Hot Rods 347 Stroker Motor Delima

especially when learned first hand - hopefully the free info provided here will help others to learn from the lesson shared

 

Have you cut the filter open?

 

Hatchet just beat me to the question on cutting filter open.This mishap is exactly why I used Comp Cams chrome moly rockers. I hang around a race engine shop operated by a friend sometimes and I've see what happens when an aluminum rocker breaks.
Also, as a retired aircraft machinist I saw enough aluminum aircraft parts with ball bearings in them where the aluminum eventually egged out and the bearing was loose. Periodic checks caught these and they were repaired in various ways before they caused any harm.
But unlike airline aircraft, which are disassembled and exhaustively checked periodically, most automotive parts and pieces, especially on street driven cars, are driven till sumpin breaks.

 

If the pieces he is missing made it to the filter, they would have siezed the oil pump on the way to it....

 

Good poin,t especially considering the puny little shaft driving the pump. In the early days of the SBF I learned when checking out salvage yard SBFs to first of all pull the dist. If the driveshaft to oil pump showed noticeable twist or twisted in two, don't look any further on that engine.
They used rubber umbrella valve stem oil seals, which got hard and broke apart to end up in pan. Sludge was partially blocking the oil pump screen and when somebody nailed it into passing gear, the higher rpms caused the oil pump to suck the screen up off the safety bypass hole in the middle and the hard rubber pieces got in the pump, seized it, and soon the engine locked up with spun mains.

 

Doubtful any hard steel parts got through the oil pickup screen. Some of the small aluminum bits may have, but they would go through the oil pump pretty easily if they were small enough to get through the pickup screen. The ugliness in getting tiny bits of metal into the oiling system is if the filter bypass opens and lets pieces pass through, and those bypasses are open quite a bit when the oil is cold and thick.

 

1961, Ol' Ronny Parcell had a 468" Pontiac in his lightened-up '57 tudor post Chevy. A/Gas was prohibitive, so Ronny and his cousin Tommy Joe swiped a manhole cover and stuck it under the carpet in the trunk.
Fremont drags Sunday morning: Instant B/Gasser! Drove deep into the pits, past the last guys, backed in, and dumped the 'ballast'.
Trophy taken, Ronny just leaves the oversize poker chip and comes home...
The first one came from Jackson St. Santa Clara...the next Saturday night, it was Reeve St., nice and dark...
B/Gas again, another trophy! Went on 'til Ronny got bored, and the builder of the car came and repossessed it.
When Fremont drags became 'Baylands', they asphalted a little more of the pits, bet they wondered where all those big bits of billet came from...

 

I recall a jerk I worked for used to fancy himself a real 'whiz'... He'd take a car in with 'no start' symptoms, check the 'usual'. (gas? Spark?)
He smoked, so I showed him an old trick...held the lit cigarette over the carb air horn while he cranked it, engine wouldn't 'inhale'. He asked, "So what?"
More than once, when the plastic teeth were mostly (or all) gone, I'd get ready to pull the pan...He'd say, "What do you wanna pull the pan fer? We already SEE it's the 'tahmin' chayyne'..."
Yeah. His shop. Still...Had to let him go.

 

Up date on my 347 Stroker D-Lim-A
Pulled the intake manifold found nothing. So at this point I'm still missing 6 needle bearing (.030"x .187) and two small pieces of snap ring retainer. Just finished removing the oil pan, found nothing other than a very small amount of what could be the snap ring fragments. The particles were about the size of a grain of salt. I strained the oil (both that collected when I drained the oil and the remaining oil left in pan, nothing found. So next step pull the engine, clean, new what ever or put it back together and change oil very often. I assume the lost parts are in the filter. I should have cut the filter apart but didn't think of that before discarding. I talked with the rocker mfg, PBM tech group about the rocker coming apart they assume the cause was a failed bearing on the pivot shaft, one on each side of the shaft. This would allow the rocker to rotate or twist and then the failure. This is just an assumption, they ask me to mail them the parts collected for evaluation, which I will do. I'm try to post a picture of my Fairlane which had the 347 motor.

 

Coupe screw ups in my post but I think you get the intent.

 

Porkshop, the Fairlane will be coming you way for proper disposal assuming we can not fix this mess.

 

Nice car! At the rpm it broke and sent pieces flying around they could have ended up in the valve springs.

 

Beautiful looking Coupe!
Sorry for your grief......

 

Agree, I found all the missing parts less the those indicated in the head. So guess I will pull the heads and see if I can find anything. It's my hope they were caught by the filter, which like a dumb ass I did not cut apart before discarding.

 

The missing pieces would have gone through the oil pump first to end up in the oil filter which I don't think they made it that far without hurting the oil pump gears. Pieces could be stuck in some of the other valve springs too.

 

Before going any farther, I'm in the "go ahead and pull it, dismantle and check everything". Being able to roll it over on a engine stand would be helpful to get pieces out of tight spots. Gasket set = Peace of mind

 

I am all for that. Finding out the hard way could wipe out your investment in this engine.

Yeah, it is a PITA, but it is worth avoiding the grief. Take it from a recovering block ventilator.

 

Any updates???

 

Well it has been a while since I updated my screwed up lifter issue. Here is what I did, pulled intake nothing found, pulled pan and drained oil through cheese cloth and paint filter, nothing found. Installed a large magnet inside the oil pan (JB Weld) put everything back together and run it all summer. I guess I put on 1000 miles or more, no issues up to this point (knock on wood). Will pull pan this winter check to see if magnet caught anything and cut oil filter apart and look to see if it trapped anything. Again, thanks to everyone for all the great feedback keeping fingers crossed.