Charley B

Dave's guess may be spot on. Back in the day I changed out a hole or two on more than one POC and buttoned it up to run some more. Of course they weren't German engineered.

fraggle

That was my first thought, too. Still strange that someone would replace the rod but not the pistons. I can't see any marks on the rods (they are still in place). I still would have expected more impact marks all over the place if that happened.

I'm half heartedly looking for a used short block while I clean up the heads, refinish the intake, etc. At some point it will be decision time.

mark kibort

sure looks like it. im surprised you didnt circle any of the are by the bottom of the cylinder wall. looks liike the broke rod might have punched a dent on the top of the block.

mk

fraggle

Is there any "easy" way to tell if the rods are all original or not? That would help to explain things here.

I think I'm officially looking for a short block now. Dang I wanted to get this all together by spring but I'm running out of $$$ way too quickly.

fraggle

Update

Stripped the intake and valve covers ~80% with a pressure washer.
Heads almost rebuilt. Just need valve seals. They have required some machine work. I'll post the details when I've got them in front of me.

Thoughts here for head gaskets? I know my heads are reciving their first surfacing, but I don't have the exact numbers of what's being taken off. Which set of head gaskets should I get? I don't want to LOWER the compression by installing the thick ones if I don't remove that much material.

H2

How's it going, Fraggle? I hate seeing you getting "steamed." I hope you're closer to resolution of what has to be a frustrating problem. Good luck and keep us posted. You're not the only one to have to tease out an overheading problem. Thanks for letting us learn from you.

Harvey

fraggle

Thanks Harv. Waiting on the valve stem seals so we can finish putting the heads together. I haven't ran across any deals on S4 blocks, and given my $$$account balance, I'm going to give it a shot putting everything together with the one I have - if the rest of the block checks out. Spent last weekend powerwashing the intake and covers, got 80%+ of the paint off. Picking up some supplies today to help clean more up.

fraggle

OK!!

Heads are back. Took off 10 thousandths. Seats and valves also were all machined. New guide seals are also in.

Should I go with the thick or thin head gaskets? What's the opinion here?

Still need to finish up cleaning the valve covers and intake. Since it is now 70F here in VA, it will be much nicer working outside cleaning this stuff. It was a little cold last time.

Mrmerlin

Check the WSM for specs on the headgasket choice.
If you dont have the correct clearances then the water bridge will leak unless its cut to match, also there is a chance you could damage the valves from hitting the piston

fraggle

OK, lots of progress!

Heads are back on, cams are installed. GTS oil baffle installed, oil pan installed with Roger's stud kit.

This pic makes the install look simple!

Finding a short list of gaskets and bits I forgot. Time to order up another care package. THIS WILL BE READY BY SITM 09!

fraggle

Making progress. Motor isn't in yet, but I've got almost all my parts except one. Upon reassembly, I found my flappy valve doesn't hold vaccuum. I feel like a moron, because I'm sure I tested this before...

however!! Check THIS out. I did end up farming out the power coating.

Someone out there has a good sense of humor.



New bearings going in the intake. I ended up with the dremel method to remove those bearings. I'm convinced there's only two ways to do this -

1) buy the right tool
2) cut the damn things out



Mock up - lots to do!

fraggle

Took my first drive today.

Niggles:

I think the secondary fan isn't working. Need to test this.
I think the vacuum heater valve is mis/dis-connected. I'm getting hot air through the door vents.

It still seems to run on the high side of the gauge, but doesn't seem to runaway anymore. However, at full throttle the temp does go up.

It vibrates like it may be running on 7 cylinders, but maybe that's the solid al motor mounts. Need to observe some more.

I'll drive it more tomorrow and make some more observations.

The best part! RIGHT HERE.

blown 87

Looking great.

Mrmerlin

That looks great i hope you get the lil bits sorted.
BTW you could rerout the small bleed hose connected to the water bridge to run over all of the other hoses to the bottle

fraggle

We'll see what I can figure out. I'm pretty sure that I've got some vacuum lines routed wrong somewhere, as I have 5 terminating where I should have four over by the brake booster.

We'll see how she runs tomorrow!