How bad is this?

[dougie30]

OK thanks guys

[RacingTowardsRed]

Make sure you seriously clean the cylinders out with compressed air

[5Toes]

use green scotchbright pads and a block of wood.

scotchbright is bad for an engine. The particles stick around and screw up your bearings

[SeatTime]

Are you taking this right apart or just trying to change the HG?

My opinion on this is I wouldn't put it back together like that. That little scratch is almost across the sealing land of the metal firing ring of the HG. These fiber/metal HG are not super tolerant to scratches. Maybe even a little combustion crud could seal that up, but you never know.

Strip it all down and get the deck milled. It sucks, but I'd rather have something I know will seal than be wondering when I'm going to get a leak.

I've dealt with many of these situations at work, and granted the financials are a little different, but it's almost always cheaper in the long run to do it right the first time.

[dougie30]

Are you taking this right apart or just trying to change the HG?

My opinion on this is I wouldn't put it back together like that. That little scratch is almost across the sealing land of the metal firing ring of the HG. These fiber/metal HG are not super tolerant to scratches. Maybe even a little combustion crud could seal that up, but you never know.

Strip it all down and get the deck milled. It sucks, but I'd rather have something I know will seal than be wondering when I'm going to get a leak.

I've dealt with many of these situations at work, and granted the financials are a little different, but it's almost always cheaper in the long run to do it right the first time.

i really dont have the time or money to take it apart and get it milled, but i might have to because after cleaning it a bit more i found this...

[dougie30]

the first pic is a vertical scratch that i can catch my finger nail on, not sure if thats bad or not.

the rest of the pics im not even sure what happend there, its a rough area between every set of coolant passages, im guessing the coolant crept in there and corroded it?

soo does this mean i need to re surface the block? or if it is still flat could i just put the HG on there?

[jlevie]

The corrosion around the cooling passages is sufficient cause to remove the block, tear it down, and have it milled. Once you are that far into it, new rings and bearings would be a darn good idea. But before any work on the block, have the machine shop check the cylinders to see if they are still within the wear limit. If the are surfacing the block and cross hatch honing of the cylinders will put the block back into good condition. If the cylinders are worn past the wear limit a good used engine will be the cheaper route. A set of overbore pistons can cost as much, or more, than a used engine.

FYI, do not have the block hot tanked. That will destroy the intermediate shaft bearings, which are a pita to replace.

[dougie30]

So there is no other way around this? Because I really don't have the money for all that. I was hoping to just put the gasket on and have the engine in the car soon. Its my daily driver I'm not doing anything crazy with it.

[dnguyen1963]

Ok, of you don't have money then you can try to spread a thin layer JB weld over the corroded area. Let that dry then smooth it down really good. Put on a new HG and call it good.

[dnguyen1963]

if you don't have money...

[dougie30]

I heard of that too, anyone else have some input on the job weld??

[whodwho]

I have done it in the past and it worked well, make sure to get it back flat or it can make it worse. It didn't look that bad, you can probably get away with a good shot of copper spray on the gasket, the worse that can happen is the cost of a HG and a set of head bolts.

[dougie30]

I decided I'm just going to get it resurfaced new bearings and rings and re-honed thanks for the help guys

[Exodus_2pt0]

Get a new oil pump if you're spending the money elsewhere. No fun to build yourself a fresh engine just to ruin it on a failed 200k+ mile oil pump.

[dougie30]

Hahah OK I'll remember that