986 3.2 home engine rebuild

[OldManMo]

I do have to say that my son and I are loving this rebuild, not loving the cost of parts, but the investigation of some of our observations, the learning, even the research. We would see something that in my sons words, looking kinda sus, then both gran our phones and start researching. Sometimes we would run an experiment with the parts, accepting we may kill it by the end but that’s a learning in itself.

An example is the PAS, we researched that there is no service kit readily available for refurbishing it, so we have broken it down and found it to be a simple centrifugal pump which is mostly O rings, very serviceable if I can get the right sizes

I currently have the engine completely broken down and bagged, lots of container with new or refurbished parts all over my living room and I love it. Sometimes while sitting and watching TV I pick up a part and start looking at it, then research, clean it (again) and so on

I love it

[palindrome]

Originally Posted by OldManMo

Thanks @palindrome

I have a totally rubbish one as it went bang on Friday waiting to hear back as to replacement hence why I don’t want to say the make

When it worked It worked well. It was a home unit, 30L, 800w ultrasonic 600w heat but it did run both 28hz and 40hz which helped. Cost about £300

Going forward I think I am going to go bigger and more powerful though still limited to single phase unfortunately. Cost goes up significantly once you get around 50L and higher, but you get what you pay for

Ultrasonics are awsm. I have some great videos showing a parts which were cleaned using carb cleaner, degreaser, vapour etc then within 20secs in the bath (temp around 50-60 degrees C) and the crud that comes from out is amazing. Especially from internal parts for example the oilways of the camshaft.

Its a little mesmerising, like a lava lamp. You are watching the part and nothing really happening then in a split second this wisps of oil, oxidisation, etc just start coming off the part.

Below is a screenshot of one of the vids I had. The pipe was cleaned using carb cleaner and degreaser for about 10mins, outside looked like new, within 20secs the caked on oil inside started to cloud away. I put a snake cam into the first part and it was spotless




This is another screen shot of the IMS, lots of cleaning an polishing and the inside I cleaned using carb cleaner and a large pipe brush. The photo below shows the clouds of "stuff" coming from the inside. This dislodges some particulates which must have been caked on inside the ims.



Another great example of what is possible is the sump cover, vapoured, carb cleaner, pressure washer and again look at the impregnated crud coming off



My learning is to go as big and as powerful as possible. I now have two small units, which though are ok for small parts like nuts and bolts, are not really useful for otehr parts.

Also, learnt the hard way, the detergent or degreaser is important, had to replace some alloy parts which the detergent/degreaser, may in combo of the ultrasonic made them unusable. I now only use a sensitive metal detergent at the exact mix ration and I am getting some great results and ofcourse a rinse tank with anti flash added.

Thanks for the info! Intriguing. I hate carb cleaner and other evil solvents.

[986tate]

So, Mo, how’s it going?
😀

[OldManMo]

Originally Posted by 986tate

So, Mo, how’s it going?
😀

Yes, thank you @986tate, my bad as I have been slack posting progress. Have lots to share but time, money has been a killer.

Quick update, lots of cleaning, refurbishing and waiting on parts. I have rebuilt crank carrier with a super finished crank and am about to bolt the refurbished and balanced con rods to new and balanced pistons. Apart from seriously dodgy chain guides nothing seems to be too far gone and tolerances are within values for many existing posts.

Will do a more detailed post with all the photos I have soon, promise 😁

Thank you to all
Mo

[OldManMo]

hi all

first off, my bad for not updating in a while. As mentioned my ultrasonic went bang and it took a while to get to the point the seller was willing to refund the cost. While that was going on and while I was waiting for parts I decided that I wasnt totally happy with the level of clean I was getting on the cams, crank, IMS, heads and block so sent the cams, sprockets, crank and few other bits off to be superfinish'ed and loved the result, not just how shiny everything was (ooohhh shiny) but also because I could feel the difference on the lobes and journals with my hands and fingers.

To demonstrate, here are some before and afters of the crank and IMS

Crank straight out of engine


First clean via Ultrasonic tank


Second clean by hand


Superfinishing




Now, I completely understand that it is my responsibility to check, double check and ensure no media had entered any of the oil ways (I was also reminded by the company that did the work) and I did just that, and while I was using a number of pipe cleaning brushes and yes, media did drop out so it does pay to check.

[PaulE]

Great Work Mo! Thanks for the update!

[PaulE]

Beautiful work Mo, you've got a great assistant in your son, hope he is enjoying it too!

[pilot4fn]

Awesome that you do all this real nice built with your son - great fatherson time spent there and great learnign for the youngster

[OldManMo]

Thank you PaulE and pilot4fn

He is great though initially there was a lot of protesting and to be fair to him he is not able to do as much as he would like as he hasn't got the strength yet to lift the parts, unbolt, etc and spent a lot of time after I taught him what I was doing and why, watching me struggling to get a rusted part off

Fortnite will always be more appealing during those times

As the car will be his when he is old enough I made a point that he needs to know how it works and how to maintain it.

I was stripping car engines, gearboxes with my father from about the same age as my son and when I was 17 i worked non stop to save up and I bought a 2.0s Capri which I resprayed, added a double x pack body kit and lowered it to an inch off the floor and also rebuilt its engine. I haven't stopped since and hopefully he will have some interest and experience to maintain his own cars