2.0 Type 4 Engine Rebuild

mycoleptodiscus · Post by **mycoleptodiscus** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:19 pm

My wife wants to rebuild the Bus motor instead of buying a Boston Bob motor. Good news is, I get all my parts at wholesale, which means AMC heads are $265 a piece :) I seem to remember threads about parts you should replace on these heads before you install them. Anyone recall? Also, I plan to replace...
Bearings
Lifters
pistons/sleeves
All at wholesale prices Mwahahahahhaha!
Anything else I should replace looking to spending a year on the road in 3 years time?

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:42 pm

Depending on who you talk to the heads can be ran as is or everything except the casting is junk. If it were me and I was getting heads for that price I'd have every piece of hardware on them replaced (valves, guides, retainers, springs, etc) and improved seats installed. Of course someone else will tell you different so.....

I'd look at replacing the cam and lifters as a set. Look into having the rotating mass dynamically balanced also. Rods rebuilt too. Crank polished. Drill and tap the oil galleys. Might as well do it all if you plan on spending a year on the road.

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:24 am

^^^^What he said.

Although I had AMC heads right out of the box put on mine....so far so good. Ongoing experiment to see if I can get 60k or more miles out of them.

Plus if I remember correctly, you have the ACN SVDA and a DD and a few other new goodies, right?

Bleyseng · Post by **Bleyseng** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:40 am

Get a Raby cam&lifter set atleast to cool off the heads so those stock AMC seats don't fall out.

mycoleptodiscus · Post by **mycoleptodiscus** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:58 am

The engine is the original stock 2.0L with 102k miles on it. I have the SVDA from aircooled.net Injectors were overhauled and the FI gone over with Colin.

mycoleptodiscus · Post by **mycoleptodiscus** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 11:05 am

I guess the Raby cam is cost-effective given that the hydraulic lifters are $30 a piece wholesale.

bottomend · Post by **bottomend** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:40 pm

If you really wanna do the work yourself, it's not that hard to take off all the 'bad" parts of the AMC's and replace them. The biggest problem will be the seats. they should be replaced. I had a nice long conversation with Adrian at Headflow Masters and he told me some horror stories.

Since you can get parts at a good cost, change the valves with SS manley's, put in the good retainers and springs, new seats ( installed properly) and a good 3 angle valve job. I 'm not sure if the guides are condsidered junk or not. Find out and change if needed.

If you dont feel comfortable doing the work, you can send the heads to HFM and Adrian will fix you up for a good price.

>cam bearings

> main bearings

> gasket set

>piston/cylinder set

>cam/lifter set

>clutch disc/pressure plate

>re-bush connecting rods

>polish crank

>oil gallery plugs

> clean it till it kills you

mycoleptodiscus · Post by **mycoleptodiscus** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:25 pm

Thanks! I have a machine shop I can trust so I think I'll have the work done here. I found the valves. What size do I get? Both Exh and intake? What are "the good retainers & springs"? Good seats? Sorry, I'm new to engine rebuilding. I'll do the valve guides as well as they're only $8 a piece. I think I'm going to stick with the hydraulic lifters as I rechecked the price and they're only $18 each for Mahle. I guess I can't get a cam from Jake then because he's "Mr. Solid Lifter".

vwlover77 · Post by **vwlover77** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:19 pm

I believe I got a set of 8 lifters for $60. You mentioned Mahle, but I bet they are Mayle - not the same company that makes the pistons. Webcam has one performance cam for hydraulic lifters and fuel injection that would probably be good (grind 107i). My builder chose the CB Performance hydraulic cam. Big mistake. If I ever split the case again, I'm going back to the stock cam.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:01 pm

mycoleptodiscus wrote: I'll do the valve guides as well as they're only $8 a piece.

It is more complicated than that.
If the ones in the AMC are good, let them go. Every time you pull a guide you run the risk of galling or opening up the bore.
You want phosphor (manganese?) bronze and you want them installed seriously carefully. The heads must be warmed evenly and slowly, the guides must be chilled. You want a decent interference fit or the damn things will come loose. Got the tee-shirt.
Colin

bottomend · Post by **bottomend** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:47 pm

I recently installed a set of guides into a pair of 914 heads. My machinist let me do the work while he supervised. He took the stock guide ( that was "supposed" to be the 'correct" size) and turned it on a lathe. With the head warm, I took the newly turned guide from the freezer and pounded it into the hole in the head. I was surprised how much force it required to hammer in. It wasn't just a 'tap, tap, tap" sort of thing.

How are guides removed?

mycoleptodiscus · Post by **mycoleptodiscus** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:21 pm

OK, so which stainless valves do I order? I found their webiste, but it's all Chevy stuff :) OK Colin, I'll keep the guides. Where do I get the "good" springs, seats, etc? Jake?

bottomend · Post by **bottomend** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:07 am

Alot of people use Manley valves. I have those in my heads that were done by Head FlowMasters. I dont know where you can get the new springs and retainers. Sorry.

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2.0 Type 4 Engine Rebuild

2.0 Type 4 Engine Rebuild

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