finallyavette Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 I did the fingernail test and got the digital micrometer out and its spec. I guess stuff just went all wrong at the same time. Going to inspect the crank further for cracks, ect... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastC3 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 thats awesome dude ...... so glad to hear you'll only have to be adding what you want to on the replacement list vs have to parts ..... anxious to see you back on the road again soon >>>>> its a killer seeing a hot rod gathering dust ..... (like my 82) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azmotorhead Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Just a tid bit of FYI. Detonation will cause your bearings to look like the ones you have pictured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azmotorhead Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I'd be curious as top why the rod bent. Were you losing coolant? Only thing I can think of is that the cyl hydraulic locked and caused rod to bend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 That explains the bearings then, the timing was way advanced when I bought it. Not enough to knock and but enough when I was cruising home that it 'chirped' under load. Combine that with the tar the guy was using for oil and engine probably was fried a few thousand miles ago. I imagine if others test drove it , then I assume they hammered on it. Even with the timing light and it properly timed to factory specs, it still didn't seem right; engine damage was probably done. I didn't see any antifreeze in the cylinder and no evidence of moisture damage anywhere. That cylinder had 3-4 times as much carbon built up as the others, I'm thinking the rod may have been already on its way and maybe it detonated hard enough to finish it off? Miss fires combined with higher compression? Either way, I'm starting from the bare block with a refresh/rebuild - new rods,pistons, push rods, lifters, cam, and rebuilding the heads/valves. I might still get a comp cams thumper package with vortec heads, but from what I've read there isn't a lot to be gained over the zz4 heads unless I want to really push this engine or stroke it to a 383. The car ran smooth for the last few months, nice power and no noises. No metal shavings it the oil after I ran a can of Seafoam in an oil change. I was joking the day before that the way it was running that something was going break. If I ever buy a used classic that I'm unsure of the maintenance then first thing I'm doing is tearing it apart to check for bubba work. The manifolds still have what I assume where pollution controls flopping around in them, and the timing cover was missing bolts behind the balancer. Speaking of buying cars, our C6 has been at Power Chevrolet in Glendale for 2 weeks now. I went to buy parts to fix the front bumper 'wings' that pop up and found out that they sold us a car that has been in a front collision and got slapped together and CPO'd. Nothing shows on the carfax they gave us. Nothing major but enough to break some fasteners and crack the paint on the fascia, you have get really close and have the right light. We drove an hour to pick it up last night because it was supposed to 'look great'. The clips are still broke, the curb guard is still broken, and the headlight has buffing compound underneath it. I give them credit for fixing the rock chip in the mirror and only half of the bumper scratches; why they hell wouldn't they fix what we took it there for in the first place. The parts are literally like $10 and now the labor to clean that light out is going to be a nice expense for them now. My wife is like, 'be nice, nobody fixes anything for @$$holes.' I can't win with these corvettes. At least with a mustang you expect it to be in the shop. hah. Just had to get that out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertdawg Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 At least with a mustang you expect it to be in the shop. Dude, thanks for the laugh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamMeh Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Looks like a great project! Looking forward to following along on your journey. Was thinking the same thing as Azmotorhead - That rod looks like a hydraulic situation to me. Keep the posts coming! Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Thanks!! I have been busy, the front end is completely rebuilt with poly bushings. I wire wheeled everything down and primer and painted it with Rustoleum black. It will never rust again, ever. If I ever do a frame off, powdercoat it. Will try to post some pics - I think it looks good. :D Corvette America sent me parts for an 89 Honda Civic. WTF. So much for quality control @ prothane. I have slowed down since its hot. I either have to work real early in the AM or real late at night to prevent sauna like conditions. Going repack my wheel bearings since it's "convenient". Hooker headers and side pipes came today and I got all the gaskets and parts for the engine rebuild. Cleaned the heads and coated the with WD40 to prevent oxidation of the steel parts. Engine is balanced within less than 1 gram, good enough for me. I don't have the tools to go to tenths of a gram, it is street not nascar. Looks like I will go with the 5 speed TKO 600 from American Powertrain too. 70 MPH @ 1900 RPM !! They are about 2 weeks out, so no real