tearing down first engine for rebuild have questions on what I have found so far

hey everyone,

I am tearing down my first engine to rebuild it and I have some pics of the block deck( looks like the cooling water jackets are plugged up or something) dont know what would cause that? or what needs to be done?




also pic of some discolouration on the pistons( im guessing overheating???)


and pic of the camshaft that also has that discolouration.

any thoughts or help would be great thanks. Im not sure what needs to be done as far as machining, im guessing I will have to replace the camshaft, and Im planning on replacing the pistions but I would liket know what caused the disclouration. and im very curious about why those water jackets are plugged

anyone?

When I just had my engine apart it had the same brown baked on look on most of the inside of the block and the individual parts, not a sludge or burnt look exactly but more like coffee stained you know? I'm guessing it's just backed on oil deposits, I wouldn't worry about it too much if I was you. As for the cam and the block as far as machining goes you'll need to get all the stock specs for everything and check each area with either a micrometer or a dial indicator. I just plasti-gaged all the crank and rod bearings on mine and they were still good, no scratches or anything anywhere so I just skipped that part. I did find that most of cam lobes were about .05 short so I replaced that as well as all the lifters. I sent the head out to be inspected too and I'm glad I did because after 170,000 miles 2 of the valve seats were burnt and the valves were totally shot. It cost me $275 for the head work and about $600 for the cam, lifters, oil pump & pick up tube, thermostat and full gasket set. If you don't have a FSM I would buy one of those too, it will have all the info you'll need as far as specs for everything.

As for the clogged water jackets they will definitely need to be cleaned out. If you can't get it "all" out yourself having it hot tanked should do the trick.

Looks pretty normal. Its just carbon and oil baked on the pistons. Compare the water jacket holes to the head and head gasket. Some of them will be blocked intentionally.

The block needs to be hot tanked but since you said you are rebuilding it I would assume you are having it bored and the machine shop will hot tank it anyhow.

ya i plan on getting it pressure tested, magna fluxed, bored and whatever else it needs done..hopefully wont cost too much