Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I went into my local Sears last week for a socket and they had that exact torque wrench on sale for $39. Of course i brought it home with me. The plastic collar that adjusts the weight on my old Craftsman broke after about 15 years.

Well you was right about the price, I saw the same one that I bought for $39 on their website so I called them up and asked if they would price match their own site and they said bring it in and we'll see what we can do. So today I drove in with my Chinese wrench in hand and got $32 bucks credited back to my account, nice, the new wrench is sorta worth the $39 bucks I paid for it, makes it easier to swallow

[Gregski]

Status Report: so after rejetting the carb to the 63/67 primary/secondary jets the truck runs better, I drove it in to work today again then ran over to SEARS, but its still lean at WOT, so tonight after it cools off (the engine not the weather, ha ha) we will rejet it to 64/69 the default jets the carb would have come with new

[69heavychevy]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I believe I am, it's the Fel-Pro 1255 part number, and this is what Summit says:

"Designed for GM Vortec, ZZ4, Edelbrock E-Tech cylinder heads. End rail seals are not included. Installation to be done with a bead of silicone at the manifold ends. Dual bolt pattern. No exhaust crossover openings. Not for use on 1982-85 fuel injection. Gaskets fit many O.E. and aftermarket heads."

I was going to use fel-pro ms98000t, but if those 1255's seal just as good i'll use those instead. I like that price a lot better.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 69heavychevy

I was going to use fel-pro ms98000t, but if those 1255's seal just as good i'll use those instead. I like that price a lot better.

That is a good gasket but I think it's only available in a kit, which is pretty expensive if you just want that gasket. Stock Suburbans run them, see below

[Gregski]

Well not good fellars! After putting on just over 100 miles on the newly reassembled engine I started hearing a rattling sound coming from the engine. Naturally I can't tell where exactly it is coming from, (I even tried the long pipe to the ear trick)

Sounds like there is a loose nut bouncing around one of the valve covers.

So I removed both valve covers and did not see anything peculiar there. So I thought maybe a rocker is loose, nope. Maybe a collapsed lifter, nope. Well I readjusted the valves just for good measure, and went for a test drive, and the rattle is still there. Cant really hear it when the engine is idling but it increases with RPMs gets faster and louder.

Hmmm sound familiar? I swear it better not be these pesky Hooker headers again!

I'm off to the gym now to blow off some steam, gonna bench press 300 lbs (plus or minus 200, ha ha) when I get back I plan on removing them headers and trying my old OEM stock exhaust manifolds, joy!

[Wide Open]

Wow that sucks
Posted via Mobile Device

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Wide Open

Wow that sucks
Posted via Mobile Device

Yup, big time!

[Gregski]

Well I strapped on my ol' exhaust manifolds back on with the ol' LMC Truck dual exhaust with the generic turbo mufflers and the rattle is still there, so the good news is it wasn't my Hooker headers leaking again, the bad news is we don't know what it is, and it could be ugly, something in the bottom end

[Gregski]

unplugged one spark plug at a time and started and ran the engine to see if the rattle noise goes away and it does not, darn it, tomorrow the oil pan comes off and we take a deeper dive

[Marshy]

In your last trip into your engine did you check the condition of the main bearings when you replaced the rod bearings? Did you check the rod bearing clearance when you were there? In most cases people have the crank polished when they do bearings.

I was surprised to see you deglazed the cylinder bores with the crank still in and replace the rod bearings without polishing the crank or check the makings (maybe you did but didn't tell us?). At this point you would have been farther ahead to send the block to the shop to get cleaned up inside and out, had crank turned or just polished and had them put new cam bearings in. Then you'd have a whole new motor. Sorry for the set back, I know how that can be. Knowing which corner to cut can be tricky.

[harley87ta]

Good Luck.. Hopefully it's something simple

[SkinnyG]

Make sure the rod caps were put on the correct way.

The two "tangs" that notch the bearings in go together.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Marshy

In your last trip into your engine did you check the condition of the main bearings when you replaced the rod bearings? Did you check the rod bearing clearance when you were there? In most cases people have the crank polished when they do bearings.

