Well...Here's the real deal. I never mentioned this before for several reasons. 1) I didn't want to embarrass Paul because I know how well respected he is in here but I also noticed he never mentioned this either on the thread. 2) Another reason I never mentioned this is because I wanted to keep an open line of communication with him and I didn't want to do anything to make him mad while I needed to make this motor right. At this point. I just need this motor right. It has cost me a fortune. I just paid basically 1/3 of what I originally paid for the motor just to get it back.
When Paul had the motor completed the first time, it went on the dyno for the FIRST time. While on the dyno, the motor blew up. Paul said the pickup tube fell into the pan which caused a "Vortex" and the motor blew up. Paul said he did not weld the pickup tube. Paul did weld the pickup when he rebuilt the motor (after it blew up). When it blew up on the dyno, Paul said he had to replace the crankshaft, bearings and had to replace 2 connecting rods. He said he had a hard time finding a company to sell him 2 connecting rods but eventually found a company to sell him just 2.
After the blown motor was rebuilt, Paul sent it to the dyno again. Paul wasn't present for the dyno but a rear main seal was discovered. Paul fixed the rear main seal leak and the motor was sent to my house. I wish Paul would have been present at the dyno considering it just went through a catastrophic failure. When we started it and posted the video here that is when the knocking noise was discovered.
I went through almost two years of diagnosis on the motor and $1,900 in parts, fluids, tools and having the heads inspected. Just to recap here is what we did.
- Switched the rockers out (Went with Crowers)
- Pulled the motor, discovered the witness marks on the windage tray and only one washer as spacers when I was told that he usually uses two washers.
- Changed out the pushrods
- Changed out the lifters
- Had the cylinder heads inspected (Checked out good)
- Went to a thicker oil (Didn't make a difference)
- Pulled the converter back on several different occasions (Still heard the noise)
- Realized the flex plate was the only thing that wasn't new or rebuilt. Switched the flex plate...noise is still present.
- Motor was sent to Arizona. Paul discovered the bad distributor bushing and said when he broke the motor down, everything looked great and even posted pictures of clean bearings. Jeff looked at the motor after Paul and said the bearings were bad, piston rings were bad, crankshaft needed to be polished the the block needed a light honing. Paul sent the distributor to MSD and they rebuilt it. I sent Paul a new polymer gear for the rebuilt distributor. It was sent to the dyno where I received the weird dyno sheet with a date of Oct of 2018 (the motor was at my house in Oct of 2018). Paul posted a new video on his Youtube page of the dyno run. The video was taken from inside the booth.
This has gone on long enough. I actually spoke to Jeff last night and he was cool with me. He told me to concentrate on what is on the car NOW but was not used on the dyno. He suggested that we take a closer look at the fuel pump. I know the car was idling pretty rough in the newest video. We didn't play with the timing and and the carb wasn't touched at that time. After taking the video, we started it up again and played with the idle a little bit. It didn't make a difference...the noise was still there. Jeff was very adamant that the "Knocking or ticking" noise is not the same. Me and and buddy are just as certain that it sounds the same. Believe me, at this point of the game..I hear that "Knocking / ticking" noise in my sleep. It sounds identical to what was going on before.
I don't want to spend the next 2 years diagnosing this car. I can't afford to again pay for the motor to be shipped to Arizona, pay Koerner Racing Engine a 3rd time to look at this motor. If anyone has any ideas...feel free to share it. I think we can all learn a little something from sharing some knowledge
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