1999 March 29 (Monday)
Note: the following comedy of errors describes my first attempt at putting the bottom end back together. Read here to learn what not to do!
The re-built crank-shaft plus bearings and seals needed to put the engine back together arrived. The frame was still at the powder coater (I told him there was no hurry). That left room in the garage (after some clean up) to get ready and put the bottom end of the engine back together.
Bottom end parts
Clean work surface
Bottom end parts #1
Bottom end parts #2
I needed to get ready for the job at hand. I did this by cleaning and otherwise preparing a work surface by covering my roll-about table with clean paper and setting out all the parts for the bottom end. The parts for the various sub-components are still in their zip-lock bags. The new bearings and seals are still in their box. I put the old bearings and seals on the table, too. I wanted to be sure I had the correct part by comparing new to old.
Work area prep
Ready to start
After laying out the parts I decided that I wanted some extra space. I backed my wife’s car out of the garage and moved the table right under the florescent light. The block is on it’s own wooden work table and the air compressor is charged.
Rear camshaft bearing
Camshaft
The first step was to remove the old (and bad) rear cam bearing from the camshaft. The bearing came out of the case attached to the camshaft when it was pulled. I used a generic puller to remove it from the end of the cam.
Cam gear and front bearing
Clean camshaft
I cleaned the camshaft including front bearing and gears. The gears looked pretty good. There were no large gouges nor excessive wear.
Front crank bearing
Front bearing in carrier
This is the “after” picture. I cleaned the front bearing carrier again, making sure all oil passages were clear. I used compressed air to blow out any remaining crud out of all oil passages. The clean carrier was heated to about 200 degrees (in the oven) then the new front bearing was installed. It dropped right in. The carrier with bearing was put aside to cool. Once cool I installed the bearing flange.
And now for the first “Oh no!”. Before putting the engine case in the oven I pulled the new rear camshaft bearing out of its box and compare it to the old one. Oops. Accidents happen. The box said 6303. The old bearing just removed from the camshaft was a 6203. I never noticed that the wrong bearing was shipped. Oh well, at least the 6203 is a common bearing. I took a ride to the nearest auto supply house and purchased the correct bearing. When I got home it was time for lunch. More later.