OK here is the original post........

Well now for part 2........ I got the car up on stands and drained the oil. The problem was that there was as much water as oil that came out. I also noticed that both the front freeze plugs have been pushed out and I could see nothing but rust.

So now what. I have gone ahead and gotten the motor ready to drop out the bottom but I not sure what to do now and how much this is going to cost me.

Any ideas or thoughts about what to do and what kind of expense I am looking at. I would love to bore it out and make a 383 out of it but I am not sure I can afford.

Help please....................

Brian
ps anyone in Delaware that would be willing to give a hand or even come and thake a look would be a great help. I know you will matt

 

A 355 would be cheaper if you're on a budget.

Make sure you have your crank thoroughly checked.

If you got coolant in the oil you might have spun a bearing somewhere.

 

Yeah, I'll be able to come look at it either tues or thurs night of this week. Now the big question would be if you cracked the block or not. If it sat through last winter with the water in it then there is a good possibility that it cracked the block. If that's the case I might know of a place where you can get a good shortblock built up for cheap. Let me know when you want to meet up.
Later
Matt

 

I can't see why your block would be cracked as long as you have coolant and not just water. But that would explain why the freeze plugs were pushed out. You are in need of a complete rebuild if there is much coolant in your oil at all anyway. There is really no way to flush coolant out of the bearings no matter what anyone tells you.

I recommend contacting Accurate Machine in New Castle. They ported my heads and I'm going to have them build my new engine very soon. http://accuratepower.com/Machine/

Where are you in DE? I'm always up for meeting more car guys. Drop me an email at ryancjohnston@hotmail.com

I also have a shortblock with 35,000 mi on it I may sell. Let me know if you are interested at all.

 

you are gonna need to do a rebuild for sure, but Like the others said a budget 383 short is about 3500$ you can do a 355 for 1500$ new bearings rods pistons. Only difference is the crank and almost 1000$ saved in align boring, clearancing, Internally balancing....

 

How much water was in it? You said almost as much as oil ... Well how much oil was in it ? I think if it was me, I'd crank the engine by turning the damper pulley and see how it seems, check the cyls for compression ...
Youd be suprised it might not be as f'ed up as you think ...

I had a dirt bike engine that had MORE coolant then oil in it all winter ...I flushed it out with about 10 quarts of 99 cent oil, then filled it with good **** ran it for 30 seconds , flushed it again , filled it , ran it for like 2 mins , then flushed it again , then i filled it again and ran it for a hour or so and flushed it one mroe time ,.... EVERYONE told me i'd definatly blow it up and here i am STILL beating the living **** out of it every weekend ... Suprisingly this top end, well bottom too , has lasted for 2 years of abuse and thats AFTER buying it used and god knows it wasnt taken care of ... i got it and went to change the oil and the bottom of the drain plug hole was covered with sludge ...

Your motor might not be as bad as you think ... I think at worst youll need to get new bearings , Id bet for shure that the Bore is fine as well as the piston, and rods ... just not the bearings ... and they might be ok , but if it aint flushed out rite theyll die soon .

 

your short block is fine. i had my car parked for over a year and went to drain the oil out of it and had atleast three litres of oil in it. i was told it was from condensation. well i drained it, filled it with cheap oil ran it drained it, put in some new oil again and its been fine since, ive actually put on 30k miles on it now.

by the way. mine had rust in it as well, i had to do about five coolant flushes before the rust went away.

 

ok, he has a headgasket leak, he has to replace that, he has blown freeze plug and possibly a cracked block, he has to replace those and check for that. HE HAS TONS OF RUST IN HIS VALVETRAIN, thats the hurter. if he runs the motor now he ruins his bearings his crank journals, his oil pump, his pusrod seats and possibly more in 30 seconds, If he does flush all of his fluds and replace the head gaskets and finds a way to get the new freeze plugs in with the motor in the car, he may get awway with minor damage to all of these componets. Unless you aer broke and you need this car to get to work, pull it and rebuild the short. You may not even have to replace the rods, Ive seen some a few badass NOS 355s motors with minimum invested in the short. (Eagle H beams and a good set offorged pistons....

 

Yo

Damn, the car that I am going to be looking at this Saturday just sat there all Winter... should check the oil when I go there? If I do, how am I to tell that it wasn't mixed with all those extra fluids and ****. God damn now i'm more nervous about this car being good than I was before!!

Chris

 

Chris....the reason I am having the problems I am is because the car sat all winter WITH the blown head gasket. The car you are interested in, if it was in good shape you don't really need to worry about it. Just check it out like you would any other car.

 

he posted earlier that he has surface rust on the valve train, that can be taken off with a emery cloth and or wd40. the water in the oil is water, not coolant. and hwo do you know he has a cracked block? and has he taken pics of the freeze plugs for us? for all we know they may be fine and thats hwo there supposed to be. i say its fine. i know of three guys here that have there cars parked for the winter and all of them had water in the oilpan when they drained the oil for spring revival. i say hes fine and doesnt need a rebuild. the rust is normal after its been sitting.