to draw out the dirt fairly well. Then, a final wipe down with brake or carb cleaner, and then oil the bores. On my own engines, I consider the bores clean when I can take a white cloth, wipe it around the bores, and it comes back out white. I like to use either automatic transmission fluid or Childs & Albert assembly lubricant for final oiling of the bores.

Make sure you run a chase tap through all of the threaded holes in the block to clean the threads. If there's any trash in the threads, or the threads have a small burr, etc., you'll have inaccurate bolt torque readings. Check to see if the threads run all the way up to the surface of the decks and mains. If they do, lightly chamfer the top of the bolt hole(s). This will prevent pulling of the threads out of the block while torquing fasteners.

For torque spec's, a Clevite engine bearing catalog is a good source for factory torque spec's on just about any engine. If you're using factory fasteners, follow factory torque spec's, and use 30W engine oil for a thread lubricant. If you're using aftermarket fasteners, such as ARP, use the manufacturer's torque spec's with the appropriate thread lubricant. ARP offers a bolt-torque spec chart on the back of almost all of their boxed fasteners that can come in handy. When you go to torque the main caps, torque one cap at a time, and then spin the crank over after each torquing of the cap fasteners. By doing one cap at a time, if the crank becomes difficult to spin or has a spot where it's binding, you'll know exactly which cap is causing a problem. The same goes for the connecting rod caps.

Disassemble your oil pump, and thoroughly inspect it for any metal shavings, burrs, nicks, etc. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for a brand new oil pump to have some metal in it.

The three front oil galley plugs should be tapped for pipe thread, and have screw in plugs installed, instead of using the factory style press-in plugs. You'll need to be careful when doing this, as a plug can get threaded in too far and block the oil galley. It can also not thread in far enough and interfere with the drive gear for the camshaft.

Don't forget to check all clearances, such as bearing clearance, piston to bore clearance, etc., and easy to overlook clearances like ring end-gap, connecting rod side clearance, and crankshaft thrust clearance.

Once the engine is completely together on the engine stand, install a mechanical oil pressure gauge and prime the oil pump with a drill motor before you take the engine off the stand. That way, if there's an oil pressure issue, the engine isn't already in the car, which will mean less work to diagnose the problem. For a priming tool, you can use a Chevrolet oil pump primer. It will fit the Pontiac oil pump driveshaft just fine.

In my opinion, firing an engine up for the first time with open headers is a bad idea. The engine is going to be so loud that it can potentially mask any other noises that may be an indicator of a problem somewhere in the engine. I would at least rig up some sort of temporary muffler system while breaking in your new engine. You can't be too careful on something like that.

"My car would be fast if it had an engine, transmission, and rear axle in it."

[Brian Baker]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ol' Pinion head:
Brian,
any specific quantity of windshield washer fluid in the gas tank?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, he hasn't gotten that far in the build up yet, OPH. Don't try to put the cart in front of the horse.

[ChrisTransAm78]

Yeah I 2nd this thread. I did the screw in oil caps instead of the plugs. Will be getting the rest of the parts this week. Have those EHeads...any specific advice there? Type of radiator fluid to use on the aluminum heads? What about those pesky bolts that go on the timing chain cover? Is there something to put on those to keep em from rusting and lockin in there to brake off for the next rebuild?

Thanks,
Chris

http://www.visualmktg.biz/transam78/

[Rob]

Check cam bearings early on, you may have to resize them, happens on 3 out of 10 engines or so hope you don't have that problem.

Check piston to deck and piston to valve and make sure nothing binds or hits.

Take your time, a real race engine usually will make you assemble and disassemble it 2-3 times before you are ready for final assembly and firing.

-Rob

[Firebird455]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Hopefully I'll understand what half of you are talking about when I read up on it a little more. Looks like I'll be needing to buy some 'real' tools too

Project: Black Hawk
See the saga unfold here: www.geocities.com/gta305tpi/Blackhawk.html

[ChrisTransAm78]

Hey anyone here in the Austin area that wants to help me put mine together? I'll feed ya and beer you! Drop me a line if your interested...

Thanks,
Chris

http://www.visualmktg.biz/transam78/

[Firebird455]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris TranAm78:
Hey anyone here in the Austin area that wants to help me put mine together? I'll feed ya and beer you! Drop me a line if your interested...

Thanks,
Chris

http://www.visualmktg.biz/transam78/<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> dont hijack my post jk, same goes for me too

Project: Black Hawk
See the saga unfold here: My 455 Firebird
2001 Camaro Z28 6-speed: 12.62@112.4mph stock cam, stock heads, stock rear, stock clutch

[larry davis]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris TranAm78:
Yeah I 2nd this thread. I did the screw in oil caps instead of the plugs. Will be getting the rest of the parts this week. Have those EHeads...any specific advice there? Type of radiator fluid to use on the aluminum heads? What about those pesky bolts that go on the timing chain cover? Is there something to put on those to keep em from rusting and lockin in there to brake off for the next rebuild?

Thanks,
Chris
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would use the coolant that is recommended for your type of radiator. For the older brass/copper types, that's the green. For the aluminum/plastic types that would be the pink (non-phosphate).
For those timing cover studs/bolts use stainless studs/bolts w/ anti-sieze.



SECOND AMENDMENT: AMERICA'S ORIGINAL HOMELAND SECURITY.
I Misus Rash'!

