I haven’t been playing with the internals of engines long. I’ve done head swaps and stuff like that since I was a kid, but getting into the deep internals of an engine has been a recent advancement for me. First was the 400ci big-block that turned out to be the most expensive paperweight I’ve ever purchased. Frozen pistons, a tweaked crankshaft, heads that were unbelievably bad, and for good measure a freaking slug on top of a piston in an engine that had never been apart. Only my luck could’ve dreamt that one up. At least the block itself is decent…rather, will be decent after a .040″ overbore and buying every other part brand-freaking-new. Then there is the 367ci mill that’s in the Imperial. The engine wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t completed, so with some grit, determination, and a lot of triple-checking myself, I now have a snotty small-block that seems to be happy. That’s a good thing.
You want to see what isn’t a good thing? This is a four-cylinder diesel engine that would’ve powered a Caterpillar D2 tractor that was built between 1938 and 1958. And it is in bad, bad shape. The outside looks like hell and about ten layers of paint, and that’s not even the start of the horror show that is going on once the head is pulled and the bottom end is accessed. We’re talking tolerances that measure in the tenths or less. We’re talking pistons in 180 degrees from where they are supposed to be, and the damage that resulted from that mis-step. And in a first out of any engine story I’ve ever done, you will see crankshaft bearing clearance shims made out of a freaking beer can. Can’t make that one up if I tried, wouldn’t know where to begin writing that story.
Here’s hoping this guy’s Plan C looks a lot better than his Plan B engine. Yikes.
30 years ago, I bought a 77 Toyota Celica with a locked motor for $150 that the guys BIL had “fixed” for him. Tore the motor down and found that he had shimmed the rod bearings with brass shim stock. Biggest problem was, he didn’t put oil holes in the shims. Guy said it quit on his way to work, 5 miles from home. I was shocked it lasted that long when I seen what had been done. Ended up tossing that motor and getting one from a junkyard
Shimming bearings into spec on an otherwise-good bottom end with whatever material available, carefully, was long considered a legit method to keep an old motor going…as with a cam and lifters, you have to preserve component locations. My h.s. shop teacher who got his start on a farm in South Africa in the thirties taught me that one. Otherwise I got nothin’ to say about that “overhaul” probably done in a dirty barn by someone under the influence of too much of that Blatz.