[bhill86]

For those who saw or commented on my “oil plug by the dizzy” thread, you know I have a 77 T/A with a 400/4 speed with about 4600 miles on the rebuilt engine. After having some concerns about what I found in the oil and filter I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge and a test gauge to verify I was only seeing 8-10psi at hot idle with 10w30 and after switching to 15w40 while seeing no change. I decided to pull the engine to check and or replace the pump and possibly inspect the bearings.

Unfortunately, today when I pulled the engine I had a mishap I’m embarrassed to admit to but it is what it is. While setting up my engine hoist I installed the pin for the ram without realizing I missed the ram and it was actually sitting in front of the pin. While the engine was quite a ways in the air……the ram slipped and dropped the engine back into the engine compartment. Nobody hurt thankfully but what a STUPID mistake. Hopefully someone who reads this learns to double check everything. I’m so angry at myself right now. I have to leave for work but somehow the bell housing took a good hit and broke the bottom where I was supporting it with a Jack. I haven’t been able to tell exactly where they made contact. The other concern is the crank pullys we’re sitting on the sway bar. I’m not sure how hard they made contact. With quick looks, I don’t think they hit hard but I’m not sure.

That’s my big, and unfortunate, first question with this post. Do you think the crank is damaged?

I have a few pictures but I’ll have to post later.

[25stevem]

If the pully’s took the hit and deformed then I would think the the crank snout is ok.

If the balancer shows marks of taking a hit also then maybe not.
The first thing I would do is remove the balancer and see if it slides off easy like it should .

I would want to inspect the balancer for cracks anyway at this point!

How far did the front of the motor fall ?

[grandam1979]

If your worried and disassembling it take it in and have it checked it’s not that much. Findlay has a crank service shop just off 75 you could be there in a half hour. I can get you all the info if you need it. Sorry about the drop I have butterflies every engine we pull when it’s over the car even after 40 years of doing it.

[Formulas]

you can pull the balancer an put a dial indicator on the crank snout, rotate the crank and look for runout

[bhill86]

Formulas, thanks for mentioning that. I wondered if that may be an option.

Grandam1979, good to know. It probably sounds dumb, but I was hoping to try to inspect the bearings without removing the crank if possible. More specifically, without removing the heads and pistons. If I have to though, I guess that’s my only choice. Believe it or not, there aren’t many machine shops here in Toledo I’m aware of.

25stevem, I’ll post a picture of the height pretty much right before it dropped. It was kinda up there. :-(. That said, the other pictures I’ll post are of the crank pully sitting on the swaybar, one gouge in the pully I found but it’s on the side so I’m not sure if the crank rotated somehow or what. I wouldn’t think so. The other is the best I can get of the undersides if the pullys but I will take a closer look tonight after work. I don’t THINK the crank pullys took the brunt of the hit just looking at things but I haven’t found a smoking gun as to what did. I know one engine mount hit a frame mount hard which it gouged but didn’t ruin either. The passenger side header probably absorbed some impact too as it was dented in two small places. Not worried about that.

Obviously, shown in the picture, the bellhousing took a decent hit but I’m not sure where the engine made contact exactly yet. Nothing plainly obvious. Trans input shaft had no marks on it and spun freely so I don’t think that got hit or bent. Couple teeth gouged on the flywheel but I don’t think that will be critical. Dumb dumb dumb mistake but it could’ve been worse.

Keeping my fingers crossed the bellhousing is the worst of my worries and the crank is unhurt.

[DANTIP]

Brian,

That could have easily happened to me. Thx for sharing what happened! Hopefully someone reading about the mishap will avoid a similar issue because you shared it with us!!

Thx Again!!!

[bhill86]

Originally Posted by DANTIP

Brian,

That could have easily happened to me. Thx for sharing what happened! Hopefully someone reading about the mishap will avoid a similar issue because you shared it with us!!

Thx Again!!!

I hope. Maybe I’m the only one dumb enough to allow that to happen lol. It was certainly avoidable had I thought to double check everything. Lesson learned the hard way for sure.

Anyone got a BOP ST-10 bellhousing for sale? Lol. If not, advice on a good source that won’t break the bank.

[25stevem]

I see franks Pontiac parts has one for $180.

[bhill86]

Oh I forgot about him. Thanks!

[Formulas]

https://americanpowertrain.com/shop/...-olds-pontiac/

[bhill86]

Anyone know if the repos are of comparable quality to OEM bellhousing? I assume mine is not fixable and should be replaced

[sdbob]

I've had things slip, jack jerks down denting pan. I dont like to hook up engine to the carb flange bolts. I either use the hooks Pontiac has or use my tilter on the head bolts in shear.

[bhill86]

Came home from work tonight and gave everything a good look. Honestly, I think I may have been about as lucky as you could hope for with this happening. I only found one mark on the crank pulleys (red) and a second mark on the balancer (yellow) but I’m not convinced that is from contact during the fall. I also circled on the swaybar where I think the crank pulley hit which isn’t very significant by the looks of it.

