Slight corner damage to exposed head surface on the block. What can be done?

[bunni]

I have been in the process of re-building my engine for far longer than I like to admit. A month or so ago I moved cross country from AZ to WA, of course taking my D with me. It survived the trip on a trailer, but I am concerned about the block. It was mostly assembled, next step was oil pan and heads, I strapped the flat bottom to some 2x4s then loaded it in the truck to move. Somewhere along the way, it was someones idea (we had a decent group of friends helping us move) to set the whole thing in a steel tub so it didnt leak everywhere since it was oiled up. It didnt sit flat, and now two of the outside corners of the head surface on the block have some damage since they were bumping against the tub. It does not look like the damage pushed material upward distorting the head surface, but I cannot be sure. The damage is very small, the corner was pushed in maybe a mm or two.

Is there anything that can be done short of have the surface re-milled? I really am not looking forward to having to tear apart all the work I've done so far, and I don't trust someone else to disassemble and re-assemble properly, no matter how much I pay them. Would a honing stone around that corner area work at all?

[David T]

You can't just take materiel off the block without doing something to compensate for the liners. Take it to a good machine shop. Maybe they can weld some aluminum to it and grind it flat.

[jmettee]

Pictures would help quite a bit here. 1mm or 2 mm is a LOT when talking about the surface of a cylinder head.

Regardless, if the head surface was damaged anywhere the head gasket contacts, then it likely needs to be refaced.

[bunni]

Yeah, I didn't think about pictures at the time, here they are. The one side has almost no damage, and the other side looks like it was slightly misshapen. Its minor enough that I see no distortion of the deck with the naked eye, and I don't own gauges and a block to be able to really check the surface.

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[rdarlington]

Yeah, I didn't think about pictures at the time, here they are. The one side has almost no damage, and the other side looks like it was slightly misshapen. Its minor enough that I see no distortion of the deck with the naked eye, and I don't own gauges and a block to be able to really check the surface.

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You're probably fine. If it was me (and I'm not recommending you be like me), I'd take a file, very carefully, to any raised areas and call it a day. It may be worth taking to a shop that rebuilds engines and getting more opinions there.

-Bob

[Bitsyncmaster]

You're probably fine. If it was me (and I'm not recommending you be like me), I'd take a file, very carefully, to any raised areas and call it a day. It may be worth taking to a shop that rebuilds engines and getting more opinions there.

-Bob

+1
I don't see any damage I would worry about.

[Michael]

That doesn't even look like it's touching the mating surface.

[bunni]

Huzzah! Glad to hear that. Was really worried that it would be serious hassle. I had no idea what the tolerance for damage on the corners like that is.

[Mark D]

Yeah it doesn't look like there is much damage there... if' you've got a good straight edge you should be able to check and see if it's raised up at all. Since it's right on the corner it may not matter anyway. You could lightly file the edge just to make sure. It doesn't look like there is any critical fluid paths nearby right? It's hard to tell from the photo.

[jmettee]

I would't worry about that, but I would also check over the whole surfaces for any scratches or marks that might have been made when sitting on that surface. If there are no visible scratches, I'd say you're golden.

[krs09]

Be Careful not to move those piston sleeves. I had mine in the same state and one of the sleeves moved and broke the seal at the base and had to pull all the sleeves and pistons out, a big job got bigger. Get some fender washers and screw them into the head and theyll be big enough to hold the sleeves down while your moving it around. Just a thought.. If you dont already have some on. DONT MOVE THOSE SLEEVES!

[David T]

Be Careful not to move those piston sleeves. I had mine in the same state and one of the sleeves moved and broke the seal at the base and had to pull all the sleeves and pistons out, a big job got bigger. Get some fender washers and screw them into the head and theyll be big enough to hold the sleeves down while your moving it around. Just a thought.. If you dont already have some on. DONT MOVE THOSE SLEEVES!


If the block has been "bumping around", unless he already used liner locks of some kind, I would figure he already lost the lower liner seals. There is no good way to inspect the block for damage to the surface visually without using a straightedge and feeler gauges. Because aluminum is soft you can do real damage and not leave a lot of scratches or other evidence. From the pictures it doesn't appear to have much damage but it is impossible to really tell for sure this way. If you do not feel comfortable checking it yourself take it to a machine shop. Many will do a quick check for free, especially if you give them other work like cleaning up the heads. In the future you should try harder to protect delicate surfaces. Doing all of this work on the motor is a big enough job without adding to it by causing additional damage. Don't feel bad about, we have all "been there, done that". That is how most of us learned and are now "experienced" mechanics, from doing all of the dumb mistakes and trying not to do the same ones again! Figure out how to make new, dumb mistakes!

[bunni]

The sleeves have been pulled long ago, seal area cleaned, re-seated, and properly shimmed. I have them held down pretty well so they don't flop around but I figure a seal wont really be well established until the heads get bolted on. As it is now, the sleeves are in pretty tight and have no movement, I pretty much have down a full rebuild, and am just slowly getting it back together at this point.

I went to a lot of trouble to make sure I had everything well prepped for the cross country move. Putting the engine in the tub was done without me around because I was busy with something else, and I didn't notice it till we were on the road. Because of the stress of moving, didn't even think about it until a week or so after we arrived. Unfortunately, the shop that did the complete evaluation of the engine and clean up, re-surfacing, etc. is back in AZ, or else I would pop over and have them double check it for me. I guess this is just an excuse go to buy more tools to do a real check of the surface :D

Also, I appreciate your sentiment, while I don't feel bad, its frustrating as hell. This has been a fun project but sometimes just gets to be too much when things like this happen. But I know all is not lost, she will be back on the road again in due time.