So, I’ve always wanted to tackle an engine build just to see how things work and better understand the process.
For the first time I have:
Where do I start? The TR6 engine seems dead simple: single cam; pushrods; non-crossflow; made of pig iron. Any good books or videos?
I’m what the kids call a “visual learner” so a video would be awesome. Any leads?
Same boat here. Looking fwd to suggestions...
There's 1000s of videos on YouTube of SBCs being built, some pretty in depth. While not the exact same, it should be helpful.
EricTheCar guy is currently building a 383 SBC with hours of footage, and he's catered to those wanting to learn.
A guy I know once lended me a book about engine blueprinting. I don't recall the name... It had all the instructions for a small block Chevrolet, but most of it could be applied to any engine as well. I don't remember much of it since I read it years ago and I still haven't put it in practice, but I do remember that it had very detailed instructions. Probably much more detailed than a video can be. I'd start with reading a similar book and go from there.
Having built a few of these there are some caveats. It is not simpler than an overhead cam engine, there are a lot more parts in there! Do not equate the great mass of the big pieces with strength. The metallurgy is both soft and brittle. Polished bearing surfaces that need diamonds to scratch on a German or Japanese engine will take a nick or dent with a gentle screw driver tap. If you drag the connecting rod against the bore during assembly you will scratch it. If it has more than 50k miles on it everything will be worn past service limit. On a more positive note you will not bend a valve if you goof the valve timing as a beginner. Number everything on disassembly. On the slim chance the camshaft is re-useable the lifters (tappet in English) must go on the same lobe they came off. Same with push rods and rocker arms/adjusting screws. Push rods are vey bendable if miss-handled too. The basic design of this engine is sub optimal even when it was new, and the production tolerances deteriorated with time, so measure everything carefully. It was built down to price which is the primary cause of the bad metallurgy.
I got lucky that the first engines I built were ACVW and there are some really great books for that engine specifically. My third engine build, that I screwed up, I mostly figured out from the FSM and watching tons of american small blocks being built on PowerBlock TV.
If you want slow but very detailed videos then Jafromobile has some great videos. He's doing a 4G63 blueprint currently.
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