I bent all of my intake push rods on my new 440 on start up / break in. Besides all of the push rods do I need to replace cam and lifters ? Or could they have survived. What else could be damaged ? any way to measure for correct push rod length with intake still on ? I'm using a Hughes whiplash cam with hydraulic lifters and stock rockers and shafts.

i would be looking at why they bent,did they hit the piston?

i bet they have some eyebrows in them now

did the pistons have valve notches?

are the in the hole the correct way for the VN to line up with valves?

has it been decked or heads shaved?

did it make the cam break in or part way thru?

did you have any rocker to retainer problems?

did you check valve seal boss and retainer clearance for the lift on the whiplash?

did you check valve to piston clearances?

did you check the exhast PR to see if they are bent?

you may want to pull the heads to make sure no bent valves or binding in the guides.

lots to check IMHO

To bend all the pushrods, either your valves hit the pistons or you hit valve spring coil bind. Did you use hughes recommended valve springs and spring install height? Did you trim down the valve guides? I think the stock valve guides are too tall for much lift. As much as you don't want to hear this, you have have to pull the heads.

Did you turn the engine over by hand a couple, three or four times before starting?

I might pull all the push rods first and try to borrow and install a checking push rod then turn the engine over by hand to see if you can isolate the problem. Depending on how fast you shut it down, the least of your problems would probably be coil bind.

I'm sorry to hear this, as I can immagine how deflating this must be when hoping to hear a new motor fire to life. Bummer!

You definately have to completely disassemble the motor and identify exactly what happened. If the valves hit the pistons, as I'm sure you'll find, You'll want to look closely at rod bearings as well as the camshaft intake lobes. Rocker gear... everything needs to be closely inspected. You'll want to take the heads to a shop to see if you've damaged the valve's and guides as well. Just a guess, but I'm willing to wager that the pistons were installed backwards.

Best wishes, man. you'll get it figured out, and be wiser for it.

The heads were cut 10 and the block was cut 30 but it had steel shim head gaskets and I put composite gaskets in so they should have made up at least 20. I do remember the guy from the machine shop that put the motor together say that he put the pistons in backwards for some reason but I can't remember why.

I have an inspection camera that I will stuff in a spark plug hole in the morning It's new and the batteries need to charge over night. Once I know if the valves hit the pistons or not and whether this motor needs to come out and apart I will make a decision of what I want to do.

I may end up walking away from this project this car is friggin possessed I think I know now why this car sat in a field for 15 years and only has 50,075 miles on it........ it's possessed. I've been calling this car "Enitsirhc" Christine spelled backwards because it doesn't fix itself it keeps breaking itself. Everything on this car has had to be done twice and it hasn't even left the garage yet.

If he intentionally put the pistons in backwards, it sounds like you have a set of stock type flat top pistons? Flat with no valve reliefs?

Don't give up on it when you're this close. It was likely just one stupid mistake that put you in this position. Show it who's boss by making it work!

Yes, I'm very interested to see what it was. You are this close. If nothing else, it will be a valuable learning experience.

Sorry for the trouble though, I've had cars like that. Very frustrating.

I feel your pain. I never thought I'd get this thing to the track, one thing after another, 2 engines and a trans and everything on the car is NEW.
As mentioned to bend t hem all they probably either hit the pistons or the springs weren't set right. The heads will have to come off and checked out. You'll probably wantto drop t he pan and see if you have any metal in it. If you do I'd swap out the oil pump and wash down the returns really good. Hopefully you didn't wipe the cam and/or mushroom the lifters.

Don't give up hope. take a step back, do what it takes to get it right.

know that there will be some hard work to do, but in the end, it will be worth it.

I'm fighting a stupid bone stock rebuild of a magnum 318 that's kicking my butt right now. thought it was done and ready to go, but it had all kinds of valve clatter. So far, I think the cam is advanced because the dots on the cam gear were wrong, and the lifters had too much pre-load because the heads were shaved. got the degree wheel on it now, and will be going slow and steady till it's right.

I vote for either spring bind or retainer-to-valve stem seal/guide collision.
Putting the pistons in backwards is an old stock drag racer trick that seems to give a little extra power but no one can agree on why it works. If the pins were offset the standard 0.060, then turning them around moves the piston pin nearly 1/8 inch. One explanation is that when the crankkpin is at 12:00, the connecting rod already has a little angle. Others dispute this and say it's because the piston is at TDC either earlier or longer. Most high performance pistons have zero pin offset so it's a moot point.

The reason the pins are offset in the first place is because it quiets piston slap so the engine runs "smoother".

A competent engine builder should put the pistons in so any valve pockets are in the right location for the head even if he "puts them in backward". I don't think you'll find your problem there.

R.

The funny part of this is .... My father in law who's not much of a car guy called me Sunday and asked me to wait until Monday to start the car for the first time because he wanted to watch. I told him I had to start it Sunday because with the history of this car I will need Monday to pull the motor back out. It was kind of funny Sunday but it's not so funny today.I'm getting ready to stick a camera down a cylinder to see how much damage I have.... I will let you guys know in a few.

Ok I just looked down one of the cylinders with a bent push rod. I can't see any evidence that a valve hit a piston. The pistons have 4 valve reliefs in them so maybe I got lucky. Do any of the chain parts stores carry a length checking push rod ? or does anybody have a picture of a home made one ? I have plenty of push rod parts to make one out of ... hahhahahah

I don't think pushrod length was your problem. If you had a solid cam, then maybe. When the engine was turned off, and before you bent the intake pushrods, were any of the rockers loose? With the lifters bled down and some of the intake valves closed, those rockers should have some play, as in you can wiggle them a bit by hand.

i would be looking at why they bent,did they hit the piston?...... No I looked down the bore with an inspection camera and saw 4 valve reliefs and no evidence of damage from valves touching them

i bet they have some eyebrows in them now .... no see above

did the pistons have valve notches?...... yes 4 on each piston

are the in the hole the correct way for the VN to line up with valves? ...... The pistons are in backwards but they have 4 valve reliefs in them

has it been decked or heads shaved? ...... Yes the heads were shaved 10 and the block was shaved 30 ... The motor had steel shim head gaskets and now has composite

did it make the cam break in or part way thru? ....... yes at least 20 minutes

did you have any rocker to retainer problems? No

did you check valve seal boss and retainer clearance for the lift on the whiplash?.... No

did you check valve to piston clearances? ..... no

did you check the exhast PR to see if they are bent? .... No but I will

you may want to pull the heads to make sure no bent valves or binding in the guide ......

The machine shop checked the part numbers for the springs and said they have 1.800 installed height and are good for .600 lift. The cam info is below. My intake rockers are stamped ( + I72 ) and my Exh rockers are stamped ( +I71 ) can anybody tell me what ratio these are from these numbers ?



Camshaft Technical Details
Intake Valve Lift 1.5
Exhaust Valve Lift 1.5 .518"
.518"

Intake Valve Lift 1.6
Exhaust Valve Lift 1.6 .552"
.552"

Intake Duration at .050"
Exhaust Duration at .050" 232°
245°

Lobe Separation Angle 107º

Intake Opening at .050"
Exhaust Opening at .050" 14° BTC
54.5° BBC

Intake Closing at .050"
Exhaust Closing at .050" 38° ABC
10.5° ATC

Min. Suggested Cylinder PSI

Sweet Spot RPM 1800-5200

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