April 2009

After getting everything ready, I took the car to a swap-meet. There, several friends thought that the engine was making a knocking noise. Since I'm planning to sell the car, I didn't want the new owner to have any engine problems, so I've decided to drop the engine and find out what the noise was. This shows the engine/tranny out of the car.

At this point, I've only detached the throttle cable, electrical cables and the exhaust.

Another good reference shot, showing the air cleaner removed.

Here's another reference shot.

This show the FI system removed.

Another shot from the other side.

This is after the engine tin and various fuel and electrical lines removed.

Another shot from the other side.

This is after I removed the fan housing.

Another shot from the other side.

This is after I removed the transmission.

This is what is left of the pilot bushing.

This shows the valve cover removed.

A close up of the wire that holds the push rod tubes.

A close up of the center section of the wire.

A closed up of the other end of the wire.

Rocker arm removed.

Closed up of the rocker arm. I put these bolts in to keep the spring and the ends from being lost.

Close up of the wire that holds the push rod tubes.

I basically 'field-stripped' the engine on the engine stand. The final pieces that I removed, before carrying the engine to the engine stand, was the heads. Here's what the engine looked liked when I installed it on the engine stand.

Another shot.

This is a shot of the oil temp gauge wiring.

Pistons and cylinders removed.

Another shot from the other side.

Oil pump before removal.

Oil pump after removal.

Oil pump removed.

Reference shot, just before I removed all of the case bolts/nuts.

Case is split and one side removed.

Here's the removed side case.

Removed the crankshaft and camshaft. This shows the worn out camshaft.

Another shot of the camshaft.

Close up of the worn out cam lobes.

Oil baffle plate before removal.

The other side of the empty case.

Crankshaft with the connecting rods still attached.

Another shot of the case. This shows the pins that position the main bearings in place.

This shows the cam bearings.

Crankshaft without the conn rods.

This is the reason for the knocking noise. This bushing, on the small end of the conn rod, should be pressed in, ie, a tight fit. When I tried to clean this rod, my finger was able to easily push the bushing out.

Here's some shots of the conn rod bearings.

Close up. You can see some wear patterns.

Another shot.

Another shot.

Another shot.

Another shot.

Another shot.

Clean case.

Clean case.

Both cases cleaned.