Engine building? Have a couple q's....

I have a few things I need help with as far as putting together my bottom end. I have no idea about ring gap, if I have to gap them, if they are pre-gapped, or if I have to send them out to be done...how do I know any of this? When installing the bearings, do I need to just put on some assembly lube on the seats and bearing both? then torque everything down...

If anyone has some basic tips, or things that are a little out of the ordinary that I might just miss, please share. I know the trick with fuel hose on the rod studs, to help them seat on the crank easier, but any other tips, tricks, info I may need, please let me know!

Edited: 7/21/2008 6:04:37 PM by scraper631

hey bro on the bearings yeah you need grease on the crank side and the cap side.i dont know what you are useing for grease but i have always used the white lithium grease.

thats weird it oinly put like 1/2 my post up

so the white lithium in the spray cans will work fine? once the oil gets going that will help as well, correct?

SAE 30 works for rings and pistons im told, is there something better than regular white lithium grease?

Edited: 7/21/2008 9:45:37 PM by jmezzy720

for all my engine builds to lube stuff up i just use engine oil. I would trust that more than lithium grease. just personal preference though. and i use that on everything from cams and lifters to rod and main journals. But i know that there are a lot of application specific products that you can buy. just a trip to the parts store. the best place to go though is the book store. Tons of engine rebuilding books out there

didnt even think of that! they may have one specific to the 22r being its such a well known motor.

how do you prime th motors? i know u can spin the dizzy hole on ford and chevy's, but ive heard of something like packing the oil pump? any info on that? seth?

When building a motor, different components need to be addressed specifically.

-Pistons and rings should use plain ole' motor oil.

-Main, rod and cam bearings should use an assembily lube designed specifically for that purpose or a high moly content bearing grease like Swepco. There are a few different types of assembly lube, but white lithium is not a good idea.

-Cam lobes and lifter faces (non-roler) should use a came lobe lube. Most new cams will come with a tube of this stuff, it is very important if you want your cam to live for any length of time. Also, if you are running hydraulic lifters, soak them in motor oil for a few hours to purge most of the air from them.

-Any bolts that get torqued should also have black grease aplied to the thread as well as under the head of the bolt, that way the friction of the bolt won't mess with your torque readings. This is especially important on head bolts.

-Packing the oil pump with white lithium grease can aid in pumping oil quicker than a dry pump, but if you can prime the oil system before starting the motor, it's not as important.

my biggest concern is actually putting it together. i've read a couple places and heard that you sometimes have to torque some parts down then loosen then torque down again like 3 times before it's finally finished. I know how the bottom end goes together, but not the specifics on how to actually torque things down how they should be outside of just plain torqueing them down to the right specs on the wrench.

this is where the books come in. Almost every manufacturer is different. and if you've added aftermarket heads they also probablly have their own specs same as rods cranks etc. I can highly reccommend an electronic torque wrench. they are pricey i paid close to 400 from my snap on but worth every penny. Also when putting it together be as careful as can be about not scratching any journals or lobes these can lead to premature failure of parts.