Going to be a bit before I can use the flywheel, so I had it Cerakoted to keep it from rusting and to be able to show it off along the way.
I didn't get a lot done on the Northstar this weekend.
I scraped the anaerobic gasket goo residue off the block and lower crank case.
However, I did fix something that had always been kind of annoying as I work on these engines.
GM doesn't de-burr shit inside a Northstar. They can apparently get away with that as their parts cleaning process is wired tight and their factory is clean enough that they don't have to worry about it... just bolt it together and go.
However, if you are doing a hand build and you handle the major castings a good bit, you wash up at the end of the day and experience the sting of 46 little cuts, scrapes, nicks & minor contusions all over each hand.
On a less wimpy note, the actual engine building reason this is bad is that when you try to clean the engine block lower surface, the lower crank case surfaces or the block or head decks in preparation for assembly, all the burrs just shred whatever kind of wipe/shop towel you're using and capture a lot of lint that you then have to pick out/off before closing up the engine.
So I grabbed a Shaviv tool and a 120 degree countersink and got to work on the bottom of the block and the upper and lower surfaces of the lower crankcase. I countersunk EVERY round hole and any more or less round feature that the countersink would fit against. Then I Shaviv'd EVERY edge on each surface that I didn't already get with the countersink. The only corners I didn't touch were the corners of the main bores where the case halves meet... I didn't want a small chamfer there to compromise the bearing tang's ability to resist rotation. GM had already (just barely) adequately de-burred those edges anyway. Then I bolted the bottom end together using some washers in place of the windage tray. I ran out of time and didn't get to measure the main bores. Next weekend I'll measure the main bores, then bolt up the heads and measure the main bores again to see how they shift, then install the main bearings to get my main bearing measurements. I also need to measure the second forged crank and the titanium piston pins. Of course along with bolting up the heads, I'll de-burr the block decks just like the interfaces I worked on this weekend.
Payoff for all this effort was immediate, as I was able to wipe down and clean the bottom of the block and the top of the lower crankcase, followed by putting the lower crank case in place and cleaning the bottom of it in prep for installing the oil manifold plate... all with the same towel that didn't have any tears or slashes or shred marks in it when I was done... none. Burr-based lint problem: fixed. And the pieces are SOOOOO much easier to handle.
You can see the chamfer I the Shaviv tool made on the front edge of the lower crankcase in this photo.
And here's one of the Coleman hats Cerakoted bolted up to the Wilwood rotor Cerakoted. Bling.