Crankshaft won't turn over completely for TDC

Shit man, I'm completely proud of you for jumping in with both feet. I've got to admit, from how I took your attitude after a few posts, it turned out fine. I was a little surprised that you pulled the heads. Welcome to the great world of Hot Rods. Steven.

 

The only way you fail is if you quit. I used to live in Illinois, so I feel your pain, but you will get no greater sense of accomplishment than when you fire that sucker up! Good job so far.

 

good job. Please keep us posted on how it acts.

 

Good job man, glad you stuck with it and just didn't go max out your credit card and dump a crate motor in. Besides, now you'll have a cold day in January story to tell your grandkids.

 

Sometimes you can take a real big flat blade screwdriver and stick it in the flywheel teeth, and lever the engine around if you can get this access. Kurt

"Don't I wish....I've just been manhandling it...and getting sore hands "

 

Congratulations!!!!

Is it just me or are those nonstock pistons? Has somebody drilled the top of it?

 

Another thing you should check after you get the heads and cam back in and manifold ,Do a compression check ,That will tell you the condition of the motor . Keep us posted

 

Save yourself the trouble now and get a better motor. If that thing doesnt crop dust in the first hour or less Id be suprised. Why go to all the trouble for a half assed fix that will piss you off more when you have to fix it down the road and take your car back apart. Im sure you could find another used motor in better condition for a few hundred bux and be ahead.

 

If the cylinder will clean up with a hone and the others look like they will clean up by being honed you can get a rering kit from Northern auto parts for about 102 bucks with rings, rod and main bearings and gaskets. A few more bucks for fel Pro gaskets.

 

Well, with the honing of the cylinder, it looked pretty good afterwards. We'll see how it does. I wouldn't call what I did half-assed, though. Maybe it was.....

I'm going to stick with this 283 (no knock against the venerable 350...I just wanted something different), if the cylinder is a problem later on, I'll have it redone professionally. I posted this on another board, too....and got more than several responses of "ditch the engine". To me, personally, if it can be fixed correctly, I'd rather do that than just throw it away. Overall, I like the idea of not participating in the "throw it away" society mentality...unless I absolutely have to. I may experience more mental anguish during the process by living by that credo, but in the end it *is* more satisfying, to me at least. I'm sure I could get the engine re bored for free if I needed to...my own labor being the only expense. Time will tell if I was right or wrong in what and how I did this fix.

The thing I didn't understand in some of those "throw it away" comments (primarily on the other board, yours excluded) was that it seemed like there was almost a sense of glee that they got to say it to me. That and they just said it off the cuff....no input on how to try and fix it, like money or labor already invested meant nothing. For the life of me, I can't understand why some folks are like that.

 

The issue I see with what you've done (and I'm nock knocking on you) is more than likely you've gotten emery dust/debris in places you don't want it to be...eventually being pumped theough the engine before the filter pics it up.

Could cost more to repair the 2nd time around (if needed).

 

That was a concern that I had...I did my best by keeping the surfaces oiled while I was honing/sanding it...and tried to be meticulous in my clean up, cleaning every cylinder on that side afterwards. *crossed fingers*

 

Glad to read you found the problem. It is great you stuck with it and found the trash in the cylinder. Many times I have to step back and rethink the problem, ask questions and above all listen... Keep us posted on your project....

 

Glad to hear that you stuck it out. Good for you.

 

well how does it run? lets see a youtube video of the fire off.

 

Learning by doing,

Learning by just trying,

All good - regardless of the results.

Way to go bro.

 

Poboyross,
Forget everybody else,,you are trying to do the job for less than the national debt.
You did a great job,,,,I think it will turn out fine,,,,and even if it didn't,,,,you would have to had to rebuild it anyway,,right?
Try it,,it might just work great!

I like the old 283's,,,,(I am a Mopar man,,but I still like them).

At least you didn't give up.

Tommy

 

x2. I've been following this thread. I wasn't sure why at first but then I realized it's because I've been there a few times over the years myself. I think you did the right thing for the circumstances. Getting the thing to run will definitely make you feel better and if you have to tear it down again, well you haven't lost anything.

It takes balls to tear into something like this when you don't know exactly what you're doing but that's how most of us learned I think.

What I like most is that you were humble throughout this whole thing and didn't act like a smartass know it all. You listened and after you calmed down (we've all been there, believe me) you were methodical in your approach once you decided the next course of action. We were pulling for you and hoping you wouldn't give up. Good on ya!

BTW, I love 283's, the first engine I ever tore apart too.

 

I wasent knocking your try, Ive done the same thing before with mixed results. Keep having fun.

 

Yeah, I figure I'll have to tear it down again...but when I do, I'm going to have another "fresh" one waiting to go back in. I'm done with this long-term wait crud. Once your ride has been off the road for enough time, and you don't have another one to drive, you begin to lose the motivation...it gives way to despair and despondence at times....which leads to anger and hasty decisions.

Thanks for keeping up with the thread!

I figured you weren't...it was directed at others who have and still are. I asked a follow up question in another thread, and one guy says "hey, aren't you the guy that has that thread about your tired crappy engine"...after that, the synonymous adjectives begin to flow about my "sh*tty" motor...and its' leaky cylinder. Pretty much indicating I'm wasting my time on it. That's probably the only thing I dislike about this board. With a noticeable portion of guys on here.....if you're not making it "fresh", you're just a rat rod jackass....but not so much of a rat rod jackass that you can hang out on another site whose name shall not be mentioned...*cough* *kill* *cough* *bill....* *cough*...ahem. I'm not rich enough to be in the cool crowd, yet not poor enough to go slummin with the garbage pail kids.

