Rebuilding a V6 which has 200K miles

[heyjewel]

I removed the engine many moons ago. Supposedly it had either a cracked block or a blown head gasket. After tearing it down neither myself nor my helper friend with lots of experience doing these kinds of things (though never on this Lincoln 3.0 DOHc) could see any problem even when slowly searched with a loupe. So we continued to clean it up and decide what parts to replace.
I did get a bit of a scare when I brought the crank n to be polished when the machinist said it looked too far gone. But when he measured it, it was good and he went ahead with it. Here's some pix of the way it looked when it came out. I'll take more when it comes back polished. You can see the damage to the left.

Here's the front cover. Sorry for the blur. This thing was black as coal before we power washed it.

A partially cleaned-up girdle AKA lower block.

Close-up of some damaged bearings.

A representative piston and rings.

Bottom of a piston which has been cleaned up just a bit

View of piston and rod. We will be replacing all the pistons and all the rings but the rods seem fine.

Finally a picture of the block after a power wash.

All a learning experience for me. Never been inside an engine before. THis old dog is learning some new tricks. Will post more when assembling new parts, some of which just arrived.

Oh, a few got posted automagically. So first is another pic of the block showing the oil cooler mounting point. And an end view of block and finally flyweel mount.

 

[gambling209]

Go man go!

 

[milehighmikey]

Nice write-up! Those pistons and rings, were you running full synthetic oil?

 

[heyjewel]

Nice write-up! Those pistons and rings, were you running full synthetic oil?

No. I confess to using Penzoil and not often enough.

 

[milehighmikey]

No. I confess to using Penzoil and not often enough.

QH ok. When my original engine failed due to a broken water pump impeller, the cams and other top of head parts were virtually new looking, and I was wondering if I would have found rings all coked up like that if I had torn it down. How's the rebuild going?

 

[Gearheadloco]

Great photos! I'm a few weeks behind you rebuilding my 2001 LS V8 version. I had no idea it was going to be this difficult to find engine parts for such a new car - but hey that's kind of part of the fun!

Enjoy the journey and keep posting photos and good luck on a great rebuild.

Phil
San Diego

 

[heyjewel]

QH ok. When my original engine failed due to a broken water pump impeller, the cams and other top of head parts were virtually new looking, and I was wondering if I would have found rings all coked up like that if I had torn it down. How's the rebuild going?

( QH ?)
We're going to replace the water pump.
My top end was pretty clean. Valves themselves needed cleaning (still do actually) Here's a pic of one of the heads after the paint deposits from the gasket have been cleaned off.
Even the valves are cleaned up a little here.

One thing we did find was a lot of oil deposited in the intakes.

Rebuild on hold cause the better half of the team is on vacation in Wisconsin. We're going to have a sit down when he gets back for a final decision point. (I'm only into this for lotta time and $50.00 for crank polishing at this point.) We must assuage my final fears stemming from parts needed:
1) hydraulic line feeding fan which I had to cut to get fan assy out cause the bolt, which I had the proper wrench for, rounded before it moved at all - can't find any available new but found some used ones on eBay for $200. Ugh. That's 1/6 of what I paid for a whole running donor car. We are considering 'patching' the hose...
2) the EGR metal tube to the exhaust manifold which broke as I removed it. Might also be patchable cause I've not located a source for it.
3) Several, then many, then all of the buckets fell out. And I had failed to mark them. So we're faced with attempting to adjust/shim them to clearance spec to get them back to proper operation ... as my mentor says we'll "figure it out". I remain unconvinced but something must be done here. There is a procedure for adjusting clearances with shims which looks like it will be long and tedious. A new set of buckets would be prohibitively expensive but we can get SOME sizes of shims. Fordpartsgiant for these. This was a MAJOR mistake by the grasshopper here.

All this said, I still have a fall back position which is a donor engine with 133K on it which runs real strong.

BTW here's a couple of pix of the top end as it sat on the engine stand for over a year.

And last, a question for you: did your Getrag look like this inside when you pulled it:?

 

[heyjewel]

Quick progress report: RH cylinder head has been cleaned up real good. Valves been also but the exhaust valves were all pitted. I was able to get the last 12 at rockauto. Intake valves look real nice. Put the intake cam on and checked bucket to camshaft clearance. Spec says .069 to .089. We were getting about .1 on all. So that's 1 thousandths too much. Searched high and low for shims to correct this and they are scarce in any size. I think I found some that'll work at fordpartsgiant but they're awfully expensive. We're thinking of having the valves faced 2 thousandths to bring em into spec.

