Engine build part duex

[Canonman67]

I assembled the engine after getting it back from the machine shop and thought everything was fine. Cam break in went well and only had a couple oil leaks to fix. One leak was the rear main. When I drained the oil I was surprised to discover water in the oil. Tore the engine down looking for something simple and... nothing. I took everything back to the machine shop and had it checked out. Turned out the metal of the block was friable, the block itself was toast. I'm back at square one with a new (to me) block and all my old parts.

A few questions
Do I have to do another cam break in?
Will I need different pushrods?
Since the bore .030 on the new block I have new pistons, does the entire assembly have to be balanced or can the pistons be used as is if they're all the same weight?
This is the first engine I've ever built so I'm only book smart and barely even that.

Thanks for your help.

[Jacksdad]

You need to treat it as if you bought a used cam. Get a new set of lifters and go through the break in procedure again with the appropriate oil (or additive with ZDDP).

You'll only really know when it's together, but if it's close to a stock rebuild and nothing else has changed (block has been decked, heads machined or thinner/thicker head gaskets used) chances are that your pushrods will be okay.

There shouldn't be any problems with the new pistons. It's nice if you can afford it, but I've built more engines without getting them balanced and never had an issue.

Hopefully you've got all the gremlins out of the way now, and the rest of the build goes smoothly

[DuckRyder]

If you kept the lifters in order on disassembly and can put them back where they came from then another cam break-in or lifters should not be necessary. If you did not keep them in order, new lifters and treat it like a new cam.

If the pistons are the same weight as the balanced pistons you should be fine though I imagine the new raw pistons won’t be as constant as balanced ones. It should be possible for the shop to balance make the new pistons equal to the old.

Push rods also should be fine unless one of the blocks was radically decked.

[Jacksdad]

Duckryder is probably steering you right on this one - this is an area where I tend to differ from the conventional thinking on cam swaps between engines in that I always use new lifters.

Got a great deal on a Mopar purple cam with very few miles recently. The PO had marked the position of the lifters before sending them, but I'm always wary of differences between blocks so I sprang for a new set. The cam was priced low enough that it was still a lot less than new, so I figured it was cheap insurance. My main concern is any difference in the alignment of the lifter bores to the cam centerline between blocks. I know it's a slight chance and I'm probably being overcautious, but I've had new flat tappet cams go bad before when everything was right, and I figure if I wipe a lobe I'm looking at pulling and tearing down the motor again, and buying new gaskets and maybe bearings if the metal made it that far.

Like I said, Duckryder is probably right - I'm probably being overcautious. You've already spent enough without shelling out more.

[Canonman67]

While I did label the lifters by putting them in an egg carton, my grandson dropped it when putting it on the shelf. Oh well it's only a few bucks and I'll put the new ones in the carton and not say a word.
I've checked the weight on the new pistons and they were pretty well matched. Only two varied and that was by only a gram. I haven't taken the old ones apart yet so I'll compare weights and see how it goes.
Thanks for the help guys it's appreciated.

[DuckRyder]

Yep, new lifters (buy good ones) and treat it like a new cam, you need the moly lube and all - I’d look carefully at the cost, it might be about the same as a new cam kit.

If you have the ability to weight the pistons within grams, then weigh an old one. You should be able to look at the balanced pistons and see where the shop was moving weight and carefully match the new pistons to the old.

Make sure you throughly clean them if you do grind/Dremel on them, but the flip side is that a if they are that close, it shouldn’t be an issue.

[Jacksdad]

Sounds familiar. We recently pulled a 351W from a wrecking yard truck to replace the FE in my bump. My son was with me, and as I was rolling the short block over a little to get at the accessory brackets, he helped a tad too much and a couple of lifters slid out. I couldn't tell which one went where, so I made the most of it and used it as an excuse to go with a Lunati Voodoo cam and lifter kit. I'm doing well budget-wise as it looks to be a low mileage motor that just needs freshening up, so a couple of hundred for what will probably be a significant hp boost over the stock cam was definitely doable. When life gives you lemons, right?

[Canonman67]

"When life gives you lemons, right?" Exactly. I checked prices and since I already have a mild performance cam nothing jumped out at me so I just bought lifters. I did drool over roller cams while on Summit but that's getting too far into the ether. Happily I still had a bit on the Father's Day gift card so it literally came to a few bucks.

Thanks again for the help.

[Jacksdad]

You're welcome.

Good luck with your build

[1972hiboy]

just a note about lifters ive had to deal with in the past. if you take the new lifter and shake it and it rattles. exchange it for ones that don't. they arent supposed to rattle. I did that on my dads engine rebuild cause half of them rattled, didn't care for that. that engine went together great. it could sit for months and on start-up wouldn't tick until oil pressure pumped them up.

edit, this is for hyd lifters, not solid. just clarifying.