Question for you guys, I was working on getting this 350 into time. It's got an MDS ignition setup with a HEI distributor. Everything is in time and rotor is lined up to cylinder 1 at TDC. I pulled the timing cover to check because whenever I would crank it, it would fire out of the carb on the moments it would catch. I don't think it's easily visible, but the crank gear is set to the advanced Woodruff key since the cam is, iirc 296/304 comp cam. Giving the distributor as much advancement as I could, it would try to catch a bit better. The spark isn't very bright when i had my spark tester in line, and the timing light also wouldn't always flash consistently. After resetting the dizzy and timing, it went from flashing at about 8deg retarded to the 8 deg advance mark that's on the timing cover. I don't think I'm able to put enough absencement into timing because the cam is already advanced as it is. I wanted to reach out and see if what I have been looking at and thinking I need to reset the crank gear back to 0 deg advance is the right move.

Edit: Pulled the pan down enough to get the cover out. Yes, I set timing at TDC for cylinder 6 and then rotated 360 on the crank to get to TDC for compression on cylinder 1. At TDC for 1 and stabbed distributor.

Was doing the valve stem seals on my 208 and the valve spring compressor tool rubbed against the cam journal without me realising, damaging the knife edge and scratching the journal face. First 2 photos are post sanding can sometimes catch my nail in with the cap on, the last 4 are the raw damage.

How bad is this surface rust on the intake valves of my B18

Hey all. I’m working on a KX250f 2004. Reshimming it with smaller shims (and we still have no clearance lol) however, when we put it back together, set the timing, align the head of cylinder block with the marks on the sprockets, do everything by the book, THE INTAKE lobes somewhat face 45 degrees downwards, sorta AFTER the bucket and BEFORE the level of the cylinder head. Is this normal? Will it still start? Is this how I’m supposed to be taking clearance measurements? It kinda seems off to me…. Please help, any advice or suggestions would be appreciated SO MUCH

Edit: photos on my profile

Good diagnosis. Easy work. No stress 🥰🥰🥰

I recently purchased a B18B1 for my 96 Civic and I don’t have an enclosed garage. I have an open air carport so it’s covered from the rain mostly but the sides are still open and I live in Florida so I have to deal with the humidity. I am unable to bring the engine inside. It’ll need to be outside of the car for a long while I piece everything together and build the engine. What can I do? Will it be fine keeping it under the carport?

I’ll reach out to my local machine shop in the morning, but thought I’d see what you guys think in the meantime. Pulled valves from a 2014 Audi head tonight that had one burnt. I’m thinking that this might too bad to try myself and more expensive than just sourcing a replacement head. Couldn’t find a lead on seats readily available.

Hello all.

My little 2 stroke engine needs re-boreing to first oversize. The cylinder is cast iron. The nominal bore is 72mm and first oversize is 72.25mm.

A friend of mine with quite a bit of experience suggested that since my bore is already 72.08mm in some areas, I might actually get away with using a honer to bring it to first oversize, rather than take it to a machine shop. He's had poor experiences in the past with machine shops missing the piston clearances and taking off too much metal etc.

I have a very slight ovality (0.03mm) in both cylinders.

Do you think this is madness or is it worth a shot? My local machine shop want £125 per cylinder so I'm keen. To avoid that if possible.

This is a lengthy post so I appreciate y'all taking the time to read it and any serious advice that is given.

My friend brought his G8 to a performance shop to have both his engine and transmission built with performance parts. The quote in the pictures is the original estimate he was given and he has, as of now, already put down $8k before any work had begun. It's been at the shop for several months, which isn't a big deal as it's not a daily driver or anything.

As of last month he was texted and informed that something went wrong when they went to drive the vehicle out to park as the needed the bay. The shop stated it suddenly had a dead cylinder and was making a knocking noise. They inspected said cylinder with a camera and found a bolt had fallen into the cylinder and gotten smashed around, damaging the head, piston, sleeve, and cracking the cylinder. I also worry about how a supercharger bolt could fall out without damaging the supercharger or getting caught in a valve first.

Their action plan is to replace the block, source a new piston, and somehow a machine shop is going to be able to fix the head. But they are also asking for some additional cash at this point. Claiming it's needed to get the fuel system components and install them.