 

[Gearheadloco]

HeyJewel,

Your work so far is very inspiring! I look forward to more pictures as your work proceeds. As I think you know I'm doing the same thing to my 2001 LS with the 3.9L V8 that I'm fixing up for my son, but you are many weeks ahead of me! Good luck and lets see if we can both be successful with the help of our machinist friends and mentors and the folks on this great forum!

Phil
San Diego

 

[heyjewel]

HeyJewel,

Your work so far is very inspiring! I look forward to more pictures as your work proceeds. As I think you know I'm doing the same thing to my 2001 LS with the 3.9L V8 that I'm fixing up for my son, but you are many weeks ahead of me! Good luck and lets see if we can both be successful with the help of our machinist friends and mentors and the folks on this great forum!

Phil
San Diego

Thanks Phil. Here's more:

Getting some parts has been tough. EG - exhaust valves. All 12 were pitted so we decided to replace. RockA had only 6 left of one mfgr and 6 more of another and that was IT. Ordered all 12. Only 6 fit. The second batch were Mellings and were 1/2 inch longer. I looked around on the RA site and found that these are meant for the Ford SOHC 3.0L So far rockauto customer service does not believe me and they have been waiting for 3 days for the mfr in S.Africa to confirm/deny these will not fit DOHC 3.0L. Argghh. They're great when they get it right which is most of the time.
Also getting shims to adjust the valve clearance is going to be tough. Most sizes are unobtainable, discontinued. We're trying to mix and match and have one row of intakes adjusted and most of a row of exhausts. Course that leaves 6 more of each. Shims are expensive too - appx $15 each.
Recall above that I was quite upset with myself for overturning heads and causing the buckets and shims to fall out? Well dont see now how it was a problem since valves had to be shimmed anyway and they all seem to have worn to some small degree.
Here's a couple photos of where we are now, assembling the upper and lower block with the crankshaft.

Next comes rings on pistons, install pistons and finish heads.

 

[heyjewel]

Thanks Phil. Here's more:
And more:
Rings on and pistons in.

One cylinder head torqued down. Other is waiting until I get a couple of gaskets and seals for breather and coolant inlet and outlet tubes.

Wanna say here thank the auto gods for Terrys Jaguar. Parts that I couldn't find anywhere on ford parts or rock auto etc etc were found and purchased from Terry's. And a couple of parts that were found on FPG were purchased for about 1/2 the price from Terry's. GOTO Terry';s first when looking for parts for the LS!!

 

[heyjewel]

Got some more pictures here. Progress has been slow. In part due to absolutely pulling teeth to get parts for this thing. And ordering what sites said were for my car but weren't. Worst example was attempt to get a timing reuild kit with new chains and tensioners and guides etc. Kits are all over every auto site claiming to be for everything with a 3.0L V6 DOHC engine. Well it aint so. They are for all those engines EXCEPT the one in the LS. Ford decided to put a different timing chain setup in this engine. So I ordered timing chains separately and used the tensioners from the wrong kit I ordered. I could get three of the 4 guides singly but decided to put the old ones back in rather that have 3 from another source that OEM. Last weekend I noticed one of the lower shock bolts was missing. as I began fitting my new Stance shocks to the car. Another discontinued part. What to do?
So heres a few pix:

Here's a pic of the chain guide I cannot get (on the right) and the one that's included in every timing kit set for this engine. Sorry no fit.

Innards of timing area.

and again showing the old chain guide in place.

2 of where we are now, with front cover on. Sorry I forgot to take a photo with all the timing components in place.

Next is oil pan and accessories and valve covers etc. Soon (I hope) on the road again..just cant wait to get on the road again ...

 

[heyjewel]

Next is oil pan and accessories and valve covers etc. Soon (I hope) on the road again..just cant wait to get on the road again ...
***************BUMP***************

Still not on the road and making progress still slow.
I have been doing some work rebuilding other parts of the car as well.
One roadblock was I had to send the rear Stance shocks back. Twice. First wrong size shock bolt hole, then upper adjustable mount too short. They are back and on the car now. Also replaced rear sway bar links and the sway bar bushings - thanks to Devin on some procedures there. Finally the rear steering links.
Back to the engine. Here's a picture of where I was at end November.

