project restore vicky

[RCA1186]

You are a brave man! haha Gonna clean and re-paint the block and and everything while you got it apart?

[bobsblue95]

Wow, that seems like a lot of carbon on the pistons! how many miles?

[oldsmobile99]

rca yea might as well make it look good while it's apart
bob i believe he said 145,000 miles, it must have never seen wot lol

here's a few more pics
the car i was going to take the engine out of


more pics of the carbon build up lol cylinders and pistons are in perfect condition




head shot


head bolt with a little debris from threads


timing chains


and found something odd about the northstar, no cam bearings


here's how i took it to a tire shop for the balencer bolt to be removed

[RCA1186]

cool stuff! The timing chains look intimidating haha

[oldsmobile99]

Yea I thought that too when I first saw it. But its really not that bad

[bobsblue95]

nice going so far, keep up the good work!

[oldsmobile99]

its been awhile since i checked in last, been busy with work mostly lol
since you guys saw last ive ordered all the parts and got the block cleaned, heads are being cleaned now. i also went ahead and pulled the pistons out to check the wrist pins, there all good





all taped up ready to get drilled and taped for studs tomorrow





and being over carfull i taped the bottem end oil pasages





cleaned the pistons



bobsblue has been a huge help, helping me with studs , and tips on installing them. here's some of his advice
Hey awesome! Their recommendation is to put snug-fitting (to the sleeve, 3/8"?) all-thread into the hole and tack-weld the sleeve to the thread (at least two sides, they are tight!) then slide a spacer (large socket) over the all-thread and then a washer and nut. as you tighten the nut it should pull out the sleeve.

I didn't have access to a welder so I ended up literally drilling them out. I used another slightly larger bit and just carefully wallowed out the sleeves until they fell out. Not the best solution but it worked ok. Dremel tool might be better, but I didn't have one at the time.

They don't mention in the instructions that the 4 holes in the jig are not perfectly square, so you should draw a horizontal line on both sides (once you figure out the correct orientation.) and be aware that you can only rotate it 180 degrees, never 90. Oh, when tightening the jig down, make sure the target hole is aligned perfectly by looking at the concentric circles in the hole. You should see a thin, even (even thickness all around) ring of aluminum that you will be removing. Centering is critical.

Tons of chips and cutting oil, makes a huge mess. The better you tape up the block/cylinders (especially the valley) the easier cleanup will be later. Try saran wrap around the block (just thought of that.)

If possible, use a drill-press adapter to keep your drill perfectly perpendicular. I had to bend one stud after installation due to imperfect drilling. Bending a stud is no trivial task. Don't do it in the block or you may crack it. We clocked it and removed it and I did calculations and got the bend perfect first try.

Probably a good idea to go ahead and order another drill bit and tap (Granger.com) because the bits are fragile and the tap wears out. The tap provided did great for one side but the last few studs were really tight going in. Maybe proper cutting fluid would have helped, not sure.

Before you glue the studs in, test fit them all and test fit the heads, being careful with the head surfaces obviously. Two-man job at least, a third set of eyes would be better.

Hope this helps, and if it does, include it in your build thread.

Cheers,
Bob


thanks for veiwing

[lanceslambos]

coming along nicely! now is the time to throw somr 4.6 exhaust manifolds on it while the motor is out.

[nelson480]

So this is a 4.0 and not the 4.6?
Cant you just put the 4.6 heads on for that 50HP gain?

[beastboy1976]

Amazing job so far. You have far more skill and patience than I do. Thats why my mechanic loves my visa card so much LOL

[oldsmobile99]

yea lance i was going to do that if i can find some for a resonable price.
and nelson its just a 4.0, and i dont beleive the 4.6 heads will work on the 4.0. simply because the 4.6 cylinder is slighty larger in diaminter than the 4.0.

[beastboy1976]

Cool beans. When you get finished with Vicky, want to come to Oklahoma and work on SIlver??

[oldsmobile99]

thanks guys, yes it does take some patentice. i think all my patentice go's to this car cause i dont seem to have any patenice any other time lol beastboy id take you up on that but ive got my hands full lol i also helped out a fellow aurora driver and acna member, i cant remeber his username. but we've been friends for awhile now. we changed out his harmanic balencer on his 01 3.5

Well today i got the front bank drilled and taped for studs, i know it dosent seem like much but i took my time and made sure it was perfect. also ran into some trouble, i didnt file down the bit. so on the third hole it bite to hard and snaped in half.






wasent to much of a set back, went down to my local hardware store and bought the same length and size bit, just had to switch over the stop collor. but this one is a high speed steel bit, works better than the one suppleid



all the holes drilled and taped



thanks for veiwing

[nelson480]

Its coming along great, where did you learn how to do all this??

[oldsmobile99]

The stud kit comes with a very detailed three page instructions packet. and ive always learned by taking stuff apart, so when disasembling and engine i pay close attention to some clues and ways to make repairing it easier. ive also rebuilt the 3800 that's in my LSS, so the bottem end is not really any thing new except for the two peice block design.

[oldsmobile99]

plus forums and having a mechanics as a good friend is great too lol

[oldsmobile99]

havent got much done the last few days, ive been at work. but my headgaskets showed up so hopefully them on sometime this week. anybody know if i should use copper headgasket spray or not ?

[bobsblue95]

Aug 24, 2011 22:56:24 GMT -6 oldsmobile99 said:

plus forums and having a mechanics as a good friend is great too lol

Amen to that!
I didn't use any spray or anything on the head gaskets.

[oldsmobile99]

okay, thanks bob

[clutch1]

This thread is a good read, mad props!

[beastboy1976]

Yeah awesome Job. I havent gotten alot done to Silver either. Been recovering from a slight heart attack that I had Thursday, but I am feeling much better now.

[oldsmobile99]

thanks clutch1
and beastboy sorry to hear that, glad you feel better. and best of luck with your recovery !

finally got all the holes drilled and taped, hopeing to get the bottom end together wensday then heads on monday and then just butten everything up. those goals probably wont happen lol

also does anyone know the factory tourqe specs for the rod bolts ? those are the only ones i havent found. or if anyone has all the tourqe specs for the bottom end so i could double check my info lol

thanks

[oldsmobile99]

please anyone with a 95-99 service manuel please look up the rod bolt and main bolt tourqe specs. it would be greatly apertiated

EDIT: i found all the specs i need.

[oldsmobile99]

well got some stuff done today, got the pistons reinstalled



cleaned the lower section of the block.





got the bearings installed in the mains and rods







did run into a few problems as i started to assemble the bottom end. the angle meter that i bought today broke and didn't wanna read right, so probably just going to "stretch " the rod bolts the old fashioned way lol
and also when bolting down the rod caps the bearings wanted to get stuck to the Assembly lube. I'm was using lucas witch is pretty thick, going to change to a different kind.

thanks for viewing

[oldwino]

Looking good Josh!!

[oldsmobile99]

thanks oldwino

[oldsmobile99]

some updates, got all the rods all bolted and torqued. got the lower block half/mains installed


and no more oil leaks ;D used high oil Resistance rtv as the gasket for lower block and oil distribution plate, as per the resealing procedure.







all installed with new bolts and oil scraper in place



Then today i got the front head installed, new fel-pro head gasket and studs sorry no pics of just the studs installed.







What all northstars should have ... STUDS


Thanks for viewing guys

[bobsblue95]

I bet the anticipation is building...
It's a great feeling when you get her all together and she fires right up!

[beastboy1976]

Awesome. Vicky is comming along quite nicely

[RCA1186]

You better take a vid of the first start up! Lol looking good!