With a little help from my friend Wes, we were able to get the bottom end finished up. Well, everything but the stubborn piston that still won’t budge! Those are his hands you see in the pictures of this part. Thanks for your help Wes!
The first thing I did was to stamp the piston and rod pieces so that they will all find their way back together for the same piston. I numbered them 1-4 from back to front. That seemed logical to me.
The oil pump is in two pieces but I left them together. I unbolted it from the block as a single unit and bagged it. Don’t forget to unbolt the tube that oils the collar just behind the timing chain. There is another oiling tube that looks to me like it puts the oil back into the pan, completing the loop of the system..The removal of the pump leaves a stub poking through the block that turns the pump from the rotation of the camshaft. This oil pump shaft will just come up and out. I bagged it with the oil pump.
I started pulling the rod clamp ends next. They all came loose pretty easily. I musty say that for as old of a car as this is, everything seems to loosen up really well. I have probably just jinxed the whole project. I guess that is the benefit of it being stored in a dry garage for so many years. The main bearings all looked decent with the exception of #4. It had a lot of gunk in it and the bearings as well as the crankshaft. I put each rod clamp into its own bag.
There are three main clamps that keep the crank in place. They came off pretty easy and the main bearing in them looked good except for the one closest to the #4 piston.
The crank pulley needs to come out next so that the timing cover can come off. I had to search for a 32mm (or a 1.25″) socket to take it off. I will put a link to it in the “Tools for Fiats” in the Reference menu. I used a 1/2″ drive 32mm with a 24″ breaker bar and it came off pretty easily. Once that is off the timing cover is next exposing the timing gears and chain. It is a pretty big double roller chain. One really cool thing about this engine is that all you need to do is to line up the lines on each of the gears and you are timed. Pretty easy. Once you take off the nut that holds the larger gear in place, both gears and the chain will slide off the shaft. There is a shroud on the other end that needs to be removed. I had to take the engine off the stand and the stands “claw” off the engine to get to it. While everything was off I went ahead and took off the plate that is back there. I am not sure what it does but I think it is some kind of inspection cover for the water jacket. When it is off you can see the outside walls of the the #4 cylinder. Thats kinda neat.
Not, with a board and a hammer, the crankshaft comes right out. Be careful of falling main bearings. Once the shaft was out I went ahead and pulled all the remaining main bearing off and put them into their respective bags with the pistons or the block clamps. I will replace them but this way I have a reference together with the parts they touched.
Once the bearing were put away I had Wes hold his hands under the block to catch the pistons while I tapped them out from the bottom with a board and a hammer. They all came out easily except for the stuck #3.
I have a marriage retreat to go to this weekend, courtesy of my wife. I had heard about Kroil Penetrating Fluid on “Gearz“. It is supposed to be the best at freeing frozen parts (link to it on Amazon or on the “Tools for Fiats” Reference Page). So, I turned the block back right side up and filled the cylinder to the top with the stuff. They say it works or you don’t pay for it. We shall see.
I am going to be making some changes on the site. Nothing big, but if you see more than one post for RSS that is the reason why.