Since then I've hung the wiring harness, connected several electrical hookups, added gaskets and the intake manifold, installed 6 new motorcraft coils, installed the exhaust manifolds and a couple more things.
Will have another picture soon. Was hoping to get engine/transmission instaeed by Christmas. Now looks like New Years at besy Pluggin away though.
Merry Christmas/Happy holidays to all.

 

[milehighmikey]

Looks good (George?). I just put my V6 up on the lift for the winter (I park my WRX underneath it) I sure hope it runs well. That's a huge investment you've got into this project. Oh, my ending ODO reading for 2017 is 306,5xx. I had a trouble-free year with only a hydraulic fan solenoid failure at the worst possible time, and a noisy brake caliper from rattling on too-lightly-greased slider pins. Other than that, it was a pleasant 10K mile year for her. She allowed me to swap out my WRX block to a new factory OEM short block, which I finished just in time for the weather to drive the LS into hibernation. I can't ask much more of this LS but man I am so happy with what it's given me over the years. In my divorce court testimony, the ex to be was trying to clean me out alimony-wise. I used the old "My car is going to be 10 years old next year and has 140K miles on it! I need room for a car payment in my budget." The judge must have known what I was driving, because he did not leave me with any ability to make a car payment. And then the LS lasted and lasted. Until the plastic water pump impeller failed at 276K and opened up the coolant to the combustion chamber internally. $400 later, I had an engine with 110K on it and installed that baby. It's been smooth sailing for the past 2.5 years on that engine.

To recap, your engine may last you 300K miles so hopefully, the car can keep up with that. Happy holidays!

 

[heyjewel]

Looks good (George?). I just put my V6 up on the lift for the winter (I park my WRX underneath it) I sure hope it runs well. That's a huge investment you've got into this project. Oh, my ending ODO reading for 2017 is 306,5xx. I had a trouble-free year with only a hydraulic fan solenoid failure at the worst possible time, and a noisy brake caliper from rattling on too-lightly-greased slider pins. Other than that, it was a pleasant 10K mile year for her. She allowed me to swap out my WRX block to a new factory OEM short block, which I finished just in time for the weather to drive the LS into hibernation. I can't ask much more of this LS but man I am so happy with what it's given me over the years. In my divorce court testimony, the ex to be was trying to clean me out alimony-wise. I used the old "My car is going to be 10 years old next year and has 140K miles on it! I need room for a car payment in my budget." The judge must have known what I was driving, because he did not leave me with any ability to make a car payment. And then the LS lasted and lasted. Until the plastic water pump impeller failed at 276K and opened up the coolant to the combustion chamber internally. $400 later, I had an engine with 110K on it and installed that baby. It's been smooth sailing for the past 2.5 years on that engine.

To recap, your engine may last you 300K miles so hopefully, the car can keep up with that. Happy holidays!

Mikey - wow, 306,000 miles! You've given me something to shoot for.

And divorce court! Been there done that. Ugly stuff. Good job pleading poor.

Yes name is George and I do have a rather good bit of $$$s invested in getting this car on the road again. The two most expensive items were the Stance shocks which are now installed front and rear, and the new clutch which is still in the box. I'm not even sure I needed that once I saw the old one. But it's going in anyway along with new slave cylinder.

At this point I'm pretty well done buying stuff and I'm over $3300 in. But remember that includes more than the engine rebuild. Stance alone were $1100. And I put Brembos on the front, turned all rotors, rebuilt a lot of front and rear suspension, etc. Yeah, no one needs to tell me that I've spent about what this LS might be worth on market. It's worth more than that to me.

 

[heyjewel]

Here's 2 pics of where I am now. Bolts not in the upper intake yet because I had to order two hoses for the PCV area which were cracked and loose.

 

[SRT392Guy]

I feel you on the rebuild. Dropped my motor off at the machine shop last week. Blown head gasket and the previous owner set it out in the backyard for two years after it blew.

I'm trying to restore it, pretty much. Parts are very hard to come by. The entire engine bay was toast, with surface rust really bad. I realize these cars aren't worth a lot, but I like it and will keep it for a long time. The major salvage yards in Kansas City seem to have about 10 or so of these out on their lot at any given time, and they only sit for a few weeks before getting crushed. I've scored a lot of useful and discontinued parts. With the LS only being made for a 6 years, they sure seem to be going out fast. I can see with my 3.9 why they are difficult to work on.

 

[heyjewel]

Here's a few pix of my rebuilt 3.0 and Getrag ready to go back in. Whew. And fingers crossed.