[larry davis]

Echoing the sentiments above; KEEP IT CLEAN!

Use an engine bag or wrap it w/ cling type wrap if it's not completely buttoned up and you have to leave it for 30 minutes or 30 days.
Don't be grinding, sanding, etc... in the same vicinity while you got it apart. If your short on work space, bag it up befor doing any other work that will cause airbourne contamination to possibly get in/on it. Then blow the bag/wrap off before you open it back up.
Don't be smoking, drinking, snorting, etc... over the damn thing while you're working on it.
BTW, dog hair isn't good for it either. So don't let your kids/Wife groom the dog in the garage.
Don't ask me how I know.



SECOND AMENDMENT: AMERICA'S ORIGINAL HOMELAND SECURITY.
I Misus Rash'!

[Jon Wood]

I may be repeating someone with some of this, but here are some tips I got from my machinist that were very helpfull for me:
You can make some really good assembly lube by mixing a quart of 70 wt. oil with a bottle of STP V8 oil addative.

Be sure that you run some rifle brushes through the oil galleries.

Wash the block with soapy water and rinse well after you get it from the machine shop. Spray it down with the hose. Then spray with WD-40 to displace the water and dry with compressed air or a towel.

Use brake cleaner to clean the cyllender bores until your rag is clean after wiping the cylender walls. This will take a while. Also do this on the Main bores & Rod bores.

A lot of people will tell you to dunk the piston head in a bucket of oil. Don't do that! You will just gum up the rings with carbon. rub a light coating of 5W-30 motor oil into the cyllender walls, and then spray some WD-40 around the rings.

And finally... Use the ARP bolt lube (if you're using ARP bolts) sparingly, and wip[e up the exess after torquing. Also, put your assembly lube on the cam bearings and journals before inserting the cam, THEN apply the cam break in lube on the lobes only.

Also, talk to whatever machinist you're going to use and get his advice.

[Steve Barcak]

I've seen some good advice here but, they have mostly been about general engine building and not about Pontiacs. There have been things left out that can be bad news for the first time Pontiac engine assembler. These items are Pontiac specific and VERY important and often overlooked by those without Pontiac building experience. I'm sure more can be added to this list too but, this is what comes to mind. Double checking these things will save you more money, time and frustration than you can imagine. I can't believe I'm the first to suggest them.
A few of the most common mistakes for the novice Pontiac engine assembler is-
1. Forgetting to install the rear oil galley plug on the right side. This is the side where the distributor/magneto is. There is an expansion plug on the outside but, inside of that, behind the dist is a screw in oil galley plug that, if left out, will starve oil to the right side of the valve train. I can't count how many times I've had calls about this "mysterious" problem.
2. Another common oversight is people who forget to re-torque the head gaskets. I don't care what the gasket says RE-TORQUE THE HEADS PERIOD! Fire the thing, break in your cam (if it's a hydralic and if it is your first engine, it better be) shut it off, let it cool down. change the oil and filter and re-torque the heads. The middle ones especially tend to loosen up.
3. Assemble the block fitted dip stick tube BEFORE you do any assembling. More chev types find this out after the thing is together and then it is too late. On a Pontiac, the main dip stick tube is pressed in from inside the crank case. Do this even before you drop in the crank or you may forget.
4. Put the fuel pump eccentric together care fully and don't break off the tab. Don't put silicone on the head bolts (like the cheb guys do). Pontiacs have blind head bolt holes and need no sealant. Take extra time fitting the oil pan. There are different gaskets for different year pans. Make sure the gaskets are test fitted before you goop on the silicone.
5. Torque the balancer bolt to 160 foot pounds, no less. You will have to lock up the motor to get it that tight. You can use visegrips if needed on the flywheel to hold the motor.
6. Do you know how to set up your valve train? Do you have poly locks? do you know what they are?
Have fun and do it right or do it over.
Steve www.pontiacheaven.org

[FAPhoenix]

Piston Rings break easy, so actually use the tool and don't try to force them on with your hands.

Be able to call someone who can help because anyone who's done this before will be a great help.

Just keep thinking of the bragging rights you will have at the end.

Tyler

[Jack Blum]

One thing I have learned the hard way is the rear oil pan cork seal. Don't trim it. It looks to big at first, but if you trim it to length, it WILL leak. Leave it long, it will sqush into place. Have fun.

PS Double, tripple then quadripple check the oil pump drive shaft for placement. Drop in the distributor and make sure it turns freely before you bolt down the pan.



TigerEFI.com (Classic Pontiac Fuel Injection) Jack@TigerEFI.com
Motto: Build it for NASA and drive it like you stole it!

[ChrisTransAm78]

Sorry Firebird455. No harm intended. I thought it actually beneficial to both since its in 1 place vs 2 posts. Anyways...

Do you use any sealer around the front and main seals? That is always the thing that seems to leak. I use that little white can (brown stuff that is real sticky but goes on thin) on valve covers, intake, oil pump, water pump, etc. Think its called Permatex. I saw some mention of keeping things dry but I never had any luck with doing that on the 2 chevy's I did before. Any advice?

Thanks,
Chris

http://www.visualmktg.biz/transam78/

[GONZO]

Don't talk to Bruce Fulper

RAIV Don't leave home without it.
http://www.kingofmusclecars.com/