Thread: More Downs than Ups

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Downs:
Well I hate when things don't work out the way they you want them to. I spent the entire evening trying to repair the studs on one exhaust manifold. Only one stud was broken and had a nub left so I got the torch out and heat it up cherry red, put the vise grips on it and it came right out. So I'm pretty happy at this point and notice one of the other studs is thin at the bottom and thought I might as well replace it to I heat it up, give it a turn with the vise grips and it snaps right off So heat it back up and try to turn the nub and the metal just twists and rounds off. I thought this aint gonna work and drill a hole and proceed to break off an easy-out This stud is I guess more or less fused to the manifold so the only thing left to do is drill it out and retap it Start to drill a pilot hole and break the drill bit. Dam that sucker was fighting me tooth and nail. I finally get it drilled and tapped but some of that stud was a tad thicker to one side of the hole and of course threw the angle off a bit. Well I didnt have the replacement studs to put back in so the battle may not be over? I still have the other side to do...

Downs:
My Head with the broken rocker arm has more issues than I thought. Started cleaning it up and took a good look at the valves and noticed that the one with the busted rocker arm on the number one cylinder is bent. It was mentioned in a previous post that more than likely the cylinder hydrolicked from the leaking head gasket and caused the damage. The valve in the number five cylinder is also cracked. The other head looks fine. I have got another set of 350 heads that I was planning on using for parts as in pulling two replacement valves and a rocker arm. I need to obtain a valve spring compressor which I have never used any info you guy's have about this would be greatly appreciated?

Downs:
Pulled some of the lifters out of the block and the ones to the rear are pretty well dished. If I only replace the lifters how concerned should I be with the cam being worn?

Ups:
Spent about 2 evenings cleaning up the intake manifold, scrubbing, wire brushing, scrapping, more scrubbing and finally painting. Now the manifold looks better than new with a nice shiny coat of Chevy orange paint. Got to love it when you can stand back and admire something ya made look new again.

That's how my project is progressing Before you guy's start bashing about not replacing everything with new parts my budget at this point simply wont allow. I need to get the car running before winter sets in as the car sits in the back corner of the driveway in a rather precarious spot when the weather turns bad. I know you may be thinking it's early to be thinking about winter but with more downs than ups I'm trying to do as much as I can while the weather is good.

So if you can help one of your less experienced brothers out with a little info I would sure appreciate it. Thanks.

I bought this one at a NAPA store and it works pretty good. Paid about $35 for it if I remember right. Know what you mean about about the weather, lived off Red Bridge a couple blocks west of 71 back in the '70's

Thanks NTFDAY. Is it pretty easy to use? I'm guessing you just compress the spring and remove the retainer clip? Any tips or tricks that might be helpful? How do you remve the plastic type retainer on the valve? Thought about just pry'n it off with a screwdriver but figured Id end up jabb'n myself in the hand. My Grandmother lived not far from Springfield before we moved her up here in a little town called Marshfield. I think Springfield is a nice area. I used to spend a week there every summer grow'n up.

The stouter the valve springs the harder it is to compress. Do wear some eye protection though cause if you happen to slip off the valve retaning clips have a habit of becoming airborne (Did that once many moons ago.had a hell of a time trying to find them). Before I bought mine I looked at one at Sears, it wasn't near as sturdy and the price was about the same. I believe the plastic retainers you are refering to are the oil seals over the valve guides and if they've been on there for any lenght of time they'll probably break into pieces when you remove them. If you don't have a new set you should be able to get them at a good auto parts store.
Marshfield is a nice little town and I like the KC area, just too congested and too damn cold in the winter for me.

Originally posted by NTFDAY
Marshfield is a nice little town and I like the KC area, just too congested and too damn cold in the winter for me.

Yeah, what a difference a few hundred miles to the south makes in the weather. As cool as this summer has been I'm hopen we don't have a bad winter? Thanks for your help.

For a Spring compressor, check at Autozone. They have a lot of tools that they loan out free. You have to charge them to your dredit card then they tear up the slip when you bring it back. I agree the plastic pieces are the valve seals. If you bought a Valve job gasket set you may have gotten new ones in it. If not, they don't cost a lot.

Putting new lifters on an old cam may certainly cause the cam to wear. If you have the funds, now would be a good time to change it. Changing the cam would be a lot more work than you had planned to do for sure. If not, then putting new lifters in would not cause the world to end. They will last for a while and since you probably don't plan to drive this car a lot or rely on it as your daily driver it's an acceptable alternative.

Now given that you found the bent valves, the next concern is did it damage any connecting rods, bearings or pistons? Turning the engine over by hand and watching the suspect pistons would reveal any obvious problems. But if the damage was slight you would need some precise method of measuring the pistons travel. Pulling the pan and looking at the bearings would also be a good check. The alternative here is putting it all back together with the planned/necessary repairs and hoping for the best.

I have seen a number of cars run for a long long time with flaws that ideally should have been fixed but weren't because of budget or time limitations. They were not perfect, but they ran when you turned the key. Do what you can afford and have fun with it and keep learning as you go

Pat

The alternative here is putting it all back together with the planned/necessary repairs and hoping for the best.

I have seen a number of cars run for a long long time with flaws that ideally should have been fixed but weren't because of budget or time limitations. They were not perfect, but they ran when you turned the key. Do what you can afford and have fun with it and keep learning as you go

Pat [/B]

Thanks Pat, Im glad you see what I'm trying to do and not ripp'n me for not doing a complete rebuild. Although I know it needs it, the timing could not be worse. I figure the car is a project and I can always tear it back down and redo it. By then hopefully I'll have more experience and funds to do it the way It should be.

Excellant advice Stu I always seem to forget the little things that are so important

my buddy was working on his manifold and the bolts broke, we went to a small auto parts and the guy sold us what looked like three small c clamps we put it on with a new gasket and that was a couple of years ago we thinking of fixin it soon. nomatter how hard it gets remember you are one of the less than one percent of old car owners that can say , I did that my self- all of it.

Originally posted by Kevin Cruz
nomatter how hard it gets remember you are one of the less than one percent of old car owners that can say , I did that my self- all of it.

It's a good feeling when you stand back and say that's cool to something you did yourself. I took off work last Thursday and Friday to work on the car and made some good progress. Some kinda Vacation taken off to work on some old car I got everything back together with the exception of a few bolts to tighten up, wires to connect and vacume lines to attach. Brother Inlaw came over last night and commented on how good the paint and chrome dress-up kit made the motor look. Neighbor was giving me trouble about how long it was taken and the fact I was painting every little piece and even the heads of the bolts to match. It takes alot of time to clean up over 30 years of gunk and grime on all those parts. Hopefully it will run as good as it looks

If it doesn't run as good as it looks I'm sure you can get some help here. Perseverance, perseverance, perseverance.