Do a cam, I have an 8V and a custom grind Engle Cam, but I
recall the cam really helped the engine come alive, you could
do some port cleanup get rid of the casting imperfections, and
some of the under valve seat issues, there was a significant lip
on the head I have that I thought would really mess with the
performance, so I worked on that, as well as I smoothed out
the chambers to reduce hot spots, I was working this head for
turbo use, you may not want to work the chambers that much
as it will reduce the compression ratio slightly, tho not enough
to really cause any power losses.

Happy Porting

Wild

Quick update.  I have the motor on a stand and all of the accessories and manifolds removed.  I've been reading through a FSM to make sure I do this right the first time.  I just ordered a OHC valve spring compressor and in the FSM it say's I also need an adapter of some sort.  I ordered the tool from a snap on rep that I know and he said it should be good to go out of the box.  Who's right?  Also,  I'm wondering if anybody has any tips as far as making the re-assembly easier.  What should I mark?  Any opinions on oil vs assembly lube?  Anything else I'm missing before I fully commit to the tear down process?  Thanks for all of the help

Jon

I like the snot sticky assembly, I know it's going to stay where I
need it until the engine gets started, oil will work, but it will also
drip and run out, leaving less protection on first start up.

In the high school auto shop we used white lithium grease from
a tube, the teacher always called it elephant cum, LOL, he was a riot
to have as a teacher, coolest one ever

Wild

There are several different assembly lubes along with oil that I use on rebuilt engines. elephant cum on the bearings, coal digger snot on cam lobes and oil for the cylinder walls/rings....

I would say that type of assembly lubricant you use mainly depends on how long you plan on letting things sit from the first time you start re-assembly to actually firing the engine up for first time.  Anywhere from a couple of days to maybe a week a good oil will be fine, if you plan on taking a long time rebuilding or know will take longer to get it re-assembled and running then use the heavier greases mentioned.  Most importantly make sure you use a good quality oil.  No generic crap,  personally I use nothing but Mobil 1. 

I have ordered multiple parts and pieces from Lowrange for my current engine re-build(due to a overly hard and failed front main seal) and have not had any bad things happen.  I did notice on my 16v that the original rings that I pulled out appeared to be chrome/molly with the new ones being conventional steel.  For the money spent I think it will be well worth the trade off.  The gaskets and seals are all of good quality that I have used.

If you have never done an overhaul before do yourself a big favor and let the machine shop do the cylinder honing and valve grinding.  Also make sure you have a good torque wrench.

Update of the week.  So the motor is all torn down and I'm waiting on my snap-on guy to get the correct valve spring compressor to finish the head. The only part I cant figure out is the coolant tube that comes out the back side of the water pump.  It's bolted to the block with a 10 mm bolt and the other end looks like its pressure fit.  If I unbolt it I can wiggle it around but it won't slide out the front of the block because of the fittings on the side. If I slide it to the back of the block it just gets tighter to the pressure seal.  Does this need to be removed or can I just leave it?  Also, from what I can see the cylinders look almost perfect and I can see the original cross hatching in all of the cylinders.  The top of 2 cylinders (2 and 3) only have a very slight lip from the rings, cylinders 1 and 4 do not, and no spun bearings.  I noticed that there are no bearings in the cam journals and the surface of a few have some wear.  How does this get resurfaced without using undersized bearings?

Thanks-
Jon

On my engine the coolant galley was stuck in place by old crusty coolant, I had to knock it out from the water pump side and then clean it up.

The cam journals don't use a bearing, so if there just a tiny bit scuffed, leave them. Otherwise you'll be buying a new head. When you put the head back together lube everything good, the cam seal too. When I do a teardown /rebuild on any engine I like to put individual components in labeled ziplock bags. If any part is going to be reused I prefer it to go back in where it came out. ALSO, this is big time important: MAKE DAMN SURE YOUR PUTTING THE HEAD GASKET ON IN THE CORRECT ORENTATION. It will fit upside down, but it blocks an oil galley to the cam, and will destroy the head in just a few seconds if run that way.

I wouldn't use the white lithium grease on anything.......maybe holding valve spring retainer locks in place.
Napa has the red sticky assembly lube, that would be my first choice! It is the same as Torco MPZ assembly lube
And redline assembly lube.

Another day another question...  I have come across a J20 with 80k on it in an Aerio that was totaled in a rear end collision.  I can get the motor, ecu, and wiring harness for about $500 ( I'm still wheelin' and dealin' the price a little).  I have read that it's a fairly straight forward swap and it bolt's up to the tranny.  What is involved in a j20 swap into a 95 with a 5-speed?  If the deal go's through I'll start a fresh thread.  Give me an opinion...

Thanks
Jon

Thank you to craigslist for providing me with what I need.  I just found a 1.6 w/ 100k and i'm gonna drop it in while I take my time to rebuild the original.  I called around on machine work and got quoted between $800-$1200 with the motor torn apart for them.  Holy sticker shock batman!  At some point should I just cut my loses and plan on a j-motor swap?  Thanks for all the help guys.  It's nice to find a forum that's helpful more than sarcastic.

Jon

The J motor swap is a lot of work and isn't going to be cheap, have you read ther write up on Aftermarket4x4. It is a tempting conversion though and would also solve a lot of gearing issues, the J20 can run nuch higher gearing/bigger tyres.