Also you can see where both motor mounts seem to have taken a good hit, more so the drivers side. The passenger side header was laying there so it took some of the hit also. I’m hoping to hats the case and that minimized any damage I may have missed.

As for the bellhousing, I can’t find any definitive marks but obviously the engine made contact. I’m thinking the pan may have hit it and driven it down against the jack under the bellhousing. I can’t find anything on the pressure plate or anywhere back there except the corners of a few flywheel teeth buggared up.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Even the nose of my car suffered minimally for getting wacked by the hoist ram which I can probably fix some of and live with the rest for now. Engine turns over easily still but I’ll probably still check crank runout once I get a dial indicator.

Hopefully I can move past this soon and move on to figuring out the deal with my oil pressure with your help.

[bhill86]

I also determined what I suspected, that my water pump is leaking at the weep hole. Good time to change it. What good quality pumps do you guys suggest?

Also still wondering if there is any disadvantage to getting an aftermarket bellhousing vs finding OEM.?

[67Fbird]

Oh boy......thought I was the only one. A hundred yrs ago while swapping motors in my 1977 TA (circa 1992 ..ish) my all new just built 400 was on the hoist about 4' high. Me and my then GF were sitting there I took a beer break! Just chilling out then "SNAP".....BANG!!! The hoist had a stud welded on the end that has been used 1,487,364,999.001 times.......well it broke off and my new shiny motor plummeted to the shop floor at 32.17 ft/s^2. Crunched the oil pan cracked the balancer, but after teardown/removal of stuff I threw an indicator on the crank snout.....less than .0005" TIR....replace oil pan, balancer,oil pump pick up....rolled on. I doubt you will have HURT any MAJOR components but obviously the snout needs to be checked...only take you about 10 minutes NO TEARDAOWN needed just remove the balancer.

Waterpump..... ANYTHING that has a cast impeller (NOT STAMPED) and of course check the back plate spacing.

Now all of this is in the quest for "Why do I have low oil pressure?" So I must ask....

How much oil pressure SHOULD an average pontiac have at idle? My particular new 455 is lower than I WOULD LIKE to see idling HOT at 12+...ish but I also did NOT bore gauge my bearing clearances as it was a NEW EAGLE crank! I did mic everything and found the rods were a little sloppier than I would have liked at .0025-.003 and mains at .003-.0035.

[JSchmitz]

Just curious. Was the car on jacks or the suspension. The suspension would absorb a lot of the impact. I think it's gonna be fine with a few repairs.

[bhill86]

Originally Posted by 67Fbird

Oh boy......thought I was the only one. A hundred yrs ago while swapping motors in my 1977 TA (circa 1992 ..ish) my all new just built 400 was on the hoist about 4' high. Me and my then GF were sitting there I took a beer break! Just chilling out then "SNAP".....BANG!!! The hoist had a stud welded on the end that has been used 1,487,364,999.001 times.......well it broke off and my new shiny motor plummeted to the shop floor at 32.17 ft/s^2. Crunched the oil pan cracked the balancer, but after teardown/removal of stuff I threw an indicator on the crank snout.....less than .0005" TIR....replace oil pan, balancer,oil pump pick up....rolled on. I doubt you will have HURT any MAJOR components but obviously the snout needs to be checked...only take you about 10 minutes NO TEARDAOWN needed just remove the balancer.

Waterpump..... ANYTHING that has a cast impeller (NOT STAMPED) and of course check the back plate spacing.

Now all of this is in the quest for "Why do I have low oil pressure?" So I must ask....

How much oil pressure SHOULD an average pontiac have at idle? My particular new 455 is lower than I WOULD LIKE to see idling HOT at 12+...ish but I also did NOT bore gauge my bearing clearances as it was a NEW EAGLE crank! I did mic everything and found the rods were a little sloppier than I would have liked at .0025-.003 and mains at .003-.0035.

Thanks for making me feel a little better lol. I gotta get a dial indicator but I plan on checking the crank soon. I wondered too if there was any acceptable amount of runout. Fingers crossed.

Thanks on the water pump too. I’ll see what I can find.

JSchmitz, the car is on jacks but under the lower control arms so I did actually observe the suspension flex when the fall occurred. Good point, maybe that saved me some trouble.

[grandam1979]

Bell doesn’t look that bad I could probably weld it for you and put the piece back in. Does it have damage I don’t see in the picture?

[bhill86]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

Bell doesn’t look that bad I could probably weld it for you and put the piece back in. Does it have damage I don’t see in the picture?

No not that I’ve seen. What you see in that picture I is all I’m aware of. I suppose if you’re willing to try I’d give it a shot. PM me what you think you’d charge me and maybe we can figure something out. Thanks!

[chuckies76ta]

Ah man that's unfortunate that happened. I have done the same thing. I missed the last bolt hole on the extension but nothing happened. I may have some spare pulleys here if your interested. N/C. The best water pumps I find are the stock pumps. I have some of them too. Sorry this happened to you.