The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Engine Rebuild War Story

My 18 year old grandson undertook to rebuild his 283 V-8 in his 1963 Chevy Impala. He did all the work on his own, (pulling the motor, disassembly, etc), except for machining the block, which he had done at a local machine shop. Once the block was back, he reassembled the engine using a new rebuild kit, and put the motor back in. I came home one day, and he proudly showed me his rebuilt motor, reinstalled in his car's engine bay. I praised him for having the courage to tackle this project on his own, never before having done anything so mechannically challenging. He then added, "The only thing I need to figure out now is how to time it!" I asked him, "Did you make sure to align the mark on the crank shaft gear with the mark on the cam shaft gear?"

His reply: "There are marks?"

We learn from our mistakes. He will never, ever make that one again..

Sounds like he is coming along pretty good for a beginner. ANy questions he has that you cannot answer, be sure to aske here some of the people here know everything

Statistics was one subject in which I forgot the details within minutes of completing the final exam! However, the odds are something like 1/the number of teeth on the cam sprocket, given the crankshaft is in a certain position. Now I know this is incorrect becaue the opposite view, whether the crank is lined up, would give a different number. I need help on this one!

you didnt say if it was running or not

ceddy2,

No matter if right or wrong, the biggest and most important fact of all is that he tried it all on his own! Congratulattions to the li'l boy!
Just a suggestion: tell him to buy a tech book like How to rebuild your small block chevy, it's quite inexpensive, quite easy reading and helps a lot a new guy makes things right the first time.
Again, his feat by no means is to be taken lightly, he is a great dude and deserve all respect!

Get him a good book.

The odds are 1 in 13,468,001 he get it right without trying.

There are other things he should have checked as well. Without a book the engine might eat it's new parts.

Tell him this was for practice and this time he will do it right with the book. A running success story will do a lot for his confidence. (and pocket book).

He had access to manuals and he said that he had read about the timing marks, but simply could not see them on the new gears (we retrieved the old gears and I pointed them out to him). He then enlisted the help of his uncle, who is a pretty fair mechanic, to help him get things straightned out, which led to the re-removal of the engine. (uncle discovered that he had not primed the oil pump, so another lesson learned). To play it safe, he then took the engine to the machine shop, and they inspected it, and told him they had never seen an engine rebuilt so well by an 18 year old on his first try. And it is running quite well.

I'll pass all your notes of encouragement along to him. By the way, he wants to go to college to learn autokmotive mechanics and open up his own shop some day.

You can tell very close by watching the valve action. Number 6 valves should be just changing from exhaust closing to intake opening when number one is firing and timing mark on balancer is on TDC.

One time when I changed a cylinder head on a Volvo marine engine I also changed the timing belt etc. The book said, just don't move the engine and put the new belt on. But, when I checked all the line up marks and belt marks it was off by one tooth.

I moved the engine a touch and put the belt on right. Everything now lined up. It is hard to believe the Volvo mechanics messed up when they built that engine new? But I could have sworn the engine runs better than new afterwards.

Would it have made a difference?