Tools for a complete engine strip and rebuild.

[VFRkieran]

Just got myself a blown NC35 engine for the sum total of £0.00 that i think has been over revved and popped a shim out, so im going to be completly stripping the engine down and i am going to give it a complete refresh. What specialist tools am i going to need to complete the job?

Cheers,
Kieran.

[lukemillar]

Money! If you go OE, then the gaskets alone will cost you a pretty penny.

As for tools:

Valve spring compressor
Piston ring compressor
Clutch nut socket
Rotor puller for alternator

and depending on what you are doing once you have stripped it down, some basic measuring tools might be handy.

[VFRkieran]

Yea will be nice having an engine i know inside out so im not too worried about the cost, thanks for that list though mate, got the clutch nut socket and a few measuring tools so i dont need as much as i thought. Lets hope its not a complete wreck inside!

[leef82]

Torque wrench

[Mavirick]

I know its a dumb answer but a good socket set is a must

[CRM]

big hammer, bigger hammer, pipe wrench, sharp flat head screwdriver, poor fitting sockets (imperial ideally) some plasters and a flame thrower. and dont forget tons and tons of red instant gasket. so it ooozes out like your making a cake.

Ah sorry sorry i was confusing this with what i assumed the chimp who had rebuilt my first RVF motor had used.

[Neosophist]

As above and:

Micrometer and feeler gauges for measuring shims.
Plastigauge for checking bearing shell wear and cam shell wear.
Valve seat cutters / grinding paste.
Dial gauge for checking runouts.

But before that:

The engine can be taken mostly apart with standard tools, get a copy of the Honda service manual and follow it through.

First thing i'd do is get the heads off and seperate the crank cases.

You can inspect the valve train. If it's dropped a valve theres a good chance the piston / bore is scrap and the engine is written off.

If you want a decent overhauled motor then be prepared to spend some time and money.

Providing it's not written off... strip it to complete pieces, inspect everything and re-assemble, replacing all servicable components that are not within tolerance. i.e. bearing shells

Replace all oil-seals seals such as valve stem seals, gear selector shaft oil seal etc.

Do a proper job though:

Remove the valves, remeber which went where, check the stems are straight and not bent / stretched. While each valve is out clean up the valve seats / lap the valves in with some fine paste.

If you can get hold on an NC24 oil pump and oil cooler you can drill the crank case lower to allow the oil cooler to be fitted. (will have to remount the lower rad bracket somewhere.

[VFRkieran]

Cheers guys ive got pretty much all the basic tools like socket sets, low and high range tourque wrenches and a set of feeler gauges, i think its just the more specialised bits that i need now. Lol paul i will be doing a proper job of this as im keeping it once its finished no half arsed attempts from me!

Thanks for that Neo i will take the heads off at the weekend and see how much damage has been done there, i had the cam covers off on monday and it didnt look too bad in there cam lobes looked fine, no scoring or any visible damage. Didnt get a chance to measure the valve clearances as i left my feeler gauges at my old mans, however when i was turning the engine over there was a strange noise from the no.3 cylinder it sounded like the valve was hitting to top of the piston im pretty sure this is what it was because it coincided with the valve springs being compressed.
How much are we thinking it will cost to overhaul/refresh everything? Im not too bothered about how much time i spend on it as im not in a rush to get finished im just fascinated with these brilliant little V4's and hopefully i can have a nice one ready to fit into an RVF frame that ive built myself.

Thanks again guys all the progress will be in my build thread!