300 hp N/A carb 2.8 V6 engine

[Purple pit]

Is it me or are those ports a bit on the smooth side?

[Will'sFiero]

You might want to look into Time-Serts, as rocker studs are a high load rather than high cycle application. Helicoils tend to pull out on high load apps (e.g. head bolts), Time-Serts tend to unscrew on high cycle apps.

Time-Serts install into the same STI-tapped holes as helicoils, so switching isn't a big deal.

Nice!

[veekuusi]

Cylinder head assembly.
ARP rocker arm studs 7/16 bottom and 3/8 top.
And 7/16" helicoils.

[Purple pit]

Oh yes, I see that now. Thank you. Damn it's been a long time.... wish I could do another build.

[3400-95-Modified]

I think he just tapered the end of it and didn't drill it out as it appears. The one on the left also appears to not have a spirol-lox in yet so that is deceiving in appearance.

[Purple pit]

Cool man, makes me feel better. You know I'm a fan! Hope that wrist pin holds up, looks a bit thin.

[veekuusi]

All the pistons came out to be the same weight? Planning to check the balance of the whole assembly?

2 new pistons came out from Diamond couple of grams heavier than the old 4 ones.
All the measurement are the same, but they did weight more than the old ones.
But we took material out of the wrist pins of those 2 pistons to get
all the pistons and wrist pins and rings to the same weight.

All the 6 connecting rods weight the same ,tolerantly in 1 gram.
And the balance of the whole assembly has been checked, it is OK.

You can see the new piston in the right ,wrist pin has been lightened (to reduse weight).

[Purple pit]

All the pistons came out to be the same weight? Planning to check the balance of the whole assembly?

[veekuusi]

I got the missing piston rings today.
Ben helped me.
I also got an extra set of rings, for the future.

[3400-95-Modified]

Damn that sucks! Best of luck getting them. Every thing I touch with my engine is turning into a crazy project as well lol gotta love building a performance 60° v6

[veekuusi]

I was thinking of putting the pistons to the block this weekend.
First you have to check the piston ring caps of course.
I was taking the rings out of the bag, I found out that there were only 4 rings.
4 top rings, 4 second groove rings and 4 oil rings.

I ordered a FULL SET OF NEW RINGS.
I checked the order, I did not mention that I have a 6 cylinder engine,
some one has thought I have a 4 cylinder engine.

I should have cheched the order earlier more carefully.
Now I have to get 2 sets of rings here asap.
Maximum one week.
They are Total Seal rings.
Lets see what I can do.
I do not want to put old rings to 2 pistons .

[veekuusi]

I had the billet crank checked for balance.
Crower had done good job.
It was OK.



And I can go on with the assemply

[veekuusi]

I am sorry not to have put input to this thread more often.
But I have been busy with other things.
Not so much have been going on in my garage.

The valve relief have been done to the 2 new pistons.





And I am working with the 3400 heads

[3400-95-Modified]

You mic the journals and then you use a mic to verify your bore gauge and check the ID of the bearing when torqued in place, obviously leaving the crank out to have access to the bearing. I just did this for my engine and verified the measurements with plastigauge.

My average main journal clearance was 0.0028 measured. I was instructed by a shop that it's better to be on the high side of the clearance with what I plan to do with it. Range is 0.0008-0.0025 for a street car factory build.

For reference my crank has a supposed 40k on it and the block is a 4k block. I'm using brand new OEM GM Bearings. Mic'd the journals at 2.6475, 2.6470, 2.6475, 2.6470 Bearing's installed and torqued came up at 2.650, 2.6502, 2.6502, 2.650

Basics

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/ctrp-1201-bearings-clearance-basics/