engine head parts container

[dlogvine]

Im taking apart mercruiser v6 4.3l engition. I marked all the pushrods, lifters, valves, etc with an oil based marker, but i am affraid that when ill start cleaning them the markings will be gone and ill lose the order for the installation. I wondered if there are any plastic containers with separators that would allow me to keep the parts separated by cylinders and intake/out while i can soak them up in some solvent. Or anybody did build something of the kind with some available materials? Thx, any ideas and advices are appreciated

 

[Grub54891]

All I ever did was mark out a pc of cardboard, on one edge, lay a rag or old towel down the middle so parts don't roll around and lay the parts in order on that. I clean the individual parts one at a time and put them back where they came from. A tray would be nice to have though.

 

[GA_Boater]

For 50 bucks or so, one of these;



Or us oldtimers use a piece of cardboard.

 

[mickyryan]

if you want to keep them together I saw once were a guy used metal screen and made pockets for each set and then ran through parts washer and maybe a dishwasher for extra measure before reassembling dishwasher optional at your own risk

 

[dlogvine]

I used a pizza box with the holes for each part. Just wanted to see if there are some plastic containers that I can soak the parts in solvent before cleaning. I saw the trays for the valve parts, but they are not exactly what I was looking for. But thank you for your help. I will try to think of something to fit for the case. Will post if I find anything useful.

 

[Scott Danforth]

for a V6. an egg container for the lifters as you want to match the lifter back to the cam lobe. clean them one at a time. however if your rebuilding, a new cam and lifters would be recommended.

springs, retainers, rotators, and keepers do not care unless there was a single valve spring pocket that was repaired and there is a shim under it.
pushrods dont care as long as they are straight
rockers dont care as long as they are not damaged
if you have the valves out, you probably need a valve job, and that will negate the reason to put them back into their exact hole
rod caps need to be kept with the rods themselves. i normally stamp them as I take the motor apart
pistons will not get reused, and neither will the rings as you will be getting the motor bored and honed
bearings dont care because you throw them away (DO NOT REUSE OLD BEARINGS)

basically, if your reusing the lifters, those are the only items that have a mated wear surface that you need to worry about.

 

[dlogvine]

for a V6. an egg container for the lifters as you want to match the lifter back to the cam lobe. clean them one at a time. however if your rebuilding, a new cam and lifters would be recommended.

springs, retainers, rotators, and keepers do not care unless there was a single valve spring pocket that was repaired and there is a shim under it.
pushrods dont care as long as they are straight
rockers dont care as long as they are not damaged
if you have the valves out, you probably need a valve job, and that will negate the reason to put them back into their exact hole
rod caps need to be kept with the rods themselves. i normally stamp them as I take the motor apart
pistons will not get reused, and neither will the rings as you will be getting the motor bored and honed
bearings dont care because you throw them away (DO NOT REUSE OLD BEARINGS)

basically, if your reusing the lifters, those are the only items that have a mated wear surface that you need to worry about.

I am going to do the valve job myself, and by the look of the existing valves, i just need to clean them up, they are in a good condition as far as i can see prior to taking them out. The cylinders are not damaged or scratched, so i can just hone them, clean up the pistons and replace the piston rings. At least that is what i hope ill have to do. If turns out that they need to be machined, it will be a totally new price ballpark, since i want to spend as little as possible on this repair. I will have to turn the crankshaft possibly 0.001 since the engine had about 120k miles on it and therefore will have to get oversized bearings.
As for the organizing parts cylinder by cylinder, I always tried to put the old parts exactly where they came from, unless they are replaced with the new ones.
And by my early estimate, i might be ok with getting a standard marine rebuild kit for this engine: all new gaskets, new bearings, piston rings, timing chain, oil pump.
another question, what do you use to stamp the valve parts? I have a stamp set from harbor freight and i used it to stamp the pistons, but stamping rods or rockers, they are pretty small and dont want to damage them, i usually put separators into a pizza box and store pieces by the cylinder with rods in the holes in the top of the box?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Rockers don't care, neither do pushrods.

At $100 per head for a valve job and cleanup, why do it yourself?

Rod caps care which rod they come off

Lifter only care which can lobe it was on if you reuse the cam and lifters

 

[dlogvine]

Im doing that myself because the most important thing for me now is a chance to learn all ins and outs in engine repair, or boat repair for that matter. As for the lifters, i will have to see what condition are they in, might ha e to change them if they are too worn.

 

[mickyryan]

things to be careful of is the valves, when I did mine I had to basically swap out quite a few valves because of pitting from rust, in long run its a job has to be done at machine shop anyways .

 

[dlogvine]

I looked at the valves on one side, they look pretty good, no pitting but ill have to clean them first to better determine their condition

 

[bruceb58]

At $100 per head for a valve job and cleanup, why do it yourself?

Totally agree. There is enough other stuff to learn that you don't need to learn about doing a valve job. In addition, taking it to a machine shop means they check flatness and plane it if necessary.

 

[dlogvine]

I used the parts container from harbour freight tools and it was quite a good choice, when i took valves apart. It helped me keep parts separated by cylinder and valve, and i was able to clean them valve by valve and put them back in the seats. Im still planning on taking heads to the shop to measure and diagnose the heads condition.