 

[milehighmikey]

Did you drop the subframe for this or did you pull it through the hood?

 

[heyjewel]

Did you drop the subframe for this or did you pull it through the hood?

Came out and will be going back in through the hood. Very carefully.

 

[milehighmikey]

Oh my! Good work! The dropping of the subframe and engine/transmission was not for the faint of heart in a home garage, when I did mine. I have a lift and also had a scissor lift kicking around when I did mine, so I was able to get the whole package onto 5 jack stands on the scissor lift, then lift the car away while also dropping the scissor lift to working height for trans and engine removal, but that method resulted in difficulty positioning the engine hoist legs in far enough to pull the engine away from the K brace. That said, it must have been hairy pulling all that through the hood! It sure did look mint though when the sub frame was sitting down with the engine, transmission and entire radiator/ac condenser sitting all together. I will extract a photo of the assembly from my old phone next chance I get. It gave access to parts of that engine that you could only dream of when it is installed in the car. When is it going to be installed?

 

[cammerfe]

Just a mild heads-up. Ford (and others) have gone to molded hoses and such and most are hard to find and very expensive. You can easily buy a length of hose and use it instead. The installation 'path' won't be quite so neat and unobtrusive but it works just fine. The same thing is true of the pre-bent tubes.

Other sources for shims may be much more friendly. Bucket tappets are common. And, at least on V8s, Jag stuff is more easily found. There ARE large parts operations that work outside the usual factory lines and bring stuff in, for local stock, directly. One such place is in Kalamazoo, MI, although I don't remember the name offhand. (I'd have to go dig in a box where I stored that sort of stuff, and the box isn't here.)

Good Luck!

KS

 

[heyjewel]

Oh my! Good work! The dropping of the subframe and engine/transmission was not for the faint of heart in a home garage, when I did mine. I have a lift and also had a scissor lift kicking around when I did mine, so I was able to get the whole package onto 5 jack stands on the scissor lift, then lift the car away while also dropping the scissor lift to working height for trans and engine removal, but that method resulted in difficulty positioning the engine hoist legs in far enough to pull the engine away from the K brace. That said, it must have been hairy pulling all that through the hood! It sure did look mint though when the sub frame was sitting down with the engine, transmission and entire radiator/ac condenser sitting all together. I will extract a photo of the assembly from my old phone next chance I get. It gave access to parts of that engine that you could only dream of when it is installed in the car. When is it going to be installed?

Mid next week.
I pulled it out myself and damaged an AC hose and the PS hose thru carelessness. I will have my mentor with me putting it in which hopefully will allow avoidance of any hose damage. We plan on dropping it literally inch by inch.

 

[heyjewel]

Just a mild heads-up. Ford (and others) have gone to molded hoses and such and most are hard to find and very expensive. You can easily buy a length of hose and use it instead. The installation 'path' won't be quite so neat and unobtrusive but it works just fine. The same thing is true of the pre-bent tubes.

Other sources for shims may be much more friendly. Bucket tappets are common. And, at least on V8s, Jag stuff is more easily found. There ARE large parts operations that work outside the usual factory lines and bring stuff in, for local stock, directly. One such place is in Kalamazoo, MI, although I don't remember the name offhand. (I'd have to go dig in a box where I stored that sort of stuff, and the box isn't here.)

Good Luck!

KS

Yes I'm using a length of hose to replace the hydraulic fan molded hose. I am not anticipating any problems. I got the shims and a couple other parts I needed from Terry's Jaguar. Very helpful.
The only part I could not find anywhere was one of the timing chain guides. So I put all four originals in. Hoping they wont fail.

 

[heyjewel]

It gave access to parts of that engine that you could only dream of when it is installed in the car. When is it going to be installed?

It's IN!

Here's two after it made it into place. As my helper manned the hoist I was under the car. We had a strap tied to the transmission output shaft which I tugged on real hard to get the tranny through the hood opening. Whole shebang was tilted as close to 30 degrees or so as we could get so trans would fit. Engine then just dropped into place inch by inch. Whew!

I've completed connections etc. Power steering high pressure hose was a b____, I had to remove the pump from the engine to get the connector started and tightened, and access to starter a bit of a prob but all else pretty easy. Exhaust system goes on today and PS and Hyd fan reservoirs too I hope. Then radiator and fan and then fluids and turn the key. Here's hoping it starts right up.