How hard is it to rebuild a Red 6?

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

I have been thinking about building up a new motor for the FE Ute and thought I might give it a go myself.
Engine building has always seemed like a "black art" to me, is it really that hard?

[SEB]

Depends. If you have all the machining done by someone who knows what they are doing (can recommend Peter Orger if your in Vic) supplied with all the bits you are going to use its like Meccano with a torque wrench. The issues tend to occur when poor quality machining and poor parts matching cause overly tight/loose tolerances which then affect engine performance. I think a Red is an easier build than a Grey.

Go on do it you know you want to!

[SRVLIVES]

Cleanliness would be the biggest thing Glenn, as sais, it's just like a big meccano set otherwise!

[minifcvan]

hi glen my rule is ..HAVE PLENTY OF BEER TO ASSIST........

[RET]

Glenn,

FWIW I was going to rebuild a 186 for Faecal with the help of a mate, and bought a complete spare motor for the task ($200).

However, I costed it out, and by the time I bought all the bits and pieces required and we put it together, we were looking at about $1400.  BM Higginbottom Reconditioning Services do an exchange red motor with hardened valve seats and all the usual trimmings for about $1800, with a 48 hour turn-around and 3 year/100,000k warranty.  So the extra couple of hundred for warrantied work seemed like a good deal to me, not to mention the savings in my time.  Even though Charlie (my mate) has built many motors in his time, had we busted something putting it back together again - fitted something back-to-front, or whatever - I could easily have wound up paying more to do it myself.

Of course, the opportunity cost is not learning how to do it yourself, which in some ways I would have liked to do.

Just my 2c.

cheers
RET

[collecta]

Nothing ventured nothing gained.
there is nothing like the smile of knowing you did it yourself even if you do get a little help from a friend.

Glenn
let me know if you want to do it and i will only be too happy to lend a hand, ive got all the tools to put it together.

cheers
Scott

[suziecreamcheese]

hey stinky .. it is an awesome feeling to know you built this weapon yourself so here are some pointers we found out the hard way.. when pulling the motor down we used to get a hole punch and stamp each rod and end cap (usually on the flat side where they bolt together) so the same ones went back together in the right holes.. if getting your block cleaned and machined we used to machine every flat surface (fuel pump and oil pump , sump and deck the block, try fly cut the deck on a red motor) .. if replacing cam with a new one have new cam bearings fitted at the machine shop.. cleaning all these surfaces will mean no leaks.. have your rods resized and balanced so they are all the same wieght.. have your crank balanced and machined with your flywheel and balancer with it(lighten the flywheel aswell).. have the gudgeon and little end bearings replaced on a grey motor every time!! your red might not need it.. when bolting the rods up we used to put a small piece of tissue paper between the bearing shell and the crank and tighten it up the motor would not turn then take it out and it should turn free .. that was how we checked our tolerance.. when putting the pistons in we would put the gap on the top ring away from the inlet valve(pot 1 is towards the front of the engine) the second ring was opposite ..I hope all this helps good luck suzie cream cheese
ps.let us know how you go!!

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks for the tips guys, it looks like I will give it a go but it will be the new year before any spanners start turning, budget permitting.
With Scott as backup and one of the better machine shops down the road I should be alright