What's new
By:
TurboTransAm.com

Register today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

What have I done...lately

WS6

WS6

Stay thirsty my friends
Well, I just can't leave well enough alone. And with Jason's header repair I was looking for a reason to 'eff up something on the car. I've got this ticking lifter on #4 and since I've been chasing this false knock problem forever. I decided to pluck the motor and fix everything on the stand. And when I say "pluck the engine" I mean 6 hours of knuckle bleeding work just to get it on the engine stand...I swear these cars must have been put together around the engine.
I have had 2 oil filters show some small traces of metal and I'm thinking I've got a lobe scuffing off, so a new cam is going in too. I may just go ahead and pull the heads for some new headgaskets and see if I've been having any real detonation too. Then I'll roll it over and check the bearings for failure. I don't have evidence from the way it ran to think I have a bottom end problem but hey, it's out on the stand.

I did find the tensioner has been cutting a nice little groove in my A/C compressor clutch so I suspect that may have been a false knock location. Maybe a wrong size belt??

So, I'll have some questions for you guys and one in particular about the torque convertor, but that needs pictures to fully understand the problem. So stay tuned!:cheers:
 
No Joe, the hardest part is putting it back together. haha

WS6, thats awesome. If you have a few things to do all at once is the best. May I recommend while the motor is out to clean up the engine bay. Now is the time! You will be surprised how far a little hot water will go.
 
The tensioner touching the A/C clutch is common. Slightly shorter belt is in order, I think the one used was 10 or 15 mm shorter. Or you can play with all the mountings of all the accesories. Just a case of how it all mounts up.

I just found a broken idler housing, it was the ear where the alternator mounts. further investigation found one bolt missing that holds the A/C compressor to the Accesory bracket, then of the three bolts holding the Accessory bracket to the head, one was loose, one was completley threaded out but not lost, the third was gone altogether. as soon as I released the belt the whole bracket flopped around. I think part of the problem was how the previous owner mounted and adjusted the motor tie down.

Glenn
 
Allright...down to the shortblock now. No real surprises considering it's mileage. It seems to have been opened before as was told to me too. The cylinders still have some cross hatch and no ridge, very little carbon. But that may be a result of the alky I've been spraying. #6 is a little more wet than it should be, I think I have a bad valve stem seal on that one but I haven't really looked at the heads.

The headgaskets were damn near perfect without any evidence of detonation. There was this sealant of some sort on them that looked like never-sieze. Don't know what that is?

Now, the bottom end. Didn't really see any reason I was finding traces of metal in the oil filter? But I checked 2 rod bearings and allthough within factory spec (.0022) they were too close to just put the caps back on and run it. Especially since I haven't been nice to this engine. So I'm going to put some standard size rod and main bearings in becasue the crank looks perfect too.The bearings them selves had some scuffing, but that's it.

So, I'm beginning to suspect what the old time Buick mechanic told me. "The metal is from that oil pump wearing out"..."them Buicks are known for that"....oh-kay.
 
pictues

Here's the lonely,dirty bay.
camchange5.jpg

and the former tenant
camchange1.jpg

Headgaskets,coated with something that looks like Neverseize
camchange4.jpg

One head...what valve springs are these? Do they look like 980's?
camchange9.jpg

Underside,or business end
camchange10.jpg

The main reason for removal,see the lobe worn off? there's 2 more, but not as bad
camchange8.jpg

No cracks in the headers but can you spot the MASSIVE leaks? No more hi-temp sealant for me!
camchange7.jpg

camchange3.jpg

This one is my fault, so is the crossover flange leak
camchange6.jpg

camchange.jpg

This one surprised me, I didn't think a flex coupler would leak?
camchange2.jpg


Suggestion? feel free! I ordered a cam and bottom end bearings from fullthrottle today...non-stocking part:angry: the cam that is.

If you quote a reply and don't want all the pictures right click on image press cut and that will get rid of that picture.



...
 
Last edited:
RatFink said:
Are you reusing the stock down pipe? I think you can replacemement flex pipe.
Click to expand...

Yes, an aftermarket downpipe is way down on the list. I just ordered a flex pipe from summit and I'll cut out the old one and weld in a new one.
 
Yes, a revolution X 206/212.
I let Mike there suggest a cam based on my needs and budget. Unfortunately a roller setup is not in the cards right now. I'm hoping a flat tappet cam will last me a couple/three years.
 
Have you located a bigger DP? There getting hard to find. A thread on turbobuick.com has a oval 3.5 dp. I think maybe turbofabricator made it. Probably overkill for your needs, but I bet it flows like crazy. Who reccomended that cam? Mike at Full Throttle?
 
