This is true! I had one apart for a straight 8, and all of the rocker passages were blocked with sludge. To do it right, you not only need to open up the shafts, but pull off all the rocker arms and clean them out...IF a Nailhead is anything like a straight 8...
Tom, you won't see any bubbles if the system is empty. What you need to do, is while the compressor is running, disconnect the wires from the compressor. Look at the sight glass at the same time. You should see some bubbling as the system is running down & pressures are equalizing. In 15-20 seconds hook the wires up again & again observe the sight glass. You should now see some bubbles that will clear up in short order. DON'T just ASSUME because you see NO bubbles that the system is full. Check NOW to hopefully save yourself a future headache because you assumed. Tom T.
Tom, Every part in those heads was brand new. The only thing used was the actual head itself. rocker arms, shafts, springs, valves etc are new. As to AC, no clue because that was all new as well. But do a search for AC and find a post Jim Lore put on recently. I read this a week or so ago, and it may shed some light onto the subject. It has to do with gear sizes and AC
Glad to hear you got the engine fixed without any real internal damage Tom. I had a similar situation happen a few years ago, caused mainly by my trusting nature and an inattention to detail. I bought an engine kit from a "reputable" national distributor and trusted that the lifters they sold me were all the right ones and the right sizes. They weren't; one bank went back together with 3 different sized lifters in it. Needless to say the engine threatened to hammer itself to junk inside 1000 miles, and it all came apart 500 miles away from home in the middle of the night. It started with a little tick that just got progressively worse as it started to come apart inside, but was fairly quiet at 70 mph. I didn't know it was actually running on 6 until it slowed down to 30 mph. The rocker shaft had snapped in two places and sheared off one of the hold-down bolts, two rocker arms were destroyed, but the pushrods, lifters, and cam lobe survived okay. It took a bit of trouble-shooting to realize that the lifters were wrong because the differences weren't apparent while the engine was together. But like yourself, I found that there was a nasty gap between the valve and the rocker that quietened right up when the gap was plugged, so it could only be one thing, a bad lifter. So I bought a box of "made in the USA" lifters and tossed the cheap Chinese knock-offs out after comparing them. Now the car runs quiet... I'm not going to say that whoever built it put in cheap or suspect parts, since I didn't do the job I have no way of knowing. I am not going to accuse anyone of doing anything wrong or negligent nor do I want to imply bad character, so please don't jump down my throat. However it might be worth bringing up the origin of the parts installed with the builder if you're concerned with the possibility of more things happening or if you have to go into the motor again. I learned never to assume anything and to double check things because there are a lot of bad parts being sold these days disguised as good ones.
To agree and add to what Marc has said,,,, I had a lifter go bad and wipe a cam lobe once,,, Enginetech brand,,,, and I could not see a reason why.....finally , I took the bad lifter up to the steel company where wifey works and rockwell hardness tested it.... it tested the same hardness as mild steel.... they bought me a new cam and a set of lifters....:Brow:
The parts for this engine came from one of the most respected Nailhead parts guy I know. Believe me in saying there is NO question when dealing with this vendor. I wont buy nailhead parts from anyone else. The shop that did the rebuild has built numerous nailheads for me, as well as umpteen big blocks. They are one of the top engine builders in this region and have a fantastic reputation for the quality of work. Not to say they cant make a mistake, but it is very very rare. This is a shop where you can dang near eat off of the work benchs and the floors are clean enough that Martha Stewart would be impressed. True class act in engine building
Very true! Parts are man made and therefore can fail. In Toms case, I truly believe it was nothing more than a simple mechanical failure. Thankfully an easy fix and he is back out having fun again
what is the correct diameter rocker shaft plug? I need to run a bore brush through mine. Great advice. Thanks!
Understood...as I said, it was not my desire to defame or denegrate you in any way, please accept my apologies if it came across that way. Parts do fail...