 

The internal combustion engine is a very forgiving precision machine.

My only concern is that the rings are shot. You'll know pretty quick if they are.

I hope they're not, and you run this engine for tens of thousands of miles and many years--you'll have a kick ass story!

-Brad

 

After you get it back together .Do a compression check .As long as all the cylinders are even or within 5 lbs of each other your ok .Even is better .Also check for leak down when your doing this .You dont have to do this .You could fire up and see what happens ,I would do it and compare it to stock compression specs and then you will know how fresh it is.

 

and change the oil after you've run it for a few minutes. there is probably alot more crud below the pistons. did you get the carb rebuilt yet?

 

Yes,,change the oil and filter several times the first few miles.
More importantly,,,
I too got sadened by your comments of giving up. That was painfull. I've had to fight for every damn thing I have. I can't stand lazies and quitters who expect to be served by others.
That Chevy will eat a lot of dirt and debris and get over it. I've been in your shoes a hundred times and it worked out through diligence.
I want to see that baby start up on a YouTube Video. I bet it'll puff smoke at start up and later smoke some when you floor it but it'll quit when just puttin' around at cruizin' speed. You should really be proud,,my sons could care less about our old American Iron and Heritage. Be sure to taunt the rust pussies on Killbillet who were showing glee at your problem.Your above that sh!t now. Way to go!

 

I agree!! I'm looking forward to the start up. Keep us posted. Not all of us have nice fresh engines, either.

 

that would have been me, and if that's the way it came across I'm sorry. The guys in that thread were getting WAY off your topic of Carburation for this motor. they were getting into carburation for a wild 10k rpm built racing motor when you had a (to my knowledge) bone stock engine that was not without issues. I was just trying to reel them in to get you an answer that would work better for your situation.

I too can't wait to hear that you've successfully fired this baby up. Just to hear the satisfaction in your post!

 

SO....fast forward about 5 months. I have slowly been reassembling the car, putting in electrical, pedals, etc etc. OH...btw, here's the first real fire up of the motor back in Feb:

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Back to modern day....

I just got to thinking about finding that water in the oil pan (a good amount by my reckoning) wayyyy back when I got the motor, before the beginning of this thread. I remembered you guys saying to change out the oil fairly often. Even though I've just been doing a lot of engine running to tweak things, make sure they're working, and keep me motivated, I figured it best to see how things were going down there. I drained out all of the oil and I noticed several things:

-about 3-4 tablespoons of water in the oil
-it burns some oil, but doesn't smoke (?)
-after allowing the oil to sit in a container for a few hours, I found this frothy white crud at the bottom. Not a lot, maybe 1/8 cup or so lining the bottom.

I'm assuming this is antifreeze, which is bad....real bad. Even though I never saw any visible signs of a crack in the cylinders, I might have missed it....who the hell knows? What are your thoughts? Cracked block, gaskets not sealed correctly? The engine never smoked when I ran it, nor did I smell any sweet odors from the exhaust, just could tell that it was running rich with the old carb.

BTW, pulled the spark plugs from the ones that had any corrosion, none were wet....

 

the bolts are shorter for a flex plate than for a standard flywheel,the longer bolts can go through crank flange and catch on block

 

Thanks! I got all that squared away, at this point it's kind of a continuation of the after effects of me figuring out *why* it happened. It's pretty ugly....take a look at page 3 or 4 to see what I found. Mud in #6 cylinder and water in the oil pan. Still getting some in there, don't know if there's a secret crack, or perhaps a warped head....looking back, I know I didn't use sealant on the head or intake bolts, and I didn't bolt the intake down in correct order. JUST realized that today

 

Water in the oil pan is a fickel thing...
There's an old saying that water and oil dont mix... Well, believe it or not, they do!

If you get the engine up to temp, it will usually boil out, but just running it in short bursts can keep some water in there, even when you change the oil, the oil that stays in the engine [about 1 and 1/2 cups] will still have some water in it.

Also, water can get into the engine from condensation. Like when you come outside on a cool morning and there's a layer of fog on your windshield. Sometimes the air inside the engine will have a little water vapor in it. That water will condense into droplets, and drip down to the bottom of the oil pan. Since it sinks to the bottom, and the oil now sits on top of it, it cant evaporate off once it warms up later in the day... Over the course of several days, it's possible to get a couple spoon-fulls of water in the bottom of the pan.

I once tried to fire up a car that had been sitting under a car-port for several years, Drained the oil to change it, and was shocked to see about two cups of water come out of it!

I'm guessing you took great care to torque the head bolts down correctly. Maybe a re-check of them before you take it out on it's first drive is in order.

But untill the car is actually on the road, and your expirencing a water/coolant loss/in oil problem, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Your doing us proud with your detirmination on this project. But never forget that this is, and always will be a hobby. Dont be afraid to walk away from it for a few days if it gets to you. Dont be afraid to ask for help, and dont ever stop having fun with it... Maybe the engine is bad, maybe not. It might take you 6 weeks to finish it, or 6 years, but the first time it's "right", and you lay a patch of rubber, the grin on your face will confirm it was ALL worth it!