We got the motor running.. lifters were loud but went down, but were still there. We hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge in the oil pressure switch spot and got 45 psi of oil. High volume oil pump...

So we took the valve covers off and figure we would adjust the rockers that way to stop the lifters from making noise.... well... no oil was going through the pushrods.... ???

Dad is saying cam bearings might not have been put in correctly....

Any ideas?


-Bud

 

ok .. well... i cant delete this topic so might as well expand a little.

We just looked through pictures of the motor as it was being assembled and saw that a plug was left out on the passenger side of the cam. Not 100% sure we never put it in, but neither of us remember putting that one in...........

So we went in the barn and spun the oil pump..... oil comes out of 1/2 the pushrods on the drivers side, but none on the passenger side.

Hopefully its that plug missing and not the cam bearings.

-Bud

 

Yes that would be a good reason why, the missing plug...

The oil flow on the 660, feeds from the oil filter to the left oil galley, which then in turn feeds the cam bearings and cross feeds to the right oil galley (crank is also fed from the left oil galley, hence the larger galley ), if there is no restriction I.E. no galley plug, the oil will just flow out the end of the galley, and no pressure will be created on that side, to push oil through the pushrods.

Not saying this is for sure, but if I were in your shoes, I'd pull teh front cover and look, better to be safe and spend a few dollors on gaskets and time to check than to have premature engine failure.

 

plugged up... and ran the dummy distributor... oil flows out all of the pushrods



car will be up and running tomorrow assuming we dont run into any more problems


-Bud

 

currious.................what plug?????? I please get us pics of what you were looking at.

 

Looked back at old pictures and found this one. I guess we never did put a plug in it b/c it was out when we took it back apart... plug on the passenger side of the cam.. just above it.

doh


-Bud

 

Shish, I didn't even go that far. removes crapped out a/c compressor, drooped engine in. kept basically everything fromthe 3.4 on it, cause knowing my luck a bolt would snap & end up delaying the whole process. It happened w/the tranny mount bolts, but at least i was ready to drive the car for a while.

 

lol at project.

You do have some of the worst luck I think.

Good thing you didnt have to take the top half of the engine back apart. Simple fix, and hopefully didnt damage anything.

 

We took everything out.... machinework on the crank (10 on the mains)...milled the heads... new cam/lifters... valve job... new valve guide seals... all new sensors...went through pretty much everything and did it ourselves.. except for the machinework and putting the cam bearings in. Thats why we thought maybe the cam bearings, because we didn't put those in.

Cranking the car up today... its 95% back together now... and I just got a throttle body from a guy on this board in the mail like 10 minutes ago. The top screw on my TPS was stripped and my idle set screw busted apart and came out. New one is good and untampered.

Can't wait to drive this thing.

oh.. and another thing.. the fuel pump wasnt engaging (new oil switch/sensors neat the oil filter, new fuel pump relay, recently replaced teh 20 amp fuse next to the battery), so were going to hotwire the oil pressure switch to come in w/ the ignition. Any reason to advise against that?

Putting a mechanical oil pressure gauge in the car too. My oil gauge doesnt work on my dash and Ive heard mechanical gauges are more accurate anyway. Theres a nice little place on my LS1 console to put the gauge too... just gotta find an all black one thats 2-2.5"


-Bud

EDIT: oh yea.. we took the intake/rockers/pushrods/lifters/etc off ... to make sure the cam and lifters were ok. Things go so much more quickly when you're organized... its amazing lol

 

Bud, glad to hear you got it figured out, and that it was something relatively minor!

Do you have an estimate on how much you paid for the machine work? Did you buy the rebuild kit from the machine shop, or did you buy it from somewhere else?

Thanks!

 

I dont know off hand, but Ive got 20 min go get to work.. and I gotta fly there. Ill check when I get back home tonight.


-Bud

 

It was running good untill it caught on fire

 

I'd advise against the hotwiring of the oil pressure switch, since if you are just running a wire between the 2 fuel pump related wires, you pump will either always be on, or always be on when the ignition is on, the latter no so much of a big deal, but still....

Anyway, once the engine turns over and oil pressure is created, the switch closes anyway, so until you get the real problem fixed it will still start and run fine, just may take a few extra turns of the crank.

 

mains 10 and rods polished ~60
valve job and head milled ~125
cam bearings ~25

EDIT: oh yea... oil pressure is at ~70psi cold idle