I was at my friend Len's garage putting on my new TA heads. Oil pressure has been just "OK" with this car (at 900 rpm and on it has been fine, but at like 550-600 idle, hot, it gets near zero). So figured that I should pull the motor, change the heads on the stand, fix the oil leaks, and check the bearings. After putting the engine on the stand, I heard a clunk while rotating it, that made me wonder. Well, I pulled the pan off, and looked at the bottom end. One of the 2 bolts that hold on the #1 main cap, was just a stud, the head of the bolt was gone, it was in the pan. Len and I were like; "wholly underwear!" Now I know why my oil pressure has been less that stellar. A 1 bolt main is never a good idea. None of the front main/rod bearings looked good, and a few main journals were Linda Trippy (ugly) themselves. This short block is just here to keep me rolling until I finish the other shortblock (I've got to slow the Buick $$$ before the pregnant wife sends me to the Neverland Ranch). I am buttoning it up with new bearings and cruisinig for a while. Maybe it was good, in this instance, that Buick made the crank oversize. Anyone else ever see this? One more thing I think I should share. This motor had a rope rear seal. The pickup had a bunch of "rope hairs" stuck on the screen. It looked like a clump of nasty hair from the shower drain. Totally restrictive looking. I had to stop working because I need to find some shims for the valve springs (can't put the springs on Al) and I need to find some washers for the head bolts. Just thought I would share the weird Buick issues I had.
bolt I found the same thing in a motor I disassembled a couple years ago,the head was in the bottom of the pan.Never figured out what happened or saw it again.motor was fine though. gary
