Beemon

Thanks for the tip on clearance and the seals. I'm still using the 401 rockers, but I'm sure valve stem seals couldn't hurt. I don't think I'll be getting into valve guide replacement, at least I hope it doesn't get that far. Otherwise I'll be waiting until Labor Day weekend to get the engine back together.

So a quick update.. I started examining valves that were good and was noticing a lot of pitting on the seat and valve head. When I pulled the passenger side head, one of the exhaust valves was red instead of a normal yellow or brown. I found a local shop that said they could do a full valve job within a week time frame, so I opted to go with them. Just another expense I'm not expecting, however i feel it will be better in the long run. If I get the top end sorted now, then i can do the bottom end next year or whenever. I made sure to let them know the basics: no hardened seats, valve install height. They also have a spring tester they're going to use to check fatigue. Meanwhile I'll be using a plastic scraper and a vacuum cleaner to clean up the piston domes.

Pull the dust caps off the wheel cylinders and check for rust or seepage. It might not always be a hose or line, and rusting in the wheel cylinders can gouge the piston cup.

Already on it boys. I DO NOT have the money to even think about a rebuild, nor the $500 to put into a valve job. However, my mother did call me and told me to pump the brakes on all engine disassembly. Maybe she feels pity for me? Who knows. What I do know is that I want to pull the other head. The gasket for the driver side was rusted through on the water passage, so i can only imagine its the same on the passenger side. If I get a little pity cash, I may just have a complete valve job done. I've never lapped valves before, so I'm not sure when to stop and what to look for, though I am assuming you keep going until the valve and seat have a uniform cleanliness to them. I'm sure it wouldn't be bad if I lapped all the valves, too. Also I can't use the heads from the first engine. If the valve stems weren't already chewed up like crazy from worn rockers that weren't replaced (seriously, looks like JAWS), the hardened seats were installed at different heights and the valves zig zag up and down along the head. Not only this, but the guides were machined for seals and they had too much meat taken off. For lack of a better term, they're junk. So I'm going to pull the other head, see what my mom has to say, and then go from there. Most likely I will be doing the valves myself. Edit: cylinder walls look good, no scoring.

It was indeed 2 burnt valves. Springs all look good. No bent pushrods. Cam looks good. I did talk to a machine shop today about the potential of machine work but it looks like $500 for both heads and another $1000 to do the block work. There's a heavy ridge at the top of the block, I don't think new rings will do anything. Mother is pushing to pull and redo since its already half torn apart, but I'm not sure if I want to go that route. That will put me out 4 weeks and I leave in 2, so I wouldn't even be able to go pick it up.

So here's the deal.. valve's look good, pistons look good. Rust through on the gaskets. Rings? There is a ridge at the top of the cylinder wall.. oversized standard rings until I can afford a rebuild?

Do you know by chance what the thread size is?

Check Corvette restoration websites, they have one for sale. Give them a call and see what's what. I tried looking last year at FLAPS and could not find anything. https://www.zip-corvette.com/56-64-differential-fill-plug-w-gasket.html

I talked with Matt Martin, Russel Martin's son, on Facebook about the Felpro stigma and apparently this gasket set is news to them so go figure. Thanks for the heads up, Willie (see what i did there? ). I'll pick some up tomorrow.

I dropped the radiator off today at Seattle Radiator Works off East Marginal Way. On their website, they show how they made a brand new radiator from scratch using blueprints from the 20s for a plane that was being restored by the museum of flight. That sold it for me. For $270, they're going to pull the whole radiator apart and redo every seam. They're starting with the core, however, since the head unit was cracked, and will let me know if it can be fixed or not without getting deeper into the pockets. I haven't pulled the head yet but had some general questions. Pictured is a Felpro gasket and a Victor gasket, both identical. I'm wondering since it's a crush gasket, do I need gasket sealer on it or will it crush down no problem like the intake gaskets?

Someone is making bars in Sweden?

Correct, the armature is grounded through the field of the generator. When the generator starts charging, I believe the field coils generate 6V that opens the armature and separates the contact points.

No one has made any in quite some time. There has been a lot of interest lately so that may change.

