Engine rebuilding: How much experience?

[Safety Guy]

I just posted a "Building a Lightweight NA B6" thread in the NA Engine Swap forum, but I have a more basic question to ask:

Should I even attempt a "performance" engine rebuild (on a mid-nineties B6) before I've done a "regular rebuild?"

I had planned to buy a cheap ($150) older B6 out of a Tracer or '88-'89 323 that I can get from the local cheapyard. I'd do an overhaul of that for Muttstiva (and convert her to FI).

If I decide not to do that, am I being realistic to attempt a performance rebuild on a newer B6 for my very first time?

Karl

[mechanicaldj]

so what you are REALLY trying to say is : Post Ho isn't good enough, Post Queen is your real objective :roll:

didn't you just install a B6 into a festy?

and you did not overhaul it first??????????????????????????????? :roll: :roll:

have fun down the road, married to your car for life :twisted:

[Safety Guy]

My current B6 had 82K miles and I changed all the seals. All intake parts were cleaned out real well. It's running fine.

I've never overhauled an engine so I'd like to try it.

My question is should I just stick to a regular rebuild on my first try?

RE: Post whoring. There's a CONTEST going on!

Karl

[Tim]

My current B6 had 82K miles and I changed all the seals. All intake parts were cleaned out real well. It's running fine.

I've never overhauled an engine so I'd like to try it.

My question is should I just stick to a regular rebuild on my first try?

RE: Post whoring. There's a CONTEST going on!

Karl

Overhauling an engine is very simple.

The most difficulty I had was pulling the thing apart.


Regards,

Tim

[Safety Guy]

Y'know, maybe a "performance rebuild" is the same as a "regular rebuild," except that you do different things to some of the parts before you reassemble them.

Karl

[FB71]

mostly correct. to my knowledge, there are 'lightwieght' internal parts for these engines (have you ever held a b6 rod and piston ass'y?) The stockers are damn light as it is. As for B&B (balancing and blueprinting), it probably the smartest money you could spend on any engine. I can B&B a pure stock 5.0L during rebuild with stock replacement parts, and gain a few hp. B&B is matching the weights of the pistons, the small end of the rods, the big end of the rods, the rod and piston ass'y to the crank ass'y (crank, flywheel, balancer/pulley). Simply by eliminating the torsional and lat/lng vibrations generated by the imbalances, more power is available to rotate the crank, instead of being used to overcome a directional change caused by the imbalance. the blueprinting part of B&B is port-matching all gasket surfaces, smoothing the intake and exhaust runners ( not a full port and polish, just removing the jagged edges and mismatches), trueing of all gasket surfaces and journals. All of this allows the engine to operate more efficiently, and with less wear. So, for a basic "performance rebuild", have the machine shop do a B&B while they're refininshing the components and replacing the pistons (requires a press or oven and specialized tools. I do NOT recommend the use of torch in place of a rod oven. Impossible to accurately control temp). Make sure they chamfer all oil passage ports in the crank. Also, power is made by airflow, end of story. The better air/fuel can get in and exhaust out, the more power it'll make. So what flows air, you might ask? The cylinder head. the more efficient the head is, the more power it'll make. Have your machinist spend some time on the runners and bowls. Intake runners should be satiny, at their smoothest. Some roughness helps to homogenize the a/f mix. ehaust runners should be as smooth as possible. Bowls should resemble the intake runners, maybe slightly smoother. DO NOT attempt to fully polish the bowls. This causes fuel condensation, which hurts power and emissions. (liquid fuel doesn't burn, remember?) The shop may also want to Cc the runners (ensure equal volume). On such a small engine, Cc'ing may be beneficial, since it's more sensative to small changes. Volumetric efficiency is also affected by the cam profile, or when valves open and close. Invest in an FMS cam. And, of course, intake and exhaust are always good places to make improvements to aid airflow.

Thank you, and Elvis has left the buildng.....