Engine Makeover - Advice and Tips Please

[Goodz]

Well, I am no working on the engine.  After all the mishaps with the vacuum lines and hoses not being on tight and so on and so forth, I am redoing all the hoses and such so I know they are on good and tight and there is nothing wrong with them.  That said, there are a few hoses in the car that I have never replaced and want to know if anything is gonna squirt all over the garage or on me when I disconnect them for the first time, and if so, what can I do to prevent this? 

After all the hoses are out, the engine will be painted (of course all the opening will be covered) so the cars engine looks decent and not like poop.  No sense in replacing most of the engine parts and not having it look halfway decent, right?

Also, I would like to add that I just bought new wires and spark plugs for the car.  I tried to get NGK, but they would have to be ordered, so I settled for autolite.  Are they any good?  Or should I return them and just order the NGK?

[myk]

So you're taking the engine out and having it rebuilt?  Make sure you find a machine shop that will let you sit down with them and discuss how you want this engine built.  If you or they don't know what needs to be done, plenty of people here will chime in with how or what this engine needs to be built with.

In regards to the hoses, a simple way to check things like radiator or heater hoses is this: when the engine is cold, squeeze or apply pressure to them, if they feel brittle or hard they need to go.  Some hoses are so bad that you can see they're brittle or even cracking.  You're spending alot of money to rebuild this motor, might as well set it up for success and replace everything...

[1969chargerrtse]

Well, I am no working on the engine.  After all the mishaps with the vacuum lines and hoses not being on tight and so on and so forth, I am redoing all the hoses and such so I know they are on good and tight and there is nothing wrong with them.  That said, there are a few hoses in the car that I have never replaced and want to know if anything is gonna squirt all over the garage or on me when I disconnect them for the first time, and if so, what can I do to prevent this? 

After all the hoses are out, the engine will be painted (of course all the opening will be covered) so the cars engine looks decent and not like poop.  No sense in replacing most of the engine parts and not having it look halfway decent, right?

Also, I would like to add that I just bought new wires and spark plugs for the car.  I tried to get NGK, but they would have to be ordered, so I settled for autolite.  Are they any good?  Or should I return them and just order the NGK?

Well, drain the radiator, then disconnect the lower and upper hoses, heater hoses.  Power steering hose won't squirt all over the place . But it will drip and pour out.  there are no pressure hoses to worry about.  If it ain't running there's really no pressure on any hose anywhere.  Plugs?  I love AC.  Champion plugs foul out on anything they power in my opinion.   Never heard a negative on NGK.  Good Luck.

[Goodz]

So you're taking the engine out and having it rebuilt?  Make sure you find a machine shop that will let you sit down with them and discuss how you want this engine built.  If you or they don't know what needs to be done, plenty of people here will chime in with how or what this engine needs to be built with.

In regards to the hoses, a simple way to check things like radiator or heater hoses is this: when the engine is cold, squeeze or apply pressure to them, if they feel brittle or hard they need to go.  Some hoses are so bad that you can see they're brittle or even cracking.  You're spending alot of money to rebuild this motor, might as well set it up for success and replace everything...

Not having the engine rebuilt or worked on.  Guess I wasnt clear.  Just redoing all the wiring and hoses since most of it looks like crap.  I am just going to paint the engine.  That's all, but to get to it, I need the hoses and wires out of there.   

[Goodz]

Does anyone know how this works exactly?  It says "Less Brake", but does that mean the car brakes less if turned that way or you need to push the brake pedal less to stop the car?

[Goodz]

Also, some updated pics of the engine (nothing major really).  What do you guys think of the color?  Too light or bright or is it OK? 


Was brand new, but not [painted and this happened in 3 months time.


Painted it to look nice, but more for protection.  Couldnt find a nice metallic paint that is good for high heat.  i want to eventually paint the engine the same color as the Master Cylinder (whatever exact color that might be, but has to be blue). 

Again, I am super novice at this, so I will be going very slowly.

