How hard is it to rebuild a motor?
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Rebuilding a motor is fairly easy. The hardest part believe it or not is finding the time to do it when you cant afford to go to a shop or have knowledgable people there to help you all the time. How difficult is it? Provided you have a Haynes manual, or even better, a Chiltons, you can do it without a whole lot of hassle.
The biggest thing is making sure that everything you tighten down/replace is torqued to correct specs and the seals are solid. Beyond that, it's just a matter of bolting everything up right and making sure you get all your hoses/fluids done right. I'll throw in a few tips....
1.) Don't dismantle anything until you either mark them or take before/after pictures. Why? Because it's really easy to tear it apart but hard as hell to remember how it was hooked up in the first place. Your best bet is to try to take the motor out in one piece as best you can. The fewer parts you have to initially take off, the easier it gets to deal with it.
2.) If you think you cant figure something out, stop and ask someone. It's not stupid to ask a question or double check something. I'd rather you asked a silly question and made sure you were right before you made a big mistake.
3.) Dont rush.
4.) Once you get the motor out, make sure to take the time and clean up inside the dog house.....Why you might ask? Helps for later when you put the motor back in. If the inside is clean, makes it easier to spot leaks or busted hoses.
These tips really arent technical ones, but they werent meant to be. I've yanked several transmissions and a motor all by myself,with most of the transmissions being rebuilt by myself with supervision.I did a tranny swap in a weekend.....and it wasnt hard, just time consuming. I spent about 15 hours a day on it.
The biggest thing is making sure that everything you tighten down/replace is torqued to correct specs and the seals are solid. Beyond that, it's just a matter of bolting everything up right and making sure you get all your hoses/fluids done right. I'll throw in a few tips....
1.) Don't dismantle anything until you either mark them or take before/after pictures. Why? Because it's really easy to tear it apart but hard as hell to remember how it was hooked up in the first place. Your best bet is to try to take the motor out in one piece as best you can. The fewer parts you have to initially take off, the easier it gets to deal with it.
2.) If you think you cant figure something out, stop and ask someone. It's not stupid to ask a question or double check something. I'd rather you asked a silly question and made sure you were right before you made a big mistake.
3.) Dont rush.
4.) Once you get the motor out, make sure to take the time and clean up inside the dog house.....Why you might ask? Helps for later when you put the motor back in. If the inside is clean, makes it easier to spot leaks or busted hoses.
These tips really arent technical ones, but they werent meant to be. I've yanked several transmissions and a motor all by myself,with most of the transmissions being rebuilt by myself with supervision.I did a tranny swap in a weekend.....and it wasnt hard, just time consuming. I spent about 15 hours a day on it.