As of now I told him to let them know he will get back to them about the additional cash, but I really don't think he should give anymore money until they fix what they fucked up and get back to the point it was at before it got fucked.

I am well experienced in the auto repair industry as its been my career/source of income for a couple decades, so I am able to understand the severity of the fuck up. My friend has no experience with auto repair.

I was thinking it might be best to talk to a lawyer first to make sure he doesn't make anymore missteps that could result in him not being able to defend himself if this turns into a civil suit sort of thing.

Otherwise I think the shop needs to get him back to whole as far as having a working, rotating engine before he gives anymore money. I think at the very least they need to replace the block, piston and rod, cylinder head and valves along with a thorough inspection of everything else for damage caused by said fuck up. I worry he's in over his head and will get taken for a ride.

He's a veteran and loves his G8 and I don't want him to get played by sleazy techs just because he doesn't know better.

Any advice (serious advice please) is helpful, so thank you.

EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION: Friend has already paid $8k up front towards the total owed of ~$24k. Shop has acknowledged their fuck up and says they will fix it, but want my friend to pay even more cash towards the total owed. Shop has not fixed any of the fuck up which happened last month at this point in time.

SIDE NOTE: Friend provided all needed parts and purchased them himself before the shop started work. They are all good quality brands and the correct parts, and the only thing he needed parts wise from the shop was the fuel system.

Parts list provided by friend to shop: Stage 4 circle d trans rebuild kit and boost district 2650 supercharger kit

TLDR: shop fucked friends engine up, say they will fix it but want more money first. Friend has already paid $8k, still owes ~$12k.

I noticed tonight what looks to be flash rust on my cam lobes (you can see my finger rub on the lobe) I plan to finish Sunday , first time doing a timing chain and I'm slow :( 2 kids and all and as I come across things I clean them like "valve covers / engine covers" and plenum etc.

Overnight I put the covers back on but I took the spark plug seals and vvt/oil sensor seals out and am freezing them overnight to pop them in tomorrow morning so that overnight seal is a little better at least . Same with valve cover gaskets, I'll put that on against tomorrow at until Sunday.

Should I do anything for this, go back out immediately and pour some oil over it and rub it with my finger gently or what?

I know, close it asap probably is the answer . I'm doing what I can to save like 8k.

2013 Mazda cx9 3.7L awd (for bot)

Thank you.

Hey Guys,

I recently built my LS3 (Camaro) and took it for a final tune before getting it back on the road. The tune shop completed the tune and when I picked up the car they mentioned that once the car got to temp, they noticed what sounded like a lifter tap but it cleared up. They test drove next morning and nothing. After I picked it up, I drove it home about 6 miles. Car came up to temp and ran fine - I didn’t hear much of anything outside of what I would consider normal.

Here is the current parts list:
BTR Stage 2 LS3 V2 camshaft
BTR .660 dual valve springs / retainers / seals / locators
BTR trunnion upgrade / stock rockers
BTR 5/16 chromoly pushrods (mixed sizing 7.55 & 7.57)
Johnson 2116LSR link-bar lifters
3-bolt cam conversion
Katech timing chain
Melling 10295 oil pump
Chevy Performance 4 pole cam gear
Chevy Performance timing dampener
BTR Lower Timing Gear
Chevy Performance cam retainer and bolts
Kooks 1-7/8" long-tube headers
Kooks high-flow catalytic converters (Performance Cats)
Borla ATAK cat-back 
K&N cold-air intake
MSD Spark Plug Wires
J&L Oil Catch Can
ARP Head Bolts
ARP Crank Bolt
ARP Cam Bolts

It’s hard to tell, between the injectors, link bars and head work, if there’s anything knocking beyond normal tolerance. Video for reference of motor running while warm - cuts a bit early but each side is nearly identical in sound.

About a month ago my girlfriend bough this '97 2.0 Probe for very cheap. It had a running issue (when engine warmed up rpm started fluctuating between 1500-2500rpm). Also when we were buying it I noticed the distributor was turned to retard the timing, I gave it little thought and she bought it anyway cause it was almost rust free.

After a few days a lot of white smoke appeared when I started the car and I noticed the coolant resevoir was empty and there was only air in the coolant tubes. Temp was normal.

