Engine Knocking after rebuild Options

[LCOX]

I've got a sick feeling I'm going to have to take my 1.8 engine out and completely apart again after rebuilding it.

Cranked it up for the first time after rebuilding it(all new bearings, new rings, head work and gasket set).

The engine has a knock fairly loud at idle but when the engine rpm's are around 1500 it starts to quieten down and at 2000 rpms the knock goes away completely only to come back at idle when rpms are around 800-900. Other than that the engine appears to run very smooth.

Where to I start here. L

[stugray]

Whenever I need to pull the cylinders, I pull them with the pistons still inside. It saves wear & tear on the rings.
Slide the cylinder out over the piston until the wrist pin is exposed, then pull the pin.
You have to install/remove them in a certain order to have enough room.

Yes you can remove the rods without splitting the case.
But you pretty much need to have the opposing cylinder off too. SO you pretty much need to pull them all.

Worn,

Pinks/pings under load

What was your deck height?

Stu

[worn]

Whenever I need to pull the cylinders, I pull them with the pistons still inside. It saves wear & tear on the rings.
Slide the cylinder out over the piston until the wrist pin is exposed, then pull the pin.
You have to install/remove them in a certain order to have enough room.

Yes you can remove the rods without splitting the case.
But you pretty much need to have the opposing cylinder off too. SO you pretty much need to pull them all.

Worn,

Pinks/pings under load

What was your deck height?

Stu

Nominal answer. 0.045". True answer: I am not sure. I made up several jigs using dial indicators etc, and I got different answers with different methods. To some extent this was due to the rocking of the piston without the rings installed.

Symptoms: As break in progressed cranking the engine became slower with the plugs in. Pinging under load with an AF reading of 11. High cylinder head temps - over 400 if I let it with freeway driving on a cool day. Pinging slightly reduced with octane booster.

I am going to try a lot of things, and perhaps even try race gas. One problem has been the adjustments of A/F at the MPS and knowing exactly what timing to run. Lots of tuning has not solved the problem, but the car drives fantastic! Close your ears, don't look at the gauges.

Also though, I do not believe a number just because a gauge says it. In the end I think I would do what is in the manual - use a straight rod and a feeler gauge. You can use the micrometer to check the feeler gauge. I built an analog to the pieces for sale, but was never able to easily maneuver the dial indicator, and besides the measurements had variations between set ups. In my world, at least three experiments independently conducted give you numbers.