tried searching for some and found nothing...
i'm currently dismantling and cleaning up the engine and i have some doubts...

1) have any of you painted the head? if so what parts? i guess the outside walls only and masking out where the inlet and exhaust gaskets go right?

2) i checked the condition of the main and big-end shell bearings and they look almost as new, there are no scratches, pitting, etc. so should i really change them? i know its a false economy not to change them but as i inspected other parts of the engine i came to the conclusion that the engine was very well maintained and the owner didnt thrash it. are the shell bearings expensive?

3) is there a way to remove the rust from the water galleries in the head and the block?

4) how can i tell if i need to change the piston rings? i took them out and looked for signs of pitting, excessive wear... but cant tell if they're in bad condish...


thanks a lot..

Tom

When I dismantled and rebuilt my Pinto I didn't change the mains or bigends as they seemed to be perfectly OK. I painted the outside of the head missing out the gasket areas. I didn't bother to descale the water ways but I did replace the core plugs. I didn't change the piston rings but I did run a hone down the bores. No problems so far.

Geoff

cheers Geoff... anyone else?

personally I’d never reuse old bearings, but at the very least get the micrometers out and check the crank and all the bearings are within their tolerances for size and roundness if you haven’t already – if they are within the tolerances and look good then there should be no reason not to use them

mine had been quite well looked after too, but with 151K on the clock I'm replacing everything, but the crank I’m using (not its original one) needed ground anyway so that means it had to get new bearings

the block + head are getting cleaned by the guy doing the machining (dipped in hot detergent and possibly acid - but I'm not to sure) that should get it very clean inside and out - I'll post some pics when I get it back