There are 2 things that I'd like to see come down in price before I seriously consider them. One is a bigger downpipe. Maybe turbofabricator is onto something as I've been reading that thread too.And maybe they can be mass produced for a more pallatible price than $1000.
The second is the roller cam conversion. At near $900 is just too much for me to consider.Maybe $500 or so and I'd do it.
Mike at fullthrottle gave me the brutal truth about flat tappet cams and there's no denying they (rollers) are a problem solver. I'm aware that I may wipe another cam in 6000 miles but that translates into 3 years of having fun with the car.
He suggested this cam over the 208/208 because he felt is was a better quality cam from a manufacturing standpoint.

And yes Jason, gaskets,gaskets gaskets. No more hi-temp RTV for me.
 
WS6 said:
There are 2 things that I'd like to see come down in price before I seriously consider them. One is a bigger downpipe. Maybe turbofabricator is onto something as I've been reading that thread too.And maybe they can be mass produced for a more pallatible price than $1000.
The second is the roller cam conversion. At near $900 is just too much for me to consider.Maybe $500 or so and I'd do it.
Mike at fullthrottle gave me the brutal truth about flat tappet cams and there's no denying they (rollers) are a problem solver. I'm aware that I may wipe another cam in 6000 miles but that translates into 3 years of having fun with the car.
He suggested this cam over the 208/208 because he felt is was a better quality cam from a manufacturing standpoint.

And yes Jason, gaskets,gaskets gaskets. No more hi-temp RTV for me.
Click to expand...

Good deal. Take a ruler and see how far off your headers were. My passenger side was bad. They are meant to be bowed out but not in.
 
And I would recommend getting SCE copper gaskets.

I kick myself in the ass everytime I think about it for not waiting till those got here.
 
Funny thing is about these headers...I expected a real mess. I never even really looked them over once I dropped them. I just took them to the welder and asked to have them glass beaded and welded up where there were cracks.
He called and said come get 'em. When I got there there was nothing done to them and he said don't waste your money. They aren't cracked anywhere and he put a straight edge machinist ruler on the flanges to show me there was very little light coming through. So the flanges are relatively straight. Then he lectured me about using RTV as header gaskets:bash:. I tried to tell him it wasn't me but he wasn't buying it.


...
 
Is that what the 3.5 DP is going for? $1000 really?! I'd sure like a roller set-up, my brother has been preaching to me getting a roller set-up for years. I'm yeah, I know along with another 10K worth of goodies! It never ends!:read:
 
RatFink said:
Is that what the 3.5 DP is going for? $1000 really?! I'd sure like a roller set-up, my brother has been preaching to me getting a roller set-up for years. I'm yeah, I know along with another 10K worth of goodies! It never ends!:read:
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the $1,000 price tag is what Jim Dunn wants for the 3" SS downpipes like mine. I've never seen a price for the 3.5" that Ken made. To the best of my knowledge he's only made the one 3.5"er along with other one-off completely cool parts he has created for that car. (like the front mount IC with 3.5" tubes for ground clearance)

Ken (turbofabricator) does awsome work at a fair price. I'd amagine that every one-off downpipe would be pricy though just because of the extreme amount of labor involved with cutting, welding, and bending all of that pipe.

Just for the record, a bigger downpipe is expensive but worth the investment on these cars. I dropped .7 seconds in the quarter mile last year by just adding the downpipe and a 3000 stall converter.

WS6: paint the crossmember that goes under the engine black and your torque converter purple. Then our cars would look identical! Engineless is real popular this season.

Eric
 
1 QUIK6 said:
WS6: paint the crossmember that goes under the engine black and your torque converter purple. Then our cars would look identical! Engineless is real popular this season.

Eric
Click to expand...

Purple?? not pink?

I might paint the crossmember, but all that I've seen are bare like this one. I may just clear it.
 
Oh, interestingly I found the left motor mount to be so loose that I spun the forward bolt out by hand from the block. The rear one came out with nary a full twist of the wrench....nice huh?
 
I don't know if you fellas can help,but I keep forgetting to take pictures of the problem so I'll explain best I can.
The 9" Art Carr convertor has a 3 bolt mounting,kind of like 3 bushings are welded onto the forward plate. The convertor attaches to the flexplate with 3, 3/8 X 1-1/2(or so in length) bolts and nuts.

The question I have is this, there are 2 washers used as shims between the flexplate and convertor's welded bushing(s) and I don't know why? Combined the shims cant be 1/16" thick. And it appears it's to move the convertor rearwards on the input shaft of the trans. Now, there seems to be plenty of spline length not warrant these shims. Maybe it's to shim the convertor out from the crank's flange.
But, because of the splined input I think the convertor is wanting to walk backwards on the input shaft under load and bowing my old flexplate (it looks bowed backwards) and causing the incredibly loud starter noise.

So...are these shims required? Do I need more to push the convertor back on the trans input shaft more?

Does any of this make sense?



...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top