Laying The Foundation To Rebuild A GM 4.3L V6

(Pat)>> You're watching Powernation.

(Pat)>> Whether you're working on a mild street engine for your daily driver.

(Frankie)>> Or an over the top bullet for a race car.

(Pat)>> There are some steps you need to take for a successful engine build.

(Frankie)>> Plus we bring you the newest tools and tech from this year's Matco Tools Expo. ♪ ♪

(Pat)>> Today on Engine Power we're gonna do things a little bit different. We are taking you behind the scenes of some planning and prep of what we do to an engine before the cameras even start rolling. Not only do we do engines for ourselves but the other three shops in the building. We need to know what engine it is and how much power it has to make for what they are doing, but that all takes the same amount of prep and planning. Most of the time we'll find an engine either in a salvage yard or a running take out out of a vehicle. Other times we will scour the internet for a project or get something at a swap meet, but also a great way of doing it starting off with a factory remanufactured engine. Why would you do that you ask? Well it has some advantages. It sounds kinda scary because the cost is significant on the front end, but the advantages are you have machine work that is already done. The block has been bored, honed, decked, and common oversizes have been used. So if you're getting aftermarket parts you're still in good shape. This particular engine is a 4.3 liter Chevy V-6 out a mid '90's vehicle. Now I'm not saying that this may be a project later but we are going to do the same thing to this as we would all other engines. We are gonna get it apart, get it clean, get it measured up, and look for a few upgrades that are available for it after he gets done mopping.

(Frankie)>> I'm getting there.

(Pat)>> Hurry up! ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> No matter what the engine teardown is the same. You don't scrap any of the parts, and you keep them well organized. By analyzing the parts you can tell a lot about the condition of an engine. On a remanufactured engine like this 4.3 liter all the parts look great.

(Pat)>> Fresh!

(Frankie)>> Pretty nice!

(Pat)>> Cylinder finish looks nice.

(Frankie)>> Are your pistons signed?

(Pat)>> My pistons are not signed.

(Frankie)>> Mine got signed. It's 2-KIPSRFM.

(Pat)>> Oh my, love letters in the engine.

(Frankie)>> I guess so.

(Pat)>> One thing we like to check before we get the engine apart is how far the piston sits down below the deck surface at t-d-c. This gives us a better idea of the engine's compression ratio. ♪ ♪ 39.5 in the hole. ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> That's not gonna help compression.

(Pat)>> Well no but the idea of when they rebuild things is not to build a race engine right? You want a nice flat deck that's smooth, that seals up nice.

(Frankie)>> They're zero decking stuff. Not trying to build race engines. Sometimes you get that, sometimes you get them really tall, and sometimes they are not that bad.

(Pat)>> Again you could fix that if we wanted to deck the block, knock out both sides. If we use different pistons all that's out the window anyway. If the decks are equal you can get a head gasket thickness that you can actually adjust all that so you can put it where you want it as far as compression ratio wise. You can't do anything about how far the piston's in or out of the hole. ♪ ♪ That's essentially the same. That's 38 and 43. Piston's essentially both sides 39.5 in the hole, which is no big deal because when they cut a deck to clean them up they'll cut the worst one and then cut the other one to it. So at least they're equals. Factory hydraulic roller. This particular engine has a balanced shaft that helps counteract harmonics at higher engine speeds. Because the front bearing is pressed in we have to give the shaft assembly we have to give the shaft assembly a few taps to remove it. ♪ ♪ [ metal tapping ] ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> This engine has a factory hydraulic roller cam shaft, which is super cool and gives us some versatility for upgrades later on. It's tempting to just take things apart as fast as possible but we don't want to cause any damage to the engine's parts. So rod bolt boots and gentle piston removal is a must.

(Pat)>> In many ways this V-6 shares the same architecture with its big brother, the V-8 small block Chevy. These share a lot of common parts like if you wanted to put splayed main caps on these you could actually get some for a regular 350 and everything else is pretty much the same. You'd have to machine it to put them on but they're the same dimension. It's got this little baby crank shaft. Look at that. That's nice. If we reuse that crank we'll definitely reuse these bearings.

(Frankie)>> I'd say they're brand new.

(Pat)>> Okay we've got to this point it actually looks really good. Decks are even. I'm sure the main housing will be fine but we're gonna check it anyway. If we can reuse that stock crank there's nothing wrong with depending on our power level right. So we have bearings, we have a crank. We do have new rods and pistons but the question is what do we actually want to do with it. We don't have a project but maybe we can induce a project if we do something cool to it.

