Jaeger, the more I think about it, I would leave that rod alone, especially since the oil pump was clean, and your not taking the whole engine down. Just some more free advice.....
Thanks Duconce and I agree. If I were seeing any bearing damage anywhere I would split the cases and check but so far, all bearings and ware surfaces have been pristine. ??? I am still checking stuff but so far I am feeling good about the bottom end.
I would cut open the oil filter. It will give you a good idea of how much metal went through the oil pump. We do it all the time in the
aircraft industry.
Yes Hexagon, another good thought. I actually started doing that but kept having to stop because of all the oil running out. I plan to finish taking it apart but the oil that ran out as I started cutting told me most of what I wanted to know. Lots of fine metal flakes as you can see here:
The oil filter system on this motor really works great! I strained all of the oil I drained from the motor through a black cotton cloth to see how much metal was still in the motor oil. Zero! None! ??? It was all captured in the filter or on magnets. But then it was released into the motor slowly over 50 miles so maybe I should not have been surprised.
The alternator cover was a bit interesting to get off. The magnets are so strong that it is very hard to pull off. And if you get your fingers under the cover and are not careful, it can snap down on your fingers. Ask me how I know! :
So I expected to see a bunch of metal shavings stuck in that area. Surprise, none! Clean as can be. I assume that the centrifugal force was enough to overcome the magnetic force.
Here is what it looks like inside:
..just thinking out loud. If the piston smacked the valve hard like the picture indicates, are you not afraid of a bent rod? I have been following your story but may have missed that.
Yes I was very afraid! that is why I removed the cylinders and pistons. I have more measuring to do but so far it looks fine. The top end bearings are perfect and I can see no bend but I plan to do some precise measuring. The movement of the rods on the bottom bearings is smooth and there is no detectable side or up and down play. Here is looking into the top:
The piston is simple and straight forward to remove:
I can see no damage.
Here is another shocker. Look at the hatch marks in the cylinder. I expect to see slick smooth walls but it looks like it was just honed! This motor has 27,700 miles and it looks like it is not completely broken in yet!
I grind all my shims on a surface grinder. I grind bucket side of shim. Have been doing it that way for years.Can get exactly what i want that way.Sanding shims I personally would not do, it would be to easy to have them not flat and parallel.Jim
Yes Jim you are right on. I do sand but on a precision flat surface and I rotate every few seconds to make sure the sanding is even all around.
Still as I said above, if you have access to new ones without hassle or long delays, that is the best path. The sanding method just gets you back up faster.
