Decisions, decisions. Motors!

Discussion in 'Small Block Tech' started by superlark, Aug 23, 2016.

  1. Gary Farmer

    Gary Farmer "The Paradigm Shifter"

    Better gearing will always improve performance, especially for engines with reduced power. It's why they keep adding 'gears' to transmissions, and raising the numerical number rating of axles.

    If you want to work with what you have gearing wise, you'll need to increase your low-mid range torque; if you want to keep your engine/trans and just improve on that a bit, your best option would then be to use a better gearing for your rear end. The 3.23 is a good choice (one of my personal favorites for street fun). Getting a better converter will help too, as long as your converter is maxed out @cruising RPM, you're good. I prefer a 2000 converter with the 3.23 gear. Push a bunch of torque through that and you'll be happy.
     
  2. 300sbb_overkill

    300sbb_overkill WWG1WGA. MAGA


    Well, it could be a broken ring(s) but if the rest of the cylinders have good compression you can still repair this engine very inexpensively if you wanted to. Would be easier on an engine stand to repair but if you don't mind working under the car taking the oil pan off then it could be fixed with it still in the car.

    You would have to remove the engine anyway to change the engine, so might as well take it out and fix it. A couple choices on how to proceed but the best way would be to change all of the rings while you have it out. Get an engine gasket set, new rear main seal, a new set of rings and a deglaze ball hone, then disassemble the engine down to the bare block, ball hone block, clean and install new rings on pistons then put everything back together the way it came apart, meaning to install things like lifters and pistons in the holes they came out of so keep track of where they came out and the bearings where the came out as well. Prime oil pump while on engine stand, install engine, start engine drive car. Have fun. If that piston is broken all is not lost, simply identify the piston, buy a new piston of the same kind have machine shop R&R the piston on the rod then see above. Easy peasy.


    As long as the offending bore is still in decent shape then it should be a piece of cake, but if that bore needs attention then you can take the block to your machine shop and have them sleeve that cylinder or have the block bored and honed for the next piston size and do a more of a rebuild with new pistons instead of a repair, if you want a better cam while its apart then go for it, dealers choice. The sbc engines are relatively inexpensive to work on whichever way you chose to proceed.

    Or do the rebuild on the Buick engine, but will cost more because heads need to be rebuilt too. But if the bores are in decent shape you can reuse the pistons in the engine to keep cost down. Plenty of inexpensive options to explore. GL



    Derek
     
  3. superlark

    superlark Guest

    Interesting. So can the piston ring be actually broken and not have smoke come out the tailpipe? I always just figured they were worn. But why I don't know, because as I mentioned it was 040 over, and it looked to be fairly recent rebuild.

    Engine actually came out of a 70 elco, which I heard run before I bought it. However, when I took the heads off, there were a couple broken valvesprings so possibly somebody was mashing it hard.

    A mechanic could repair the broken ring as stated in car, no? Or do you have to buy a whole set of rings and/or it's not wise to change just one hole?
     
  4. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Personally this ids how I would attack the issue:

    1. Buy a compression testing kit
    2. complete a test on all 8 cylinders with the engine warm and let us know the results
    3. If there is one or more cylinders that are way low compared to the rest then remove the plugs and spray some oil in the cylinders and re test
    4. If the readings go way up with oil in the cylinders then you have a poorly sealing piston. Yes this could just be a broken ring, poor ring gap, etc or worn block it is tough to tell but if it seals up with some oil then it is not too fatal.
    5. Sorry I should have put this first but please get a timing light and verify that you are even getting spark through the plug wire to that cylinder and then go from there.

    if you have issues give me a Private Message and I can give you my phone number and talk you through it. Sean
     
  5. superlark

    superlark Guest

    Sean,

    I didn't do all the compression testing. I did pull the cylinder plug that has been a problem. It actually looks a lot better than I thought. There was quite a bit of oil/varnish on the threads, but the electrode look good. A tiny bit of reddish deposit.

    I had been running a cheapo HEI distributor that was causing problems. I had a guy put in a good Accel HEI distributor. The air cleaner was a little dirty and there was some varnish on the new holley carb. I did give that all a good cleaning. So for now, the motor starts and runs quite well.

    Looks like I'm in business but I will keep on plugging away and digging deeper.

    Thanks for the help.
     
  6. 8ad-f85

    8ad-f85 Well-Known Member

    Sounds like you have solved your problem. Keep an eye on the plug for a while.

    I had purchased a project car that would foul 1 plug in about a week.
    When that engine was pulled, 1 piston had NO contiguous rings on it!
    The oil rings were sitting harmlessly in the pan along with much of the piston skirts.
    There was maybe 1/3 of the other 2 rings and the only thing left of the piston was literally the top connected to the wrist pin with barely any skirt to keep it straight.
    This one barely smoked under load with only one bad hole. The plug was clear right up until it was useless.
    The cylinder had less than .002" deviation (out of round, where what's left of the ring rubbed).
    Not sure how long that was a problem :D
    I had previously seen various forms of destruction in a very high volume shop and often wondered how bad it got to drive before utter failure :D
     
  7. superlark

    superlark Guest

    That sounds like a fun experience!


    Sometimes you have to wonder though, did someone forget? Or did they just not have the ring for whatever reason and figured, heck, nobody will know till it's too late!

    I've seen some truly awful 'building' (in homes) where it was quite clear that the person doing it knew nobody would figure out what they done for a long, long time. If ever.

    I had a 70 C10 for a short time someone put a goodwrench in. And that motor sure ran better than this one which came from a 70 elco. But I guess for now it's good enough. I can drive the car which is really the most important thing.
     
  8. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Have you changed the timing at all? A friend recently completed a fairly serious engine upgrade consisting of headers, intake, carb, distributor etc.... He was not happy with the performance, and neither was I when he took me for a test ride. I bumped up the timing 2 degrees at a time and it was about 8 degrees retarded from where it needed to be! The added timing made a HUGE difference and now it does burn outs at ease. Work on the little tuning things and try to get it running a little better.
     
  9. superlark

    superlark Guest

    I may try adjusting the timing some.

    But good news is: the car really hadn't been driven in a while. I changed to synthetic and have been driving. I cleaned off that bad plug with brake cleaner.

    Wow! Car is very enjoyable drive. Reminds me why I got her (Ruthy is her name). I had a bunch of health issues over the past 5 or so years and she mainly had sat.

    A real pleasure to drive now.
     
  10. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Great news. Email me my PM box overflows...
     

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