Topic: Test a short block?

[littlejohn]

I just purchased a basket case 1985 4Runner.  The engine had a cracked head, and the owner took it apart 2years ago.  Along with the vehicle I got another short block (supposedly good) and a rebuilt head (still in plastic).  Is there anyway to 'test' the spare short block to see if it can be used?  I don't want to put this puppy together, only to find there's no compression.

Thanks

John

[79coyotefrg]

  to marlin John,  well  hows  the  walls  of the cylinders  look??  does the piston  move around in the cylinder  or  do they seem to fit snug??

[Gittinit]

I woul remove the bearing caps and inspect the bearings for whear. This would also be a good time to give every thing a good cleaning and lube the moving parts before reassembly.

[Tallchevy]

Take it to a machine shop & have them check the cylinder bores. They will use a dial bore gauge to check this. Have them inspect everything while it's there. It's worth the money. I rebuilt the in engine in my 83 & didn't check this. The block was no good. Had another block & had it checked. Learning from the school of hard knocks sucks 

[littlejohn [OP]]

Thanks for the input-

The cylinder walls look ok, no visiable wear, but I'm gonna have it checked out just to be sure.

John

[BUDDERS]

Take your fingernail and scrape it around slowly on the cylinder walls.  If anything is bad enough to cause a problem, your fingernail will catch.  This is an "Old School" method, but it works really good if you have the feel for it.

[Yota85]

defenatly get some plastigage and check all the mains and rods makes life much easer than trying to change them from the bottom after the motor is in.