I was surprised to see you deglazed the cylinder bores with the crank still in and replace the rod bearings without polishing the crank or check the makings (maybe you did but didn't tell us?). At this point you would have been farther ahead to send the block to the shop to get cleaned up inside and out, had crank turned or just polished and had them put new cam bearings in. Then you'd have a whole new motor. Sorry for the set back, I know how that can be. Knowing which corner to cut can be tricky.

True but I didn't have $1,500 to spend and I wanted to do the work myself or at least see if I could

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Make sure the rod caps were put on the correct way.

The two "tangs" that notch the bearings in go together.

Yes sir, I payed attention when I took them off and I noticed that there was a sharp pointy ridge or edge on the driver side bearing caps all pointing to the front of the truck and the opposite was true on the passenger side so I made sure I put them back in, in the same fashion, I even double checked after torquing down the cap bolts to spec

[Gregski]

I'll tell you this much I will be pissed and relieved at the same time if I just find my 9/16ths six point socket rattling in the oil pan (I'm looking at you Craftsman you know you love to get lost all the time) ha ha

[hatzie]

Did you change the oil pump while you had the pan off?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Did you change the oil pump while you had the pan off?

No, cause it is brand new I did that about 6 months ago already, new pump new pickup screen etc.

[SkinnyG]

These notches, in green. You can see the shadow of the notch on the rod.

Though it sounds like you put the caps on correctly anyway.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

No, cause it is brand new I did that about 6 months ago already, new pump new pickup screen etc.

Well it's probably not needed then...

[Marshy]

You bought standard size bearings IIRC. Could it be possible the rod journals are already 0.010 under and you bought the wrong bearings? If you have the old bearings check the backside and see if they are 10 under bearings.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Marshy

You bought standard size bearings IIRC. Could it be possible the rod journals are already 0.010 under and you bought the wrong bearings? If you have the old bearings check the backside and see if they are 10 under bearings.

I forgot about that, but I wondered about that too when you bought the bearings and mentioned they were standard size. Did you mic the crank to see if it'd been turned?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Marshy

You bought standard size bearings IIRC. Could it be possible the rod journals are already 0.010 under and you bought the wrong bearings? If you have the old bearings check the backside and see if they are 10 under bearings.

Originals were stock

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

Did you mic the crank to see if it'd been turned?

Of course not, ha ha, this is a dingleberry rebuild, if I was to do it all over again I would have re used the old bearings and just changed the rings, oh well, live and learn

[Gregski]

Status Update: so dropped the oil pan and did not get killed by any falling shrapnel, so that's good

managed to pull out the first four bearing sets (to do the others I need to rotate the crank and things will get mangled or the pistons will have to be pushed up out of the way) so we do half at a time

#1 more wear than #3 and #4 too loose to snap back in to the cap

#2 more wear than #3 and #4 too loose to snap back in to the cap

#3 normal wear, snaps back in to the cap

#4 normal wear, snaps back in to the cap

as you know The Greg only blames himself or at least himself first, but remember how my torque wrench gave up the ghost while torquing the cylinder heads, well guess what the last thing I torqued prior to that was my bearing caps, so there I'm looking at you Craftsman

so I am going to get two new bearings and pop them in to #1 and #2 and torque them down with my brand new China made Craftsman torque wrench

Gentlemen, I have seen many opposite recommendations on how to install the new bearnigs, from clean them with brake fluid, wipe them down and install them dry, to use engine oil, to goop some engine assembly lube on them, so what are your favorite ways to install these bad boys? the last time The Greg just used engine oil

[Marshy]

Clean them with brake kleen then use engine oil or assembly lube, your choice, can't go wrong with either. Dry is not a good idea IMO. Also not checking that you have the right bearing could mean another trip back into the engine and another replacement. Plastigauge is a sound method for checking journal clearance. How about those main bearings? If the rod bearings needed replacing then the mains did also. Might want to check then while your in there.