Took the heads to a cylinder shop today and the tech there pointed out where one of them is cracked. [:@] I'm not going to dump a load of money into this truck, so R/T heads are out. I'll get the new Magnums with the hardened valve seats. I wish I had known these were prone to cracking. If I did I never would have bought a truck. Oh well, I learned from this. Time to "yank and tank" the engine.

In other news, a local machine shop insisted that I *HAD* to bore the block 10-thousandths rather than clean everything and go. I had two other people examine the cylinders and they agreed that's bull****. The guy at the cylinder shop said the same thing. I'm trying to gauge how much this rebuild will cost with new heads. I am for sure going to go with brass core plugs.

Oh yeah, I bought that Mopar Magnum V* book used via Amazon.com. Best $5 I have probably spent in a while. I downloaded the 2001 Service Manual as well.

 

is that magnum book goood? it cought my eye when i was read the rest of the thread...

so you are gonna yank the block and get it tanked? that would be your best bet... i wouldnt think you need to bore it out quite yet... usually you get it freshly honed and examine the rest of the meat in the walls before you jump into boring out the walls...expecially when its not necassary in your case...

that looks fun though...messy but fun...

i agree with an ealier post...if that crap got into your feul rail like that... i bet droppin the tanking and flusshing the lines or replacing them for that matter would help greatly too... if your rails are like that i couldnt imagine what your fuel pressure and filter are lookin like..

 

I think the Magnum book will make an excellent companion to the 2001 Service Manual. Unline the Haynes, it has a lot of well detailed pictures and explanations. $5 used via Amazon. You can't beat something like that.

Yes, I am going to yank the engine. I've made it this far, so "what the hell". I plan on flushing the fuel line, cleaning the tank, and doing all of that. The part that is going to kill me financially is the heads.

The machinist who told me I would have to bore the block told me that I was "opening a can of worms" with the Magnum engine. I've been doing a lot of reading, both here and in the books/manuals, and I think he's just full of hot air. The other people who have seen the engine and the guy at the cylinder head shop today said it all. Clean it, re-ring it, and go.

 

exactly... a hone job wouldnt hurt just to get a clean resurface on them nasty cylander walls.. a good engine shop can do it by hand for not much or use the machine to get a perfect result... you could prolly DIY too.. get a hone stone rig for a drill and a how to..ive done it a few times with o sealing problems afterwards... kinda like measure 5times and cut once kinda deal... and to makethem the same all around .. use the same amount of in and outs per cyclander... but that would only be after the tank to see what the condition of the walls really are

yea heads can be wicked expensive... but since you already got them off you gotta outway alot of stuff on what you plan on doing with the truck in the long run

 

Hey VW, In my humble opinion, since you've gone this far with the engine, and appear to leaning toward a total or near total rebuild, you might as well go with the R/T heads. Especially since you are doing some tranny stuff as well.

The reason I say this is simple: Why go through all the work and expense of building a block and NOT putting some good heads on it?

When I did my cylinder heads, I wish I knew before I bought the replacements that there were some higher performance ones out there. I would have spent a little more and went with those instead. Especially since I've gone and done the intake air system and opened up the exhaust as well. I might not be having the MPG problems I've got at this moment.

Just my 2 cents worth is all. In any event, good luck. That engine definately looks like it needs some luck and TLC!

 

Your transmission is an ATF+3 if I'm not mistaken. Your transmission has what is called a slipper clutch set up where the internal rings and bands do not totally disengage. That's why it uses a highly friction modified synthetic blended oil. Most likely that Lucas addative was for a non slipping clutch set up. Which transmission do you have in there? Are you thinking about getting a performance one? http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/V...008478/c-10614
As far as the galley, clean it with shop rags, carb cleaner, motor flush and denatured alchol. Make sure when you're done you coat it with oil to keep it from corroding.

 

only problem with cleaning the block yourself is that all those "degresers" your using will be hard to remove and not contamenate the new oil that goes in... if you wana clean the block yourself ,,,witch would obviously cost less and you wouldnt have to cart the block off to somewhere... you could use all sorts of degreasers and nasty chemicals... you just run the risk of not being able to remove all those chemicals during the last step before you go into your reassemble... im sure with plent yof time you could get almost all of it out... if you chose to do this id suggest doing about 3 oilchanges .. 1 after about 200-400 miles (break in period for the new seals and gaskets) another after 200 miles again and another after 400 miles... that way you can be assured that the chemicals you used to clean the engine will be flushed through thouroghly...

 

There are times to bite the bullet and not go cheap. This is one of those times. I'd feel more comfortable having the block tanked, new rings and all that. The truck project is on stand-by right now. I have a house to be fixed up and put on the market.

 

sounds like a good plan... getting it tanked and having a shop go through the process is the best part.. espeicaly when they steam the block... so clean you can eat off of it!

 

Well, I've been busy rennovating my house and had the injectors sent off to a jeweler friend of mine from the VW world. He wanted a challenge and has a sonic tank large enough to do eight injectors at once. Here are what my injectors look like now:




I need to go back to the shop where I dropped off the heads and get my intake back. They were supposed to have cleaned it and gotten back to me, but I never got a call. I have that Magnum engine rebuilding book and feel that in another few weeks I will be yanking the engine and tearing everything down.