Ottawa Fiero Club Forum

So I now have my spare 2.8 engine and I am rebuilding it. I just bought an engine stand for 40 buck :) good deal i think, and a big tupperwear bin to clean parts.

I dismantled my whole engine and tore everything out and labelled it. Looks like the block and pistons are still in good condition. I need to remachine the crank and put in oversize berrings i think. Or I might just get a new crank... Any suggestions on that? Someone suggested Carquest as a good option for remachining.

I dropped my engine block in a cleaner and its working great. Took all the grease right off it. Ever heard of super clean? great stuff from wal mart. And dont worry, I didnt drop anything aluminum in it :)

My pistons are soaking in a varsol bath and as soon as the block is ready I will put it on the stand and start the rebuild. Gonna detail it nicely. I am doing this rebuild more as a hobby and a learning XP so if anyone has tips, Id def. Appreciate that.

Ill post updates as we go. Im taking lots of pics too so once in a while Ill post one on the status. Cheers :)
Wish me luck :D

Never used them myself, but I've had Hosie & Brown recommended to me in the past for crank work.



Did you remove the cam bearings from the block before dunking?   :)

Had mine done through Benson's Auto Parts a few years back...

Dropped it on the counter and they called me a few days later to pick it up.

Bensons is a good option.
They have a machinist in Bell Corners that does all the work, so it's not travelling too far.

Yea I pulled all my berrings :) I noticed two berring missing tho and when I was inspecting my crank I found them both both mashed together against the crank in the last position closest to the tranny side.

Im gonna take the crank in to get it looked at soon. Thanks for the ideas. What were prices like at these places? Just cus Im weighing cost of rebuild versus cost of just buying crank and oversized berrings.

Also I am thinking of putting on headers since one manifold is banged up pretty bad and the other has the two bolts melted into it and I cant get them out. Im looking online now for header prices. I am really impressed by the sound difference I have been noticing.

I painted the block red and the oil pan is cleaned and painted. I cleaned the carbon off of everything like the pistons and the valves. Dremels Rule :D

Im basically reassembling the engine as I clean and paint the parts but I havn't put any of the main gaskets back in. Im going to order them once i fix the crank and berrings. Then I'll pull the engine apart and re gasket everything.

Im putting the engine back together for the sake of the practice of remembering how everything goes properly. So for now, no torquing and no gaskets.

I was also told I need to replace all the head bolts with new ones because they can only be torqued once. Is this true?

I was also told steel wool cannot be used to clean the carbon off the piston heads. is this true and why? what happens if i do?

Is it as hard as they say to just put the crank on myself? I know there is the end play adjustment and the torque specs... But is that really hard to follow? would I be better off letting someone else do it? im a pretty fast learner and if it is just a matter of following rules then I can do it, but if its a matter of absolute impossible precision and expertise, then I will let the shop do it...

So yea, the block is looking great. Here is my fb link if people wanna follow the progress :) I will post the new pics from today soon.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150185158222156.320498.504037155

Here is my engine as of this past week. I have it all cleaned up and detailed so Now I can work on things without getting totally filthy. I know some of u may say I do things funny when I say I tore the whole thing down, cleaned it and reassembled it without any crank or pistons, or seals, but the reason I did it was to have it reassembled somewhat so I dont forget how things went together. I am going to obviously tear it down again and do the inner parts once I have all of them. For now its just the experience I want from tearing down the engine and rebuilding it a couple practice times. I already ran into a few snags and the practice has helped to forsee them next time. Also I am lucky cus I have another whole 2.8 block sitting in my car just in case I need something. And I can guarantee I will need a few things before this is done.

I am also debating taking that engine out and saving myself having to buy new parts for this one by just reusing all the pieces i need from that one, Minus the berrings and crank obviously. Seeing as both engines had the same fate I am hoping once i rebuild this one, if it even runs ata all when I am done, i hope to god it doesnt throw a berring again like the last rebuild did. But i honestly do not know if it got properly rebuilt since i bought it off a shelf and had only some mechanics word. When U wan something done right, U better be prepared to do it yourself and spend alot of money too :D

But like I said. Learning experience. So either way Im getting the knowledge of this engine which is something I value alot.

where did you get your crank done ?


From what I can remember, turnig my old crank was around 175.00$ plus 35.00$ for the bearings.

