1998 Mercury 200 EFI Mechanical Damage Rebuild

[fishinfranklin]

Sorry for the late reply, but here is the place to send your ecm to get checked and repaired www.simonmotorsports.com  ,, Question are you putting new pistons on old bores that have just been honed ??

[Bigwrench]

Sorry for the late reply, but here is the place to send your ecm to get checked and repaired www.simonmotorsports.com  ,, Question are you putting new pistons on old bores that have just been honed ??

  Thanks for the link I will contact them about getting mine checked . Yes the 5 holes passed the inspection procedures outlined in the Mercury manual , so they were "honed just enough to remove the glaze and aid in seating of the new rings" , the one failed hole (#6 ) was machine Bored .020" and then properly honed as well.

[cojab]

Looking great BW.
I remember doing the steps your at now with my dad when I was a teenager on a motorcycle engine we rebuilt. It was a fun project and I was thrilled when we finally fired that thing up! I rode that motorcycle for a couple years before we sold it.

[88evinrude]

your engine is coming along nicely. i was/am a mechanic as well and you have done something i dont think i would of had the gumption to do

[Lipripper]

Looking good BW  and what did you have to eat?

[Bigwrench]

Looking good BW  and what did you have to eat?

Lasagna one of my favorites !

[Bigwrench]

your engine is coming along nicely. i was/am a mechanic as well and you have done something i dont think i would of had the gumption to do

Thank you.
  I sure wish I didn't have to do it lol. But since it ha to be done I might as well share the fun in case someone else ever ha to attempt it. Let's pray it runs like a champ lol

[Bigwrench]

Today I have a professional phone operator (Holston_Slayer) who will be helping me and taking photos as I build to speed the process up some.
Have to share his shirt first


Little Turd !
Ok here goes
  Piston Assembly:
 
   Lay everything out and make sure you have 29 needle bearings and 2 washers , new STD piston and old conn rod .
Orientations again is critical

Also very critical is that the pistons are different for Port side and Starboard side . As you can see in the above photo the piston crown is marked with UP and an S at the end the S is for Starboard side which is 1,3&5 on this engine. 
Another way to tell on this particular engine which way the rod is installed in the piston is the rod part number will be facing the top of the engine ... If you forget to mark or your marks get rubbed off.

Installing the little needle bearings can be tedious work and I do not have the recommended "special tool" from Mercury to do it. What I am going to try is an old UJoint trick using a thick lubricant to hold the needle bearings in place inside the connecting rod. Mercury calls for lubricating the wrist pin and bearings with their high pressure lubricant with PTFE . What I will be using is the GM version

Liberally coat the inside of the connecting rod hole with the lube

Remember the magnetic top on the pocket screwdriver ? Here's where it comes in handy

Lay down 1 flat washer and lay the lubed up rod on top of it and slowly using the magnet install 1 needle at a time letting the grease hold it in place


Until you have all 29 bearings in place

A little more lube on top and lay the other washer on the assembly. Make sure that all of your needles are sitting on top of the lower washer and they should all be at the same height. You can gently use your finger to push them tight up against the rod surface and move them if needed with the flat blade of the screwdriver.

Piston pins are matched to the piston so use the same one that came with the piston , lube it up good ,

At this point you can fit your pin to the rod and new bearings and washers

You don't have to do this step but I wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any issues once the piston is added to the equation and this will insure your needles are all flat and square in the hole.

Insert the rod assembly into the piston in the right direction (reminds you of the game operation , if you touch the sides with the washers they can slide out as you insert the rod)
No buzzer and Easy Peazy.

Slowly insert the piston pin into the hole while holding the rod center . The grease is holding everything together for you. Finger pressure pushes the pin right on through.

Once it's centered in the piston it's time to install new circlips .
This is the part of engine rebuilding I hate the most lol. They make tools that supposedly make this easier but I have tried them all and none seem to make it easier , so I use my fingers and the screwdriver. 

