Engine Boom Progress

[da_raabi]

For those of you who saw my A/C and Rant thread posts you may have seen that the day after I got my A/C running again the engine decided to puke.

I had gone out to fire it up and make sure that the new A/C had not leaked over night. Sitting in the driveway, it ran for about two minutes (like craaaaaappp) then died. When I tried to restart it, it sounded like the starter was over-speeding the engine, like when you have no plugs in it.

i.e. zero compression.

So we decided to start tearing the front of the engine off to see if the timing chain jumped or something.

...or something.

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The concern was whether this is an interference engine or not. We pulled the pushrods and they looked a little wonky, so next came some testing. I tried to do some compression testing, but it was not working right because the valves were not opening (no pushrods).

So now the heads come off.

The wife finished pulling the passenger head for me yesterday while at was at work. This is the best pic I have right now:

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The pistons and cylinders look nice. No scratches or issues, and what is interesting is that I do not see any disturbance in the carbon on the tops that would indicate a valve hit. Similarly, the valves look ok in the heads.

I tell you, if the valves hit - they did it lightly.

Next step is to pull the driver's side head and get them off to a head builder to have them checked over. Then I plan to pull the block out, give it a good cleaning, re-gasket the pan, new timing set, maybe a new cam, then start buttoning it back up. I plan to pretty much leave the bottom end alone because it's in such good shape.

Sure is a pain in the butt, but I'll get this done!

 

[idahovette]

Tough luck , but you had nothing else to do , right?

 

[da_raabi]

Tough luck , but you had nothing else to do , right?

Dude... I don't even want to talk about it.

3 jobs
Doctoral school
4 kids

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. I have spent many a night getting this kind of thing done at past midnight. I just try to not drop too many wrenches or cuss too loud so I don't piss off the neighbors too bad!

 

[Wumbo]

Your wife pulled a 454 head.

That is pretty damn awesome. Them bastards are heavy.

 

[shiftpro]

You might consider pulling the oil pump to be sure you don't have a bunch of that aluminum plugging the screen.

Use the one piece Viton (?) pan gasket. Valve covers too.

 

[4WDKC]

Your wife pulled a 454 head.

That is pretty damn awesome. Them bastards are heavy.

Your avatar makes this even better.

I was thinking lucky bastard found one that would work on it at all much less when he isnt around.

 

[da_raabi]

Your avatar makes this even better.

I was thinking lucky bastard found one that would work on it at all much less when he isnt around.

Especially considering we just had a baby 6 weeks ago. I told her not to try to lift it, but I guess she took it as a challenge. I thought Wumbo's avatar was perfect too.

 

[da_raabi]

You might consider pulling the oil pump to be sure you don't have a bunch of that aluminum plugging the screen.

Use the one piece Viton (?) pan gasket. Valve covers too.

Good idea. I was debating what I should do with the pump. Should I replace the pump and/or screen or just clean it?

As to the viton - I was looking at using the Fel-Pro Permadry line of gaskets. Is that what you are talking about?

 

[CorvairGeek]

Good idea. I was debating what I should do with the pump. Should I replace the pump and/or screen or just clean it?

As to the viton - I was looking at using the Fel-Pro Permadry line of gaskets. Is that what you are talking about?

The old nylon coated, pot metal wonder. The shards of nylon jamming in the oil pump and ending up in the galleys, etc., would concern me more than the aluminum. The nylon has destroyed many-a-domestic V8 (and some Buick V6s) after the timing set was replaced after the cam gear failure, if the debris is not removed.

 

[shiftpro]

The old nylon coated, pot metal wonder. The shards of nylon jamming in the oil pump and ending up in the galleys, etc., would concern me more than the aluminum. The nylon has destroyed many-a-domestic V8 (and some Buick V6s) after the timing set was replaced after the cam gear failure, if the debris is not removed.

You're very correct thanks.

 

[shiftpro]

Good idea. I was debating what I should do with the pump. Should I replace the pump and/or screen or just clean it?

As to the viton - I was looking at using the Fel-Pro Permadry line of gaskets. Is that what you are talking about?

Yes those are the reusable typre... with metal sleeves in the bolt holes. Good stuff.

I would take the pump apart to clean and inspect. Watch out for a gasket between the pump body and cover. The older factory pumps had a paper thin gasket which is about impossible to find. If you open t eh pump you will likely destroy it. Then there is not enough clearance and the impellers rub. Then you need to sand the impellers down just enough to spin freely. 100 - 150 grit paper on a plate of glass... oil, and swirl the impeller in figure 8s and be careful you don;t take too much off. If you do then you have to do the same to the pump body. It's easy and doesn't take long, don't sweat it.

 

[da_raabi]

Yes those are the reusable typre... with metal sleeves in the bolt holes. Good stuff.

I would take the pump apart to clean and inspect. Watch out for a gasket between the pump body and cover. The older factory pumps had a paper thin gasket which is about impossible to find. If you open t eh pump you will likely destroy it. Then there is not enough clearance and the impellers rub. Then you need to sand the impellers down just enough to spin freely. 100 - 150 grit paper on a plate of glass... oil, and swirl the impeller in figure 8s and be careful you don;t take too much off. If you do then you have to do the same to the pump body. It's easy and doesn't take long, don't sweat it.

I dunno man, A brand new Melling High-Volume oil pump is $45. I'm thinking it might be money well spent in time and capacity over a unit with 153k miles on it. I don't mind taking stuff apart for repair/overhaul but I'm thinking this might be too much lol. Good info on it though. I might just try it for a backup just for giggles.

 

[shiftpro]

I dunno man, A brand new Melling High-Volume oil pump is $45. I'm thinking it might be money well spent in time and capacity over a unit with 153k miles on it. I don't mind taking stuff apart for repair/overhaul but I'm thinking this might be too much lol. Good info on it though. I might just try it for a backup just for giggles.

yeah good point, go for it. Be sure it's a HVolume and not the High Pressure. $45.... do it.

 

[climb-101]

i think there is some other issues some place, looks to me like the chain was spinning and the cam wasnt by looking at that gear. thats the only reason i can see that the teeth wold be gone on half the gear. now oil pumps are cheap but im sure all the oil holes have metal in them. i would tear it all the way down and clean it at the very min.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Your wife is cool, that's awesome she did that. A little less work for you to do.

A new oil pump for sure. Sad about the engine, hopefully everything checks out and it's good to be reused after some cleaning.