Because Roadkill, -or- I bought an old ugly domestic car
- Thread starter TurboMinivan
- Start date
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
That would definitely be the Roadkill way, for sure. Since I don't really care about the body, I am considering any and all techniques.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
I wonder if you could just lift the entire body off
Corban_White
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Payson, AZ
On a motorhome that looked like that we took the engine out with a cherry picker, through the side door.
boogie_4wheel
Active Member
- Location
- North Salt Lake, Utah
Remove windshield and sell for cheap. Cut out the dash and lower windshield frame, lift it out.
Keep everything behind the doors intact to sell to someone for an enclosed trailer.
Keep everything behind the doors intact to sell to someone for an enclosed trailer.
Pile of parts
Well-Known Member
- Location
- South Jordan
Engine for my jeep was out of a van. Although I didn't use the transmission I did pull it all out as one piece. I cut everything out of the front that I needed to and pulled it all together. Scrap prices were good at the time so between selling the transmission and the rest to scrap I got most of my money back. As far as scratching the itch of a carbureted car goes, after my first Jeep being carbureted, I'll never scratch that itch again. Should be a fun car.
BCGPER
Starting Another Thread
- Location
- Sunny Arizona
Cut frame rails around firewall. Lift front of van, roll engine and trans out.
- Location
- SPANISH FORK, UTAH
Done engines on a couple of those, not fun.. short chain on the cherry picker, lift until stuff starts going crunch and remove very carefully. Doubt you can get the trans at the same time, sawzall would make it much more fun.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Since the van was parked outside, my engine removal got put on hold for the cold winter months. Last week, however, I managed to go ahead and get the engine yanked from the van. (Man, what a royal pain in the ass that was.) It now sits on an engine stand.
Tomorrow I will begin the teardown process. I will also drop the heads off at the machine shop for inspection to make sure they are in proper condition. My plan is to re-use the stock heads (with a valve spring upgrade to handle the extra lift of my new cam) and do a simple .030 overbore rebuild of the bottom end. Fun, fun, fun!
Tomorrow I will begin the teardown process. I will also drop the heads off at the machine shop for inspection to make sure they are in proper condition. My plan is to re-use the stock heads (with a valve spring upgrade to handle the extra lift of my new cam) and do a simple .030 overbore rebuild of the bottom end. Fun, fun, fun!
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TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Yesterday I spent some time tearing down the engine. I methodically bagged and tagged the hardware as I went (just in case, ya know) until I finally got to the first money shot of sorts.
Sorry; I didn't realize that photo was a bit blurry until I uploaded it off my phone. Whatever. I sure do love the size of those intake ports. They definitely dwarf the ports on my old Chrysler 2.2 cylinder heads. :laugh:
Yesterday's goal was to remove the heads, so of course that was accomplished soon after the above photo was taken. (Good grief, those things are heavy!) Once they were off, I casually glanced at each piston top just to see how things looked. Seven of the pistons were identical to each other, meaning there was nothing out of the ordinary and they looked exactly as expected. But then there was cylinder #2.
One of these things is not like the others...
Hmm, that's an unusually-well-defined spot of shine. If you aren't familiar with OEM Vortec 454 heads, that is the shape of the combustion chamber. So in other words, it appears this cylinder's rod bearing was compromised such that the piston was contacting the cylinder head. It's a good thing I had already decided to rebuild the bottom end.
Anyway, the heads were then dropped off at C&T for cleaning and inspection, as planned.
Sorry; I didn't realize that photo was a bit blurry until I uploaded it off my phone. Whatever. I sure do love the size of those intake ports. They definitely dwarf the ports on my old Chrysler 2.2 cylinder heads. :laugh:
Yesterday's goal was to remove the heads, so of course that was accomplished soon after the above photo was taken. (Good grief, those things are heavy!) Once they were off, I casually glanced at each piston top just to see how things looked. Seven of the pistons were identical to each other, meaning there was nothing out of the ordinary and they looked exactly as expected. But then there was cylinder #2.
One of these things is not like the others...
Hmm, that's an unusually-well-defined spot of shine. If you aren't familiar with OEM Vortec 454 heads, that is the shape of the combustion chamber. So in other words, it appears this cylinder's rod bearing was compromised such that the piston was contacting the cylinder head. It's a good thing I had already decided to rebuild the bottom end.
