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OP, you say you have no professional tools, yet you've rebuilt 3 engines?
Did they run for more than 5 minutes afterwards? LOL
They're automobile engines..not high precision machine tooling or space shuttles. You can get tolerances way off in most engines, especially older domestic engines, and still have a running engine that will go tens of thousands of miles without issue. You'll just get lower efficiency out of them, and possibly something that goes boom at 100K miles instead of 250K miles.
Or it could just be a disconnect between what OP considers to be "professional tools" and what you do.
I've done it all over the years, but as I've gotten older i'm been less willing to do many jobs. When I was 23, if I needed to replace the engine..i'd just do it. Now that i'm nearing 40...i'd just rather trade the car in.
I personally find maintaining the newer cars to be easy. I know everyone hates the concept of computers in cars, but I like it. I can hook up my laptop and see so much and do so much.
I'm not a mechanic, but a hobbyist. I usually use that knowledge of one particular vehicle for other repairs, as it translates well in many cases to my daily drivers
No, I am not in fact an over paid parts replacer. I know how to do diagnostics, rather than taking the usual "throw parts at it until it's fixed, because the computer said so" approach
I've watched guys slap all kinds of hokey crap together, and it still ran. A buddy ran the 350 in his Suburban for almost 30,000 miles with 3 essentially dead cylinders because the rockers were so far out of adjustment that valves either barely opened or never fully closed. Another motor had a faulty vacuum advance can, and seized mechanical advance, so the motor basically ran near 0* timing, period. Ran like crap, and got horrible MPGs, but it still ran. Then there's the people that think a new set of rings and a gasket kit constitutes a "rebuild".
That said, absolutely no were in my reply did I ever say, or even suggest, that people SHOULD assemble motors in these ways. Just that a motor will still run even being way out of whack. Of course, this is C-D after all, where just see what they want to see....
OP, you say you have no professional tools, yet you've rebuilt 3 engines?
Did they run for more than 5 minutes afterwards? LOL
I probably forgot to mention:
1. I mostly buy vintage cars. The newest one I rebuilt was a 1995. Others were 1973 and 1980.
2. I am pretty old (55) so we are talking about a considerable period of time.
3. I cheated I guess. I did rent a thing called a dingleberry that attaches to a drill motor to clean up/score the cylinders. That might be considered a professional tool.
Otherwise no. What professional tools would I need? Normal hand tools, torque wrench, jacks, feeler guages, a micrometer, a cherry picker to lift the engine (for some of them, the Honda, I just pulled it out with my hands. In the old days, a timing light. I cannot think of anything else needed except the appropriate Haynes Manual. (What were they called before Haynes? It seem like they were better then than they are now.)
But yes, One ran for 100,000 miles, plus. One ran about 20K and then I was run off the road by a guy who flipped me off and yelled "Buy American A-hole". I sideswiped a tree and cracked the rusty frame. End of Honda. The other I sold within a year, so for me it probably ran no more than 15,000 - 20,000 no idea how long after that.
There was a fourth I did not count as rebuilding the engine. 1988 RAM Van. I was just doing the head though. I took it off and dropped it at a machine shop. They lost it, then they went out of business. Turned out that head was a rare head for that engine, it had roller lifters and was nearly impossible to find. I finally gave up and put a crate engine in it. Three years later the transmission went out and we donated the van to a charity.
That would take far too long. I bought by first car at age 14, in 1966. Since then I have done all of my own repairs and maintenance, and much for other family and friends until about the mid 1990s when they became so computer dependent and I was busy running a business. Since then I still managed to restore one classic, including engine exchange, and did a suspension refresh and disc brake conversion on another. Now I have too many other things to take up my time and don't want to invest in expensive equipment other than a OBD reader, so I just pay someone else to do it. When I retire I plan to start a new restoration, but it will be an early 1970s or older carbureted rust bucket that will provide fun without having real need to ever finish it.
Was the disc brake conversion hard to do?
"early 1970s or older carbureted rust bucket" - anything Jensen! (except the CV8 - those do not rust).
My two sons and I build cars from the ground up, but I still know my limitations. I build the engines, but I have never rebuilt an automatic transmission, and do not want to learn. We are more fabricators than we are mechanics, and there is a definite difference.
I also prefer engines with no computers or fuel injection, although my current car I just finished has both. I just understand simple engines without a lot of sensors and computers better.
To me auto trans is a mysterious and dangerous box that I know better than to touch. Manual - no problem. Automatic, I have only seen the inside of one at an auto show. It had a whole bunch of tiny parts. Looked like a mechanical clock.
I haven't done a whole lot compared to many here, but at the same time I've done my fair share over the past few years... most of these were on my wife's old car. Besides oil changes and air filters, here goes...
Starter: 1
MAF sensor: 1 (replaced it because I broke it replacing the starter)
Knock sensor: 1
Fuel pressure sensor: 1
Windshield wiper motor: 1
Front brake job: 1 (would probably not do again)
Outer tie rods: 1
Upper control arms: 1 (I actually had to call a guy for help... would probably do again)
Blower motor: 1
Install aftermarket radio: 1
From 1975 until 1990 or so I used to rebuild MG's (B's, A's, TF's) so I have done it all. I stopped when I moved from a private home with garage and shed space to a townhouse with a small, two car garage. I sold my last TF at the same time.
As far as personal vehicles, I buy new (recent 2017 Ford Explorer) and I let the dealer maintain them while under warranty. I do no wrenching of any type any more and I do not miss it.
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