rand Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 I just pulled the head off of my new (to me) L24 that hasn't run in ~10 years to get it rebuilt and resurfaced yesterday, and my engine looks like it's in worse shape than I was hoping. When I pulled the head off, there was coolant puddled in some of the cylinders. I was hoping to just get the head work done, pop it back on and be able to drive the car around for a few months. After cleaning up the deck surface a little bit, I've found that it's pretty scratched up and has a few nicks and dings around the top of the cylinder. I was planning on pulling the block apart at some point so I can get it hot tanked, but now I'm worried that I need to get the deck resurfaced before I can run the engine. Am I being too conservative here, or do I really need to pull this thing apart and get it re-machined? Coolant in cylinders right after pulling head off: Nicks and scratches on deck near cylinder: More scratches: State of cylinder before minor clean up: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 From what's left under the hood, I would advise you to go all in with prep work. I've been there and I don't regret it at all. Looking at the shape of your block, hot tanked it is the way to go. Mine was in way better shape and had a lot of mud in coolant areas. Surfacing the block is not very expensive. I've paid around 50 for it. When it comes to cylinder walls, I don't see well but you should see some scratches. If you don't, you will have a least to hone them again. Check also for cylindricity. If they are out of shape, you also to move to bigger cylinder/rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 Thanks @Lazeum - that's the way I'm leaning. My impatient side really wants drive this car asap, but I think I'll feel better if I clean everything up first. As long as I have this engine out I may as well strip and repaint the engine bay. As long as I'm doing that I may as well strip and repaint the rest of the body. As long as I'm doing that, I should probably clean up and repaint the frame. As long as I'm doing that.... oh no, here we go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 (edited) I'm with Lazeum you might as well have it surfaced and checked out while its out of the car. It would really suck to put it back together only to have it blow the head gasket, burn coolant or burn copious quantities of oil. Edited February 3, 2019 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand Posted February 4, 2019 Author Share Posted February 4, 2019 Ok, I'm all in. I wanted to rebuild this engine anyway, so I may as well do it now. This is a project for me to learn and have fun with, and it's not like I need it to take me to work on Monday. Speaking of learning, all of the guides I've seen to pulling the engine have you attach the engine hoist to the cylinder head. Seeing as I've already removed the head, is there a recommended place on the block to attach to? I'd rather not put my newly rebuild head onto the scummy block just to pull it off again. Also, any thoughts on Tom Monroe's method of pulling the engine without the transmission? I've heard that one is pretty controversial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I've always just pulled the engine and transmission together. Without the head, I'd use one of the top transmission bolts and find a bolt with the correct size and thread for one of the front head bolt holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 (edited) Just wanted to follow up on my results on pulling the engine with the head off. I ended screwing some bolts in into the head-bolt holes with some chain and washers on them. It worked great and was pretty easy to do. Pictures attached. Edited March 17, 2019 by rand Cleaning up images Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 I've pulled pretty much everything off of the block now and am getting ready to bring it to a machine shop to get checked out and cleaned up. I was looking at my timing cover, and the area underneath the water pump is pretty badly pitted and scarred looking. Am I going to need a new timing cover, or is it fine to just run the engine with this one? I don't mind replacing the water pump, but timing covers are pretty hard to find. I saw a few on eBay, but they were around $250 😐 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheelz Posted May 16, 2019 Share Posted May 16, 2019 I used one of those white roloc discs and just spent a ton of time cleaning all the surfaces. Did top of pistons too. This worked for my particular N42. You'll need to vac out the dust as you do this. Can't beat pulling it and having it professonally cleaned and machine decked though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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