sharkthehunter77

This job is not nearly as difficult as predicted, just extremely time consuming! Thaank god for the auto hobby shop...or as we now call it, the auto skills center. Anywho, finally got the intake manny off yesterday after much starin and effort. Now that the lifter valley is exposed to the world for the first time since that Performer was installed, how does one go about cleaning all the gunk up in that area. Theres just a lot of build-up both there and under neath the valve covers and i know that effects the smoothness of how she runs. Anyway, i have the timing chain cover off, and am ready to head in for ther actuall cam swap after duty today, if anyone has any advice/pitfalls just holla!

VegasJen

i've done this a couple times and it's not that bad, especially if you have access to a shop vac. first, put some rags or something in the front and rear drain back holes and distributor hole. you might as well remove the lifters and do the same thing there since they have to come out for the cam swap anyway (you are replacing the lifters too, right?). then you can scrap and brush off all build up and vacuum it out. then clean the rest of it with brake clean or a similar cleaner and wipe up all puddled fluid. that's about as good as your going to get it without removing the engine.
i'm assuming your leaving the heads in place but even so while your at it, you can remove all your rockers so that all the valves are closed and scrap off all the built up crap on the valve through the ports (almost all the gunk will be on the intake valves) and vacuum it out with the shop vac. i went to a gun shop and got a bore brush so i could bend it in a 'j' shape and get all the way around the valve then i taped a tube about a 1/2" diameter to the pickup hose of the shop vac to reach down inside the port and get as much of that gunk out as you can. if your not pulling the heads, that's going to really help.
i'm concerned by the amount of stuff you are talking about having in there. is there a way you can take pictures so we can see how much coking you have in the engine? there are a couple things that could be happening to cause this like the engine running excessively hot, too long between oil changes and/or poor quality oil among others.

sharkthehunter77

yes, the previous owner ran the car without a thermostate and she tended to overheat often. Then there was that time a coupleof months ago were i went to change the oil and discovered less then 2 quarts in the engine. Needless to say i do my own oil changes from now on.

john's '81 mouse

If you've not yet done so, remove the oil pan, then you can place a catch pan under the engine, and catch all the gunk you'll release from the lifter valley area when spraying with brake parts cleaner. Suggest you follow this with a spray of the cleaner from under side of engine crankcase and spin the crankshaft to get all of the gunk off the crankshaft and rods as well. Also not a bad time to replace that probably old worn stock oil pump with a new stock unit. Use felpro one piece oil pan gasket on re-assembly of oil pan.

Twin_Turbo

I second the brake cleaner, I use that stuff too to clean it. Then again, I've also used oven cleaner (NaOH) to pull out the bad oil contamination on the outside of the block, it really helps and it pulled a lot of the grime out. Then some thinner and brake cleaner and it was very nice and clean.

biggjimm

Hey Shark hows it going. make sure you change the oil after cleaning the lifter valley. regardless of how careful you are, you are going to get some sludge down there. Just a personal opinion, because I have lost a engine after this procedure due to that junk that I loosened getting in the oil pump pickup screen and losing pressure, if that sludge is solid and not in the way of any moving part and it is not blocking any oil returns, it is not going to hurt anything. Sometimes you can do more damage trying to remove it. Just something to think about. Biggjimm

Maurice

Is it in yet? What cam did you decide to go with? I musta missed that post... When are you going back to the track to test for the improvements?

cardo0

I really lked what clutchdust said. :iagree: Only thing to add is that was my engine I'd be looking to replace it soon. :eek: Sorry. :(