Getting close on the tear down, just pulled the upper intake. It had a lot of oil in it, that's not a good sign..

looks like not much fun changing out plug wires with the coil packs tucked away in the far back.

I'll have to decide on the motor route soon, I doubt this one is worth trying to squeeze a few more miles from..if even possible at all..

Anybody has a good motor available, I'm all ears..

 

It cost me $200 to have my factory unit rebuilt, they did a really good job too.

 

Got the heads off, surprisingly, the bottom end looks really good from what is visible topside. The cam and lifters look great, the tops of the pistons and bores look new.
The head are warped about .020 and need to be resurfaced, other wise look fine.

I cant detect any warpage on the block, and the sleeves appear to be where they belong. Which sleeves are notorious for dropping?

The head gaskets were definitely blown, and certainly never before replaced. the outer/lower bolts were very loose, the RH rear was literally finger tight and came out by hand.

Are there places I need to inspect for cracks? I suppose I should pull the water pump off to and the front cover to inspect the oil pump.

I did not expect it to look serviceable, now I'm thinking about fixing this motor afterall...you think I'm nuts? I hate to do extra work and waste the time, but I have some confidence in what I am seeing here..

BTW, it smells horrible and is glazed with cooked motor oil on the inside (not sludged up though).

How did so much oil get in my upper intake? I been pondering that all day and cant put my finger on it..

 

1. PCV system most likely blocked and contribued to oil spray in the upper intake.

2. The spec sheet in the RAVE overhaul section shows the maximum distances. Of course, you can buy other heads if needed. HG kit is about $300, you'll want to use new torque to yield bolts.

3. Sleeves slip when warmed up, and move up/down in cylinders. The D2 (I believe I am right but will be smashed by other posters if wrong) block has a ridge or some such to prevent the sleeve dropping into the abyss. Part of your research should also be for pinning the sleeves, which can be done while all this other fun is underway. About $115 for oil pump gears, crank seal, and gaskets (WP and cover) - places like Atlantic British. After market WP available that has larger bronze impeller (places like BP Utah). While the oil pan is off, clean out the pickup screen, new O-ring on pick up tube, and dab of locktite on the two bolts for it. Measure oil pressure when done, might need new lower end bearings and possibly work on valve train (if oil PSI won't stay up). Read up in our tech area for in-truck replacement of crank bearings.

4. You are just getting cranked up!

 

At this point I will pull the short block and throw it the stand. I can open it up and inspect it, decide if I can freshen it up. That will make it easy to clean out the tough to get to parts of the engine bay.

 

you probabbly want to consider using an ARP head stud kit in place of the STY head bolts. Especially if you putting it together on a stand where clearance will defiantly not be an issue.

 

If I use studs, I will have a tough time doing a HG change in the truck..

 

no; you should not have any clearance problems form the people i have talked to who have used them. The are basically used exclusively by all the engine builders in England, who I assume rebuild a lot more of these motor than we do.

 

from what research I've done so far, they do not seem to have any huge benefits. I can see using them on a turbo subaru to help hold back insane boost in an otherwise bullet proof motor, but in the case of these LR engines, I do not see the benefit.

HAs anyone investigated the possibility of lowering the compression ration in these motors? INcrease the chamber volume or trim the piston tops?

 

the advantage to using studs is not for power/compression, the reason they are used is there is no torsional stress on the stud when tightening the head.The studs are screwed into the block only using and allen wrench untill they bottom out. The only stress is from the clamping force holding the head down when the head is tightened.
Seeing a lot of these motors have liner problems which in a lot of cases is caused by cracks in the block behind the liners (mostly at the head bolt site) this would minumize the chance of that happening. that is why most LR remanufactures use them. JMHO