Last Sunday I got around to checking the main bearing clearances and got some good results. All 5 of my main bearings were in the .0013-.0015″ range which is within the limits of what it’s suppose to be. I had some time today so I posted how it all went.

I wiped off the area where the bearings sit in the block and placed the new bearings in place. I then used the Green Clevite’s Plastigage to check the clearances

I cut a small piece of the plastigage and placed it across all the journals

I then put the other half of the bearings on the main caps.  As you can see in the picture on the right the plastigage is barely visible.

Two of the main cap bolts in the D16Z6 are longer then the others so I made sure I inserted them in the 2 middle holes on the main caps. I remembered to lubricate the bolts and the washers in oil for better torque feel.

Working from the middle I started finger tightening all the bolts first, then to 18 Ft-lbs then to 38 Ft-lbs. Once they were all tight I loosened all the bolts in the same pattern and took off the main caps.

Then I checked the journals using the plastigage and mine were reading .0013″ to .0015″ which is way within limits for my D16Z6 block.

I finally got around to getting some work done on my D16 block today. I sprayed degreaser on it again and pressure washed the left over shavings from doing the cylinder wall notching last December. I also got around to using my new tap and die set and did some thread chasing on the smaller threads. I didn’t touch the top head stud threads and the bottom main cap threads because I didn’t want to mess those up just in case I made a mistake. I’ve been lacking on doing any updates on this build as I haven’t really done anything since mid December ‘08 but I’m hoping to get it  going forward again very soon. My next step is to drop off the block, crankshaft, main bearing cap, Vitara pistons, connecting rods and bearings at the machine shop to get everything all matched up and machined, and  hopefully assembled before end of February.

Tapping threads on my D16 Block

D16 block with cylinders showing slight surface rust.

Image of my crankshaft and my main bearing cap.

I had an early day at work today so when I got home and I started back on the turbo build. I sprayed citrus degreaser on the block, valve cover, intake manifold, main cap and the cylinder head and then pressure washed them to get rid of the oil. Now I washed the cylinder head last night but today using the pressure washer it worked a lot better. I am going to hot tank all the parts after the machining, but it had to be cleaned before sandblasting anyways.

Once everything was cleaned I air dried them and then started masking off the top of the block and the bottom journals so they wouldn’t get damaged during the sandblasting. Now I know a sandblaster could rip of a piece of tape like butter if it’s pointed right at it, but this is just for over spray protection not for direct spray. While sandblasting I will try to be as careful as possible and stay away from those critical areas. 

I still have old gasket to take off from the intake manifold and the cylinder head but that can wait till next week when I have more time. I pulled off the valve seals using pliers and then took off the valve seats and put them in the appropriate valve zip lock bag to keep things organized.

 
D16Z6 block degreased and pressure washed.

D16Z6 Cylinder head degreased and pressure washed, still needing old gasket cleanup.

If your gonna build a full race engine and want to start with brand new parts to get the job done I found a great site that sells blocks, cams, rods and pistons to suit your B and D series engines. RS Machine