(Frankie)>> I mean there's a couple of different options. We could go kinda like the sprint car V-6 route and build an N/A motor that just turns some r-p-m and makes decent power, or we could have a lot of fun and put two small turbos on it like a small Ecoboost or something. I wish that somebody made a roots blower manifold for these cause that would be the coolest thing, but I've done some research and I can't really find any.

(Pat)>> We're not gonna make any custom stuff for it but since this is still a balanced shaft engine and we could still use that if want to. Camshafts are still made. If want to block that thing completely off and eliminate it we can too. People say we can't remove the balance shaft. Oh yes you can. The more you learn about your engine the better you can build it.

(Frankie)>> Plus we learn more about the latest in automotive technology at the Matco Tools Expo.

(Frankie)>> Now that we've got our engine torn down we can go ahead and start doing the cleaning and prep process before assembly. Now like Pat said remaned blocks come fully machined. So they're pretty much ready to go, but because we treat every engine the same no matter whether it's a stock rebuild or a full tilt race engine we are gonna go through and double check all of our clearances and clean everything very well. We're gonna start out by tapping every single hole in the block, and then we'll also go through and measure our main bearing clearances and all our bores. Now it does take a little bit of time but this is super important. So let's get started. Having a nice thread chasing kit makes life around the shop a lot easier. This Matco 51 piece kit has commonly used taps and dyes in both coarse and find thread for the standard pieces along with the metric ones. When cleaning or repairing existing threads it's always better to use a thread chasing kit instead of a machine tap kit. Thread chasers are designed to remove corroded or rusted metal without damaging the threads, or unintentionally cutting new ones. Now in doing this you can use a wrench or a speeder handle, but this a little bit faster and it'll keep you from side loading the tap. So we're gonna go with that one. It's important not to force your way through the threads. When you feel increased resistance rotate the tap in and out while keeping it straight. This will push the removed debris into the tap's flutes, keeping the threaded portion clean for additional debris removal.

(Pat)>> For the main and head bolt holes we're using ARP's extended length clean out taps. It's extra important that these threads are clean because proper torquing is critical for accurate installation of the crank shaft and the cylinder heads. These head bolt holes go into the water jacket. So there's a good amount of sealer in the threads that needs to be removed. We'll apply new sealer when reinstalling the heads later. ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> That's why you clean out all these holes. We'll re-install the main caps, torque the bolts to spec, and check our main housing bore size. Ours is right in the middle of the specified range. So with all the main caps torqued we can move on to checking the cylinder bores.

(Pat)>> This is 20 over, which is not a bad over size because there's still stuff available for it, but this bore is running three or four ten-thousandths small, which is no big deal because skirt clearance on stock stuff is a thousandth to two thousandth.

(Frankie)>> And the piston is 4-0-18-5.

(Pat)>> That's right at a thousandth then.

(Frankie)>> Which hypereutectic.

(Pat)>> It's got a coated skirt. O-e-m stuff you can get away with a little bit more just because it doesn't have as much stress to it, and the cylinder pressure isn't as high, but the nice thing about this because this has the same bolt pattern and bore spacing our 350 small block Chevy. Oh it goes right on alright. We're gonna have to pull these out but it has a little bit of an overhang but we can torque plate hone this if we want to just take that little bit out, or we want to go all the way to 30 thousandths over and get another piston. The pistons themselves, again same compression height. It's a 5-7 rod in it. So I think there's a lot of pistons available for it if we want to do something not only with a different top on it but with a cool ring pack.

(Frankie)>> Something a little bit spicier, but hey at least we have that option.

(Pat)>> This is turning into a racier engine as we talk.

(Frankie)>> We started out with yeah it'll be fine. Now we're like what else could we do to it.

(Pat)>> You can't leave well enough alone. So that's just what we do here. Now we have to look up some parts for this at some point because there's a lot of stuff that's available. We can go kinda bare bones. Simple bolt ons but I guarantee you there's turbocharger stuff for it, there is supercharger stuff for it.

(Frankie)>> Never thought I'd hear you say that but I like where you're going.

(Pat)>> I don't know what's wrong with me. Another important step is the complete deburring of the engine. A simple carbide and some careful work will remove sharp edges from the block, making it safer to work with. We'll also chamfer all of the bolt holes to help protect the top of the threads. [ compressed air hissing ]

(Frankie)>> Woo, this looks nice!

