Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been quite busy.

I got everything back together and have driven it just over 100 miles with no problems. The crankshaft measurement was offset by the bearings. So when i measured the old one plus bearings, it came out to the same measurement as the new one plus bearings. Hope that makes sense.

I crosshatched all of the cylinders. I bought standard piston rings and received the wrong ones. I didn't know there are different sizes of standard rings :) Anyways, mine took the premium rings. Purchasing the wrong rings set me back about 5 days. Should have measured first.

Started putting everything together and measuring. The block is great, the crankshaft and bearings are on the low end of acceptable, but they seem ok, and the rods and pistons are perfect.

The really difficult part was putting the engine back in. One friend just had a baby the week before, one went out of town, and the other had family in town. I think they did it on purpose. So, no help from them.

So, my wife helped me. We couldn't slide the engine back in with the transmission hooked up. I had to unbolt the transmission mount, a couple of lines, and the exhaust in order to slide the transmission back. What a pain getting it lined back up with the engine! Literally took all day for this amateur. I am so glad my wife offered to help, she made things a lot easier. Plus, she is an engineer, so she was able to think things through and come up with different solutions.

There are advantages to having a hot nerdy wife.

A few lessons learned:

1: When changing and cleaning the block on head gaskets, make sure you cover the engine very well! Don't just use a towel like I did. If I had to do it again, I would buy a piece of plastic and fasten it down with some tape that doesn't leave residue.

2. When the guy at the store says it is as easy as just removing the crankshaft and replacing it, well he must not do a thorough job. There is a whole lot more to it than that. Thankfully I had a book.

3. Using friends and family members is nice for the big jobs. It sure beats getting in and out from the bottom of the truck and it also helps when you need extra tools.

4. Camshaft sensors can cause squeaking. I never knew that. I always thought it was the belt. It can also cause your oil pump to stop working.

5. The oil pump could be clogged even if you can prime it with a primer tool and your oil looks good.

I wouldn't tell someone that they couldn't do this job. You can! Just understand that it is very time consuming if you do it properly. Grab yourself a couple of torque wrenches, a good manual, shop around for parts, and you'll become friends with a local store that rents equipment.

The price of my build including crankshaft, piston rings, gaskets, and engine stand was probably around $450, plus all of my time. I already had all the other tools or I was able to borrow them. This saved quite a bit of money. If I just replaced the engine myself with a reman, it would of cost about $1800, if someone else did it, I was quoted $4200.

So, is the savings worth your time? In my case that is debatable.

This was a big enough job that this just may be my first and last rebuild. But knowing me, I will probably do it again if I have to. I am not too fond of people doing things for me.

 

Thanks for the update, good work