Engine assembled

I got the engine pretty much assembled.

Start out with that fresh block smell. Never seen it so clean.

Then I laid in the crank. Plastigauge says I have around 0.0018″ clearance.

Next up was gapping some rings. I went 0.022″ top and 0.024″ bottom. Maybe a little loose for NA, but better to be too loose than too tight.

Pistons and rods in. Relatively uneventful. I got 8/9 tries on punching them in. Feels good spinning.

I put in an improved racing oil scraper. I had to file it quite a bit to clear the end caps on the eagle rods. Needs 0.020″ clearance. Replaces the windage tray.

Next up was the biggest challenge- getting the cam in. Bearings 1-4 were fine, but apparently the shop drove #5 a little crooked. With the tight tolerances I had one side about 0.5mm deeper than the other according to my mechanic’s approximators. Luckily it was in the rear so I could access it and trued it up with a large socket and a lot of patience. Then the front end of the engine went on with the oil pump and timing set. I had lost my cam bolts somewhere, so I had to order some ARP cam bolts. The oil pump I went to a 10295 rather than the 10296 I had before I don’t think I’ll need the flow with a much tighter engine.

After that it was time to put on the heads. I ended up replacing the trays. A few were looser than I liked even though they were practically new and supposedly GM trays. I don’t want to worry about it. New BTR head gaskets. Same studs. New 7717 lifter set. 

Heads and covers back on again. No real drama here. Way easier out of the car than in the car.

I still need to torque the heads and covers. The covers will wait until I mount the oil pan so I can line them up nice and flat. Next weekend I’ll probably be able to get it back in the car and then start working on all the rest of the accessories.