Posted by Jack on March 22, 1999 at 20:15:29:
In Reply to: Re: Piston Size posted by John Moschinger on March 22, 1999 at 19:58:20:
John,
Your questions are not foolish....none of us were born knowing this stuff. Look at your engine rebuild as a classroom experience...you're about to learn things that you'll never forget!
Since you're going to do this from the ground up, let me suggest beefing up the connecting rods as much as possible, as they are certainly this engine's weak point! have them shot peened to increase their strength and resistance to cracking, weight-match the rods on BOTH ends so they're as close in weight as it's possible to get them, + or - one gram or less. If you have any that don't weigh in, discard them and get others. match all the pin ends, and smooth any obvious snags or burrs. Reassemble with high strength rod bolts and the best locknuts you can afford!!! Consider getting the crank nitrided for stiffness, as the steel 230 cranks are very soft. As a minimum effort, you MUST get the rotating assembly balanced, including the flywheel, clutch, damper if present, and specify a balance at 2500-3000 rpm, where the engine is going to live most of its life. Modern v8s balance out at much higher rpms, so make sure the shop understands. It's not going to help this engine if they balance it for 5000 rpm. There are myriad other tricks like chamfering or elongating the oil ports in the crank so they build pressure sooner and decay later, but talk to the shop and I'm sure they'll have some ideas. If you do it right, it'll stay good for your lifetime. That's worth something, eh? Have fun!