Mike7447 Posted June 9 Report Share Posted June 9 I don’t know why but I am starting to be “that guy” lately. I usually buy worn out junk, with the full intent to completely redo everything. That way, when I find some f’d up junk, it’s no big deal, cause I’m gonna replace it anyway. The last two cars however have been a different story altogether, I paid waaay too much for the 1980 Corvette project that’s currently stalled in my basement because I didn’t bother to ck what those cars typically brought at sale. I bought a giant piece of crap that needed everything,…. But this time I wasn’t planning on replacing everything. Stupid me. Such is the case for the Conquest. I bought this car sight unseen except for about 70 pics for probably what a lot here would consider premium dollar ( 13k) When I drove it the first day, I noticed it ran a little hot. I ck’d the radiator and it was waay low. I filled it with almost 3/4 gallon, and drove it the next day. The car ran way cooler. Actually ran very well, with no wierd idle or performance issues. I didn’t notice any smoke or smell antifreeze that you typically would smell if there was water getting into the exhaust, and when I pulled the old exhaust manifold off, nothing weird happened ( like antifreeze dumping out an exhaust port.) I ckd the oil. And while it was decidedly black and in need of a change, no typical chocolate milk mix could be seen on the dip stick. But today I pull the head, with the intent of getting it to a shop, and look at the cylinders… and this is what #2 looks like: Looks cracked to me, in multiple places. How can this be? The engine woulda smoked like a dog because water had to be able to come into the chamber. When I drained the oil only a little antifreeze came out, but I blamed that on the fact that I pulled the head before I drained the oil. I pulled the engine because one way or the other, this thing has to go to the machine shop The shop I use seems to be competent, and they did good work on the 2jz the last time. This time, I’m gonna have them sleeve that cylinder if it is cracked. the Aussie Engine before the 2j had all 6 cylinders sleeved, and it woulda been fine if the machine shop doing the work didn’t have monkeys working at the boring machine. 13 k for a car w/rusted out lower front fenders, sun baked leather seats, no Freon in the “ working” A/C. And now this. I definitely am “ That guy”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted June 10 Report Share Posted June 10 It’s hard to tell until you start cleaning it up. One of my blocks looked worse than that on there out of the four cylinders. It was sitting in storage for 20 years although the head was visibly cracked in two of the cylinders. The block was magnufluxed SAT and a 20mil bore cleaned it all up great. Sucks, but isn’t the end of the world. Blocks are easy to find, if needed, with everyone destroying, I mean swapping, the engines in these cars these days. My driver that had 97k original ended up having a cracked block and a head with an internal non-visible crack that sucked oil into the coolant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7447 Posted June 10 Author Report Share Posted June 10 38 minutes ago, kev said: It’s hard to tell until you start cleaning it up. One of my blocks looked worse than that on there out of the four cylinders. It was sitting in storage for 20 years although the head was visibly cracked in two of the cylinders. The block was magnufluxed SAT and a 20mil bore cleaned it all up great. Sucks, but isn’t the end of the world. Blocks are easy to find, if needed, with everyone destroying, I mean swapping, the engines in these cars these days. My driver that had 97k original ended up having a cracked block and a head with an internal non-visible crack that sucked oil into the coolant. we’ll see soon enough Kev. Weirdly enough, after pushing out the piston and wiping the cylinder down, the “crack” seemed to disappear, leaving more of what looked like a path that water took past the rings. It’s obvious that water sat at the top of that cylinder, and the engine laid over a little almost like this was sitting/laying around somewhere. and like you said elsewhere, the head configuration doesn’t jive with what it should be if it’s an 89 engine. Isn’t there any model year specific casting numbers on these engines and heads to denote that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted June 11 Report Share Posted June 11 89 should have the vin stamped in the back of block small pad under head, The head should be a jet valve hydraulic lifter head. Pistons if stock should have a 54 cast in top, check block deck close for cracks, off head bolt holes and water holes, have a machine shop Wet magnaflux it. Dad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7447 Posted June 13 Author Report Share Posted June 13 Machine shop confirmed that there is nothing wrong with that cylinder. ( That means the engine was pulled for no other reason than a good cleaning and surfacing, and new rings and bearings.) But at this juncture, that isn’t going to be the only thing I do to the engine. I Also confirmed that a .020 overbore will completely clean up the bores, so I purchased the +.020 wiseco pistons from Dad, along with a scad of other stuff to try and keep the engine alive when I start putting my foot in it. The head arrived today, It might have the proper exhaust valve in it. (At least a magnet won’t stick to it…. If it’s any better than any other exhaust valve based on that, IDK.) Hopefully the machine shop won’t drag butt here, and I’ll have everything back together and running in a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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