Nath's Cleveland

[Mr Polson 10,214]

I would like to mention that you can occasionally get lucky, the Clevo I bought for $200 turned out to be a virgin bore 302, with cylinders in perfect condition. Heads and pistons were buggered.

 

In saying that I reckon I'd be hard pressed to find another block that good again so cheap.

[Nath 1,975]

That's true, will make a good coffee table.

 

Why is it always raining when I need to do stuff that involves laying on the ground

 

Manifold came up okay-ish after the vinegar/water bath. Degreaser bath barely touched any of the crap on the rockers. About to go get some diesel now.

[Free.51 2,717]

That sux about the weather nath,

Its nice & sunny here in melb today & just finished putting on brand new leads, oil/oil filter on my Zl.

[gerg 10,871]

Hypertec make that "302 rod" piston as ACL used to. Mid-$400 from Precision International. Forgies are mid-$600 last time I checked.

 

For your machine work it pays to shop around. Out west it may be a little cheaper than in your area, but not necessarily. You should ask for every operation to be itemised to see where the money's going. A lot of places (not necessarily machine shops) capitalise on the customer's indifference and quote an all-up price off the top of their head just to see if they can get away with it. Engine bore/hone should be around $200, deck maybe $150, full reco heads with hardened seats and bronze guides about $1000.

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

my 2 cents, try and clean the block up then measure it with a set of verniers if you can, you may find its already been rebuilt.

my biggest concern with a block like that is what the water jackets would be like and how much would be left after acid soaking it.

 

if you want to buy another engine, have a good look around, there is a lot of clevelands around and freight can be organised from interstate.

another option if you are hard pressed would be to buy an engine down here (i know of a bloke who would have plenty), send your 6" rods down here and i can point you in the direction of a very very good machinist.

don't fool yourself into thinking its cheap, id expect to pay 2K to have the block machined, a bottom end balanced and dummy assembly. minimum.

 

pistons etc are all easily available for a 6" rod combo too, ross, diamond, arias, precision intl etc all keep them in stock.

 

you can always collect your parts too then buy a block later on, everything except pistons & bearings that is, but they can just be ordered once you know what sizes you need, cam, heads, intake, carb, exhaust, etc can all be organised before hand.

 

don't get bogged down thinking its too big of a project either, chip away at it and eventually you'll have everything.

[XTREME KARTS XF 1,212]

One thing to remember Nath is to NOT over cam the engine. Yes you may like the lumpy and grumpy ilde but it will also effect the drivabilitly too. With that block i'd tear it down (keeping everything organised of course) send it off to a reptable machine shop and have them sonic check the bores and magnuflux it for cracks along with the heads and may be the intake if you plan on reusing it, plus the crank and con rods for bends, twist and size. If you have access to a quality dial bore gauge (no.1 tool if your serious about engine building) and quailty micrometers (i recommend mitutoyo) you can mesure them yourself along with the crank journals.

 

 

[bear351c 10,270]

Agreed....^^^   but only if you know how to use them.