Contact the machine shop that did the work, tell them the situation and ask them what they are going to do for you! If they are a stand up shop they will make it right for you. The work you did sounds like you did it right seeing how it runs good even with failing bearings. Tell them about the copper and silver you found in the oil filter, then tell them that you suspect that the oil passages in the crank weren't properly cleaned before assembly causing poor oil flow to the rod bearings taking one or more of them out. If it was my shop I would have you drop the engine off and I would fix it from oil pan to intake, but that's just me. Maybe they'll fix the short block assembly for you and pay for new gaskets for you to put the rest together? Either way it won't hurt to ask. You shouldn't have to pay for something twice when the failure is not your fault! GL Derek
The only issue is I had the work done about 4 years ago. The motor sat covered on an engine stand for 3 years. I ran out of money to build it the way I wanted to, plus I worked full time, finished college, and got married so the motor had to take a back seat. The motor had a warranty of like 3 months but that has past. I will probably still call and see if they are willing to help me out.
Ouch, not sure they would be much help for you with that much time that has gone by? Maybe you should of called them and told them that you were going to finally get to installing the engine you had them build for you and ask if the warranty could start after installing it in the car?(even if you had to bring it to them before installation to show them it was still new?) Best case scenario is you need to just replace the rod bearings, maybe you can do that with the engine still in the car if you don't mind working while laying on your back? I would just take it out and put it on an engine stand remove drained oil pan while right side up then flip it upside down and remove the crank check that its not plugged inspect bearings and peak at the cylinder from the bottom to make sure there is no major scoring. If the bores look good and the crank journals aren't scored you might be able to get away with installing rod bearings, if the mains look good then re-use them. Shouldn't be more than $100 to do this if its a best case scenario? GL Derek
Depends on clearances . I had a 430 that didn't knock at idle but did make a slap noise. It was the piston hitting crank throw. Hit that before crank hit rod
Well guys i went against recommendations and changed the oil and filter to try to track down the ticking sound. To see if it was rod knock from a bad bearing i pulled every plug wire 1 at a time on the passenger side of the motor to see if the noise would quiet down or stop. None made a difference, the frequency and sound signature stayed the same. I then pulled the valve cover and while the engine was running and I put pressure on all of the push rods from the back side, once again the frequency and sound signature stayed the same. I then put pressure on both the valve side and push rod/lifter side of rocker, once again the frequency and sound signature stayed the same. Ive listened to a bunch of videos that show rod knock and there is more of a chatter, this ticking sound is very precise, no chatter at all. I guess that doesn't mean that at this point there could be just enough play on a rod to cause the tick but no chatter. Any other tips to try and diagnose this issue without pulling the motor?
Gotta tread lightly here, being were diagnosing this using a keyboardray: How is your HOT idle oil pressure? What weight oil you using? Have you driven the car, and noted oil pressure? With the car idleing, front end on jack stands, any noise from the oil pan area? Since your oil change, have you cut, checked the condition of the oil and filter? Im starting to think your very light ticking and metal flakes MAY be two separate issues. Is there oil getting to the rocker/valve area? We don't want you to grenade your engine, is there anybody knowledgeable close by you to listen/diagnose?
I just listened to the video again. It sure sounds like a valve train tick. It's really hard to see the oil flakes. It is normal for used oil to have a metallic "sheen", but there shouldn't be any gold metal that you can actually pick out of the oil. If it is a valve train related noise, you should be able to isolate the valve it is coming from.
