Engine on 22' touring

[Shawn_P]

Hey guys!

Ok this weekend being a long weekend for us canadians, i decided to disassemble my engine on the 22' gettin it ready for paint. I came across a few issues id like to throw out there for you guys maybe you have some other ideas for me. First issue i came across is this:

Where the connecting rod of the piston connects to the crankshaft (guys also bare with me im not a mechanic by any means and if i am calling something different bare with me.) I have horizontal play probibly a total of 1/32 side to side motion before it hits the sholders of the crankshaft. Is that normal? 3 out of 4 pistons have side to side play on the connecting rod to crankshaft. So my two quesitons for that is this. How much play is Allowed? And what is the remedy to fix the problem. Also Am i going to interfere / damage the bearings to fix this problem.

Second question.

I noticed once i had the engine completely apart / Pistons, valves gears and all are still connected i didnt remove any of the major internal components. Anyhow One of my Valve tappets has been cracked in half. It still works fine, moves the valve no problem, just missing half the circle. how much work is it to remove the camshaft to replace this tappet? Any suggestions other then start at it and take it apart piece by piece?

Third Question.

I know this questions answer all depends on how much money you want to spend on this, Now that i have gone this far with the problems i have stated above, Should i go and get the engine rebuilt with new pistons, new bearings and valves. Or would you guys recommend just fixing the minor problems. WHen i turn the flywheel ever so slightly i hear a metal clanking sound as something is loose. I dont know if it would be that space on the Connecting rods? Or what...

Also What do you guys recommend for degreasing this bad boy? I was thinking of grabbing a few gallons of varsal setting up a pump system and just pump varsal and use a brush to break of the grease and grime? I need a lot of it? any suggestions on a powerful degreaser thats cheap and i can get alot of?

I dont think a bottle of dawn will cut this grease

Shawn

[nearchoclatetown]

I'll bite on this if you don't hold it against me. Sounds like you took a lot apart just to paint. Does your engine smoke like that ALL the time? If so, you probably need a rebuild. You may want to consider what you use your DB for before you spend the $$. In other words, you may want to leave it alone if you just play once in a while, or if you have a mosquito problem. Get a repair manual, it should give the side clearance for the rods. Mine says .010, you can check it with a feeler gauge. Too much is better then not enough. Bearing to crank clearance can be checked with Plasti-gauge. Make sure the set screws that hold the wrist pins are tight and safety wired. I've been useing COLD Easy-Off oven cleaner to clean parts with. It says not to use on aluminum, but I've not had any trouble. Wear gloves!! Fix the tappet while you're this far. You may want to do a valve job while apart. This is ALL just my opinion.

[Shawn_P]

Thanks for the input! This engine was encased in grit and grime, It was used as a tractor so it had a lot more contact with airbourn dust then most... So i took everything apart execpt the main engine parts to degrease it clean it up and get it ready to put back together for paint. Yes i know i took off more then needed to paint this engine but like i said i just wanted to make sure that all the oil and grime were gone. Ill have to look at the book again to see what the recomended play should be on the connecting rod...I might leave the engine as is, fix the tappet and put it back together until somnething goes wrong and then deal with rebuilding the engine... ill have to look into the easy off... i was just thinking getting a vat of varsal and just dipping the engine in...

[Jan Arnett]

Shawn: Now that you have the engine apart you are over the hard part. The first thing you need to do is take some cloth and wrap it around each journal on the crank and then cover with several layers of tape. You want to tape it so it does not come loose. This will protect the journals as you work. Disasamble your oil pump and clean it. Take all the oil lines loose and get a bottle or test tube brush to clean them. Remove the main caps one at a time and plastigage them. Blow the oil lines down with the caps off and run kersosene through them to clean up. Cap off the lines. If you use oven cleaner keep it away from bearning surfaces. Varsal will not break down the gunk except with some effort but it will work with some scrubing. Now you have to decide what to do in rebuilding the engine. You are through the hard part. I recommend that you grind and seat the valves, replace the tappet, hone the cyc and put new rings in. While you have it apart these items are easy to do and relatively inexpensive. Get a good bottem tap and clean all holes. Get a good die and clean all studs. Remove the exhause studs and replace while you have it apart. Run a straight edge on the block and head to make sure they are not warped. Send me and Email address and I can send you picture as I just went through the process. By the way your pan is galvanized and will react with oven cleaner.

[Shawn_P]

Jan:

I have new valves to install on this engine, that was one of the reasons why i completely ripped apart this engine. I also had two bolts break off on me that im gonna have fun redoing. One of the exhaust bolts, and the water elbo bolt that goes into the block it broke off on me... Good idea with the cleaning of all of the oil ports ill definately make note of that. One thing im not too sure what you are talking about Jan is "remove the main caps one at a time and plastigage them." ive never heard of plastigage? what is that? Now can i take my block to any engine rebuilding shop to do the piston rings? Or is that something that i need to take to a place that rebuilds this kind of engine?

[Jan Arnett]

You can think of plastigage as plastic feeler gages that you put between the cap and the journal and tighten down the cap. You then remove the cap and measure the plastigage. There is a little measurement paper that you match up to and it tells you how much clearance. Any auto supply store will have it. The installation of rings is a simple matter. Remove the rings from the piston carefully and they can cut like a razor. Put the piston back in the cyc. and measure the distance from the side wall to the piston. There is a go/no go limit that Romar can provide you with. If you are outside of the limit you should bore the cyc and put in over size pistons (expensive) or you can just hone the cyc. with a cyc. hone, put new standard size rings on and reinstall. When you reinstall you will need a ring compressor (cheap) or several large hose clamps (free) to compress the rings. You insert the piston from the top and tap the piston in. As the ring goes into the cyc. the piston compressor will side off. Get on internet and look up piston installation. It doesn't matter if it is a modern engine or and old dodge the procedure it is the same. When you put the piston in make sure the end of the rod does not hit the crank. I like to put a coat of break in lube on the crank journals before I start. I also like to turn the engine so that each crank journal is at the bottem of the stroke as it gives you more room.

[Jan Arnett]

One other item is to make sure you put the same pistons in the same cyc and they are oriented the way they came out. The rod bearing need to be on the same jornals as they develop a wear pattern. The original Dodge had numbers on the pistons but they may have been changed

[Shawn_P]

Makes sense ill look into the rings and take it from there.. thanks everyone with your input