[Schurkey]

My Father-In-Law has been making noises that he wants to re-engine his Firebird.

I fired up one of my core engines; it's been sitting for years. I figured it'd run; and I was hoping it'd run GOOD, so I can give him a "loaner engine" while we fix up a permanent replacement for the turd that's currently occupying the engine compartment.

Turns out that both #7 and #8 have crappy compression--#8 is down to 100 psi. The rest are fairly even, but they're in the 125-135 range. Clearly not optimum. Checked with two compression gauges; and they agree.

Leakdown testing shows the BEST cylinder is 40%; and lots are hovering in the 60--80 percent region. True enough, my leakdown tester tends to read higher leakage than most. 40% on an old engine doesn't scare me with that tester, and new, wonderful engines tend to show 10--25%. One cylinder is blowing a little past an exhaust valve, all the cylinders are blowing down past the rings.

I've got the cylinders soaking in SeaFoam and aerosol carb spray; every now 'n' then I turn the crank back and forth to push the rings up and down in the ring grooves. I'm hoping that maybe the rings are just gummed-up in the ring grooves. Yeah, not likely... On the other hand, I didn't expect one ounce of SeaFoam in each cylinder to still be there a day later--and it was. I figured it'd leak out past the rings in that amount of time.

There's ten to twelve degrees of timing chain slop; and the distributor is all worn out, too--I sent SunTuned a PM looking for parts. I had to rebuild the starter to get it to crank. I can hardly wait to open up the carburetor. I'm expecting it to be as bad as everything else has been.

So...I'm bummed and needed to vent a little.

What are YOUR current disasters???

[Sun Tuned]

PM sent, not sure you got it. 901-412-4414 I know you'll get this.

[78 GHOST]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

So...I'm bummed and needed to vent a little.

What are YOUR current disasters???

-Brand new TH-400 leaking from tailshaft output seal, get to pull tailshaft install new bushing seal and slip yoke. I get to fix.

-Headliner installation, paid a guy who quit midway promising to come back and never did. I get to fix.

-Paint, over $10K paid to a shop and I get to respray the hood scoops, LH quarter, LH fender, and RH door, and endura front end.. other than that it's a great paint job! I get to fix.

On the upside, I got the RobbMc starter setup and that exceeds my expectations all around.

[screamingchief]

That engine most likely could be given some extended life,and for minimal $$ too.

Quickee hone & re-ring with fresh bearings and a basic valve job and a few pieces here & there and you would be set.

The 455 shortblock in my bird is like that,it just has my good #96 heads on there now because I had no other use for them,so I sold the "basic" 6x8 heads I had planned on using with that motor to recoup funds for other project needs.

Short of some serious fubar bores or journals,it cant be any worse than running it "as-is".



As for my "set-backs",fubar heater core,rusty trunk floor,a bit of rear window rust,and a laundry list of other things too numerous to mention,all coupled with a serious lack of funds to change much of any of that list.

[mrjestro]

On the 4th of July I grenaded the Muncie in my convertible, middle of summer in Seattle is not the time to be without your convertible.... our top down season here is some what short.... am into the repair about double what I thought....mostly because I don't want to do this again anytime soon so basically everything is new or rebuilt....Uggh.

[78 GHOST]

If the engine is already out of the car, why not do a quickie overhaul as Ron suggested.

[Ben M.]

Filled up the car, went to the grocery store. Got called out because the tank was leaking gas. Apparently the pump overfilled by about 1/2 a gallon and it leaked out the bad solder joint it's had for the last 8 years, but that much gas on the concrete out here freaks people out (I'd just let it dry up). Almost got the fire department and police called over it (people are wacky these days). So now I have to find a place that can repair gas tanks out here...

[Bluethunder1975]

Was getting ready to throw some paint on the inside of my fenders, so I could mount them, and get them out of the way..

Start airing up the compressor, theres a snap, and the breaker trips.. The motor on the compressor is cooked (shoots fire and sparks out of the front of the motor.. best guess is shorted winding).

Being a direct drive oilless, the motor is worth as much as the compressor....

In the process of setting up my new 60gal stationary compressor, and the fenders still aren't painted.

Downside, it ate into my painting the car fund. Plus side, the compressor is 18.5 CFM @ 100 psi, so I can probably paint / prep the entire car myself.

[Schurkey]

Update. Found a "usable" Pontiac distributor shaft; the distributor will go together this afternoon; and I'll fire the engine again--now that the rings have been soaking in "love and solvent" for about a week.

Wish me luck.

The whole point of getting this engine running was not to rebuild IT, but to use it while we rebuilt the '73 455 that this one was parked next to. The '73 is seized from cylinder rust so it clearly needs help.

But, yeah, I can see this turning into a dingleberry rebuild.

Did I mention that I was in the process of moving my collection of core engines to a storage facility so I actually had room enough to work in my garage? I got the Buick 455 about a third of the way up the ramp and then it fell over sideways hitting concrete from a height of about two feet on the left exhaust manifold/cylinder head?

Nothin' but fun here. But thanks for your stories of woe. At least I'm not alone...




Oh, yeah. I talked to Sun Tuned a few minutes ago. The only bright spot so far today. What a guy! Looks like I'll have distributor weight pivot pins before long!

[BVR421]

just put it in and drive it, it'll probably test much better when driven a few miles.
Its only a temp motor anyway right?