60s Refugee
Well-known member
As you folks recall, my engine suddenly started to miss and had no power. In prep for the new tri power I had to tear down the engine. Here is what I found. I expected the bad head gasket, but I didn't expect what else I found:
addo! You guessed right. I found two bent push rods! One was slight, but the other was so bent that it had a flat spot worn into it where it was rubbing against the block. This explains much. From day one the engine had an intermittant rattle in it. I tried several times to find it. I thought something external was ratteling. I never thought about it being internal! How could a rebuilt long block have bent push rods in it from the get go? I am sorry the pic isn't real clear, but that worn spot is a full thirty second of an inch into the rod! No wonder it ratteled. This is probably why the thing never ran quite right
Of course, there was the head gasket issue too! The pic shows how bad it was. The only place it wasn't burnt at all was between 5&6. Again, how could a remanufactured long block come with un torqued head bolts (which is what I presumed is the case)? I accept that it is my fault for not checking them before I put the valve cover on, but I didn't think I'd need to!
I noticed also that about half of the head bolts are the necked down type. According to the Performance Handbook these are for 1970 and later heads. So what are they doing in my '65? Could this have caused the head gasket failure?
After I removed the rocker arm assy I noticed that the first and last rocker arm rotated much more stiffly than the rest. Is this normal? It looks like maybe that spring clip/roll pin/retainer thing is driving the end rockers hard into the pedistals. I regret that I didn't pull the push rods out and check which valves they were in. I only noticed them being bent after the fact. Could a stiff rocker arm be the cause?
Everything else that came out was perfect and shines like chrome. Lifters, timing chain, the works. The engine is real clean too. Guess the sunthetic oil and frequent changes pays off.
More coming later
Harry
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn11 ... an0002.gif
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn11 ... an0003.jpg
addo! You guessed right. I found two bent push rods! One was slight, but the other was so bent that it had a flat spot worn into it where it was rubbing against the block. This explains much. From day one the engine had an intermittant rattle in it. I tried several times to find it. I thought something external was ratteling. I never thought about it being internal! How could a rebuilt long block have bent push rods in it from the get go? I am sorry the pic isn't real clear, but that worn spot is a full thirty second of an inch into the rod! No wonder it ratteled. This is probably why the thing never ran quite right
Of course, there was the head gasket issue too! The pic shows how bad it was. The only place it wasn't burnt at all was between 5&6. Again, how could a remanufactured long block come with un torqued head bolts (which is what I presumed is the case)? I accept that it is my fault for not checking them before I put the valve cover on, but I didn't think I'd need to!
I noticed also that about half of the head bolts are the necked down type. According to the Performance Handbook these are for 1970 and later heads. So what are they doing in my '65? Could this have caused the head gasket failure?
After I removed the rocker arm assy I noticed that the first and last rocker arm rotated much more stiffly than the rest. Is this normal? It looks like maybe that spring clip/roll pin/retainer thing is driving the end rockers hard into the pedistals. I regret that I didn't pull the push rods out and check which valves they were in. I only noticed them being bent after the fact. Could a stiff rocker arm be the cause?
Everything else that came out was perfect and shines like chrome. Lifters, timing chain, the works. The engine is real clean too. Guess the sunthetic oil and frequent changes pays off.
More coming later
Harry
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn11 ... an0002.gif
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn11 ... an0003.jpg
