Rebuilding my SD220

I've decided to rebuild my SD220. This is a family piece so I'm not interested in putting a more modern engine in it. Want to keep it original. Bearings are worn pretty good, rear main leaks bad and it smokes out the exhaust really bad (head was already rebuilt). Rod bearings all had a clearance of .006.

Do any of you have any comments on rebuilding this engine? Any good lines on parts? I'm hoping to get by with new cam, rod and main bearings and a re-ring. Won't know on the cylinders until I tear it apart.

I've put about 150 miles on this truck in the past month. I've had recommendations to magnaflux, hot tank clean, crank grinding/polish, etc. Do you also recommend this on this truck that will only get a few hundred miles per year? Only reason I'm rebuilding is I didn't want the motor to self destruct and it was knocking pretty good.

You won't really know everything that need to be addressed until it is disassembled and measured. Personally, I wouldn't consider magnafluxing the block necessary unless you have water in the oil or have reason to suspect a cracked block.

Dean

If you're replacing rod and main bearings, why would you NOT have the crankshaft reground to a standard undersize? .010", .020" and .030" are "standard" undersize bearing sizes. If your rods have excessive clearance, shimming a standard bearing is a 1940's WWII rationing-era Band-Aid solution. Better to do it right.

Magnaflux ONLY if you have reason to suspect something is cracked.

I'd mic all of your bearing surfaces first to determine how much you need your crank turned. As stated above, unless you have a reason to believe your block is cracked there isn't a reason to have it Magnafluxed. Other than that these are pretty straight forward rebuilds.

For only a few hundred miles a year, this is what I'd do:
Re bearing with whatever size bearing are in there now, Leave the cam bearings alone, remove the ridge at the top of the bores and re-ring with whatever size, the pistons are, after honing to break the glaze.
Knurl the valve guides and install new valve seals.
all that should keep it running.
When you pull the bearings, look for one that is worn thru to the copper more than the others, if it is much thinner, then replacing will not stop a knock.
If the pistons are loose in the bores and the knock is piston slap, you can knurl the piston to take up the slop.
For a few hundred dollars you should be good for a while.

For only a few hundred miles a year, this is what I'd do:
Re bearing with whatever size bearing are in there now, Leave the cam bearings alone, remove the ridge at the top of the bores and re-ring with whatever size, the pistons are, after honing to break the glaze.
Knurl the valve guides and install new valve seals.
all that should keep it running.
When you pull the bearings, look for one that is worn thru to the copper more than the others, if it is much thinner, then replacing will not stop a knock.
If the pistons are loose in the bores and the knock is piston slap, you can knurl the piston to take up the slop.
For a few hundred dollars you should be good for a while.

^^^^agreed^^^^ you can put $1000s into a motor you are only putting 200 miles a year on, or freshen it, my buddy was looking EVERYWHERE for .020 under bearing for his crank and rods on a GRD 214, I suggested he plastigage the bearings and see how bad they were, he did and they were all within factory specs,

now he Could pay up the nose for .020 bearing being custom made, or put it back together knowing it is within factory specs, which do you think he did?

Not sure on the sizes of the big end and rod journals on a Binder motor, but one approach is to resize the big ends to take a commonly available bearing and grind the crank to match. Pretty common in racing to resize Chevy cranks to use Honda-sized rod bearings. Perhaps not cost effective in this application.

I think it was Alex K who said " if you need NLA bearing shells just make them from bronze stock" He said it is soft enough and would do the job.
I looked around to see if anyone would re-plate old bearing shells, and never found anyone. My guess is that it is hard to clean them good enough and you need "bucks" to clamp them in to bore out to OEM size.
while it might be possible it would be better to use the old shells for patterns to make the bronze ones.
So far I have been able to source bearings for the BLD's when I needed them by searching the .net and not being in a rush.

I have bearings for BLD and FAC motor, they use most same bearings,

I have some other bearings I Think came with a SD motor, haven't found cross reference for them yet,

That's a great idea CB. It also validates my slightly pack raty concept of never throwing anything out that may be useful, including old bearings.