hehe i know it sounds downright silly but heres the lowdown
305 .030 over
cam has .474/.498 lift (214/224@.050)
K Motion valve springs (dont know the pn, the ones that are good for just over .500 lift in stock seats)

now for the funny part, a mix of chromoly and non chromoly pushrods... long story but basically I only had cash for the exhaust side at the time (im doing much better now)

so my first day back from far off lands im driving the thing after some adjustments and I oversped the engine (boot got caught on brake pedal while i had the clutch in) then the car started missing. Come to find I bent one of the cheap pushrods and it pushed the rocker over into the adjacent rocker which had a chromoly pushrod. It didnt want to bend so it just snapped the little ball off the end of the pushrod.

That was a real pisser because the car finally was tuned pretty well for the first time ever. It was pretty quick which might be part of the reason it self destructed (it revved up really quick)

Now here is the dilemma... this all would have been no problem for me except that that ball from the end of the pushrod is nowhere to be found. It wasnt in the lifter valley. It could be anywhere.

The car drove decently with the broken valve train.. oil pressure was fine, nothing seemed wrong except for a little miss.


So now Im debating whether or not to just slap this sucker together with new pushrods and just drive it. With a little luck the ball is in the bottom of the oil pan and cant get sucked past the oil pump screen.

The other option is to just get a new long block since I was planning on going bigger anyways at somepoint, im looking at a 406 thats a little better than stock, hyperutectics and such but with crappy heads for 2100 (i might try taking it for 1800 without the heads)

option 2 is a gm 330 h.0. crate motor since i can get a real good deal on one and stab in an lt4 hot cam kit... alltogether I forsee that under 2500

option 3 is a pulled Lt1 with t56 tranny for 2500 w/ probably 60k miles on the combo

option 4 is a carefully assembled molotov cocktail tossed into passenger compartment.

give me your thoughts
Pablo

 

If it made it's way to the bottom of the sump, chances are you'll be okay.

I'd check the drain back holes in the head, could be wedged in there.

I'd also pull the pan for a piece of mind, then make my decision.


WTF you doing in Japan? Are you military now?

 

Slap it together and go. You just got it running good - enjoy. In the mean time start putting together your future setup. Take the time to watch for great deals on whatever you decide to look for.

 

As for the ball end. Can't be worse than those oil additive infomercials where they dump gravel on the valvetrain. Get out the prolong.

 

i was in japan.. for 380 some days actually, now im back home on some leave before I head out to so-cal. Yep, military, USMC for the past two years three months now. Been awhile since ive chatted with you Mike, good to see ya.


I checked all in the head and drainback holes.. its nowhere. I might just slap it all together and go with what Breazlan said.

 

Well good for you...I recall a few years ago you were Florida fighting a fuel pump issue and pulling heads because......

Looks like you've come a long way man.

 

try drainin the oil then examine the oil and see if ya can find the piece in it.. might be that simple.. probably not, but still worth a shot

 

hahaha mike.. shhh

 

Throw a magnet on the pan, maybe get one of them fancy dancy magnetic drain plugs, see if you cant catch the sucker in the act.

 

Dragging this back from the dead..

I just had the same thing happen. Pushrod broke the little ball" on the end. Piece or pieces of pushrod are floating around in the engine or oilpan. I drove it for about 30 miles since this happened with steady oil pressure, after intake removal I found the roller lifter looks good as well as the roller rocker. I plan on installing chromoly rods, changing the oil, and driving it. I don't have anything special in the bottom end, just stock stuff. Wish me luck!

 

Trash screens are a good idea.

 

Good quality one-piece push rods are an even better idea.

"Put a fence at the top of the cliff, instead of an ambulance at the bottom."

 

That's why I run both.

 

Thanks for the advise! I ended up buying some sealed power/speed pro stuff and intake gaskets (couldn't pull the busted pushrod out through the head because of the mushroom effect) total was like 105.00 Also found out the cheap roller rocker was messed up so ordered a new one of those from jegs 26.oo

Screens will be going in my next engine for sure, of course the next engine is getting crank scrapers and windage tray 2!