So, I got all of my stuff back today. I had my complete rotating assembly balanced, my block bored .020 over and had my piston rings installed. Everything looks great and I have a few questions to ask you guys. I have JE pistons and Eagle rods, when I install the rods on the pistons, do I put assembly lube on the wrist pins? On the bed plate, what do I use to seal it to the block, I think RTV right?? And if there's anything else I am forgetting about that is easy to forget, let me know, I should be up and running very soon, I am so pumped!! :love
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

um... how did you get the rings installed w/out having the rods connected to the pistons? anyways, use the lub on the wristpins, and use anerobic sealant on the bedplate.. loctite 518

I don't know how they put the rings on, the machine shop did it, they had the block, pistons, and rings, is that bad?? Also, when I put the pistons in the cylinders, I soak the piston in oil and how close do the rings have to be to 180* staggard?? If I eyeball them at 180, will that be okay? This is my first bottom end rebuild, so I really trying to do everything perfectly. Thanks for the help.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

I dont understand how the hell they installed the rings without the pistons... wtf? The rings go ON THE PISTONS and are adjusted to your bore. Now im not 100% sure on that because i had a machine shop assemble my built short block... but thats how i thought it worked?
I mean I have played with pistons with cracked rings and shit... so im like 99.999% sure...




Nick
97RS

Originally posted by Collente
I dont understand how the hell they installed the rings without the pistons... wtf? The rings go ON THE PISTONS and are adjusted to your bore. Now im not 100% sure on that because i had a machine shop assemble my built short block... but thats how i thought it worked? I mean I have played with pistons with cracked rings and shit... so im like 99.999% sure... Nick 97RS

The shop did have the Pistons, they didn't have the rods. Anything alse I am forgetting? Thanks a lot for all of the help guys, I will return the favor some day when someone else asks the same kind of questions.

~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

you do know that they bore and hone the cylinder to match each piston right? do you know what piston goes in what hole? the rings definatly need to be gapped in the cylinder that they will go in. make sure the pistons are installed in the right direction on the rod and make sure you install the rods facing the right way too. use nothing but anirobic sealer for the bedplate. as for the rear seal the most important thing is make sure it is in straight. no need to soke the piston in oil just lube the cylinder really good before you install them and don't bend any rings. have fun.

It dont matter when the rings are put on as long as they dont get damaged. You dont need to soak the pistons either, just wipe a healthy coat of oil on them. Do you have a ring compressor? if not, get one. If you do, then coat the inside of it with oil also. Stagger the compression rings at 180, they dont need to be perfect either. Put the top ring pointing toward a corner of the piston skirt near where the wrist pin is, but not above it anywhere. Put the other compression ring 180 from it, and the oil ring at 45 from that. The gaps should be kinda like a triangle when finished. You can put rings on any way you want, you just dont want the compression ring gaps near eachother or you will loose compression and burn more oil then normal. It's best not to have the gap towards the skirt side of the piston.

More questions, when installing the rear main seal (the seal that's by the flexplate right??) do you have the bedplate on or off?? I don't know, help me out. Also, is there a big O ring behind the oil pump that goes up to the block as well as the RTV?? Thanks for helping me get my baby up and running, if all of this goes right, I'll be around 300whp, once I'm done with the bottom end, I'll know what I'm doing. Thanks.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

what kind of setup are you running?

Hmmm, well let me begin. Ported and polished head, stainless rev valves, crower 2 cams, crower springs and titanium retainers, fidanze cam gears, SBI rockers and lashers, ported and polished intake manifold, modern performance 60mm tb, Eagle rods, JE .020 Over pistons, JE rings, Clevitte main and rod bearings, balanced rotating assembly, Unorthodox UDP, melling Oil pump, Carter water pump, Crank scraper, star stage 2 turbo at 15Lbs with an SFMU, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. That's about it though.

Back to my questions up there though ^^^^^^^^^^ :)
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

Originally posted by powellds
Hmmm, well let me begin. Ported and polished head, stainless rev valves, crower 2 cams, crower springs and titanium retainers, fidanze cam gears, SBI rockers and lashers, ported and polished intake manifold, modern performance 60mm tb, Eagle rods, JE .020 Over pistons, JE rings, Clevitte main and rod bearings, balanced rotating assembly, Unorthodox UDP, melling Oil pump, Carter water pump, Crank scraper, star stage 2 turbo at 15Lbs with an SFMU, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. That's about it though.

sitnlo made 314whp-315ft/lbs of torque with that same set up but with the hahn kit and a s16g at 18psi totally untuned with 42# injectors

Originally posted by powellds
More questions, when installing the rear main seal (the seal that's by the flexplate right??) do you have the bedplate on or off?? I don't know, help me out. Also, is there a big O ring behind the oil pump that goes up to the block as well as the RTV?? Thanks for helping me get my baby up and running, if all of this goes right, I'll be around 300whp, once I'm done with the bottom end, I'll know what I'm doing. Thanks. ~Jeffo Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

Bedplate must be on to install the rear main seal. I used a small hammer, and gently tapped it in place. Put the seal FLUSH with the metal edge of the block. Use ONLY ANEROBIC sealant on the bedplate. Do NOT use RTV! Do not forget the O ring that goes between the bedplate and block, right at the main oil pump feed hole coming from the oil filter block. As for your questions earlier, for ring staggering, any chiltons will have diagrams to where to put the ring gaps..Use assembly lube on the wrist pins, and oil on the pistons/rings/cylinders/ring compressor tool. You want to use liberal amounts of assembly lube on all bearing surfaces, which include the rod bearings, main bearings, and cam cap bearings. You must also use AEROBIC sealant on the oil pump-to-block connection, not RTV if possible. Be sure to use a good torque wrench, and torque to spec all major bolts such as the bedplate, rod bolts, oil pump, head, cam bearing caps, ect. One trick for the head studs/bolts, is once you have them all torqued to spec, let it sit for 15 minutes or so, and re-torque to spec.

Alright, fisrt off, thanks for all of the help everyone. Second, I have my bottom end gasket kit, and I Identified the Front main, the small O ring that goes between the bedplate and the block, the oil pan gasket, and I have quite a few other ones that I have no clue where they go. I have the Fel Pro bottom end gasket kit from Howell, anyone else ever buy that kit??? If so, did you have anything left over? I just don't remember all of these damn O rings and other gaskets from when I took it all apart. Am I missing something here?? Any input would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I got my crank, rods and pistons installed, looks great and everything went smoothly. Thanks for reminding me about the O ring between the bedplate and the block XtremeRS, you really saved my ass on that one, I almost forgot it. Thanks fellas.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

I did and I had things left over. Pretty sure that I got all the gaskets replaced as well. Some of them just go to random pieces that you may not have broken apart, so no need to replace them.

Oh, don't ever buy from howell again. I got fucked by them when I bought from them.

Make sure that you have the correct pistons as well. ;)

Does anyone know what to torque the rod bolts on the Eagle rods? A spec sheet came with it, but they got thrown out by accident. The stock ones are 20 lbs, but the Eagle ones have to be more than that, right?? Let me know, Thanks for all the help again.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my tail lights? Yeah, well get used to looking at them.

the stock ones are like 20lbs then 1/4 turn. dont do that with the eagles. torque them to 28lbs using their moly lube on the bolts.