I sent my 5.4 off to rebuild the short block, i got it back and its not assembled correctly at all. Dowels are placed ***** nilly, side bolts on mains untightened, the main studs are probably over tightened, bore #1 has a visible unhoned low spot.

I need help starting over where this guy screwed up hard. Please pm me if you want your knowledge to stay private.

 

Start by calling the rebuilder up and telling him to take care of the problem or face legal action. Send him pics of the piece of junk he sent you. Once you start any work on the engine to make corrections you will be screwed. How do you plan to remove the low spot in number 1 bore??. Sounds like the engine maybe junk at this point. The torque to turn on a modular shortblock which is just the block and crank with rods and pistons installed, is 14nm-24nm.

 

I thought you already had a built motor?

What shop did the work?

 

Seams like you've been down this road a few times Klitch. What was it last time, - your trans builder ? Have you've been jinxed at some point ? Man, you've had some bad luck, but pull through somehow, -without killing a soul... AFAIK anywaze lol.

 

So now it sounds like you have to go thru a bunch a crap all over AGAIN.

Geezzz, -and it's very rare that you get compensated for all the extra time and hassle you end up having to go thru.

Lock up your guns and baseball bats. That would wizz me off to no end.

Good luck with this one buddy. I hope they take care of yuh, - sounds like a real shady builder, - very unprofessional.

 

Yes jbrew, last time it was the trans and its like im completely jinxed... its very hard not to lose my temper, i stress that very hard. Wish the lies and deciet would end with local vendors.

Str8 six: i had detonation or a plug go bad on me and take out cylinder 1. Spark plug had no ground electrode nor porcelain. Piston broke, shoved rings down bore and deposited some material to the bore.

Dynotech: i was really hoping you would show up, glad to see you drop in here with advice so soon. I have not touched the motor with a tool yet, but my miniature iron fingers did back out 9 of the side bolts on the main caps.
Bore #1 i want sleeved, they sleeved #6. Thus far, nobody has told me ill effect of sleeving 1 or 2 cylinders.

I am extremely agitated, and confused by what he described as "all he could do to hold the block on the table and torque the mains." That leads me to believe he over torqued the mains to an extreme extent. May have damaged internal threads, and probably messed up my crank as well as the main journals/caps. The precision matched dowels are ***** nilly, i have 3 i can pull out in the southwest corner of the block. Plus a few more intermittently. I feel this pulls the block and crank out of alignment/square.

 

Well if he "torqued' mains while it sat on a table then how did he set the thrust?...man....
No ill effect of sleeving other than the effect to your wallet and can you trust these guys to install a sleeve properly? He had to know that there was a bad bore finish on #1, I mean seriously. If the dowel holes are true you can have a machine shop nurrell the dowels so they fit tight in the holes,maybe. Well everything is hindsight at this point so you have to move on, the question is in which direction? I personally hate getting bent over by someone so I would look at my options to "encourage" him to make it right. Refunding your money would be the best as I sure wouldn't want him working on anything. Then maybe pay a little more for someone with a good reputation or buy a shortblock/longblock with a warranty. Good luck to you.

 

I have no idea how, or even if, he checked anything after laying the crank in.

Sleeves: Yes, pricey cylinder 6 looks smooth and flush, I can see a small, but easy to spot line at the bottom. I have no idea how to know if they installed the sleeve properly? Does properly mean bake the block, and freeze the sleeve for a interference fit? I did not see that capability there at the shop.

Speaking of smooth and flush, the deck, I can see my old gasket lines except around bore # 6, I thought common practice was to polish the gasket surface?

Bore#1: he is blaming his new guy, saying he trusts him and his machining. Insists the visible low spot is ok, looks like a "chip" in the finish.

You're correct, I have to move on, I need my truck out of that shop so my brother don't castrate me. So my question is, what steps, and checks are needed now that incompetence and carelessness have been in control of the short block.

How do I know if he damaged anything with my studs?
Will throwing the dowels in, the way he did, damage anything? Will it effect my crank, or is my focus and fear needed on the block and main caps only?

I paid $1100 for the short block (machine work included) and bearings. I thought I paid a little more already
But yes, I want a refund, I'll pay for the bearings though.


Again Dynotech, THANK YOU!

 

man that sucks to hear klitch! were your heads damaged any when it let loose?

have you thought about going with a shortblock from JDM, JLP, MHP, etc..?

 

The finish on the decks can have stains from the previous headgasket and as long as there are no scratches, dents, rust, gasket material etc.on them (clean)then you should be fine. We tested various degrees of deck finishes at Ford and found that a deck finish can be too smooth. When we used a fine brushed finish we actually had more head gasket leaks than with just a standard factory finish. The small low spot "chip" in the bore would depend on where it is located. If the spot is below the lowest area that the rings travel then it won't hurt anything. Depending on severity, a lowspot, chip, (bore finish defect), that the rings have to travel over can prevent a ring from rotating, generate a noise, allow oil consumption, blowby, and possibly excessive uneven bore wear. If we are talking about the cyl to deck locating dowels. Then locating dowels must be located straight so the heads are fastened in the correct location and don't move excessively causing the head gaskets to get stressed and leak. Without locating dowels the heads will move. However you can have the locating dowels in either just the top two holes or the bottom two and you will be ok. Not sure if thats the locating pins you are refering to. If its the engine to trans locating dowels then same thing they are there to make perfect alignment of those two components. Not clear how he could get either of these messed up though. You can purchase new dowels and install them easily. I would remove the mains and have someone that knows how to set the crank thrust (easy) and reinstall the mains for you. I think that should be fairly easy to do and if the bearings look good (not damaged) then you should be ok just follow the service torque procedure for reinstalling the mains. After the mains are all installed the perform a torque to turn which should be between 14nm and 24nm. My biggest concern with your block is the bore finish and of course the dowels.

 

Dowels I'm referring to, so I know we're on the same page (borrowing an image), are the ones located with main caps.

I have minimal concern with the locating pins for the trans and heads, They ain't round no more but I can handle that easily.


Low spot/chip is near the top of the bore, about where the rings stop, one chip may be above. I fear it will allow an undeseired effect, or attribute. I will try to snag a photo with my DSLR.

Today: His manager is suppose to come visit me, and look at it with me. I'm agitated by his carelessness by putting the main dowels in randomly, I still have fear that this carelessness could have caused damage to my block.



hurry up and wait

Hopefully, all I need to do is start over with the shortblock, and have #1 sleeved elsewhere now that this engine builder is all bent out of shape with me.

 

Not that bad really, no craters or dents, just had to have the valves worked over, had a sticky spot.


Short block: Nope, costs too much, this wasn't suppose to cost this much as it is

 

Well at least he got #1 and #2 main caps installed in order and correct orientation..lol
I have seen them installed in the wrong order before. Hopefully the manager will concur with your concerns. Good luck.

I just reread what you wrote with the pic and realized you "borrowed the images" In that case my first sentence above makes no sense..sorry...lol

 

The more i look the more carelessness i see, got a knick on a non critical point of my crank, but shows they werent careful or gentle with it.

Manager agrees we will refund the short block. Now i shall be moving on to my heads and finding what that valve job turned out like. Hopefully for my sanity they didnt screw up my fox lake heads, ill be livid and they wont like the bill.

Tonight i might get to pull my pistons and crank out so i can take the block somewhere else to be sleeved.

 

You may want to explore the option of obtaining another block vs resleeving. Could save you some money or cost the same and not have any sleeves....