VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1940 - 216 Engine Disassembly

I know, but i can`t see it under the Time Gear Cover and than measured the wrong bearing.
More pictures and explanasions about the Motor Condition you can see on my blog.
The Pictures are with english discriptions.

I nicht forstay-don't understand....where is the english translation?

try this
http://translate.google.com/transla...ecialdeluxe.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F06%2F

The wrist pins must be replaced. (piston pins)....They come in oversize and in .003", .005" AND ,010". iF NOT REPLACED THEY WILL MAKE NOISE AT IDLE SPEED. iF NEW PISTONS ARE INSTALLED THEY WILL COME WITH FITTED PINS.
Both timing gears should be replaced.
Normal wear on cmshaft, should be OK.
If main bearing material looks OK they can be reused aand adjusted by removing shims between cap and block. If replaced will need to be line bored - expesive.
Rods do not have inserts, babbitt is right on the rod. One with bad babbtt should be replaced and all adjusted (has shims also)
Lifters should be placed back in original holes, hope you marked them.

O.k. thanks for feedback. Yes lifters i have marked

What was the original pistonmaterial? Cast iron or aluminium?

They were cast iron.

Seems that my pistons are aluminium, they are too lightweight for cast iron.
But the diameter is original. Should test this with magnet next time

Time has come to order Parts. Seems that Chevs is the only one who have all parts I need. Will get them only there to save shipping costs.
Can someone tell me Details about Quality and components of the Master Engine Kit MEK140?
Are there Shims (Rod / Main Bearing), Expansion Plugs etc.. included?

One of the reasons the Chevy Vega had such a bad history is the use of aluminum pistons in an iron block....no one here seems to be concerned about using aluminum pistons in our 216's....why?

The. Vega had an aluminum block and cast iron head.

There are several of us on Chat that do not use aluminum pistons in early six cylinder engines. One reason is the crankshafts are balanced for cast iron pistons and not aluminum. Another is the quality of many aluminum pistons. Finally the expansion of aluminum is much greater than cast iron so the pistons need to be sized accordingly. That means the aluminum pistons will wobble and wear more than cast iron particularly when engine is cold. Or they can seize when then engine heats up.

For what it is worth, I believe the arguments that the engines will rev faster, have less strain on the babbitt bearings are not significant given the use our old Chevys receive. And in case you are asking I drive my old Chevys. For instance I have driven my recently restored (with cast iron pistons) '31 Phaeton over 1000 miles in the last year. Some distance at ~ 50+ mph.

First I will disagree that the six cylinder engine is balanced for the heavy cast iron pistons. On a V-8 the engine is balance for a certain piston weight but a six cyliner any weight piston can be used.
To quote from a speed manual from years ago "On a six cylinder engine, changing piston weight does not affect engine balance, providing all of the pistons are in balance with each other. This how ever is not true on a V type eight cylinder engine"

I had aluminum pistons in both my 1934 and 1939 and the engines were exreeemly smooth.
That being said I would not trust most of the aluminum pistons made today.
If you never drive over 55 MPH the irons are fine.

Alligator,

I think may have some NOS 40 pistons. I'll look tomorrow. If I do I'll identify as to whether they are standard or oversize (or is it undersize. I always get that mixed up.)

If I have any and you want them, I'll send them to you. You pay for the ride only.

Good luck with whatever you try to do on that old engine.

Charlie

If your pistons are still a good fit and the ring grooves are good, I would suggest reusing them. The new aluminum pistons made by Egge use much thinner rings. I found this out when I bought some.

There is nothing wrong with aluminum pistons. If cast iron was better piston material, engine manufacturers would still be using it. Of course there are very likely some cheap made aluminum pistons that could cause problems but quality aluminum pistons are fine. As far as the expansion goes, the piston manufacturer knows what the expansion rate is for the aluminum he uses, and he will allow for that when he finishes the pistons to size. It matters not how much piston clearance there is when cold, only when hot. I used to build race engines. Venolia pistons were set up at about .0015" per inch of bore. This means that on a four inch bore, cold clearance was .006". Mahle and a couple of others were set up for only about .002" to .003". Some people didn't like Venolia because of that, but truth be known, Venolias were made from an alloy that had more expansion, but was far less likey to break. When the engines were hot all those different pistons ended up running at about the same clearance. As far as thin rings goes, thinner is better because there is less drag on the cylinder walls, resulting in a cooler and freer running engine. Ring technology has improved immensly since the old Chevy 216 days. When I started working on engines, they used an old one piece cast iron oil ring. They lasted about 40000 miles or so before loosing thier ability to control oil. Todays oil rings consist of an expander and two steel rails with plated edges. They will last basically forever.The compression rings have also improved to the point that 200,000 miles on an engine is now considered normal rather than the exception.

Long Time past by. Monday i had a meeting in my motor shop.
They measured the engine, on the To Do List now

- Grind crankshaft to .020 ", adapt new main and connecting rod bearings, straightening and polishing the crankshaft.
- New Camshaft and Bearings
- Customize New bearings for old rods.
- Cylinder fine boring to .030 "and honing.
- Cylinder head repair, planning, grinding valves etc., renew valve guides.

Recommended to me was new valves, though the old were still good, but the grind of the seats, could still fall under the limit area. At a price of $ 15-20, money saving would be here the wrong way. The same by the intake valve guides. They were also good, but let them in by a cost of $ 20? No way.
Maybe I need new lifter, they can´t check them - I had forgotten in the my garage. Do you think they are in good condition or should i replace them? Please look the pictures on my Blog.

My Blog

Is it possible to change only 3 or 4? Want to buy my parts by Egge, but the Lifter from chevs, saves $13?!

But what has surprised me most? - that were probably already installed Lead free seat rings for valves in Argentina. This was namely also as an option to the debate, but it has done, according to mechanics.

If crankshaft is reground to .020" I would convert the connecting rod bearings to the insert type. If the original babbitt type is retained the extra thickness of the babbitt is not good.
If a new camshaft is installed replace all lifters.
Cylinder boreing will require new pistons .
If new valve seats have been installed. Good. Not necessary except better than if valves have been ground many times and seats too deep. Not necessary because in 1940 most gas contained no lead.
Valve guides ? If new are installled make sure fit is not too tight.
New exhaust valves would be my choice if any doubt on old valves.

I would definitely install new lifters especially if you are installing a new camshaft.

And....I would avoid EGGE pistons, or anything else that they make for that matter.

Avoid Egge? Why? Bad Quality? Where should I buy all parts? Need one shop for all. What do I get from chevs?

Yes.

I used Kanter for all my engine parts Kanter Auto Parts. I did have some part problems which were not backed up by their warranty. The problem was the parts set around for at least 6 months before the shop went to install them. They found the push rods to be too long and the lifter springs too weak. I would also not use the rear seal they provide as part of their rebuild kits. I would buy a set off of ebay. that are made with asbestos and originally designed for these engines. Do a search of our old posts to find discussions on this topic.

Good luck, Mike

P.S. Search using the terms +rear +seal. Remember to use the "+" (plus symbol) before each search term. For Display Name put Mike Buller.

I have been told by Kanter people that many of their parts are supplied by Egge. So Kanter may not be any better than Egge.

I would ask your shop if they bore rods to take insert bearings. The inserts are made just for this application.