engine rebuild

Thanks for the people who responded to my questions, your answers weres were very helpfull.My next questions is

I have a 1973 304 v8 jeep and would like to rebuild the engine.This will be a big job and wanted to know how difficult this will be

 

The job of rebuilding is not bad, the main things are Clean, Clean, Clean and patience!
If you put the rods and pistons in the way I do it will take about 8-10 hours to do it right. After that the rest of it is fairly easy. I fit my bearings in the rods then torque them on the proper crank journal with plastigage in them, remove them and check the plastigage clearance, I do this on all the rods and make sure they are in spec, I then remount all of the rods and pistons without the rings on them one at a time with lube on them and the cylinders oiled lightly, I then spin the motor over and remove the rod and check the bearings to make sure nothing is dragging, if all the rods turn over easy I then put the rings on and put them all on for the final time. If you have some drag marks on the bearings, make sure you find the cause, most of the time it is a small burr that you can emery off with 800-1200 grit paper. Make sure when you final assemble stuff to lube or oil it as necessary. The wrist pins can be difficult to press in the pistons if you are uncomfortable doing it let the machine shop do it for a small price. After this the rest of it is pretty basic, just keep it exceptionally clean, it should make your momma's kitchen look filthy no matter how clean she keeps it. I am currently rebuilding my Dauntless v6, and the clean part is hard but doable, when you are done for the day put a hefty bag over the motor to keep stuff out,
make sure all the old grease/oil and such is cleaned off the bolts and such before you reassemble the motor. If you plan to use a dremel and clean casting flash off of the block or heads do it before you take it to the machine shop for machine work as they will tank the block and clean it and that will remove any shavings that you have made.

Good luck on you rebuild!!!!

 

I'd suggest you get Tom Monroe's book <book>

It's inexpensive and good, and will cover more than we could ever cover here.

Basically you'll have a machine shop do the machining for you, and you will do the tear-down and assembly.

 

Good advice from Mike and Tim. A good book specific to engine rebuilding is a necessary investment. I find the most tedious part to be setting the ring gap. There are some specialized tools you will need, you can probably rent them if need be. Just take your time, make notes as you disassemble, and take a break any time you start to get impatient.