A4 Rebuild

Jim Bissonette, #577, Thalassa

Well I got my Atomic 4 back from the shop and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. The re-bore to .020 oversize came out fine. There were no thin spots. They said it wasn't even close, and the earlier engines were cast even thicker. I essentially decided to re-do or replace anything with the engine that needed it. I ended up doing the following:

Degrease the block, head, and manifold. Rebore, new pistons, new rings, new main bearings, new rod bearings, new piston pin bushings, magnaflux the head, resurface the head, polish the crank journals, new valve guides, new valve seats, new valve springs, new valve keepers, and new freeze plugs. While they were doing that, I re-built the water pump and carburetor, and painted all the parts. I took the engine apart my self and will attempt to get it back together myself. The total cost for rebuilding this engine was $1,273.48 (Labor $450.50 and Parts $822.98).

The work was done by Vermont Engine. They were excellent to work with, they spent time with me and taught me a lot about how A4s work and wear. They had no problem with me doing some of the work (so I could learn something about this engine). They also encouraged me to look around for parts, and were happy to use the ones I bought if they were cheaper. They have done a number of Atomic 4s, and said they can completely rebuild these engines for about $2,500, which is a lot less than some of the estimates I have seen. They said one can ship an A4 via Fed Ex Ground for around $100. If anyone is interested, their e-mail is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Attached is a couple of pictures of how parts come out when they are baked. I didn't have the block baked because they said the cam bearings were fine, baking the block would ruin them and taking the bearings out would incur just extra unnecessary costs. They just cleaned out the block passages by hand. Also, if anyone would like a breakdown of the costs for comparison purposes, I'd be happy to supply them.