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Rebuilt Engine Finally In.

65coupei6

65coupei6

Member
Well, I had my engine rebuilt. Runs great. Sounds the same as before. My Butt can not feel any difference yet. But, I have been gentle with it.

This was all done by Mitch @ Mustang Fever and Clark's Auto & Machine shop in Cupertino.
It's funny. Living in the Bay Area I thought finding a good machine shop would be easy. Nope. They either don't do complete rebuilds or they were just complete A$$holes.

Specs:
Vintage Inlines (Classic Inlines) Aluminum Head (switched over from the OZ250 head)
Rebuilt the same block. Bored 0.060 over
9.6:1 Compression
Squared the deck. 17-10 thousandths
Tempo 2.3 Flat top pistons (yes, they fit)
Felpro Head Gasket
Everything Balanced.
New Rods, bearings, oil pump, dual roller timing chain, etc ... (2 of the old Rods were stamped 4)
1.6 adjustable rockers (custom from RAU)
3/8 Push Rods (from Smith Bros., stock was 5/16)
Recurved DSii /MSD 6A. Thanks Bill Ambler !!
Gano Filter
icon_smile.gif

Same Holley 350 carb. (for now, already have an FiTech ready to install)
Schneider 264-74H cam 110 lobe (switched from a 260-70)
Clifford single out headers/Flowmaster Dual Out Muffler (old setup from before)
PowerMaster Mini-starter
New Motor Mounts

I still have to reorganize the wiring/hoses. After 500 miles of break in. I will change the oil and install the FiTech.

IMG_20180420_155835.jpg
 
First oil change is after breaking in the engine for 20-30 minutes and then changing the oil .
Looks very nice .
 
Not just an early oil change but be sure to cut that filter open as well to inspect for any indication of bearing wear. Personally, I would change it again long before 500 miles too. There is quite a bit of material that gets into the oil on a new engine. You have wear taking place to seat the rings to the cylinder walls and all the (albeit very fine) metal gets pumped through the engine. What's the cost of an extra oil change to keep things as clean as possible? It also gives a chance to take another look to check for any signs of trouble.
 
So far I have driven it about 75 miles or so. 50 miles getting it home and a Sunday cruise yesterday. I will change the oil this week before I drive it again.

I have a PurePower filter which can be opened up and cleaned. It makes it easy to check for any shavings.

Here is the filter: http://www.gopurepower.com/
 
Holy crap! I had never heard of that filter manufacturer. $250+ for a filter seems crazy. Nice design but wow. I buy a decent disposable filter and just place magnets in the pan and on the filter. Now you have me thinking...
 
Ok, I changed the oil. Used some Oreilly 10w30 conventional oil & a bottle of zddp additive for zinc.
Attached is a pic of the shavings.
 

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There are some really big pieces shown in that pic. Looks more like some stuff that didn't get washed out following the machine work to be honest with you. If an engine isn't assembled in a "clean room" it can pick up all kinds of trash while being assembled especially in your typical machine shop.

What you really want to be looking for are different colored metallic particles. If you see anything that is copper colored that's a good indication you've worn into a bearing. Pretty normal to see extremely fine silverish metallic particles floating about as this would be normal metal wear as the rings and cylinder walls settle in. This is why you change the oil right after initial break-in and then after just a bit of road driving. You want to not only get that stuff out of the oiling system but also to keep a very close eye on how things are wearing in. Can't see a lot from that one pic in terms of what's mixed in with the oil but I can't say I see anything alarming.
 
So, after I changed the oil. I drove it a little. In the garage it started to smoke out the tailpipes as it was idling. I thought maybe the check valve in my expensive filter got messed up after I cleaned it.
I changed the oil again and put on a Motorcraft filter. Started it up. It smoke for a few seconds then it went away. I thought all good.

Well, I went to a car show yesterday about 45 mins away. When I was about to park. It started to smoke again. I just turned it off and let it sit. When I left the show, it smoked for a few seconds again then it went away.
As I got close to home off the freeway. I noticed my oil pressure started to drop rapidly. It started smoking again. (First time I looked at the gauges.) Since I was at a stop light near the ball park and the Giants were playing. I just stomped on it and made a quick left to get out of there so I could pull over. My oil pressure started to recover, slowly. Then it finally held at about 35-40 all the way home on the streets.

I thought maybe a bad oil pump, lifter or maybe bearings. But, if it was one of them wouldn't it happen all the time and not go away? Then, I thought maybe something stuck on the pickup and circulating around? I did find something that looked like a piece of sealant that broke off in the last oil change.

On the plus side. It does have a lot more torque :) Also, getting up to 90 mph+ on the freeway is no problem now.
 
If the smoking is a new thing that was not present until now I would be concerned. With a good cylinder finish and properly fitted rings you should be past any "new engine" smoking scenarios that do not mean a problem. Getting oil into the combustion chamber causing smoking like that is not normal. Could be as simple as a bad stem seal. Could be much worse. You need to pull the plugs and find out what cylinder(s) is affected and investigate from there. I wouldn't be driving until the problem is found.
 
Couple more thoughts/things to consider. Check oil level. You might be burning much more than you think and level could be low causing the erratic pressure you saw. Given the surface area of the pick-up it being blocked is not really a possibility. Also possible other easy fix cause of oil leaking into chamber is bad seal at intake.
 
I had a nice vacation.:) Now back to the car.

I looked at my odometer and it is only a little over 200 miles on the engine.

All the plugs are about the same color. I was running an aluminum un-baffled valve cover. So the smoke seems like it was coming from the pcv. I just swapped to a baffled valve cover. But, have not driven it yet.


 
oil level too high ?? Could it be possible you put too much oil in when changing oil ??
 
Maybe :) I have had a High Energy Oil Pan installed. These were made in Australia and the company no longer exists. They are hi capacity and baffled. But, I never knew how many extra quarts it holds. Stock is 4.5 quarts. Most high capacity pans seem to be 7-8 quarts total.
I was putting in 5.5 quarts but I am not sure if the stick is reading correct.
 
An unbaffled valve cover can be the problem as the pcv can suck some oil "sprinkles/little oil drops).IMHO.
 
I did have an unbaffled aluminum valve cover installed. I just switched back to a baffled cover. I will drive it over the weekend and see what happens.
 
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