I will look at that one lobe tonight to confirm why it looks shiny, and I will mark each lifter upon removal. I have not decided if I will be reusing this cam/lifter set at this time.

Once I have the block on the stand, I am going to take pictures of all of the plugs per this thread. So when it goes back together I know where they should all be located.

Thanks!!

EDIT:
I checked the shiny lobes and they look fine. It appears to be the lighting that affected the two lobes.

Have you checked the lifters for the "crown"?

Not yet. I am currently cleaning/painting the intake and then I will start pulling and cleaning the rocker assemblies. Then I will mark and inspect the lifters. Thank you!

""Have you checked the lifters for the "crown"?""

I did finally get around to pulling all the lifters and each one was smooth and the center had a roundish color to it versus the outer part of the lifter face. This appears to be the crown. The lobes on the cam were fine too. The shiny lobes were the lighting. I doubt that I will reuse this cam/lifter set on the rebuild.

I know that I have excessive crank endplay. I have not measured it yet, but the crank makes a good "thunk" noise when I pull/push it with the dampner. In a few weeks I will be getting back on this project. The engine is ready to pull, I just need to pickup a hoist and get it on my stand. Then I will get the crank out and see how much damage is on the crank. The only photo that I have right now on the thrust bearing area is this assembly. But when I zoom in on the crank, it appears that there may be some damage.

Thanks!

Any pic's of the bearing half. They are softer so consequently show more about what may have been going through the motor.
The only way to properly check the bottom of the lifter is with a small staight edge, centered on the bottom, and looking up at a light. The center of the lifter should be the high spot. It's not much of a crown but should be visible using the above method

This is the best picture of that bearing half that I have right now. I will pull the lifters back out and check them with a straight edge.

Thanks!

WOW!! that's trashed
Something either went through there, it was a really DRY initial start or ran on really low oil /pressure.

I am still thinking out loud as to what else to check before pulling the block. I am still looking for a solid reason for the oil pump/bearing damage.

I have not rechecked the lifters yet, as they are packed away. But they each looked nice and smooth as did the cam lobes when I packed them up.

I checked the crankshaft end play and found it at .022” pulling front to rear. This is not as bad as I would have guessed with the clunk noise that it makes. I know this is out of spec and I will look at the crank thrust surface in the near future.

I checked the gap between the flex-plate and the 727 converter mounting tabs (pushed all the way inward) and the gap measured .160”-.165” at all four tabs.

I am hoping to pickup an engine hoist next week, so in the mean time I am thinking of things to check.

Thanks!

Quote

This engine has a 22year old bottom end in it for reference.

From an earlier post, You may never find the root cause unless you know the entire history of the motor. It may have been subjected to any one of many different issues over the years.

Time to build a short block to mach the rest of your combo and one that meets your expectations and one that will live with reg. maintenance.

340 (234/238@.050, .590"/.603") Solid FT, Yella Terra 1.65 rockers, 9.7:1, 63cc Sidewinders (Bowl Ported),RPM intake, QF SS-750 Annular DP, MSD Street Fire Ign., & TTI's. 727/Dynamic 9.5" 3800, TF-2, & 3:91's

Thank you guys!

I have talked to an engine shop who I have used in the past. Once I get the block out and parts stripped, they are going to clean it and inspect it and then we will finish the plan. Depending on the condition of the stock crank, we have also discussed them building the rotating assembly with either a 3.79" (cam=6300rpms) or a 4.00" (cam=6000rpms) crank depending on what is available. I have received cam specs (SFT) on both new crank sizes from the grinder. Then I plan on finishing the assembly with most of the parts that I already have.

This will be a long process which I hope it will be back together by Spring.

I finished taking apart the engine and I am taking the block to the machine shop in two weeks for cleaning and inspection.

As I am still looking for a cause for the oil pump damage, I did find some heavy wear to the thrust side on the crank. It looks like it has been machined down while the engine was running. This debris from the crank could have been what damaged the oil pump. This crank will not be reused.

