First time out.... waa waa waa waaaaaaaa !

Yeah, I guess it would've been kinda hard for the shavings to work their way past the rings even if you did miss some.

I hear ya on the suspense thing. We can speculate all we want but the tear down will tell. The cam thing is scary these days. Sometimes it seems like a crap shoot whether it will live or not. Last year my brother went through 3 cams in his new 454 bbc. 2 comp cams and 1 lunatti. He talked to the cam companies and his machinist. After the second comp cam he took the motor to the machine shop. They tore it down, checked everything, Assembled it together with the Lunatti cam. Fired it up, broke it in, everything right. He took it home and put it back in the truck and within an hour of run time it wiped 3 more lobes just like before only different lobes each time. He finally put a roller in it. $$$$$$$ I'd a just thrown it away. Chevies are cheap right?

Anyhow, I wish I was closer, I'd love to help you out. As for the crank, not sure if its been turned. Came out of a motor I bought for my car. Paid $150 for it plus $100.00 to have it pulled. Got it home and found it had been full of water. Had to drill the pistons full of holes and bust them up to get them out. Only thing salvageable was the crank and rods.

Good luck, keep us posted.

 

Thanks Mike ,,,,whats the deal with "soft cams" I keep hearing about ....a buddy of mine who has built at least 20 motors lost one in a 454 he did recently also ?????? Comp cams I believe it was.

Larry that was the weirdest thing to me I had 50-60 going down the road 60-65 cold at startup and when it got warmed up I always had around 22 at idle-never any less ..my temps were great lately at 175-185 here in Florida with the stock fan and 65 shroud. Even when I was trying to get my cooling straightened out the first few hrs on it it never overheated-overboiled and I never drove it. During the first few hrs it got up to 215 a few times in the driveway but then I shut it off. The other night when it started tapping loud off from idle it still has 22 psi then climbs normally to 50-55 .... BUT my pressure gauge is right at the pump not at the back of the drivers side galley like the guys tap their gauges for . I started it tonight briefly and it sounded like the mains rapidly "rattled" at first then stopped once oil got up into them..its definitely hurt around the crank it sounds like ...the tapping I attributed to lifters is loudest at the drivers front valve cover...... anyway I think I may start pulling it Sunday . I thought about jacking up one side of the motor and pulling the pan to get a peek but I think I will just pull it ....with that kind of noise its going to be a major fix and I am fooling myself if I think I can fix it in the car ...J ...

 

Well I started to pull my motor today ....didnt get it all the way out of the car but I decided to pull the intake and get a look at the cam...IT LOOKS FINE ?? I suspected it was rounded out ? But I looked at the lobes, turning the motor over and it looked like all the lobes are fine. No bearings are squished out from what I can see. I measured a few lobes from up top and they measured like .355 I then compared that to a new c118 I have and its really close. The lifters look o.k. no grooves cut into them I can see. The wear pattern on the cam is barely noticeable. Again this is all with the cam still in the block. Pushrods dont appear bent in any way - arent trashed etc. I think the cam is probably o.k. I may pull the motor all the way out tomorrow and put it on the stand. Its definitely looking like bottom end now.

 

OH THE PAIN !!! Well here you go ...my motor knock .......I pulled the pan today ....tons of copper in it and the screen ......I will start pulling it apart tomorrow and let everyone know what I find.............does anybody have any advice on specific things to try- unique things to look for as I am pulling it apart ? Thanks J.

 

a stiff drink before is a must.

Then, for the sake of it, check the torque of the main bolts before undoing the main caps, did you confirm before you put it in?

 

Same thing happened to me. Lost #1 connecting rod bearing. It spun & wore down, pressure dropped & I needed to replace crank, main & con rod bearings, resize the rods & I ended up boring it out & getting .30 over pistons. It feels horrible, I know. But please, don't put a Chevy motor in it. It's worth it to fix the BBB 455. I know what you are going thru, believe me. I redid my motor & have not had a problem since. I'm glad I stuck w/my engine combo. What does not kill us, makes us stronger. Now I am confident that my motor will be fine at the track. Good luck. I wish that crank was available when i needed it. Would have saved some $$

 

I would definitely start looking around for another rearend. They are plentiful and finding a posi one shouldn't be too hard.

As for traction, definitely get some slicks. I run a pair of used ones on my car. I got them for $75 and I've had them for 4 years now. I only go a couple of times a year, so that may be why they're lasting soooo long.

But even last year at the Nats in Columbus, I had to slow my car down to 13.6's to meet the track's rules on convertibles. I still bolted up the slicks. This kept the car consistent and always left the same as when the car's at full power.

 

Thanks guys...as far as the mains- the bottom end was already assembled BUT I did check all his torque specs on the rods and mains and they were right on.....Im thinking one or more of the main bearings are spun due to the sheer amount of "large" copper chunks in there .....we shall see.....I have never personally seen copper "chunks" that big before in a pan ......they have always been smaller bits...sort of like gold dust....looks like it just beat the mains out of it ....never saw over 5300-5500 anyway I wil post more pics tomorrow ........ J

 

Hey, did you buy it as an assembled short block or did you have someone put it together for you? I learned the hard way to never take anyone's word for anything when it comes to engine work. Its starting to look like whoever did the bottom end didn't do something right.

 

Mickey's ET's are a very good investment.... 74 nova,454,4-speed on bfg street tyres 2.4 60' tymes and wheel hop ALL the way down. installed the Et's on next run 1.7 60' and no wheel hop. Never would have believed it if I hadn't saw it myself.:3gears:And yes they're the same size tyres

 

Yes Mike the short block was already assembled...I learned the hard way this time too.....I have the #1 #2 main caps off and they look perfectly fine ?????
I am going to spend a little more time on it today. J.

 

Take a close look at the faces on the thrust bearing, too...

Devon

 

#3 is the main that you set the thrust with. That is a crap load of bearing material! Seting the thrust correctly is a big oversight with an experienced builder and not taking the time to do it right.

 

the semi-recent cam issues are most likely due to changes in engine oil that the oil companies elected not to advertise. More about that here http://www.zddplus.com/index.htm#WhyWeNeedIt

 

Guys It Turns Out My Motor Has trashed the cam bearings- non grooved type,wiped the crank and trashed one rod ...Scotty G. Of Pee Gee Is Rebuilding It For Me Here In Florida. He Needs An Unturned Crank. So If Anybody Has A 455 Crank In Good Shape Please Respond,email Or Pm Me With Price - Details ...shipping Quote Would Need To Be To Scottys Shop In Florida 34610.

 

Picking my shortblock up from Scottys today....will let you know when its all back together ...shooting for ~ a month.....J

 

good luck.

 

Dude just wait untinl you see what the man Scotty can do with these engines. He is the Master.

BTW how did you make out with the rag joint?

 

For what its worth here it is guys -round 2 - after the meltdown- cam bearings, rod ,crank trashed etc. I sold alot of my old stuff...new pieces are SP-1, Holley 850 dp,Ta Gessler SE's,Gessler manifolds, new rocker shafts and rockers. Should be wrapping things up during the week and firing it up on Sat ...wish me luck. J