Rob,,, they are about 7/16 or so,,,,, pull the old ones and take them to the parts store to match up,,,, and if you cant find some , they are made by dorman..... If you have to you could make some out of mild steel round stock, or brass or alluminum ..... they dont have to fit real tight,,, just plug the holes.... and they are held in by the cotter pins....Ford used a similar set up on the Y block engines and the FE engines....
Mark, thank you for this information!!:beers2::beers2: I did recall your mentioning all the head work, but couldn't specifically remember if the rockers, etc, were done. Wanted to call you this past week, however, it consisted of drive/work/sleep/repeat daily. :laugh: I will take care of the AC system in due course. With my work, I only get to drive it on weekends. Had it out last night for a spin. Was hoping to have my mom take it for a drive before she returned home to Alberta this morning.:TU: Right now, it's a joy to just drive the car. There's no hurry to deal with the AC. I do suspect the rear gearing *might* be part of the issue, so I'm going to look for something around 3.23 or 3.36. ---------- Post added at 10:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 AM ---------- Marc, thanks for your concern about this scenario. :TU: I knew before buying the car where the parts came from, which made my buying decision that much easier. I also spoke directly with the engine builder, who was as perplexed as we all were about this situation. Bottom line here is the problem is now solved thanks to those who offered salient advice based on their own previous experiences. For that, I cannot be thankful enough. :beer Mark, I hope that any comments I have made here or on the phone were not taken in the wrong context. ray::TU: All I ever wanted was to have fun with the car. :3gears::3gears: My brother Randy and I have discussed this at great length. One of our theories is that the lifter failed momentarily, ie: depressurized, the repressurized itself, causing the initial heavy push rod wear. As I continued driving, it exacerbated itself into what you saw in the videos. Just a theory though, as we may never know the exact cause.
My honest guesstimate is the the ball on the tip of the pushrod was not up to hardness specs. A stock pushrod has a hardness on the "C" scale of around 32-38 on the "Ball" end. The seat in the rocker, stock, is around 42. If you install a rocker with the pushrod seat less than the pushrod you end up with a paste that looks like silver anti-seize. On the oppsosite side it ends up looking like exactly what you had. No silvery paste though as the oil washes it away. Not so on the rocker cup side as it's "Encapsulated" in the end of the rocker seat & is harder to escape. You have changed the oil & filter already, yes??? Tom T.
Oil and filter were changed right after the break in procedure was completed. I plan another oil and filter change within 100-150 miles.
Re: Where's that clicking noise? It's back......:blast: After less than 100 miles, the tick has returned, albeit not at the level in my video. It began anew during a drive to a local cruise night, and slowly increased in volume. I have not redlined the engine, nor has it been driven hard since the parts were replaced. So now the car is off the road indefinitely, and it's time to go to DEFCON 3. Tom T. I will call you Monday morning to discuss obtaining your roller rocker assembly, or another stock rocker assembly and push rod. This sucks big time. :af: Disclaimer: This is NOT MEANT to soil Mark's reputation in any way, so please don't anyone go there. It's very likely that I've simply had a run of bad luck parts wise, period.
Tom, If its not the same one, Maybe you got stuck with a bad batch of push rods. I did a valve job on a BB Chevy 15 years ago and had several brand new push rods pop the ends off. I put another new set in and that took care of it. Just a thought......
i had a set of lifters in a vortec 5.7 go bad and they were under 200 miles old.. it happens.. man i was pissed.. first time you get paid , second time you do it for free.. why>??? Paul
I have not yet looked under the valve cover, since I got home around 10:15 PM Sunday evening. It will wait until next weekend, or my vacation the week after that. Time to get my automatic car ready for BPG.
Yeah, if it's another pushrod coming apart, then I'd probably buy another set of pushrods and lifters. Chances are the ones that wound up in there were the duds that were made on a Friday afternoon at 3:30. As Mark said, parts fail, and yes, sometimes in batches.