rush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamMeh Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Love it when parts show up! Better than Christmas morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bromley's Corvettes Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Cool your making good progress. Your going to love the 5-speed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Put the lower together in a few hours this week, either early or late, it's been so damn hot. Scat rods, Summit pistons (KB Rebrands) , Clevite bearings, and I'll be damned .001-.002 on on the clearances. I was worried it was going to be loose, it's almost too tight. Thaaat's what she said. Talked to Tom and Amp Performance (thanks to Doug), going to order the TKO 600 for my 3.73 rear. Tom seems like a nice guy and I don't have a problem supporting a local business, even if the damn sales tax is going to add 10%..... Zoom. Zoom. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2790514/vette%20teardown/IMG_0472.JPG Before https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2790514/vette%20teardown/IMG_0471.JPG After - damn calcium in the water out here ... https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2790514/vette%20teardown/IMG_0474.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Motor is together (sort of) .. as far as it going to get before I put it on the cherry picker anyway. I primed the oil pump and ran it with a drill for 30 mins - oil was pumping over the lifters on the drivers side nicely - but kinda slow on the other side. Any engine builder out there can tell me if this is normal? Both sides were flowing just one a lot more than the other. Finished the front suspension rebuild with poly bushing and it's stiff, real stiff. Depending on how motivated I get I might replace all the ball joints since I have them. Old ones are riveted in and could use a replace. Test fit the hooker side pipes - looks like its going to be relatively easy to mount the headers then slip engine and 5 speed in as a unit. I didn't order ant baffles, so its going to be obnoxiously loud ... I pulled the shifter assembly, drive shaft, and transmission mount. I have been hesitating on the 5 speed because of the $4k price tag. No turning back now; time to call Amp Performance. Unless anyone has one lying around for cheap. haha <cough> The more a crawl around on this car the more I go - "How did I miss that when I bought this?". The market for these late 70's seems soft still - lot's of good stuff out there in every price range. Still the coolest car in the neighborhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayeagle Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Nice project! Should be a real treat to hear at a stoplight .. drownin out alla toyota's an such -Frank aka GE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shifty Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Lovin' those sidepipes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bromley's Corvettes Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Whooo Hooooo more black Hookers on ACE I can save you a little on the tranny. Tom gives me a shop discount Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bromley's Corvettes Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Motor is together (sort of) .. as far as it going to get before I put it on the cherry picker anyway. I primed the oil pump and ran it with a drill for 30 mins - oil was pumping over the lifters on the drivers side nicely - but kinda slow on the other side. Any engine builder out there can tell me if this is normal? Both sides were flowing just one a lot more than the other. Finished the front suspension rebuild with poly bushing and it's stiff, real stiff. Depending on how motivated I get I might replace all the ball joints since I have them. Old ones are riveted in and could use a replace. Test fit the hooker side pipes - looks like its going to be relatively easy to mount the headers then slip engine and 5 speed in as a unit. I didn't order ant baffles, so its going to be obnoxiously loud ... I pulled the shifter assembly, drive shaft, and transmission mount. I have been hesitating on the 5 speed because of the $4k price tag. No turning back now; time to call Amp Performance. Unless anyone has one lying around for cheap. haha <cough> The more a crawl around on this car the more I go - "How did I miss that when I bought this?". The market for these late 70's seems soft still - lot's of good stuff out there in every price range. Still the coolest car in the neighborhood. Oil flow usually looks about the same after a few mins with a good drill. When you let it sit for awhile and run the drill again does oil start to come out push rods pretty fast. Once a engine is primed it should have oil to the top pretty fast. Even if it sits over night. Do you have a Milling H.V oil pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Final Effort Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've always rotated the assembly after getting oil to the top end. Try that and see if the oil flow is even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 @doug - I just used the stock oil pump that the ZZ4 came with. Oil flow is definitely not even for sure. Drivers side is great - flowing out of the lifters/push rod. The passenger side is less than half of what coming out the drivers maybe less, even after about 15 mins of priming. I'll try to give the assembly a spin while doing it. I used