(Pat)>> Nothing like a couple of hours of grinding and chamfering.

(Frankie)>> Well let's get the oil gallery plugs out, the freeze plugs, cam bearings, get it in the washer, get this thing clean.

(Pat)>> Once we do that and get it in a bag then we can make a parts list and a plan because now that I've been messing with this thing for the last couple of hours now I want to build it. So I think it's gonna be good.

(Frankie)>> I think there's some really cool stuff we can do with this. Let's get her clean.

(Pat)>> Come on over with this.

(Frankie)>> Cars have quickly become computers on wheels. We take a look at the leading edge of auto tech at the Matco Tools Expo.

(Pat)>> We don't get out of the shop that often but when we do we do very cool things. We are at the Matco Tools Expo in Orlando, Florida.

(Frankie)>> Matco is one of the leaders in tool innovation, and as technology progresses they are right there keeping up making the technician more efficient.

(Pat)>> Now we have a lot of ground to cover. So we're gonna get to it.

(Frankie)>> I need more pocket tools. ♪ ♪

(Pat)>> In the land of palm trees and alligators thousands are gathered to get hands on experience with Matco's latest tools and technology. From hand tools to state of the art diagnostic equipment it's all here, but just as important is the team behind the tools.

(Tim)>> I think the reason why people choose to become a Matco franchisee is because the product lines that we offer, the support that we offer to them to help them be successful in their business, and then ultimately the ability to work as a team with their fellow distributors cause I think Matco's all about team work.

(Pat)>> When it comes to impact wrenches you've got to have two things, reliability and power.

(Jason)>> We've got 20 volt half and 20 volt three-eighths impact, and these tools have brushless motors, patented impact mechanisms. Each has 4 l-e-d lights right there around the square. So you're seeing the work area. They're extremely powerful. So 1,600 foot pounds of breakaway torque on this tool and 600 foot pounds of breakaway torque here. Now these are the big heavy duty applications and we wanted to come out with something that works for the smaller applications. So these are new stubby tools. Three-eighths and half inch also here, and these are great for brake work, transmission, and these tools have 300 foot pounds of breakaway and 310. So even though they're smaller in size they're not sacrificing any power.

(Pat)>> That's impressive. I'm gonna actually try and give one a rip here.

(Jason)>> Go for it! [ drill humming ]

(Pat)>> It's got some zip.

(Frankie)>> Matco is known for their wide variety of feature rich tool boxes with tons of customizable options. This year they are proud to present the newest line of flag ship tool boxes, the 2-S. It's the perfect option for the entry level technician, student, or for your garage at home. Plus it features Matco's robust build quality and feature set.

(Mike)>> When we're designing a tool box we were really focused on our entry level technicians and building a box that would bring them into the Matco family.

(Frankie)>> The 2-S includes the Matco power drawer with 110 volt and u-s-b outlets for cordless tools, two deep drawers for storing larger socket sets, and aluminum overwrapped handles for easy opening and closing. Just as impressive are the hand tools that go in these boxes. Arthur tell me about what makes these ratchets so much stronger and more durable than other kinds.

(Arthur)>> First thing we're using 41-40 steel. We got the 88 click. Every single click is four degree. So you can use them in very tiny spots.

(Frankie)>> What kind of options for colors and finishes do you guys have for your ratchets?

(Arthur)>> Colors we got from the blue, green, red, orange. Finish we got the black chrome and nickel chrome.

(Frankie)>> And this black chrome is very durable too?

(Arthur)>> Yes!

(Frankie)>> So I see you have a flex head style and a locking style.

(Arthur)>> Yeah we've got the flex head and also we got the fixed head. Flex head you've got seven positions.

(Frankie)>> So 90 degree swing.

(Arthur)>> Half inch ratchet head is rated to 560 foot pounds. Three-eighths ratchet head is right at 225 foot pounds. Quarter inch 75 foot pounds, and the quarter inch is the one like that.

(Frankie)>> That's awesome! One of our favorite tools to use in the shop is Matco's hyper step drill bit. Now Mike can you explain to me how these are different than the standard drill bit and how the hyper step works? (Mike D.)>> Yeah so on the tip of these drill bits has got a step bit. It makes it cut through the steel quicker and removes the material faster, and it prevents it from walking.