[FLG]

Looks good, a couple of questions.

Did you bench bleed the master before putting it back on?

And it looks to me like there is Teflon on the brake lines? There should be no Teflon on the lines, they dont hold the fluid back; the flare does.

[SeattleCharger]

the master cylinder paint job looks nice, good detail

   For the blue you want for the engine, you might try the dodge dealership, think I saw it there, is more sort of a tourquiose blue color, high heat paint,

[Goodz]

Looks good, a couple of questions.

Did you bench bleed the master before putting it back on?

And it looks to me like there is Teflon on the brake lines? There should be no Teflon on the lines, they dont hold the fluid back; the flare does.

Bench Bleed?  No, I didnt, because I dont know what the hell that means, but the car isnt going anywhere for a while, so I guess I have time to do that. 

Yeah, I put plumbers tape on there because it looked like the original job done by the retard mechanics wasnt done right, so they leaked a little.  figured tape may not help, but it shouldnt hurt either.

[FLG]

Heres an article about bench bleeding. The only thing i would do is NOT put the looped lines that go back into the master cylinder...if there is any dirt or debris your just putting it back in, just put something under it and let the fluid come out.

http://www.superchevy.com/technical/chassis/brakes/0509sc_bench/index.html

Your also going to want to bleed all the lines again, i find gravity bleeding is the best option

Just fill up the master (after bench bleeding), open the bleeder valve on the wheel furthest from the master and let the fluid run out (just make sure you keep the master full). Do this for all the wheels, work your way from the furthest to the closest.

[Chatt69chgr]

Bench bleed means that you connect lines to the front and rear brake connections and loop them over into the reservoir.  You fill the reservoir and push the brake rod in and out gently.  This gets the air out of the master.  I think you can do it on the car if you wanted to.  Just very gently push the brake pedal, otherwise, you will spray fluid all over the place.  Fluid will leak out of the master when you remove the bench bleeding lines and reattach your real lines but I think there is a check valve to keep air from getting back in.  Attach the real lines quickly.  You won't stop the leak with teflon.  You will have to retighten the flare nuts.  If that doesn't stop it , then you may have a damaged flare and would need to replace the line.   As an alternative to bench bleeding, you can try to bleed through the bleeder screws or take the car somewhere and get the system bled via either a pressure bleeder which attaches to the master cap or this day and age, a suction bleeder that pulls the fluid from the bleeder screw with a slight vacuum.  The device that is used to do this is call a Vacula.  It uses shop air to create a slight vacuum and the fluid is pulled into a little jar.  (pretty neat thing----employs a Hilsch vortex tube to do this----I made one for a science fair project in high school).

[Goodz]

OK, so I just read the bench bleeding article.  It makes sense, but it says to do this on all NEW Master Cylinders.  I am pretty sure the shop must have done this when they first installed it.  Does this have to be done every time the MC is removed?  I guess that makes sense, but just wanted to check.  About bleeding the brake lines, I will have to check the lines and see what I can do there.  This is fun and scary at the same time.  LOL

[FLG]

Since you emptied all the fluid out when to painted it, you need to do the procedure. Gravity bleeding is the best method IMO, very easy and you can relax while it does the work for you. All you need to do is crack open the bleeder valves (read procedure above), the bleeder valves on the drums are behind them on the top. Just look for where the line goes into, and you will see the valve right next to it. The ones for the front calipers cant be missed, you will see it when you pull off the wheel on the caliper (forget what side there on through).

[The Kid]

Does anyone know how this works exactly?  It says "Less Brake", but does that mean the car brakes less if turned that way or you need to push the brake pedal less to stop the car?

It's a proportioning valve. It allows you to dial in how much front/rear brake you have.

[Goodz]

Does anyone know how this works exactly?  It says "Less Brake", but does that mean the car brakes less if turned that way or you need to push the brake pedal less to stop the car?

It's a proportioning valve. It allows you to dial in how much front/rear brake you have.

Thank you, but I need to know which way to turn it to make the car brake harder.