When the car would be at its hottest i would see roughly 15lbs (210 degrees), I have since fixed that issue and it wont go over 180 now. Now that ive changed the oil the car ran for roughly 10mins last night and didn't drop below 25lbs of oil pressure. I was using Mobil 1 full synthetic 15-40 that was for both gas and diesel engines that has zinc and all of the good anti wear agents plus a zinc additive. Now I am now running a Mobil 1 conventional 10-30 with stp additive that has zinc in it. I have not listened to the motor with it jacked up but when using my ear to diagnose the tick it sure sounds like its coming from the top end and not the bottom end. I will try this tonight. I have not cut the new oil filter yet since the car has only ran for 10 minutes at the most. I agree, I also think it may be two separate issues. Yes oil is getting to the rockers. I dont know exactly how much is supposed to be getting up there but it is enough to splash on my headers and give the rockers a decent coat of oil after a couple minutes of running. I watched some video's of people checking the rockers on Chevy 350s with the engine running and it seems to be about the same amount oil. As for some knowledgeable local, my dad is probably my best bet (he went to school to be a mechanic). I will have him listen to it with me and see what he thinks. Larry- When i pulled out the larger flakes I only found 1-2 that may have had a copper color. Even though they were "flakes" they were still so small it was hard to tell. I think a lot of the gold color in the oil pan was coming from the oil since it was still relatively fresh and not burnt and black. What would the next step be? Running the car with the rockers loosened a bit to see if the sound changes? Remove the rockers and inspect the push rods to make sure none are bent?
I would definitely unbolt each shaft and inspect each end of each push rod. Has this engine been converted to through the push rod oiling? If so, are you using the hybrid push rods?
Hi Larry, The engine still oils through the rockers so it has the 69 heads/rockers so it has the solid push rods. I just put in fresh chromoly rods when I did the rebuild. I will take the rockers off and inspect the rockers/rods tonight.
OK, I once had an engine with noise and the ball end of one of the pushrods was nearly gone. maybe you'll find something similar.
Ok, so i pulled the rockers tonight an inspected the push rods. The first think I noticed is the my rockers have a hole on the push rod side almost like someone had replaced them with a 1970 or later rocker, but i have seen the oil come from the little holes to the left and right of the rocker bolts. For whatever reason I used 1970 rods with the oil hole in them, but I dont see how that could cause an issue. I checked all of the push rods to make sure they were not bent, and they all were straight. I did notice that the push rod on the right side of the #8 cylinder has sever scratches a few inches from the top in a concentrated area. It was maybe 1/4"thick and went 80% of the way around the rod. I looked in the hole where the rod goes but it was to hard to see due to the location of that hole. I shook all of the valve springs/retainers and everything looks to be good and tight. So are my rocker 68-69 or 70+? What would cause the scratches on the push rod?
70 and up pushrod have a 5/16 ball, the 68-69 are 3/8 ball. good chance that's a problem. they wont sit right on lift. those are 68-69 rockers. looks like pushrod has slight head contact also
Looks like 3/8th's pushrod with 5/16th ball ends, Im thinking that should be fine. 5/16 pushrods would afford him more clearance in the pushrod hole tho.
I was talking to my dad about the ticking sound and he said the car has always had that tick. He bought the car all original about 20 years ago. Since then the motor has been rebuilt twice, heads rebuilt twice, 4 cam swaps, etc. I don't know what can be ticking that wouldn't be fixed in a rebuild with all new parts. When I drove the car daily about 5 years ago I don't remember this tick specifically, but the motor made a few odd noises due to the engine builder doing a crappy jobs and the cam bearings going out. I'm sure this isn't to helpful but I figured I would share it anyways.
you should confirm what year lifters you have. you may need hybrid pushrods to run 70 lifters and 68-69 rockers. TA has them
I know for a fact I have 68-69 lifters. I bought them from TA my self when I got all the parts for the rebuild. I have a used set of 68-69 push rods. Would it hurt anything if I tried them?
Mystery tick in any engine can end up a loose guide or bad lifter bore, they side load and tick and that's a big cam.....you sure it's valvetrain? What if it's the fuel pump? Maybe it's behind the front cover? Could the cam be bouncing back and forth?
It probably wont hurt to try them, but I doubt its going to make any difference. The pushrods you have in there now, are they the correct length? As long as the pushrods are straight, and the correct length, theres very little that can go wrong with a pushrod, even the slight rubbing on the head is no big deal/issue
