So I finally got the car back together after rebuilding the trans and the rear end over the winter. I went to start the engine and it took forever to refill the carb fuel bowls. But it did catch eventually. But wow was it loud. At first I thought I had a loose exhaust connection, but soon figured out the noise was coming from the engine itself. It was a knocking noise which I thought was from the valve train. When it warmed up, the carb came off the fast idle and the engine slowed down. The knocking quieted down a bit but it never went away. The car idled a good while because I was busy filling up the trans. When I was done with the trans, I turned my attention to the noise. I thought it was valve train related, but it is definately louder underneath the engine than it is on top. I'm starting to think maybe there was some issue and it took an extra long time for the oil pressure to build up/oil to circulate. Does that sound plausible? If the knocking doesnt go away, I probably damaged something no? This may/may not be related but when I was investigating the noise, I opened the oil fill cap. I looked inside and was surprised to find a small orange disc inside with a protrusion on one side loose. I was able to fish it out. I'm assuming this is something that was attached to the valve train at one point?
Was this disc plastic They used plastic push button on some year of bbb to locate rocker arms........they do tend to pop as they get older. Might pull that cover to see......a busted rocker can make alot of noise
Sounds like you had a damaging dry start and now may have a Rod knock. If you shut the motor down and remove each plug wire and restart the motor one at a time and you find that when you pull one of the plugs that the noise goes away, then Rod knock is the very likely route cause! If the noise continues, then you have a lifter issue going on, as in hung up , plain bad, or out of adjustment.
Do you have oil pressure? As soon as I heard a noise I would have shut it down, not played with the transmission.
If you just had the trans out I'd check the converter bolts and flywheel bolts. If either are loose it'll make a nasty noise. Also you can unbolt the converter and push it back to eliminate the trans. Pull the belts at the same time and run it. You'll be surprised just how quiet it'll be with out the accessories.
It's like getting out of bed after a good night drinken......... May be some thing is broke or just bruised
I would also be looking at the transmission end. The converter, was it fully seated? Are all the bolts tight? You'd be surprised how much noise the converter can make. I would not suspect any kind of bearing knock. If you had to crank it a lot for it to start, you likely had oil pressure before the engine was running. Do you have an oil pressure gauge?
The converter was bolted up, I had torqued it to 30 ft-lbs as per the shop manual. It is a 9.5" converter from Jim, I don't know if it's supposed to be tighter than that? Of course I will double check it. I did check the converter gap with the flywheel. The gap was within his recommended range but it was at the extreme end. I shimmed the gap with 1 of his washers to make me feel better. I don't have an oil pressure gauge, it's on my extensive to-do list. I'll also try the other suggestions here. I'll advise what I find. Yes Ben the disc was orange plastic.
Your disk should like like one of these, I cant find the number one, but you can get the plastic push pins still that retain the rockers
So I got the oil pressure gauge installed. Cold it's almost 40 psi and it increases when I accelerate. Warmed up, the pressure is around 15 psi when I'm stopped and in gear. But as soon as I start to move it jumps back toward the 40 psi range. The knocking seems to be gone BTW.
Sounds like you have the stock relief spring in the pump. Those numbers are great, especially the hot idle number of 15 lbs
Not to hijack but my relevant question is I'm assuming my hot 10 psi at idle and 30-35 psi at cruise speeds with adjustable regulator and booster plate are also due to stock spring or too big of pump clearances correct? I guess my oil pressure isn't as bad as I thought?
You need 11-12 psi/1000 RPM. If you are cruising along at 2000 RPM with 30-35 psi, that isn't stellar, but it is OK. If you are at 35 psi at 3500 RPM, you have problems.
I've always been told about 10psi is safe for most motors..........I put an external gauge on filter housing the other day and saw 120psi at the filter housing at 3500 from with oil temp 180......guess I'm good for 12,000 rpm.....lol
How much do you have the regulator adjuster cranked in? We'll just focus on the MAX pressure as the adjustable regulator has no effect on idle pressure, hot or cold When you installed the booster plate, did you check gear end clearance?
Mark the oil pressure was way worse when I first got the car 3 years ago. I cranked the adjuster all the way in to get it to where it's at 30-35psi now. I didn't setup the pump or install the booster plate it came together already. Next oil change it's coming apart for inspection.