Push the pin more to one side to give you room to work .... Don't go past the first washer ! Lol
Lubricate the hole again and hold the ring 90 degrees to the hole . With your thumbs on each side of the opening push down and together gently
Once it goes down into the hole some here's what it will look like

We will now place one thumb over the ring so it won't pop out (remember spring tension and eye protection) these things will fly a mile and easily lost
With that one thumb solidly planted on that ring use the same socket you used to remove the old pins and set the piston on top of the socket

Push down on the piston which pushes the pin up and seats the one clip in the groove , rotate the clip so the open ends are not in the notch opening .

I find this method much faster and you may have to play around with it some but it works slick. The other side can be the fun one so let's get started

On the other side I like to try and squeeze the ends together and push it down into the hole with my thumbs . If that doesn't work you can lay one side of the gap in the hole

push in and down on the other side and then gently with your pocket screwdriver roll it over and it will pop into place.


As you can see it is almost seated . One quick push with the socket and it will snap in place.

Make sure both clips are fully seated in the retaining grooves and that the open ends aren't located in the cut away slot .
Time for some piston rings
Each piston uses 2 rings . The piston has 2 locating pins that stop the rings from rotating in the bore

Roughly 90 degrees apart. The ring end gaps will be positioned over the locating pins once installed
Now one thing to note , Mercury manual says there is a dot or letter on the ring that has to be facing up

Neither my old ones or new ones have a mark at all on either side
EDIT: I found writing on the .020 ring set , I was then able to get a second look at the STD rings and there is very faint writing on it if you hold it under a real bright light and at an angle you can barely see it lol.
I did have them installed correctly though but glad I found that.

so here's how I determined which way to install the rings. First I noticed one side of the ring is concave and the other side is flat

You probably can't tell from this photo but that is the concave (or Beveled) side . Also note the ring ends are uniquely shaped

The beveled edge faces up and the longer portion on the end gaps faces down. I verified this with my old rings as well.
I do not use a ring expander and haven't for many many years now. This is a personal preference so if you feel the need by all means purchase one (they are relatively cheap) and use it.  I use my fingers and thumb and barely spread the ring just enough to ease it over the piston and into the proper groove, making sure again that the ends are aligned with the locating pins.
Do the lower one first and then the upper ring. These rings are identical and the only thing is to make sure they are installed with the beveled edge facing the top of the piston.



Teach em young I think is the best education available

[Bigwrench]

All Pistons are built and ready to be installed , when we get closer to installation time I will unwrap the block and run through how to measure ring end gap and will give you a sneak peek at a slick tool I (my company) purchased to use on this engine   stay tuned !

[Lipripper]

Good job and nice to see Holston helping and learning too.

[Oldfart9999]

I hated those blasted circlips too and like you I didn't use the tool to install the rings but I did to remove them. I haven't done an engine in years and frankly don't really miss it. Did enough engines to know how but not enough to do them in my sleep like you can. The job is coming along nicely thanks to someone that is talented, good job Rick.
Rodney

[Donald Garner]

Rick,  Tks for sharing all this with us.  You're doing a great job and so is your new assistant.

[merc1997]

great job so far.  being sure the piston pin locks are securely seated is important.  i had one come out that ruined a block and mercury did not want to do anything about it on their own, which is the main reason that i will not ever buy another new mercury ever, period.  you could clearly see where the clip was not seated and worked its way out and into the cylinder wall.

sorry to bad mouth mercury while you are building one, but there would not have been an engine failure if it had been assembled correctly.

bo

[Bigwrench]

Ok I FINALLY received the correct parts I ordered (crankshaft sealing rings) after several phone calls and emails back and forth and 14 days or so since I received the wrong parts I finally threatened to order them somewhere else and have them overnighted , then they decided to overnight them yesterday .



So let's get this crank cleaned up, install some new bearings and sealing rings and assemble the block so we can punch some Pistons.