Note: The piece of material on that bearing surface is just some material that I did not get wiped off at the time of the pictured.

I am going to have the machine shop price me out a rotating assembly for both the 3.79" and 4.00" cranks depending on availability. I already have camshafts spec'd out for both size cranks. Once I know the condition of the block (bores are very smooth with no wear ridge) and I know which crank, then I will get the cam on order while the rotating assembly goes back together.

Thanks for checking in!

Not knowing the history in the lower end or what caused the damage and when, I would have the entire motor gone through, heads and valvetrain included. At this point it's not worth trying to save a few $$ and have that savings wind up costing more in the long run.

I have already had the heads apart, cleaned and now reassembled. I have a new oil pump and pickup and the pan has been cleaned and repainted. I am not reusing the crank/rods/pistons. Once it is out of the shop as a rotating assembly, all of the parts have been cleaned/painted and it is ready to go back together.

Thanks!

This was run all the time behind an automatic? If so you could have a ballooned converter. Did you run nitrous?

""This was run all the time behind an automatic? If so you could have a ballooned converter. Did you run nitrous?""

This engine has always run in front of a 727. But I have had three different converters in it over the last 22 years since this motor was last rebuilt. The current converter I was able to spin with no clearance issues to the flex plate. I will be checking the clearance again once the engine goes back in.

No on the nitrous.

Thanks!

The only other issue that I can think of is that about 4 years ago when I had the 727 rebuilt, I bought a Dynamic converter from the builder. When I installed the rebuilt trans with the Dynamic, the flex plate drug on the converter. So I asked the builder what I can do and he sold me a .062" spacer that just bolts in between the engine and the 727 and then I had clearance. The previous TA converter that I had seemed to have more clearance to the flex plate than this new Dynamic has. But once I installed the spacer, then I bolted it up to the engine and has been that way since a few weeks ago when I pulled the engine. I checked this spacing again and I was able to spin the converter with no interference but I did not check the gap distance.

""Time to build a short block to match the rest of your combo and one that meets your expectations and one that will live with reg. maintenance.""

A small update:

Back when I finished this thread, I removed the block from the car, and removed everything off of the block (except main caps) and dropped it off to a local performance machine shop that I have used in the past. This shop is small and very busy, but he is finally making progress on my block as of last Friday.

After a cleaning and initial inspection, he is now to the point of ordering forged H-beam Molnar rods/4.00" crank and having to order custom pistons (nothing on the shelf) to assemble a 10.5-10.8 compression rotating assembly (per cam grinder).

I am discussing the cam with Mike Jones to come up with a solid-street roller, and BAM lifters to match my existing 281cfm @ .550" heads and a 420" stroker rotating assembly. This is a 6-6200 rpm build and I will reuse as many parts as I can. It appears to be a SR with .660" lifts after lash. I know that the actual lifts will be smaller due to valve train angles, but I am excited about the new direction of this numbers matching build.

I have been collecting the small parts that I know will be needed and I am starting on the larger parts that may have delivery issues. I have two intakes on hand, one is my RPM that is gasket matched (a lot of material came out of this intake) and a Weiand X-celerator that is about 80% gasket matched to the RPM using the same set of gaskets. I wanted to have both a dual plane and a single plane that were equally gasket matched so that I can bolt on either one at final assembly. I am currently looking at using the RPM since it is a streetcar, so I stopped on finishing the gasket match on the X-celerator. I may get bored waiting on the rotating assembly and finish the Weiand this Fall. But I plan to reuse the ported Sidewinders and the 1.65 Yella Terras for this build. I already have my new retainers and installed heights figured out for the new springs. I have talked with Manton about the spring pressures/rpm’s and the apx pushrod lengths and they have recommended their 11/32” x .120” wall Stage 3 or 5’s for this setup.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the oil pressure issue, as I will have more questions as the street build continues this coming Winter.



D