M117 upper end rebuild, hours?
 

Before I drop my M117 into the 420, I'm going to reseal the lower intake with all new rubber... hell it's out.

Anyway, obviously I'm going to do the upper guides and tensioner (with rail) while I have it out but how much more work is it to do the chain?

Isn't there some sort of small cheap plastic stuff on the cam oiler that I should replace? Do I need new cam sprockets?

Not much more work to do the chain. Even if you don't really, really NEED it, it's $75 worth of peace of mind, which to me, is worth a lot.

On the cam oiler tube fittings, I think that they are only about $8 a side. But beware: as inexpensive as they are, proper reinstallation is critical. A person on this board had their mechanic not completely reinstall a set that the mechanic had removed (and I don't think they are designed to be re-installed), causing fairly bad cam bearing problems.

The new ones should "click" in (after removing any bits of the old ones). The click might take a little more than hand pressure, but a lot less than a hammer.

I would say that unless the engine has been abused from lack of oil changes or oil stavation, or has a really high # of miles, new gears would be an extravigance.

Yes the cam oiler clips are critical. they like to fail w/ age and take your cam/rockers/towers with it. I install mine w/ a small body hammer and a paint stick...Slowly working up and down the line trying to seat them all as evenly as possible before they are all installed.

I would Def. do the chain.. hell, I would pull the front cover and renew the other rails while the engine is out...But if I remember this car isn't going to be around for the long term, no?

Jonathan

Okay, I'll do the chain. Seems smart.

I was under the impression if you pull the front cover you run a high risk of killing the head gaskets? If I can yank it without killing the gaskets, I'd do the lower guides too.

At this point, I'm not sure how long the car will be around.

Should I do the oil pump tensioner and chain?

List is growing for all the small parts. :)

Jonathon, I'm going to email you or PM to ask ya a few bits.