DoubleDingo
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2012
- Posts
- 11,254
- Reaction score
- 17,183
- Location
- Right where I am
- First Name
- Bagoomba
- Truck Year
- 1981
- Truck Model
- 81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
- Engine Size
- Carb'ed Vortec 350
The first engine I rebuilt, Pop helped me step by step. We reused the internal components, so it didn't need a camshaft break-in. But it was tight when we finished it up. I had a friend help me stab it in my '56. He was probably in his mid to late twenties, and had experience with racing, as did Pop. When we got it running, we drove it down to let Pop hear it. He said to rap it up. I didn't know an engine could rev that high. I wasn't revving it high enough, my friend said, "You're going to ruin the engine doing it that way!" He reached over and mashed down the gas pedal with his left hand and the engine roared. To me, it sounded like it was going to blow up, but it music to their ears because they knew what they were doing. It was music to my ears too, but not at first, my first reaction was, "Oh ****!" Being 15 never revving an engine like that before, it was cool after I knew it wasn't going to do any damage. It sounded really good with the headers uncorked, and then it settled right on down and idled nice and smooth. Pop had a big smile on his face. I learned a lot that day. That was May 1985. In June 1996, after at least 194k miles of mostly highway miles, I pulled the heads off to have Pop work on them. There was absolutely no ridge in any of the cylinders, and that engine spent most of its life running at 3,000 rpms. Pop said that meant it was a well-balanced engine. It didn't burn oil, didn't use oil, and after Pop finished with the heads, holy crap it had way more power!
