Well I got the diagnosis on the motor today.

It was the valve guides that were a problem. I do not yet completely understand HOW the problem occurred but the valve guides in some way were the issue. All 8 of them. The bottom end apparantly is fine. Although he did not take the bottom end apart he did inspect it and given that he immediately concluded the valve guide problem and that the walls are fine, I gather he decided not to take the pistons out.

Although Terry ported the heads, I don't THINK he installed the valve guides. He said they did not "seat" in some way, but as I say, I will speak to him further to try and understand exactly WHERE and how this problem occurred.

 

knwo what you should do? get the 427cid crate engine hahaha

 

I'm not 100% sure but when a head comes apart for porting it is very easy to check the guides for wear. Get him to explain this "seating" issue...this should have been checked IMO. I hope this guy finally goes through the whole thing correctly this time...I think some "fresh eyes" may have been the way to go this time.

You need to get this thing running right and show that Tony J on chirpthird what rwhp is all about. He made over 600rwhp with a dinky little 355

Good Luck!

 

Yeah, I have Tony in my gunsights I must confess.

Of course, I don't know enough about these things to know what to say. I gave him the heads with the guides installed nd have no idea if that is something that should be "checked"

For the moment he has suggested that I pay for the valve guides and the gasket set and that is it.

As you say, I might have the motor looked over by Rashpaul prior to being re-installed.

 

Guide wear is easy to check when the heads are apart...kind of a no-brainer in my book. Hell if there is a lot of wear it would be felt or detected durring assembly I would think. I'n not sure how detailed the inspection of the bottom end could be if it never came apart. How did he check the bore/piston/ring relationships whhile they're all still in the block?
Once Terry is done maybe put the heads on yourself as to allow Rashpaul easy access to the bottom end. I'd hate to see you pull this out again..I'm sure you want to move on and actually enjoy the car.

Tony will be overpowered...you have more "motor" than him.

 

I hear yeah Mike. These were suppose to be new heads and guides so there should not have been wear.

Again, I'll make no assumptions until I see him first hand and try and understand better what he trying to tell me. But basically I was left with the impression that the guides were not installed correcttly in some way.

As you say, I do not want to do this AGAIN, so I'll probably have Rash provide a second opinion. Just tired of spending money.

 

If you ever need another shop's opinion or help call High Performance Engines in Bby and talk to them. I know of many local engine builders who rave of their work and they have done LT1/LS1 strokers before. 604-249-3367

I also talked to another very well known engine builder and he confirms that guide wear is easy to detect and without taking apart the bottom end, there is no way to prove everything is fine.

 

Keep us updated Shaun.

 

Some reason that doesnt sit well with me .
It may very well be a guide issue but uh..... while porting heads, how the hell would you not notice some guides that werent seated right? And if the guides werent seated all the way there still wont be oil getting past them on the outside unless they were about to fall out. They are a press fit. I assume its brass valve guides. Maybe they tore the valve seals off because the guide was too high, but thats still a **** of a lot of oil to be getting past a new set of guides. Ive torn the valve seals off my 267ci and Im sure the guides are as sloppy as a surrey girl. It only smokes on startup, not driving around. Id also like to know how he manages to look at the piston rings with the piston still in the hole. Have him double check the crankshaft endplay since we were a little rough pulling the trans out.
Valve guides huh

 

All 8 of them.

Only intakes or only exhaust valves? The guys are right, I have students measure valve guide wear/fits correctly the very first time they see them at school, its is a simple task for any builder. There has to more to the story. Don't let it go back together without seeing for yourself where the oil was coming from. It is true that a quick look at the bores with a good light is enough to show any broken rings without removing the pistons though. Other things to check would include the rod side clearances, too much will send a lot of oil at the piston/cyl. and past the rings, with some loss of hot idle oil pressure too. Again, no dismantle required to check that either.
Best of luck Shaun
Larry

 

ok Thanks guys

I think I'll go see him before I let him put it together.

 

Well put. Way to put a little humour in a not so humorous situation for Shaun.

 

I've heard those valve guide stories too, on my old 70 RS SS. Sorry to hear about your problem Shaun and good luck getting it fixed. I want to see your bird on the road.

 

Shaun, sounds like you should recruit one of these guys here to look at the engine with you... couldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes there. Especially when its someone who really knows what he is looking for.

 

id say ask matt to look at the head for u .. he really knows his sh*t when it comes to heads