Hmm... I'd say 2011 to present day. Jokes aside, got the car in April 2014, v6 exploded in November of '14, took until Feb 11th 2015 for me to get a job, two weeks later went and bought a Buick 350/Th350. Spent the next two years dealing with methheads and belligerent old people for 8 bucks an hour roughly 20 hours a week if I was lucky. I was hauling ass trying to get it ready for the end of my junior year in highschool in May of 2016 Missed the deadline by two days and thats when the video was shot. I left the job May 11th of 2016. I was doing odd jobs (namely rebuilding qjets) up until about 3 months ago. Sorry to hijack the thread JP. lol
HI all.. finally an update! had some time to get down the workshop and pull the engine out. tried to get the oil pump out but didnt have much time to investigate as was hoping it would just come out but afraid i'm missing some bolt? I took 4 bolts out, underneath, and one inside...is there anything else holding it? or will it come out once I take the whole front cover off? still nothing in terms of parts. No reply from TA yet....
I believe there is 6 bolts total holding the pump cover on. Look at the gasket, http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_1707A
Show a pick of the center of the heads on the valve cover side with the e two ex ports at the center; don't wipe any of that black off either.What we're looking for is a coagulated mix of oil and possibly coolant.First driver side. I just picked my 68 from shop. Had a leaking timing cover gasket so they replaced whole front assembly. Hardly any wear in gear area. Gasket was ate up at driver side. They said vacumm advance was bad so they set it at!°14 Although I told them book says tdc.too much clatter when you get on throttle. So ill return with new vacation advance and tell em again It says TDC. Only way I know to keep those 68s alive. They put on timing chain *dist gear- fuel eccentric-water pump-gears for oil pump-thrust plate? I didn't see old one so I ain't sure. Bypass hose and lower rad. Hose all New.And new cover too. Changed the oil 2
I believe the 68 distributer have more mechanical advance and the vacuum advance is connected to manifold vacuum so as vacuum drops and and vacuum timing drops the mechanical advance takes over.
Been a while since I had my motor apart remember buying apair of rebuilt dist. And selecting the better of the two. Replaced. Gear at bottom of dist too. I hadn't thought about mechanical advance tho. Ialways hit the throttle + and if it clatters I move dist closer to tdc. No sensitiveity at mixture screed and none at idle set screw( or little) I got to drive the 69 until I can get those guys to go over it again.
Been down the workshop again this afternoon... snapped 2 bolts on the water pump, and other 2 were snapped already, so will have to drill them out and tap a new thread Might have found out the reason for the tap noise on the top end? could it have been loss of oil pressure? seems like something out of place in the oil pump? with a spring behind it? or is it supposed to be half open like that?
It is very typical to break water pump bolts like that. Use anti-seize compound on the new ones. That disc is the oil bypass valve. It opens if the filter is plugged for any reason. It should be flat against the opening.
Ok, thank you. so that is definitely not flat against the opening... so that could have cause an oil pressure failure? Also, been down the workshop again this evening. Got the timing cover off. turned the engine upside down and took the sump off... there was a load of plastic bits on the oil pickup and bits of gasket shoved in there too... definitely plastic as been going around with a magnet and didn't pick any metal from anywhere. what could this plastic be? Could it be there was a timing chain bit in plastic (think some are like that?) that might have broke, bent a pushrod (and that might explain the only 1 different oil lifter and pushrod from all the other ones), and they replaced with a new timing chain but never took the sump out? All the rest looks fine, crank and all... all seems fine.
The original equipment timing chain cam gear had nylon teeth in the interest of quiet running. These teeth commonly break off and end up right where you found them. That pick up screen has seen better days, and it certainly doesn't help to have it partially clogged like that, but I have seen that before.
Yep, those are definitely nylon teeth from the original timing gear. Nothing unusual. My guess is that the timing gear stripped out, bent the pushrods (it's an interference engine), someone put in an aftermarket timing gear, and replaced that one pushrod because it was severely bent. The blue/black plastic stuff is probably partial gasket/sealant that fell down into the crankcase after taking off the valve covers and possibly the intake. It's good that you're going through the engine like this to clean it up. Now here's the part where the line you didn't want to cross becomes blurry. Stop with a simple clean up, or crack it open all the way and do a freshen up on the bearings and rings with a hone job? I know what I would do. That oil looks pretty rough and seems to have particulates throughout. Probably some bearing scoring or at least some wear. If those are the original piston rings, they'll hold up ok on a stock rebuild, but the aftermarket cam is going to put additional strain on these components and may cause some sealing/oil consumption issues down the road. You got it torn down this far, a complete freshen up will add to the engine's lifespan. You won't have to machine anything, just put everything back in its place where it came out (mark your rods and mains so you'll know where they came from, obviously). If it were mine, I'd do all the machine work, but the budget is your main limiting factor here.
Yeah, like Gary said, you have it down this far, a set of rings, bearings, ball hone cylinders, clean and it would be brand new used! I would go one step further while its down to the bare block and drill out the oil passages to make sure enough oil is delivered to the engine. This mod only cost as much as the long drill bit and the blood sweat and tears to get 'r done!(not that bad of a job) There is a sticky thread for the oil mods on v8. Also get the 5/8" pickup tube with the mods as well. GL
I would suggest the same. Drill the oil pickup passage to 1/2. And get a melling 20-IS5 pickup screen. (Listed for 77 Buick with H or J vin) And a front cam bearing.
Gents, thanks for the replies, I'm glad to know the plastic was from the timing gears... I'll have a think to what you are saying. it does sound like the logical thing to do now.. hone, new rings.... but I need to check how much more that will cost. bear in mind I only do like 2000 miles a year, probably not even that, so not sure if the extra expense is worth it? the cost is already escalating more than what I was expecting, and I havent even got a cost yet from TA..but I reckon once all the parts land here it's already something like 800 dollars. the drilling of oil pickup sounds easy. I can clamp it on my big pillar drill and do it. the front cam bearing was already part of my list to TA, so that's good. The melling 20-IS5 pickup screen, I'm guessing that is the one with 5/8 tube Derek mentions? and also only get that if I drill the oil passage? bigger tube.. bigger oil passage right? if I dont drill the passage, then keep original size? Another question, the issue with the oil pump where that little valve is not sitting flush. can I just pop it back in place or better off getting a rebuild kit from TA? all the rest of the gears seem fine with no play or bits missing off them. thanks!
Lets see the springs at the cylinder. Head assuming they aren't compromise d.The screen can be cleaned. The problem with replacements is often time they are different Skip the drill if not done correctly it will break off in the block. If that bypass valve i.s replaced it will have to have the "staking" removed and done again.
these springs? ok, I don't understand what you mean by skating done again. so I'd be better off buying a new oil pump? and then sticking the TA pressure regulator on it?