You would have to use a multimeter to determine the amperage draw at start, then find a universal relay that can handle the draw. Anything that uses a ground and hot wire to open and close a switched relay should work. I would compare the wiring diagram to one of those black box relays and then put a fuse in the line to the load switch.

I just pulled the fan clutch off the water pump... I spun the thermostat like it was going to expand under heat and the clutch never engaged the shaft. The clutch shaft that the spring sits in was free spinning in the clutch head. Tomorrow the head comes off. It's 10:30, time to call it a night.

I'm thinking the fan clutch is defective. Original fan is going back on. There's an old timey outfit that repairs industrial and vintage radiators here in Seattle that I'm going to check out tomorrow. If they want anything close to $500 I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a new radiator from Classic Radiator. I ran the engine up to temp with the rad cap off and watched for bubbles. Nothing until the thermostat opened up and it was a few burps, no foaming or constant bubbling so I think the head is okay. I've got a few heads lying around so I'll scavenge some valves. I'm more than certain it's a burnt valve. I think while I have it apart, I'm going to pull the valley cover off and replace the lifters with the new ones from the other engine. Also going to check push rods and springs. No coolant in the oil, so that's good.

The results are in

Is the problem the spring? You can always buy those socket kits, disassemble them and pull the spring out to put into the old housing. Hardware stores also sometimes have a wide variety of springs to put in the housing. I fixed my trunk light and license plate light by buying those $3 kits.

Just speaking from experience of buying one of the last new ones before it was discontinued. When you bought it, it must have been made of sterner stuff.

The part that concerns me is that the fan clutch never engaged. If I had the stock fan I could rev it. Looks like I'm going to be using the metal fan again. The engine did runa bit cooler when I got off the road and pulled over, but it was 45 minutes to go 20 miles.

Be careful with the CarQuest relay. If your luck is like mine, the contacts will weld together and blow the starter. The armature is really thin. What's wrong with the original?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHHR201

What did you replace yours with? I'm trying to put all my options on the table.

Well, I just got stuck in rush hour stop and go traffic. I'm using a 6 blade 18 inch fan with supposedly a HD clutch. Temps I believe were 92? Anyways, the car overheated so bad that it turned the fuel in the float bowls into vapor. The top seam of the radiator I'm assuming blew since the top of the fan shroud had coolant all over it. I was running a 13lb cap. The hood insulator was dry and there wasn't coolant on the front of the radiator, so it wasn't the cap that blew. She never stood a chance. The fan never kicked on because there wasn't any air flow across the radiator and it was spinning at 50% water pump speed. I'm going to do a compression check tomorrow and see if there's any damage to the engine. I'll also be looking for coolant in the oil or exhaust gas in the radiator. I cannot afford a new radiator at this time and the last local radiator shop has closed its doors so I'm stuck for now. I definitely cannot afford another engine rebuild. Things to do in the future: Adopt electric fans to cool in traffic, upgrade charging system for good (powergen thread looks promising, doubt I can get much from a 35 amp generator). Also some observations in the debate between the 4GC and WCFB. WCFB pros: looks better of the two, less bog metering rod technology, does not leak from rivets in fuel passages. Cons: aluminum baseplate that's worn, giving lean conditions, sticking choke, tuning screws in hard to reach or impossible to reach locations 4GC pros: cast iron base probably won't wear out soon, easy to work with, better venturi design for fuel atomization, all tuning adjustments are easily accessible, better choke cam design, does not run lean. Cons: bog off idle due to poor power piston design, leaky lead plugs in the fuel passages. Solution: rapid prototype gas pedal ignition switch, use dual quad intake to upgrade induction system (using adapter on stock manifold makes secondary circuit into a choke)

The parr I'd be concerned about is that you said you bought a numbers matching car but that cannot be the case if it's a 72 455. From my experience of dealing with mechanic negligence more than once, you will never get your money back. If this part of the engine is messed up due to laziness, then I would be concerned about the rest. Might be best to pull the engine and completely disassemble to know exactly what you're dealing with. Did they replace the lifters? Correct push rods? Cam profile? What about cam, rod and crank bearings (new or original) and condition of crank journals? Original pistons? So many variables with no paperwork and some ugly outcomes. This hobby is very cutthroat and disgusting.