Anyway, the heads were then dropped off at C&T for cleaning and inspection, as planned.
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TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Being my day off, yesterday I was able to finish tearing down the engine (until it was just the rotating assembly in the block) so I could take it to the machine shop. I had to drop the oil pan so I could removing the timing cover, of course. At the same time, I removed the flexplate. Getting to all six flexplate bolts required me to rotate the engine since it was still on the stand, and that's when I saw it.
Ouch!
As you can see, there is a lot of slop there. No wonder the piston was hitting the head.
Speaking of, when I dropped off the engine at the machine shop I got some good news. Rod has inspected the heads and gave them a clean bill of health. They can be put back into service without any significant work (or added expense). This is good, since the money I don't need to spend for new heads right now can instead be spent on a new replacement crankshaft (since it looks like this one might not have survived). We'll see.
Ouch!
As you can see, there is a lot of slop there. No wonder the piston was hitting the head.
Speaking of, when I dropped off the engine at the machine shop I got some good news. Rod has inspected the heads and gave them a clean bill of health. They can be put back into service without any significant work (or added expense). This is good, since the money I don't need to spend for new heads right now can instead be spent on a new replacement crankshaft (since it looks like this one might not have survived). We'll see.
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- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
wow, I think there's less than zero bearing left in there. that's a LOT of slop. I wonder how usable that rod is?
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
It looks like there are a few bearing shavings poking out of there, yes.
Yeah, I fear I may be looking at buying a whole new rotating assembly. Which isn't a bad thing, other than the cost.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
UPDATE
This morning I got a call from the machine shop. My fears have been realized: the crankshaft did not survive. Needless to say, the #2 rod is also not salvageable. But maybe this is a blessing in disguise, as it could allow me to justify buying a stronger crankshaft that can withstand any future power upgrades.
I need a crank, a set of pistons, and one rod. Since I'm faced with that, why not just step up and buy a whole (matched) rotating assembly? This will be an easy way to get components that work well together, I suppose. I told my machinist to check on a few options, and I'm going to study Summit's web site to narrow down my choices. I want to get this order placed quickly so I can keep making progress.
This morning I got a call from the machine shop. My fears have been realized: the crankshaft did not survive. Needless to say, the #2 rod is also not salvageable. But maybe this is a blessing in disguise, as it could allow me to justify buying a stronger crankshaft that can withstand any future power upgrades.
I need a crank, a set of pistons, and one rod. Since I'm faced with that, why not just step up and buy a whole (matched) rotating assembly? This will be an easy way to get components that work well together, I suppose. I told my machinist to check on a few options, and I'm going to study Summit's web site to narrow down my choices. I want to get this order placed quickly so I can keep making progress.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
I'd go with the matched assembly. I'm definitely a tightwad, but if I'm dropping the coin for a new crank, I want the rods to be matched with it. Otherwise, I'd second guess myself with every felt vibration from the motor.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Or just weigh stuff and balance it yourself. Plenty of how to videos on the subject. There's an engine power episode where they weigh and balance a supposedly "matched assembly" it was amazing how far off it was.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
This whole balancing an engine is a new thing for me; I never had to deal with it on my turbo 2.2L/2.5L engines.
Stock, this 454 was externally balanced--it had a harmonic balancer thingy on the crank nose, behind the pulley. Most rotating kits I'm looking at for this engine state they are also externally balanced. I take it this means I wouldn't actually balance the kit, but instead install a (new) harmonic balancer and go on my way. Is that how it works?
In other news, for cost reasons I am thinking I will use a non-forged steel crankshaft. Scat says their model is rated for 700 HP, which is at least 150 more than I'd ever make even after the eventual cylinder head upgrade. That sounds like a sufficient margin of safety for me.
Stock, this engine's power peak was at 4500 RPM and it was redlined at about 4900 RPM IIRC. My cam will generate a power peak around 5000-5500 RPM, so I figure I may rev it close to 6000 RPM. To make life easier for the crank, I'm trying to select rods and pistons that weigh significantly less than the stock pieces. So far, it looks like Scat kit #92400 is what I'm after. I won't actually make a purchase until the machinist verifies that a .030" overbore will sufficiently clean up the block (though so far it looks like that will be fine); I should hear from him on Monday.
D
Deleted member 12904
Guest
Where is this project at these days? Any updates?