I have not done my crank yet. Im just cleaning up the block. Once the block is all redone, Im going to tear it down again and start the crank and bearings. Im getting alot of mixed reviews about Car quest, some great some terrible. I was gonna take it there tho cus its the only place i really hear about.

As much as I want to do all the work myself, I think Id save alot of trouble if I got a professional to at least do the short block. That way I know it is done right. Then Ill get the short block back and reassemble the rest myself.

Ill try Benson. Is that the only place to get the re machining done and the short block reassembly? (crank, rods, pistons, bearings)

Also I have a question. Would it be bad to use steel wool to clean the carbon off the piston heads? I know it will leave fine scratches in the finish but is that something to worry about? Just curious.

So turns out Benson is closing their shop and not accepting anymore jobs. Good news is I talked to Pat and he gave me some real sound advice. he suggested a place called Actek so Im gonna try them and Im gonna compare with Car quest.

Too bad tho cus Pat at Benson sounded like he really knew what he was doing. And it made alot of sense.

So Im looking to find a place that can do either a line bore or a line hone, resize my rod caps and possibly my crank caps, grind my crank and get me the right oversize bearings.

I may even bore the piston holes and just change the connecting rods all together. The prices seem good. I can get all this work done for about 500 bucks. Then I gotta buy the new parts. So we will see.

If you're interested, I have a contact in montreal (wich is probably gonna be the place I'll send mine, if I send mine) since Benson closed shop.

Will you be present at Aylmer's Car Show?  ;)

Fred

Hey Fred,

Actually I found an amazing crank expert here. Great guy too to talk to. Car quest on startop and the guys name is Peter. Super great knows his biz and inspected, cleaned and polished my crank for free just cus he's cool that way. He also too the time to explain to me some tips about what to look for in worn journals, pistons and a ton of useful answers I had questions to. This guy is the real deal and I'd send ne one to him just to meet him. He's awesome. Also he found me some options about my crank. I can get one from him or he suggested a place to get mine machined. I went to aktech auto and they were really great too. They are near prestone in the west end. I took my crank there and they took a second look at it. The sad news is my crank is irrepairable but I gained a lot of insight. So now I'm looking for a crank. I'm gonna post that in a new feed cus if I can get one that's even machineable I'm back In business. Worst case scenario Peter can order be one out if montreal. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same place u trust

Are you going to use your old unrepairable crankshaft?  ;D

Fred

No I need to find one that is machineable. I talked to FieroFighter in the Summer he had a few complete running engines so I might see if I can get a whole block off him or just a crank. Mine r totally finished. I have two and they both spun out too far.

Actually Fred, u dont happen to have a spare 87 gt crank in any of ur donor cars do u?

Pulled the 3.1 out of a donor on Sunday, could get the other cradle(2.8) dropped if there's a way to get it to you

If you are about to throw it away, I would like to take it. For a personal project (non-related to cars) I'm thinking about making a glass table or something with crankshaft legs. Or i'll find some other use to re-use them... :) (If you have an old cam shaft, I would be taking it too...  ;D

The only 87 we have is mine. I still have my old crank wich is shot too, I bought a new one for my rebuilt. As for the other cars, I have no call at all on them.  :-\

Though I do have an engine block sitting in the garage with piston, connecting rods and crank. I don't know if it needs to be re-machined, and I don't know either if I want to "break the kit". (Since without the crank, the whole block is pretty much useless and un-usable)  :-\

Fred

Thats Kool Fred. i dont want u to break an Eng either especially if its good.

Ill find a crank somehow. btw, if u want my old crank u can come by and pick it up. since u need cranks. and when i pull the other one out U can ahve that one too.

Ouh! Thank you! :P I feel like a little kid who's gonna have a nice christmas gift...  :D lol

Fred

The Update:

So Now it is April 2012 and I am re evaluating my situation with my 2.8 block.
the good news is I have found out that Rock Auto sells my crank and has them in stock. So I have a supplier when the time comes to buy one. And the price is not that bad considering (360.00 and I would get 135.00 back for the core) So Its not a matter of not being able to find the parts since Rock auto basically has all the parts I need not to mention the Fiero store and other various places as the parts get less rare.

However, I am weighing my options as to whether I should just go the 3.8 route So I will post a new topic and see what People think. At this point I have not really lost much money on the 2.8 I barely put 200 dollars into it and I have not installed any of the new gaskets I bought for the block. But summer is coming and I want to decide how I am going to repair this car. So I will see you all in the new post.