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Hiya! Got a problem with a reman 4.3L engine. Zero miles on the reman block, but it has been sitting for a few years without an intake manifold or valve covers. Water and junk has gotten inside and sat for a while now. I've taken the heads off and cleaned 'em up pretty well, cleaned out the cylinders the best can be done, and that's where I ran into the problem. All of the cylinders except one is in shiny shape. The last cylinder has some nasty pitting from the rust sitting in there. I know jack about engines, but it seems to me the pitting in the cylinder just won't fly. Here's my question. Can I bore the cylinder/s out about a millimeter or so and use the same pistons/rings?
Thanks in advance.
Jesse

78 Luv 4.3L

sorry dude your pretty screwed throw it away and start over

just kidding

try and hone the hell out of it with a bead hone but if you can't get it that way you will have to re-bore the block and go up one size on all cylinders and new pistons i have never heard of a shop going less than .010 over on a bore but i could be wrong
that what you get ha ha
my brother learned the hard way we put a motor in his lil honda civic i sold him for 50 bucks i drove the hell out of that car then threw a rod out the side of the block @ 90 on the freeway it was cool there was a fireball
it was sweet!
he left the plugs out for like a month and moisture got in rusted the rings to the block new motor too
fun stuff manard
good luck dude

Well, being a remanufactured engine, the pistons are already bored 0.04 over. What's a bead hone and what does it do?

what it is
is a rod w/ stone beads on it almost like a knife sharpening stone
you ever had brake rotors turned? they should put a non-directional finish on the face of the rotor well the cylinder hone does the same thing but if you run it a while it takes the surface down a little
if the pitting isnt that deep then you should be ok
if your scared of f ing it up take it to a machine shop and have them do it
you have to be careful dont hold it in one place keep going up & down
you should acheive a nice crosshatch pattern in the cylinder
go to a parts house and buy a haynes manual they have detailed directions on tear down re build and all else
hope it helps

Im going with bunnies_luv assesment. Honing will most likely clear things up. A remanufactured engine has a film of oil over the parts. This would have bought you some time before it would have started rusting. So it shouldn't take much honing to clear things up. Just hone enough to freshen things up, dont over do it as this will be more of a problem of having a bore thats slightly too big for the piston.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

I've cleaned all the surface rust out of the cylinders, including the last cylinder. What remains is the nasty pitting I was talking about, which definitely needs taking down about a millimeter or so. The pistons are marked .04, so I'm assuming the cylinders are bored .04 over. How much can i actually bore the cylinders without having to buy larger hardware?

I think I have heard of some people going .01 over with the same size of pistons and rings. But anymore than that I would think you would have it knocking so bad people would think it was a diesel.

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Sounds like I'm SOL on the reboring idea. The compression would probably just not be worth the effort. Do you know if larger hardware is available? Would I be better off finding another block and boring it out to the specs of the rest of my brand frickin' new hardware? Should I just toss the idea of rebuilding the brand frickin' new block that sat for too frickin' long and I (like a complete idiot) bought?

Well I dont think boring out an engine is all that much money. If I were you, and wanted to keep a V6, I would go and get it bored .060 and that means you have to buy new pistons and rings:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33623&item=7961288634&rd=1 Like these ones for $90 including shipping and handeling. They say they are for a 350 but the pistons and rings are the same, and you will have two extra ones. And you will need to have the machine shop put the pistons on your rods which are about $6 a piston.

Dont worry about feeling like an idiot by buying a bad block, because I have done the same thing when I paid $140 for a supposeably really nice 350 with 4 bolt mains, and I got it down to change the cam bearings the guy magnifulxed it too and found a crack half way through the lifter valley. So I got ripped off. But I did get $10 from the scrap metal yard.

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Hrrmm.. Could I still use the same heads with those pistons?

Yup.

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dude check it
you punch it out (re-bore) it 0.60 right you buy new pistons and rings
then you get your pins pressed if you know someone that has a press its not that hard just put towels around the piston and oil em up press em in
then build your block heads same gaskets same rods same only rings and pistons changed bam your done and youll have a rappy motor goes from 3.0 to 3.2 or whatever it is
not rocket science
its auto science
youll be alright man " you can do it "