I've done this several times Allen. I still may not be the best at it, but pre-planning everything is an essential part of the experience! The piston rods, oil pump parts, etc are not addressed by the machine shop. They CAN be, but it costs more. Anyone with a wire brush is qualified. There is much more to this article.
But yes, I am figuring in their cleaning. Thats really an essential part of this. In fact, I have asked the machine shop to clean it again because they didnt do it good enough the first time. Once my thing is done, they do the final cleaning. It needs to look really good. Otherwise, they are not happy. Its like taking a well done steak back to the cook because its blood red inside.
We arent there yet. But when we are, I will explain why the cooling system is prone to failure because they rarely properly clean the water jacket the first time. The last shop I went to, puts a plug where the spicket should be. Then, when you put the spicket in there, no water comes out? Why? Because they didnt CLEAN THE DANG ENGINE like I expected them to. My fault for not explaining that I wanted the engine to be CLEAN during the CLEANING procedure. LOL! What a concept.
Its all about personal experiences and the differences in the professionalism of the shop. And, to be fair, they didnt see it was ME that was coming.
But in writing a how-to article, you try to cover all the bases of what-ifs. It will all be part of the finished product. It will be much more valuable if people like you keep asking questions. Thanks!
There are several levels of what the engine shop will do. You can pay them to put together a short block, even a long block. This how-to is about neither. We just want them to make sure the block is serviceable, hone or bore so that the cylinders are all the same size, go through the head for serviceability, install the valves, etc, and then we take it from there. A Ring compressor, a torque wrench, some knowledge, and we CAN do this. I usually let them order the new pistons, rings, cam, bearings, etc etc. Thats how I plan on the integration. Its about a grand cheaper to do the assembly yourself. Plastigage is your friend. Dont take my word for it, its in the shop manual!
We are going to clean first, THEN let them clean it. I do not trust their cleaning will be to my satisfaction, so I do it to my standards, then they do their thing, and the whole effort is better off for it. I have gotten several blocks back with actual dirt still on the outside of the block, so I preclude that scenario. Only takes a day or two and worth the time!
I live in an area (Central Kansas) that is steeped on farming and not so steeped on making things look pretty. My mission is to get things working every bit as good as the self taught engineer and then take it a step further. It will be fun! I have done this before. It WILL make sense when we get there.
