Addicted To Boost Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 I just started on a major tuneup on my TGP, since it has all original everything on it and wasn't running so great last year. As some of you may recall, I had a shuddering problem for the last couple weeks I drove the car last year, and the last day I drove it last year it kept stalling all the time. SO today I started on the tuneup. I will be pulling the upper and lower intakes and valve covers and replacing the gaskets on all of them, since they are all original and I'm sure could use replacement. I will also be replacing every sensor on the engine, along with new plugs and wires. I am waiting for parts to come in the mail, so I started off today by pulling off my intake plenum and throttle body. From there, I removed my EGR, TB, and all sensors. I looked inside the intake plenum and it smelled VERY strongly of gas (even though the car hasn't run in 6 months) and the inside of the plenum was coated with a black substance. Also, there was a bit of dirt collecting on top of my LIM, looked like something may have leaked from my UIM gasket and ran all over the top of the LIM. I brought the upper plenum out and filled it with kerosene and tried to clean some of the black residue from the plenum, and some did come out. I scrubbed the ports in the plenum with an old toothbrush and that helped a lot, but I could only get about 1" into each port with the toothbrush and the rest of the inside of the plenum is still pretty dirty. Anyone have any good recommendations for chemicals to clean it or something to scrub the whole intake out? If I have time tomorrow, I will be pulling the lower intake manifold next. For those of you who have pulled these out, do you have any tips before I do this? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Have you used that seafoam stuff in your car? I heard that cleans out stuff nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Yep, I have seafoamed it a couple times. That is really only good for cleaning carbon in the combustion chamber though. I will need to clean the intake manifolds by hand or see if my local dealership has some kind of a parts cleaner that would clean them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 get a gallon of xylene. its good octane booster as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 I'll have to take a look for some. Anyone here ever use Berryman's Chem dip? Is it okay to use on aluminum (throttle body, UIM, LIM) Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 its the same shit but you pay for the name. you can get toluene and xylene gallons at the hardware store. usually for 12 bucks a gallon but today is gonna be more than yesterday so idk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted April 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 Update Today I pulled my Alternator, PS pump, and the mounting brackets for both off, along with the coolant pipes, fuel lines, then the valve covers and LIM. There was a bit of coolant left in the LIM when I took it off.. is this something to worry about if any coolant gets into the cylinders? All the intake valves appear to be closed, but I'm just wondering. Everything came off pretty easily, but one minor setback did take place. I was unbolting the coolant pipe from the top of the water pump and the head on one of the bolts snapped off. I was thinking about removing the waterpump housing, but it appears to be one very big piece alongside the engine... is this easy to remove or no? I was also wondering if it is fairly easy to remove the aluminum motor mount mounted on the left side of the engine, by the waterpump. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 take the intakes to a radiator repair shop or an engine builders, most of them will dip the intakes in their cleaning shit for like $20 and they come out looking new. BTW, all the 3.1 intakes have that gunk built up inside, pretty sure its from the egr. That bolt thats broken, try a tap cause that alum piece sucks to remove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 UPDATE Ok so I got my 1.6 rockers and guide plates today (courtesy Matt F. Thanks!) and started work on the TGP again today. I put the 1.6 rockers in my bucket of Berryman's Chem dip and that seems to have cleaned them very well. I also removed my stock rockers and pushrods. Some of the lifters were a bit sticky, but everything looked good in there. I purchased a tube of "GM Engine Sealant" part number 88861417 from my local GM dealer and the parts manager said he strongly recommends using it for the intakes on our cars. Anyone here used it before? I'd imagine its good stuff, since it was likely used when the cars were built in the factory. I cleaned up my lifters in the Berryman's Chem Dip and upon closer inspection, my lifters ALL have flat spots along the sides.. on each lifter, there is one heavy flat spot, and some of them have a very light flat spot to them.. I noticed that a few of the lifters did NOT want to come out of the engine, while most of them just popped out. Does this mean that my lifters are bad, or are they supposed to have a flat spot on them? Being that I'm this far along, with all the intakes and valvetrain pulled off, how hard would it be to pull the heads at this point? What else would I have to do to get them off? I'm debating whether or not I should pull the heads since I have it torn down this far. I've noticed also that compared to engines I've worked on in the past, this engine hasn't been very difficult to work