Crankshaft :

First thing we want to do is remove everything from the crankshaft that is being replaced . In my situation everything except the lower ball bearing assembly for a few reasons , first I went through the inspection procedure and it is as smooth as Tennessee Whiskey and secondly Mercury says " IMPORTANT: DO NOT remove crankshaft ball bearing , unless replacement is required." 
And thirdly a large shop press is required and I would lose another 24 hours so I'm taking a chance in this one being good

Ok so the center main bearings are a 5 piece "Torrington" design and installation and removal can be tricky.

The outer bearing Race halves are "cold cut" so it is critical to make sure they stay together the way they come apart and never mix bearing halves between each other.
More on this in a bit.
Let's first take a look at how to remove them , there is a retaining ring that holds the entire Assembly together on the crank .
Use a pocket screwdriver to lift the ring and rotate it off the bearing half.

Everything will fall off the crank journal most likely , don't panic
I rotated this one to the side

And let he bearings fall out
Leaving the ring in place

Which then can be separated far enough to get it off the journal.
There are two of these type and one with solid case (race) which is the top bearing.

If you will notice the actual bearings and cage is still a somewhat split design

But remains together because the plastic cage is not cut all the way through

More on the two Torrington center bearing races being cold cut. As you can barely see the two halves where they cracked it at the plant.


See what happens if you incorrectly install them together in this next photo


They don't match up and his can cause serious damage.  I should also note this is why I said it's important to install the connecting rod bearing caps in the same location and orientation they came off the rod ... They are cold cut or broke in the same fashion.

Crankshaft sealing rings are in a fashion like the above piston rings in that you slightly lift one end of the gap and roll them off the crank throw

And into the journal area

Slightly separate the ends and slide them off the crank journal
Inspect each crank journal for any pitting or wear which will be pretty obvious , since mine has none in going to clean each journal using a Gray 3M scotchbrite pad . Mercury says use crocus cloth but IMO this is much less abrasive and works just as well without the sand grit.
I fold the ends over and use it in the same fashion you would a crocus cloth strip . Wrapped around a journal and pull up one each side alternating and work your way around the entire journal



until it looks brand new.

This should not take too long since if you had anything major you would need to replace the crank anyways . This is just to uniformly clean the surface prior to installing the new bearings.  Do every journal one at a time

Here's one (Main journal) before cleaning

Brownish oil buildup
Same journal after

Also note this large plastic gear here

This is your oil pump drive hear and Mercury also says to not remove this unless it is damaged.  Mine is in perfect shape.
One thing to note with using the 3M cloth you will get a lot of small fine dust but IMO it is easier to deal with and clean off than the sand and much less damaging.
Once all your journals are as pretty as your first prom date clean the entire crankshaft to remove any dust or debris. I used CRC Brakleen and then wiped off with a microfiber towel. It's now time to slap this thing back together. Which will have to wait until tomorrow lol
Granddaughter came to visit paw paw and I been down here with you knuckleheads lol
I think since I am gonna stop here I will replace that lower crank bearing tomorrow at work now . I will document that process as well for anyone wondering how it's done. 

[Lipripper]

You done yet.

[cojab]

This just keeps getting better.
Strong work going on here!

[merc1997]

great job rick!!  just the way it is to be done!

bo

[88evinrude]

like everyone else ill be watching for progress. i need to do some more work on my project.

[bassindude]

Looking GREAT Rick!!!

[KellyG]

Awesome thread!

[hughesjasonk]

I honestly cant 100% with certainty what the failure was and Id sure hate to put it all back together and find out I still have an issue at #6. Would be my dang luck though LOL
To me this picture above is a classic head gasket failure , on an 18 year old gasket..... it made sense when I saw it.

I don't think that the head gasket was your primary point of failure. I think that was secondary. the cylinder looks like it was running lean and you melted a piston because of it. Before you put it all back together I would send off your injectors to get cleaned and balanced then make sure your sensors are clean and working well.

[Bigwrench]

I don't think that the head gasket was your primary point of failure. I think that was secondary. the cylinder looks like it was running lean and you melted a piston because of it. Before you put it all back together I would send off your injectors to get cleaned and balanced then make sure your sensors are clean and working well.

