Hot Rods 347 Stroker Motor Delima

Need some help, one of my roller rockers (PBM Rocker) just came apart, not sure why but assume it came loose but the result is one destroyed aluminum rocker. After remove the valve cover and finding parts of the rocker all over the place, I started trying to recreate the rocker. At this point I have found all the parts except for two small pieces of snap ring and 7 small roller bearings. Just drained oil and filter and have two magnets in the oil so far no luck. I guess the next step is to drop the pan.

Any suggestion on what next steps I should take assuming I can not find the remaining missing metal. Is it safe to assume the oil filter with capture the small pieces.

 

I notice it broke on the same side as the side wear on the roller. drop the pan, pieces should be there

 

Pull the heads, and see what hit, if anything.

You need to find all of the metal. By the time it has made it to the filter, damage has already been done.

 

Try blowing some compressed air in the head drainback holes before pulling the pan, and definitely pull the intake to look in the valley. Assuming that your oil pick-up screen is intact, that should keep any large bits out of the oil pump. I'll agree with Gimpy, you should probably pull heads too.

 

If you look at the planes of the break, and draw a line through them, they roughly intersect the roller tip.

This would lead me to suspect that there was coil bind, bottoming out on a guide, or a valve hitting a piston. I would certainly check for evidence of that.

Also, take the pushrod from that position, and roll it on a known flat surface. That will tell you if it is bent.

 

Pull Intake more than likely they fell in the Valley, Then Deposit the rest of the Aluminum Rocker arms in the Trash and get yourself some Nice Stainless Rockers Comp has nice roller stainless rockers for the same as the cheapo aluminum ones.

 

This is what I would do. That or pull the engine out and send it to me and I will dispose of it properly....Lol

 

Drained oil through a paint strainer and found nothing other than a few very small pieces of aluminum from I assume the rocker. I'm looking for the 7 missing roller bearings and the small pieces of snap ring. Based on the feedback from you kind folks this is my plan:
blow some air down the oil return holes
pull the pan if nothing is found
pull the intake if nothing is found
pull the heads if nothing is found
ship motor to porkshop for proper disposal
Let me know if this is a logical approach and thanks again for your feedback

 

One last question, what is the most probable path for the metal to go from the head to some place which will damage the motor? I thought they would end up in the oil pan

 

Some oil drain back holes go into the lifter valley. You need to look in there. Plenty of ledges and crevices in there for bits to linger in.

 

It will work its way down to the pan. Fish them out on your next oil change. You have a screen on the pickup tube right?

 

Check reason for break, and I would drop pan and remove intake. It's a lot of work but worth the trouble, don't take any shortcuts. And if a street motor buy a good quality steel or stainless steel rocker.

Pat

 

Take the engine out, take it apart, clean everything, inspect everything, buy some name brand rockers, check the valve train geometry carefully

 

The missing needle bearings will wind up in the teeth of the oil pump, stopping it and shearing the drive for the distributor. But, they'll do it one at a time. I know. Only mine was a magneto and got expensive.

 

Always remember this saying " The sweetness of a cheap price is often lost when the poor workmanship rears it's ugly head"

 

Gaskets and seals are cheaper than a destroyed engine.

 

The "Right" way like Squirrel said, would be to pull the engine and completely Disassemble and check over all the parts for the missing pieces, as well as checking all the parts over for damage. I would closely inspect the piston from the hole where the Rocker broke. I wouldn't chance the Rockers at all replace with Stainless, If Oil pump looks iffy at all replace it. Make sure all Oil passages are clear as well as the Heads, valve springs especially dual springs are nice cosy places for broken pieces to hide.

 

If you do just pull the pan put one of those auto trans magnets in it.

 

I go overboard: https://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

 

You can get some good magnets out of an old junk microwave also.

 

Thanks again everyone for you feedback and suggestions. I hope I did not imply that I was not going to pull apart what ever is necessary to prevent damage to this motor. As indicated I plan to start with the pan, then the intake and heads. If still not satisfied then as suggested pull the engine and complete teardown. I sure hope I find the missing parts in the pan or intake valley. Thanks a million for your help.

 

I assume you immediately recognized something was wrong when it broke. Did it happen at high RPM, etc.? How long has the engine been together and running?

As suggested above, whenever I put one together I JB Weld a strong magnet in the pan. I also drill a hole a half-inch or so into pretty much any drain plug and glue a cylindrical magnet into the hole. Call me anal, but on a couple of my OT vehicles I also have a strong magnet suspended inside the power steering pump reservoir. It's pretty surprising the amount of ferrous dust that will collect on the magnet.

 

The motor has been together for several years but not run often. This specific incident might have been self inflected. Several weeks ago I took a 300 mile trip in the car on the way home I noticed that the lifters were making more noise than normal. After arriving at home I decided to adjust the hydraulic lifters. I followed the normal procedure however I could have screwed up on this one cylinder. I was intruded several times during the procedure I double checked everything but maybe I screwed up and did not get one of the lifters tight. After adjusting I took the car out for a ride it seem fine and that was it. Yesterday I took the car out again and jumped on it a little hard not real hard but maybe 6 grand that is when I noticed a rattling noise, I was only a mile from home so made it home and started investigating and found the rocker screwed up. Thanks for your feedback, I like your magnet ideas.

 

don't drive over a manhole cover or them plates they put on street projects . THunk !!! LOL

 

it looks like the bearing wear surface near the top has a small crack forming too . I have taken a motor apart that had this happen and we found the "lost" bearings in between the crank porckchops and the webs in top of the saddle in the block . also some stuck to the crank as it develops a magnetic feild too ( or a poorly degaused one ) get one of them magnets gimpy has and sweep the inside of the block all over as there are many hiding places for one of them hardened suckers to hide out . ( like above the cam at the ends )

 

Free scrap metal.

 

manholes make crappy patches as they are too thick and you wear out many a wheel thinning them out and I do not have a chuck big enough to chuck them up in the lathe .. ( metallugically they are good alloy )

 

Pull intake first then pan if your worried
Aluminum I wouldn't worry to much the needle bearing don't play very well with the oil pump gears other than that the filter will catch it
But you do need to find out what caused the rocket to break
Ether the rocker came loose or the valve hit the piston ether way i would at least pull that head
Just my thoughts

 

When you put it all back together put a few small magnets in the valley too. You can also buy a kit from Jegs and Summit that has some real fine screen and epoxy to cover the larger holes in the valley to catch shrapnel... Like aluminum.

Sent from my Moto G Play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks everyone for the outstanding feedback and suggestions on how to handle this mess. Like I mention above I think the cause of the problem was self inflected (dumb ass) when I went through the valve train and adjusted the lifters. I assume when adjusting cylinder 7 intake I left it too loose or tight not sure which. The bottom line is start pulling stuff until I find the needle bearings if I can not find them, I will take as much precaution as possible and hope they end up in the oil pan. I will add magnets to help catch any metal. Education is expensive.