Appears we've narrowed down the problem. I tried to run a (four stroke) motorcycle engine once without the oil rings. Fresh bore, fresh compression rings. Smoked like a chimney.
So then,if he can put the two oil very thin rings back on so oil ring is complete it may fix him up so much less oil burning. How that happened would good know but don't matter at this point. But those bearings are war out and crank should be polished too,new gasket set,starts to get close to cost of another runs OK motor if he can fine one.
I would not re-assy that engine until I knew the line bore on the mains are within spec. many of those blocks needed a line hone on them. Ditto on the rods big end. The cap looks black and I bet the register is poor also. It's much less money to have those items checked by the machine shop than go thru this again. Good luck
So.... I guess that solves my oil burning issues. Thanks guys! As for the crank.... the motor is a 4 bolt main 2 piece rear main out of a 75 chevy van. I also have a 78 camaro 2 bolt main 350 motor with a cracked block (why I bought the van motor). I pulled one of the main bearings off the camaro motor, and it looks real good, compared to the van motor! If the crank all measures out, can I just swap cranks with the correct bearings? Will I have balance issues? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
....you know about rod caps, you have to keep them with the rod they came off of, in the correct direction. They were not numbered originally, but since the engine is rebuilt they probably are now. Just making sure you understand this, it's important.
I picked up this book http://www.google.com/shopping/prod...X&ei=WCBgUoG3BcLh4AOWuoCgAg&ved=0CDMQ8wIwBTgK Planning on going through it step by step. Really appreciate the help. Jon
I should get that book some time. 30+ years ago I ran into the author occasionally at Motor Machine & Supply, there are some pics of the shop and various employees in several of the old HP books from the 70s/80s. The publishing company was in Tucson, where i grew up.
Rookie engine builder screw up / question of the morning.... So the cracked motor I was pulling the good crank out of, had gotten water in it and the cylinders were rusted solid. I filled the cylinders with Atf and let them soak for 2 days. Last night I tried to tear it down, and I was able to push a couple of the pistons out, the rest I sawsalled the connecting rods on. Anyway, I guess I knicked a couple of the journals. I have read about filing these down smooth, and polishing with 600, 800, 2000 wrapped around and a belt. What do you guys think? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
By the time you do all that filing and polishing you'll knock off .001-.002 off the journal, probably put it out of tolerance. Time to see a crankshaft machinist. ^What I would do. A inspection and polishing isn't very expensive. Pick up some bolt boots while you're there. Others will probably say polish and run it.
Don't use a file. Find carborundum stone just about the width of the nick and stone it down so that a straight edge on a ruler or scale won't catch on it, then use arkansaw stone to polish. All you want to remove is any metal that was pushed up above the normal surface of the journal. Not necessary to blend away the part of the scratch that is below the journal surface. X2 on the rod boots.
That wasn't in the book was it ? If you have an engine to store that's worth keeping, it's worth sealing up tight. Next time you need to do something like this, knock the bolts out of the rods first. Take your crank to an engine machinist, actually take both of them while you are at it. Read that book before you make yourself even more work.
That would have been a good idea about knocking the bolts out, if they would have come out... they were in pretty rough shape too. Yeah I got the block from a buddy who pulled it out about 10 years ago, said it was good.... not so much.... but will know better next time. I did get a performer intake, oldschool m/t valve covers, 750 holley... and hopefully as crank out of the deal ($100). Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
At this point, I'd just have the original crank checked and use it. Damage to the cranks is six of one, half dozen of the other and the balance will probably be closer with the original crank. Just another opinion.
Dropped off the crank I got from the cracked motor. It checked out good, and the guy said it would polish up great. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Question of the day.... is this cam worn out? It is kind of pitted on 3/4 of the cam, and the top of the lobes are polished. The guy said it was a brand new cam.... same guy that didn't put all the rings on the piston.... Thanks! Jon Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Yeah, that's a three piece oil control ring. There should be two scrapers with the expander. The ring gaps being lined up wouldn't have anything to do with oil consumption. The oil control rings control oil, the compression rings seal compression. But without the scraper on the oil control ring, they aren't working at all. Maybe this engine was just repaired wrong.
Yeah, the guy told me that it needed ring... I thought he ment they were warn out.... but I guess he ment, they were missing, and I was going to need some! But what do you guys think about the cam? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The pictures are a little dark but from what I can see, the wear patterns look about normal. Did you keep all the lifters in order? You can't mismatch them.
If that's a solid/flat tappet cam, I wouldn't run it. Hell, I wouldn't run it if it were a roller either. There's a saying that goes, "Once is happenstance, Twice is coincidence, Three times is Enemy Action." This guy isn't stupid, he didn't make ten idiotic mistakes in a row on this build. He's consciously thrown together an engine using whatever junk he had at hand and lied about it in order to fuck you out of your hard earned cash. He scammed you. Took advantage, etc. If he's a member here, at the very least you need to out him so that others will not get similarly reamed. Maybe the mods can ream him some in return for you. If he's a "buddy", you need to kick him squarely in the balls with as much force as you can muster, so that your displeasure about his actions is made plainly obvious. Best bet at this point is to pull it all the way down and start over from scratch, assuming every part is bad until mics and other means of testing prove otherwise.
After going back and reading about the other damage, don't use this cam for anything except a core, you could have it reground. All the damage in that engine looks to be from incompetance rather than normal wear. It looks like a lot of metal has circulated through that engine.
I missed that at first glance. I don't see the oil control rings Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Camshaft looks like it has normal wear for a flat tappet cam (roller cam is a completely different animal and has different looking lobes and wear patterns), but there is no way of looking at a picture and telling if it'll work or not. You need to closely look at each lobe. And every lobe is "run in" to the lifter that is on that lobe. If you don't keep the lifters and lobes matched, you stand a real good chance of eating a lobe when you crank the engine. There really isn't anyway of building an engine by internet committee. You get opinions from across the board and folks that think that anything that has any sort of wear needs replacing. If you replace everything that shows any wear, it would be cheaper to buy a crate engine. If you are gonna use parts that show wear, you need to look them over closely (and know what you're looking for) and be able to hang a micrometer on the part to check the wear. Not something you can do looking at a computer screen. Look how hard it was just to figure out you didn't have rails on the oil ring. Best bet is find a local guy with engine building experience and get them to check things. If you don't know one, you can find one at a machine shop that does engine work.
Thin wall vinyl tubing with 3/8 inch ID from the hardware store is cheap and makes decent bolt boots for large journal SBC rods. The wall thickness needs to be fairly thin for use on some engines to avoid getting pulled off the bolt as the rod goes past the crank, so some fuel line is too thick. Based on some first hand experiments in the 70s and 80s I believe driving press fit bolts out of rods practically guarantees the big ends will have to be resized, even when changing one bolt at a time with the rod and cap assembled. Although there is a pretty decent chance any rod needs rebuilding anyhow. In 1999 Hot Rod Magazine came to a similar conclusion. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_9903_chevy_connecting_rod/photo_05.html
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