Engine assembly in unheated shop

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xring

xring

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Got a weird question for y'all.

I will most likely be assembling my engine this fall/winter in an unheated shop. I use a propane heater to make it tolerable when it is very cold out, but, I never achieve "room temperature". What, if any, effect would this have on the assembly? I'm thinking of bearing clearances, ring gap, bolt torque. Should I wait until next spring?
 
xring said:
Got a weird question for y'all.

I will most likely be assembling my engine this fall/winter in an unheated shop. I use a propane heater to make it tolerable when it is very cold out, but, I never achieve "room temperature". What, if any, effect would this have on the assembly? I'm thinking of bearing clearances, ring gap, bolt torque. Should I wait until next spring?
Click to expand...
Nope. Won't make a bit of difference what the temp is. Only problem I forsee is if you get too cold to do the job correctly, and rush through it to get back in the house. LOL

George
 
Put my engine together in the winter with a propane heater right behind me, engine runs great and I was warm!
 
The engine and parts won't care as long as the entire assembly is at the same temperature. In other words leave parts time to cool down to garage temperature before measuring or assembling it you bring them out of your house. Also when using inside or outside micrometers that are the same temp. as your garage, try to wear gloves when handling them so the heat of your hands don't throw the numbers off especially with inside mics and standards.

Terry
 
If you are measuring things like journal size and bore diameter, you will notice them being on the large side in most cases if it's below 40°. You should try to get things up to 50 or higher and let them stabilize. If you are using plastigage you may not notice anything, but the plastigage will also be affected. I assemble at 60° over the winter. If it's below freezing you will really see the things change.
 
xring said:
Got a weird question for y'all.

I will most likely be assembling my engine this fall/winter in an unheated shop. I use a propane heater to make it tolerable when it is very cold out, but, I never achieve "room temperature". What, if any, effect would this have on the assembly? I'm thinking of bearing clearances, ring gap, bolt torque. Should I wait until next spring?
Click to expand...

1 WORD FOR YA: KITCHEN!:cheers: Worked for my Harley!
 
64dart170 said:
1 WORD FOR YA: KITCHEN!:cheers: Worked for my Harley!
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Actually I could get my wife to buy off on that idea but my 3-1/2 year old son would NEVER leave my parts/tools alone.

I have an attached garage that I could probably get up to the 50-60* but then my truck would be out in the cold & snow. It sure is nice to be able to hop in and go to work without warm-up and scraping.
 
The biggest problem with unheated shops is condensation. This, of course, depends on your locale. It was torture in back in IL. Imagine your nice freshly bored engine with a nice coating of flash rust in the bores after a week, even after fogging with WD40 and bagging it.
 
ramcharger said:
The biggest problem with unheated shops is condensation. This, of course, depends on your locale. It was torture in back in IL. Imagine your nice freshly bored engine with a nice coating of flash rust in the bores after a week, even after fogging with WD40 and bagging it.
Click to expand...

That bothers me, too. I plan on bagging the engine with silica desiccant in the bag, when I'm not working on it.
 
Get-R-Dun before winter!

Best of luck! If your assembling your engine then the project is moving forward!
 
I hope! Waiting on the machine shop...you know how that goes....

An old buddy of mine is doing the machine work...he is going to do some of the work after hours so I can watch and learn...I can't wait!
 
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