with.. actually its been pretty nice! Been pretty enjoyable for my first pushrod V6 experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 If you have done heads before, the 60v6 is a breese.. might as well swap out the gaskets and do a pocket port/polish job on the heads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 See thats what I'm thinking.. I have everything on the top end removed, aside from the heads now.. Both intake manifolds removed, rockers, pushrods, lifters, and gaskets are all removed. Do the heads just unbolt with the valves still in there and just come off like that? Again, I've only dealt with DOHC engines before and this is the first pushrod V6 I've had apart. If the heads are fairly easy to take off, I am thinking of removing them and having them ported, polished, and decked, and replace the headgaskets while I'm at it. That way I will have a strong top end for now. The bottom end seems pretty solid now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 valves stay in the head, take out the bolts (no particular order) and pop off the heads. I would replace the head bolts when your ready to reassemble but all real simple. There is about 1000 tips to putting it together when your done, but since your already that deep into the engine, take the extra step and do up the heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 I cleaned up my lifters in the Berryman's Chem Dip and upon closer inspection, my lifters ALL have flat spots along the sides.. on each lifter, there is one heavy flat spot, and some of them have a very light flat spot to them.. I noticed that a few of the lifters did NOT want to come out of the engine, while most of them just popped out. Does this mean that my lifters are bad, or are they supposed to have a flat spot on them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Ok since I got carried away and this has gone WAY past a "tune-up" , I am changing the topic name now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 The lifters are supposed to be flat, I really would need a pic to see what your talking about. Lifters are cheap though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krenzy Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Nick you've teeter-tottered the fine line between "tuneup" and "rebuild", "enthusiam" and "obsession"...good to know you've cleared it up! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 wait, on the side....ummm that doesnt sound right at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Yes, on the side where they are supposed to be round, there is a heavy flat spot on every lifter. There are also lighter flat spots that look to be forming. The lifters that had the really heavy flat spots were hard to remove from the engine- had to pull on them pretty hard to get them to come out. I sure hope this didn't wreck the block... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 autozone sells melling lifters JB-2095 $4.99 each If your playing the while im in there game, look at cam upgrades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 i doubt you damaged the block pulling lifters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 I wouldn't install new lifters on a old cam. Also remember where each lifter went, don't mix them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Id have no problems with new lifters and an old cam, but thats personal preference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 i doubt you damaged the block pulling lifters I'm not worried about that, but what I am worried about is what has been happening while they were in the block to make them flat spotted and so hard to pull out in the first place. The engine isn't pulled right now, so I don't think I will do a cam. I need to check all my cam lobes now though.. I wonder if I can see them all with the cam still in the car? I know it is common for these cars to wipe out one of the cam lobes.. I wouldn't install new lifters on a old cam. Also remember where each lifter went, don't mix them up. Why would that matter? The lifters are all the same. I am probably going to replace them with new ones just to be safe. Does anyone on here do head porting?.. or even know someone personally that does a good job porting.. I figure if I'm taking the heads off, might as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 I wouldn't install new lifters on a old cam. Also remember where each lifter went, don't mix them up. Why would that matter? The lifters are all the same. I am probably going to replace them with new ones just to be safe. Does anyone on here do head porting?.. or even know someone personally that does a good job porting.. I figure if I'm taking the heads off, might as well... Flat tappet lifters "wear" with the specific cam lobe they are installed on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 I wouldn't install new lifters on a old cam. Also remember where each lifter went, don't mix them up. Why would that matter? The lifters are all the same. I am probably going to replace them with new ones just to be safe. Does anyone on here do head porting?.. or even know someone personally that does a good job porting.. I figure if I'm taking the heads off, might as well... Flat tappet lifters "wear" with the specific cam lobe they are installed on. He is right, if your going to reuse the old lifters, they should go back in the bores they came out of. but if your replacing them, it doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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