(Frankie)>> Hyper step bits are exclusive to Matco. You can't get them anywhere else. They eliminate the need for drill pilot holes, and they range from sixteenth inch all the way up to three quarter inch. Kits are available from the four bit set to the 29 bit set. Hyper step bits come in either high speed steel or cobalt, which is great for cutting harder materials such as stainless steel.

(Pat)>> Up next, some outstanding Matco distributors give us the secret to their success.

(Pat)>> We're at the Matco Tools Expo in Orlando, Florida, checking out the latest in automotive technology. Every efficient automotive shop needs a versatile scan tool. The Maximus 4.0 diagnostic scan tool features a four channel oscilloscope, blue tooth battery analyzer, 5-G wi-fi connection along with several other upgrades.

(Eric)>> We've extended our battery life by two hours. We've added triple the amount of memory for all our pre and post reporting abilities, all our health reports, and any kind of digital inspections that we want to save in the tool to potentially reference at a further time.

(Pat)>> When the o-b-d-2 computer displays an error code it helps you isolate the cause of the car trouble, but sometimes like when an engine misfires, the car e-c-u won't generate an error code because the malfunction doesn't persist long enough to trigger the code. The four channel oscilloscope gives you a detailed readout of the engine's performance and helps you find hidden problems quickly.

(Jake)>> But with this scope I can jump in here and I can find that misfire just from finding where the glitch is, and then by the identification know which cylinder should have been firing and go to that cylinder.

(Pat)>> As cars become more computerized it can take factory level training to handle many automotive repairs. Fortunately Matco's pro assist remote support and programming device connects you directly with a team of over 100 factory trained technicians who stand ready to help with o-e level support and service, such as flashing.

(Eric)>> You can't just change parts anymore. It's the simple window switches. Simple things in vehicles now aren't just about changing parts. There's some sort of programming, or coding, or flash needed to complete that process.

(Pat)>> With support for all major domestic, Asian, and European manufacturers the Pro Assist can help you get deep into the computerized heart of almost any modern vehicle.

(Frankie)>>> Once a feature on just a few high end vehicles, advanced driver assist systems, also know as ADAS, are everywhere today. Systems such as collision warning, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot detection need accurate calibration to work properly.

(Eric)>> Every single manufacturer does it different. So we need to stay ahead with innovation and give our customers what they need.

(Pat)>> The tool set of the automotive technician changes faster and faster, and Matco is there to help with the tools, technology, and the support you need.

(Frankie)>> We got the chance to speak with several Matco distributors, and they provided us with honest, straight forward answers about making the decision to work with Matco. Sometimes people worry that they can't be an effective distributor if they don't bring a deep knowledge of automotive tools to the table. This is a common misperception. Matco provides comprehensive training to ensure their distributors have what they need to succeed.

(Daniel)>> I had the average knowledge of tools like everybody else. I knew what a ratchet was. I knew what a wrench was, but going with mechanics into specialized tools that was probably my biggest fear. Not being able to have the answer or solution for them. My guys have taught me so much over the last couple of years that I've got guys that are 20-30 years in the trade calling me for advice or suggestions.

(Sam)>> So I did some research and it just seemed like they were more about making sure you succeeded as an individual. Not about them, about you.

(Pat)>> You might think these outstanding distributors have some secret key to their success which they refuse to share with others. There is a key to their success but it's no secret. In fact they are happy to talk about it.

(Daniel)>> Listen to what people are trying to tell you. Be humble about what you're getting into. Whether you know it or not just be humble, sit back a little bit, and just being a good listener.

(Glory)>> So I asked a lot of questions of my customers. Hey what would you use this for? Hey what do you need, and I'm kinda a question kind of person. So I ask those customers those kind of questions and they help me.

(EJ)>> It's a good conglomeration of everybody. All backgrounds, all walks of life, and we're all here doing the same thing.

(Todd)>> For me it's kinda easy because when you're a police officer you drive around and deal with people all day. You're a Matco guy you drive around and deal with people all day. The only difference is they like to see you.

(Glory)>> It's a really refreshing business and I thoroughly enjoy. Wouldn't want to do anything else.

(Todd)>> Interesting, fun, it's changed my life, my family's life. It's the best thing I've ever done for us.

(EJ)>> Do it! It's scary at first but you're investing in yourself, and if you don't invest in yourself nobody's gonna do it for you.

(Pat)>> For more information on anything you've seen on today's show check out Powernation TV dot com.