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| From blown head gasket, to rebuilt engine...; only took what, five months? LOL | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 21 2013, 10:56 AM (742 Views) | |
| metromizer | May 21 2013, 10:56 AM Post #1 |
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Here's the story: I thought my water pump was the source of this 'squeeky-squeeky' noise at idle, and I figures the little tick-tick-tick and idle clatter was likely one of the lifters. The pump wasn't leaking, but its shaft had a fair amount of play in it, as far as I know is the oem pump with 178k miles on it. On Sunday, I replaced the waterpump, the timing belt... while I was at it, new Johnson lifters and at the last minute, decided to put in my reconditioned Xfi cam (that I was saving for my next engine) Everything went together fine, test drove fine, cooling system burped of air fine, held it at 2500rpm for 7-8 minutes to break in the cam and lifters, lifter eventually pumped up and settled in as they should. All systems seemed normal. Except the squeeky-squeeky didn't go away, nor did the idle tick-tick-tick and clatter. 10 mile Sunday evening test drive seemed fine. Driving into work on Monday morning however, 10 miles into my commute, she started pouring steam out the tail pipe. There was no mosquito safe in Napa I pulled off the highway right away, loosened the radiator cap, and limped back home on the backroads. I let it cool off and assessed the damage. The water temp gauge never did show anything but normal, it didn't loose much water, it only took a quart. Hut it's blowing bubbles out the radiator opening. My compression gauge isn't working, I guess it came back broken (the one-way valve isn't working) from the last time I loaned it out ![]() What are the odds of doing a waterpump, belts, cam and lifters, then blowing a head gasket 20 miles later? I'm trying to think of what I could have done wrong... the Xfi cam (with its less duration and less in/ex overlap) should increase cranking compression and cylinder pressure slightly ![]() It ticks me off that I was down to where I could have easily pulled the head off (while I had the cam and lifters, belt and pump out) but chose to leave well enough alone. Fortunately, I started gathering parts for an engine build a few months ago, had a buddy rebuild a head and match port the manifold, and I just purchased a freshly machined shortblock 'kit' from starscream. Looks like I need to accelerate my timetable and get my arse in gear. |
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| Papa_G | May 21 2013, 03:12 PM Post #2 |
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I just HATE when that happens......... |
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| metromizer | Oct 19 2013, 03:32 PM Post #3 |
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I finally finished it up, dropped it in and starting it this morning. It took 10 minutes for the lifters to bleed down and get quiet, then sounded good! Felt good taking it around the block, too. I Starting with a cleaned, bored and honed block, new .02 over pistons, evergreen rings, and polished crank that I bought from Starscream, who is playing with his Dodge Dart these days, I guess. I had a friend's shop deck the head and do a valve job, match port the intake manifold to the head, and blend out the inner port casting lines. The only interesting performance things performed on this build, is tightening of the deck height (set to zero wo/ head gasket, so about .04" with gasket), the Ishihara-Johnson teflon crank scraper (also from Starscream), I had the rotating assembly balanced (less than 1 gram says Rich at TEM), and of course I reused the Xfi cam set to the stock setting. Then just good engine build practices. The transmission was also rebuilt, new syncros, seals, changed to a 4.1 final drive. Fresh GM sycromesh fluid. I'm letting it cool down right now, I'll try to burp more air from the coolant system and Katz inline heater tank, add water, and take 'er out for a longer drive. |
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| metromizer | Oct 19 2013, 06:46 PM Post #4 |
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The 40 minute test drive went well, flogged it pretty good to help seat the rings. Smooth and feels strong, even with the taller final drive. I think I'm going to like the 4.1 final drive (w/13" tires) and Xfi cam combination, compared to the 4.37 that the old trans had. Freeway cruising feels perfect, 3100 rpm at 64mph, right in the sweet spot
Edited by metromizer, Oct 22 2013, 09:48 AM.
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| metromizer | Oct 22 2013, 10:01 AM Post #5 |
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Hmmm... the rebuilt transaxle has a leak. A significant leak My $12.50/quart GM Syncromesh synthetic transmission fluid drips out the bottom. Unacceptable. Upon closer inspection, it looks like it's leaking from a repair weld that the shop made to the lower mount boss. I am driving out to show the guy this afternoon, I'm betting he will stand behind his work. |
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| Deleted User | Oct 22 2013, 11:18 AM Post #6 |
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Nice.
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| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
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