Beretta.net

They are a lot stiffer(you can't hardly push the car down) than my worn out FE2 and just a bit taller. They are listed as a varying rate as are Moogs and the other brands on Rock Auto. I checked my springs for height and width before I set to buying anything.

Holy crap batman, I could eat if the underside of the car.

Yeah, they did a good job cleaning the internal stuff. The outside of everything else almost looked that same as when i dropped it off. I found someone to help with engine machine work in the future, so after the little fiasco i had at the shop i used, i wont be going back.

Mine look... Well it has rust proofing.. So it is a grease paste.

Haven't had much time to do anything over the last week. I did however get a new oil pump drive rod, and bushing, although, i found out the bushing makes no never mind to anything. So i have a new oil pump drive rod installed and for now, the drive gear assembly installed to keep the dirt out. 3400Modified had informed me of the proper way to prime these engines so im gonna hit the yard and see about getting another drive unit to prime the motor with.

I do have the short block done now too. I gotta say, been a while since i felt a new 6-60 roll over, but its nice and tight! Will be nice to have a new engine in my car that actually has some power to it.

Slugs down in





An overall showing the freshly painted block



Oil pan, pump and timing chain assembly installed



Timing cover painted and temporarily installed. Still need to install the front crank seal. Prolly take care of that tomorrow. I havent been feeling very well the last couple days so things are gonna be slow.



Im working today, which is the slowest day of the week, so i brought the heads and lower manifold in to clean up and get ready for install. I was debating on changing the valve seals since the heads are super low miles (30K), but since i have them off and there, im just gonna change them out. I dont want to half ass this and regret it later. Im just glad the head deck is flat, so that saves machine work.



Chuggin along a little at a time, but as a wise man told me (3400M), slow down. I was getting carried away for a little bit there and had to redo a couple things, but i got it sorted. More on the way...

Well, not much in the way of progress right now, but i do have the first head disassembled. So far, everything with it looks normal, aside from the oily nasty build up i encountered in the whole intake tract down to the heads.

Heres the pics of the 1-3-5 head:















I have alot of scrubbing to do to get that nasty ass oil build-up out of the intake ports. I am gonna do a valve lap job on it as the exhaust valves could really use it. I hope to make some more progress here this weekend. We shall see. Almost moving too slow, im running out of time...

So, i know im a bit slow to get this updated and i work further ahead than im posting, but not having a the internet at home and just the phone kinda blows. I hate doing updates on my phone on here. That, and posting pics on tapatalk sucks.

Anyways...I got both heads fully torn apart and cleaned up. Got the old stem seals out, checked everything out for wear, and it all seems good except for the exhaust valve seats. I am going to be lapping the valves back in, but the oil build up that i had to remove from everything really took its toll on those seats. The intake seats look pretty good, but i will still being lapping those as well.

I was able to get the intake ports on the heads fully clean. Its nice to not have sticky, gooey, crap stick to my fingers if they land in an intake port while handling.







Tried scrubbing the combustion chambers a little bit more too. 3400M suggested a steam cleaner, which, silly as it sounds, i may just go buy one, but we will see.



Got a few more things cleaned up and painted as well.

Water pump and crank pulley





Lower intake manifold as well





Some progress on the upper intake. Im still trying to get the red area done. Ive been working on getting the lines polished up bit, just to add some flair to it. Im hoping it comes out like i want. Gonna have the horizontal lines polished up, and the rest of the manifold painted to match the other aluminum parts.



I do have plans to knock off the two front tabs like everyone else does, just to clean it up some, make it look, well, cleaner lol. I found my valve lapping tool and got some compound. Im hoping over the next couple days i can get the valves lapped in and get the heads reassembled. I want to get thos suckers on the block and have a completed long block. Im getting a bit antsy here...

Okay, so here we go again...

Got a decent amount of work done so far. I have the heads done, bolted to the block, rockers, and pushrods cleaned and installed, lifters were soaking in oil and are all installed. For the most part, the long block is done. All i have left to do in that department is set the lower intake gaskets, torque the rockers and install the lower intake, prime the motor and install the valve covers.

Exhaust valves looked pretty knarley. Lapped them all in and were good to go there now.



Various pics of the combustion chambers







Same pics without the flash...

Took some pics on Monday, yes i know shes dirty...







........

Back to business...

Heads on





Gaskets set in place





My dummy oil pump drive plug for priming,



Were making steam here

Progress is booming

(paint car plz thx)

90GTZHO wrote:Back to business...
My dummy oil pump drive plug for priming,

Glad you got the idea correctly!

All with your help Jon. Some of this i couldnt have done without your advice! I owe you a beer...or two.

Mixer, paint will be last on the list. Theres still a fair amount of work on the exterior to do before i can even consider paint.

Im sure no one is in full suspense mode about my build, but i have a new, full, update coming in the next day or two. For spoiler reasons, the engine is 99.5% ready