I had posted earlier, not sure if you saw it but I will be cleaning , checking flow rates and balance testing them before I install them. Been concentrating on the mechanical aspect since the injectors and ECM are less intrusive and easy to get to.
  Probably going to video that portion if I have time and can get all the equipment set up at home to do it and be able to show everyone here how it's done. I have like 14 days until this engine has to be installed , broken in and running like a champ somewhere near South Sauty Creek on Guntersville  and just trying to get the hard stuff outta the way as fast as possible and still document everything for this thread. Stay Tuned

[Oldfart9999]

So Rick, does that other bearing involve ice and hot oil?
Rodney

[Bigwrench]

So Rick, does that other bearing involve ice and hot oil?
Rodney

No sir it is just a standard press on type bearing although I have used a little "liquid wrench" on some of those in the past , especially when I worked on Kenworth and Mack Trucks.

[Bigwrench]

Ok as I promised here's the rest of the crankshaft assembly and installation

I took the crank to work today and using our 20 ton shop press
I swapped out that lower ball bearing.
There is a pretty strong retaining ring on the end of the crank you have to remove before you can pull that bearing off

I had to modify a pair of snap ring pliers because of all these you see here none would work as well as I wanted

I finally decided to just grind the ends of this pair off until they worked like I needed

Sticking them between the two ends

I was able to open the ring up enough to get behind it with a pocket screwdriver and pop it off. This one is even stronger and I recommend you have a rag over it or something so it doesn't go flying .... as well as proper eye protection. Mine went flying lol so I lost about 5 minutes hunting it down
Once the ring is removed it is time to use a bearing puller plate

and the Shop press to get it off there.
      Most garages have one or two and the biggest concern would be the open area in between the bed or what I've always called throat size. The entire crankshaft has to be able to pass in between the steel beams. You could take your crank to your local garage and probably for a small fee you could have it swapped out in 20 minutes or so.
Along with the throat size there are a few things I need to point out , first off pressing anything with a 20 ton press can be dangerous ! Be careful if you are the one doing it or just leave it to the experts , if they aren't aware of the safety concerns of using a press they shouldn't be in this field lol.
Secondly the crankshaft is a solid piece of machines steel but believe it or not it can be easily damaged using a press improperly in several different ways.
On the lower end of the crank there is a seal and a seal carrier assembly (wear sleeve) #'s 7&8 in this photo.

You cannot just press against this seal . Looking down into the crankshaft there is a deep opening and the teeth that line up with the shaft from the lower unit

After installing your bearing separator plate

Sit the crankshaft and separator plate into the throat of the press.

We have to find something that will fit down inside that hole in the crankshaft without damaging anything so you have a solid surface to press against.
Here's where I got creative.
This is a driving anvil for a spark plug repair insert (helicoil or thread sert commonly known names).

Insert the anvil into the hole

And slowly start applying pressure

A very important step is to make sure that the crankshaft "throws" or counter weights are not going to contact the beams or the 2 support plates on either side
Look up underneath on all sides and be sure there is plenty of room for the crank to move towards the ground as you push

Also I want to make sure to point out , this crankshaft is fairly heavy once the bearing  pops free the crank will hit the ground if you are not holding onto it securely with the hand that's not pumping the jack , get help if needed but do not let the crank fall .

And there ya have it


  Clean the surface up with the 3m pad as we did the other crank bearing surfaces and it's time to install the new one. 

For installation we will use one support bar that will fit in between the first crank throw

Slide the crank over the support until the bearing surface is directly over the plate and centered under the anvil of the press

Lube up the surface of the crank and the inner bearing race (I used gear oil)

Lay your new bearing on top

center and level it and using a suitable cup type adapter

that is deep enough to seat the bearing and fits perfectly against the INNER race only

start pressing slowly while rotating the outer race to make sure nothing is binding up as you press

Once it is fully seated remove the crank carefully from the throat of the press and install the retaining ring back into the groove

This one I was able to push hard enough with both thumbs to slide it up the bevel and into the groove. Sure went on easier than it came off