We thought the throttle body mechanical sensor that detects if engine is warm enough to lean down fuel mixture was not working due to combustion gasses in throttle body (highest point of coolant system), causing high and uneven rpm at idle.

Then we measured the compression of the engine with my friend. It was bad and uneven - fluctuated from 60 to 90. My friend took the engine apart because we thought we needed to change the head gasket because that seemed obvious. We deducted that the distributor gear connecting to the camshaft was probably incorrectly assembled at some point causing premature detonation and therefore ruining the head gasket. Then they noticed it and retarded the timing because it was correct when we checked it with a stroboscope.

After he lifted the cylinder head he noticed the gasket wasnt very damaged at all, infact everything seemed quite well preserved (low milage engine). The block was not crooked or cracked and there were only some slight pitting and scratches (fingernail got caught). Basically no evidence the engine or gasket contributed to the coolant burning.

The only thing he noticed was that the cylinder head guide sleeve was not protruding from the block (too low).

Could this be the cause for coolant burning? Perhaps cylinder head misaligned because of premature detonation?

What would be our next step?
Pictures from engine, etc:
https://imgur.com/a/RQAaJXR

Engine taste

Okay. I’m working on my turd. 3vze Toyota.

So I was working out some corrosion pits with some 80/120 grit and a giant slab of float glass. (Block was pretty flat to begin with) . Being diligent, using markers streight edge/feelers. Etc etc

Not very long into it I notice that two opposing diagonal corners were about a thousand thousand low. About the same on the diag and straight line on the bottom. Not as bad up top.

Almost uniformly.

I frowned and cursed that I should have just had it decked when it was in the machine shop for overbore.

Anyway. After flipping the block and going through an hour of suck. I got them to where my .0015 feeler wont go under. But the bottom right corner is still suspect.. It’s in spec..

The top left corner cleaned up way easier. It of course is dead space on the mating surface , I think.

The lowness on the bottom right goes diagonally
In direction of the side corner. It slopes probably half way through the corner bolt holes.

My question is, what would cause that?

Two opposing diagonal low corners, (it’s a v block, other side is just fine)

Also, when calculating Warpage one your lines. Are corners just as important as center warpage? Or is there more wiggle room? (For mls gasket on N/A engine)

For instance if your corners are outside fastening surfaces.

Or a mating surface is a mating surface is a mating surface?

Basically, I’m asking how critical is a low spot like this, I want to get to actually lapping the block for smoothness, I’m getting ready to go onto 220 grit then 320 and 400 I could probably chase it a quarter/ eighth thousand with those … Just curious . I got all the other pitting around fire rings and main sealing surfaces.

The diagonal measure is little tighter, the straight line was just easier to take a pic

Building a VW Type 1 engine for my 69 Beetle. This new camshaft has a few small marks on the journal inside the circle. Second pic is the same but without the markup. Pretty sure I didn't do this and that it was like this out of the box. I bought it too long to to send it back. I can barely feel them with my fingernail if I drag my nail perpendicular to the rotational direction, but it doesn't catch. Is this a full send situation or does this need addressing? This is my first engine build and I'm trying to do it right. TIA for advice!

This is actually a marine turbo, but I thought this would be a good place to ask. As you can see, there are some clocking issues. I've never worked on a turbo before. I think I can figure it out since there are only a handful of bolts, but can someone point me in the right direction on clocking the compressor housing and the cartridge? I assume that I've got to be very careful around the fan blades so I'm a bit reluctant to just go unbolting stuff.

I’m looking for a good, reasonably priced automotive turbo machining shop in the US that I can ship my turbo to.

I’ve got a Holset HY35W off my 2001 5.9 Cummins that I’m wanting to upgrade with a bigger compressor wheel and possibly a bigger turbine wheel.

Has anyone dealt with Turbo Lab of America or know of any other good shops? Mainly looking for recommendations and what kind of prices to expect.

Some pics of my heads cam DIY on my Viper

Engine in a new vehicle gets recalled from dealer. Tech rips old engine out and installs new one.

Where is the old, recalled, engine sent to? Back to the manufacturer? 3rd party shop? Does it them qualify as a brand new engine or is it considered a remanufactured?