a lot of moly assembly lube - so maybe I have something plugged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F22trainer Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 This is certainly the time to find the cause. Is it possible this problem had something to do with the previous failure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Big thanks to Doug Bromley for hooking me up with a 5 speed - Took my flywheel to Basko engines to have it surfaced - even gave me a discount for paying cash .. funny stuff .. dirt cheap .. I wish I would have done some research earlier they only charge about $250 to deck and hone a block ... only took like 30 mins while I chatted with a guy who has a 1000HP 454 with a blower on the dyno - they melted the pistons yesterday running it too lean New shocks came today - AMZN prime is great Now to rip apart the back end while I wait for the 5 speed I talked with a few GM guys about the oil - they are of the opinion that as long as I am getting oil to opposite side to just run it and i should be fine since its a roller and they don't do much top end oil anyway - either that or a tear it down and figure out WTF is the issue if there is one I guess I should have added that if ii doesn't equalize after running it the first time then I gotta tear it down again. If that happens the block is going to Basko and getting a full work over. Doug suggested I make sure I'm getting proper pressure; I think if it's fine pressure wise then we just run it and worst case I buy a 383 sooner than planned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 Maybe this is a custom part? https://dl.dropbox.com/s/c707z2yu2wl6sff/IMG_0535.JPG Getting there - project for this weekend is to drop everything out and clean and make it pretty, some new seals and oil :D https://dl.dropbox.com/s/n1xmrau82f24gsy/IMG_0530.JPG Gotta be prepared for my new 5 speed !!!!!!! I so excited, at least until I screw something up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 This is certainly the time to find the cause. Is it possible this problem had something to do with the previous failure? I am of the opinion that I had a leaky head gasket, I can't image the carb dumped a 'gallon' of liquid into the cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayeagle Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 on oil flow difference: Did a buildup on a 440 mopar long ago ..was runnin low pressure throughout rpm range, ..not dangerously low, but shoulda been 30psi at idle and was carryin about 18psi ...and shoulda been near 70psi at 6k rpm ... an the guy said it had just been rebuilt. On dissassembly one of the camshaft bearings had turned slightly on previous install apparantly which allowed oil to just dump out a very small opening into top of crank area. Replaced cam bearings, oily pressure was awesome.. holdin 40lbs at idle and 80 at 6k (this was a tunnel ram motor, solid lift cam, 10:1 compression .. great hot rod motor very much like the one in my Duster at the time) I never checked oil flow side to side .. was just focused on finding why pressure was low. You may have somethin in one of the oily galleries in the block on one side ..or it may be a casting defect, ..or... ..definitely a puzzle I would look into. -Frank aka GE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 on oil flow difference: Did a buildup on a 440 mopar long ago ..was runnin low pressure throughout rpm range, ..not dangerously low, but shoulda been 30psi at idle and was carryin about 18psi ...and shoulda been near 70psi at 6k rpm ... an the guy said it had just been rebuilt. On dissassembly one of the camshaft bearings had turned slightly on previous install apparantly which allowed oil to just dump out a very small opening into top of crank area. Replaced cam bearings, oily pressure was awesome.. holdin 40lbs at idle and 80 at 6k (this was a tunnel ram motor, solid lift cam, 10:1 compression .. great hot rod motor very much like the one in my Duster at the time) I never checked oil flow side to side .. was just focused on finding why pressure was low. You may have somethin in one of the oily galleries in the block on one side ..or it may be a casting defect, ..or... ..definitely a puzzle I would look into. -Frank aka GE Thanks .. my oil pressure is fine as far as I can tell. Suppose its better to find out if I screwed up cam bearings or not now than later .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallyavette Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 5 Speed is in :DD I dialed the bell housing 20 times - figured if I came up with .003" 19 times - that was good enough. Needed to be less than .005". I think a woke up in the middle of the night and did it again in my sleep just to be sure. That last half inch is a bitch too, super t10 doesn't have that lip like the tremec. Big thanks to Doug Bromley and Tom @Amp. I wish I would have had time to get a picture of my wife sitting on the windshield helping me tilt the assembled engine/transmission to slide it down and on to the motor mounts !! Hookers are test fitted and just need the bolts tightened. I need to make sure I can get all the spark plugs back in; read that you might need to loosen the headers for 2 of the plugs. Moment of truth this week with the engine I rebuilt. If there is a big fire on the news in Gilbert, the vette exploded and took my house with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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