Valve trouble, diagnostic help

[geezer#99]

Originally Posted by Ride The Snake!

There's no way I have the money for a new motor or a rebuild.

The only thing I think could be viable for me is doing much of the tear down myself and having a shop clean it and refit the rod bearings.

Or, throwing a cam in there and seeing how long I go before I turn a bearing.

Flip a coin, you never know!!
Put a new cam and lifters and chain in a 305 for a guy once.
Cost about 100 bucks total. Used cam/lifters, new chain and gaskets.
He was still motoring 2 years later.
You never know!!
At least you'll get some experience wrenchin'!!

[Ride The Snake!]

I guess I am of the mind that if you're going to do something, do it right.

I am seriously considering the proper motor refresh route. I have a recommendation for a small shop built on the owner's property that charges by the job not the hour and does free code readings for ppl with newer vehicles. I might call this guy and see what he would charge to clean it and do the machine and fitting work on the crank if I brought the motor in disassembled.

[Jurassic-1]

I ran some old gas through my Blazer and pushes 5 studs out. I went back and used a tool and pulled them out and the other end was a guide to tap the holes then I replaced all of them with screw in studs. No more problems.

[tcrist]

You can try a new cam, lifters and timing set and see how it goes.

You can also try wrecking yards or someone on Craig's list that are selling engines. As long as the engine can be fired up and you can hear it run.

[Ride The Snake!]

Well I didn't have time to do a lot today so I measured the exposed length of the studs on both the #6 valves with that cylinder at TDC, and they're exactly the same. I'm confused how that would effect the operation of the rocker arm however, since the nut is adjusted down the same way when making the valve lash adjustment. You are tightening it until there's no free play in the pushrod, then one more full turn inward. What am I missing here? How would the stud being pushed out slightly change anything?

Pulled the intake, thinking I was going to have an exposed view of the cam, and of course all I see is the lifter valley. Darn.

Didn't have the tool to remove the lifter, and got it raised out most of the way only for it to feel stuck in place. Couldn't get any purchase on it with a pry bar and didn't want to do anything to damage it further.

So, the likely course of action if I am to use this motor is to tear it out and take it to a shop to be flushed and the crank journals machined/new bearings fitted/crank balanced, and then have them put it back in. I can do the camshaft and timing belt replacement myself, and reinstall the motor.

Any idea how much this is gonna cost? I'm gonna call around on Monday, see what I find out.

I'd rather keep using this motor if it doesn't require a total rebuild.

[tcrist]

The stud pulling would have more to do with the way it runs for as the stud pulls it changes the valve lash. You would probably have a loose rocker noise.

For a shop to flush the block, you are going to have to remove everything from it. Like the crank, pistons and rods, ect. At that point you will/ should replace the rings on the pistons.

In other words, you would not rebuild it you would "KIT" it. Then what about the heads?

So basically what I am trying to say it this. If you need to tear it down that far you might as well rebuild it. You can get away with kitting it, have the heads done, new cam, lifters, timing set, polished or re-ground crank. The only thing that you are saving is having the machine work done on the block.

I think that you might find out it is less expensive to find a rebuilt long block.


Then again, you could just replace the cam, lifter and timing set and see how it does.

BUT,,,,

You do not know how the rest of the engine really is.

Cost, I could see it costing $500 or more to just replace the cam, lifters and timing set with all gaskets required, plugs, oil & filter, ect. Not sure on the price of all that anymore.

Here are a couple of long blocks,

http://www.jegs.com/p/Chevrolet-Perf...52506/10002/-1

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/na...7353/overview/

http://www.rockauto.com/?a=msn-longblock Note: the rock Auto on is around $1200 with yours as a core.

[hamjet]

If you set the lifter back down against the cam, have some one turn it over while holding your finger on the lifter to see if it is a worn lobe. dont try to force the lifter out, it can score the lifter hole. remove all the lifters except the ones you cant, but pull them up as far as you can. remove radiator, water pump, balancer, timing cover, and chain and gear. put gear back on to use as a support to pull the cam. get a piece of pvc pipe that will fit into the cam valley that is notched a few inches on the end so when you push the lifter down it will fall into the pvc pipe and pull the pipe out with the lifter.