Beemon

What about the crank and the cam? All the lifters look fine and have a circle track still on the bottom. The Pistons are garbage, I'm guessing the wrist pin journal probably looks like an oval. I found my noisy lifter, too. I forgot to post a picture of it but it's a SBC push rod with a 364/401/425 spring retainer. What about valves? Can they be cleaned? I'm just watching the $$$ roll

Damn I missed it.

The block was just the $100. He has three sets of heads, I took down my casting numbers but he said only one set is complete and the other two are bare heads. He sounded pretty confident with them. His 56 Buick came with the 322 in the engine in the car plus the extra 322 block, extra Dynaflow and the sets of heads. He said he's doing an LS swap ( ) and that's where the second Dynaflow is coming from, but he sold the running 322 to his brother for his 55 Buick. The drive is a 7.5 hour drive from my location to Idaho. We have to go through the Oregon border. We decided it would be best to jump on this and then take the block to the new machinist since our gut is telling us the block is toast. We is my father, who was a welder for Boeing for 20 years who will be checking the heads for any cracks while we are there with his 3 spray cans, and my girlfriend whom shares the same days off as me and is expecting me to give her some time. Lol. And of course everyone on the board in spirit. I am having trouble sleeping tonight, we leave in an hour and a half and I should be in bed but this whole thing has me in knots. I talk about all the time people taking advantage of others in the hobby and in the last year I knew something was wrong with the engine. It's just, when I pulled those heads... well, I didn't want to be right. And boy was I right. I was silly to think a PCV system would help, because it was never going to with the gouges those wrist pins put in the block. I can't get my money back, and I'm not going to jail over this, but my dad and I are going to be making large signs for the weekly cruise in and we'll have my cylinder block on display after this. Small world, but the machinist I'm going to now was referred to me by a guy running a really nice classic car shop who is best friends with the owner whom my old machinist now works for. He told me to go down there with the block and explain to the owner what happened, the old machinist is sure to loose his job, and many more after this. I am not to be trifled with, especially for $4700 down the drain. He will most likely be living off social security for the rest of his life after I'm done with him. By the way, I figure since I'll be doing this up right, completely fresh and hopefully without any issues beyond this point, I'm going to stop throwing gimmicks at the new engine to save it or "make it run better" because hopefully I won't have to. Maybe my WCFB ran like garbage because the engine was garbage? Who knows, I guess I'll find out in 3 years.

It's the nature of the beast, man. My rear bumper sits higher on one side than the other, but after doing the front bumper I just let it be. My front bumper needs to be shifted towards the driver side by a quarter inch, too... just grab some 3/16" flat stock and stick it between the mounting bolts to give you that perfect shim. Based on the damage, I'm guessing someone backed into it?

One last photo for the day, what do you guys think of my hot rod hood scoop? It's kinda hard to see out the windshield but that means it goes faster, right?

That's what the original block in my car looked like. Lamar, thanks for the heads up. Block and heads for $375. We leave tomorrow at 10

I don't know how to explain it Willis, it's just... well, there it is. I was getting blow by and oil consumption, that's the reason why. I don't think a .040 or .060 over bore will save the block, the gouges feel like a 32nd to 16th of an inch deep. And it's on both sides of the cylinder wall, not just one side - 4 grooves per cylinder. I do have a back up plan, however this is now out of the realm of affordable and the car will sit for another 3 years at the least.

Ken, you can tell it's blow by because the whole piston isn't covered.where the piston is clean is where the wrist pin damage is.

Found out the issue. It was the rings. Also the wrist pins. Looks like my block is toast. Wrist pins took out the cylinder wall. On. Every. Piston. Sorry guys, I'm going to prison for a while because that guy is dead. Also cam is OK.

I'm at a loss for words. 8 thousand miles, an 8th inch thick carbon build up, valves don't look like they seated properly and there's cross hatching on the cylinders - the rings never seated. You can see the blow by on the Pistons....

Willis, to answer your last question, the 364 was the first year for the larger cam journals, which followed in the 401 and 425. That's why 364/401/425 gets all the aftermarket love, leaving the 264/322 in the dust. I think I'm leaning more towards KISS and will go with a cam regrind on my original to match the 401 specs or something else. That way I'm not playing with cam journals, cam sprockets, etc. That being said, when I have it in my hand I'll call the shop and announce to the world the rare findings of the 56 stock cam grind. It will be the biggest archeological dig since King Tut's tomb. That way, we're not all limited to Nailhead experts handing off cams without a spec sheet! In other news, I saved myself $300 at the junkyard today. I couldn't believe it honestly, not a stuck bolt, no threads messed up, a perfect aluminum 401 timing cover (albeit a little dirty). There does seem to be one water pump hole that is messed up, but it looks like a casting defect because it's partially filled with aluminum and was milled over. I guess I could drill it out, but it held water. Also electrolysis damage doesn't look bad. You can still see the casting marks on the inside where the impeller goes, which tells me this will work just fine. And, it was all for $16, too. The benefits of finding old cars in a junkyard. It was actually kind of an interesting day, while I was out there, the previous owner of the 64 Riviera said that the car had been in a flood and the engine was froze, so he gave it back to the yard. His loss, everything else looks good on my end. I'm going to pick up a 455 timing cover seal, hand them to the machinist, and have him work it in (the 455 is the one that works, right?). I can still get a 57 cast iron one, but the guy wants $50 for that at the other yard. I tried my hardest to bust that one loose... this one came off pretty easy, I was surprised I didn't have to grunt once.

If it was a 56 with no paint being driven by a guy with mop hair and the girl in the side seat then it was probably me lol

Bloo, I have heard of them but forgot they exist. I'll give them a call. I'm assuming you're local?

Matt, for what it's worth, I did my turning at OReilly's. If they're kids, you can talk them into doing anything. Usually they look for a bevel on the inside edge as an indicator of how much meat is left.

Willie, thanks for the tip. I usually don't go through summit so I didn't think about them. Matt, no one makes a 322 cam anymore. From Ken's thread, his replacement cam seemed to be a cut down 401 cam with no spec sheet.

All the springs can be sourced from a NAPA catalog, you just need to look for them. Most of my stuff comes from NAPA because it's usually not made in China. RockAuto is definitely the go to place for that stuff. If you're smart about it, you can nail down all the springs and hardware relatively easy by searching between 1956 Roadmaster to 1960 Electra (I believe 1961 was first year for self adjusting). Then get yourself a flash card, go to the NAPA website and use their part interchange numbers. Write everything down on the flash card so when you walk in, you can hand them the card and they can order the parts without asking "windshield wipers? is it 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive?". I also got my wheel cylinders from NAPA for cheap and have had zero issues in 2 years. If you want ease of mind, and looking to spend some real money, go to the junkyard and find some original wheel cylinders and send them out to be bored and sleeved by White Post Restoration.

So after reading through Ken's rebuild again, I've concluded I'm going to bite the bullet and get new valve springs, "just in case". He's already nailed it down for what I want to do. Also, I normally go through my parts guy at NAPA but apparently NAPA doesn't stock the 401 stock camshaft anymore. So I'll be going through AutoZone this time. NAPA is Sealed Power and AutoZone is Melling, and is cheaper and I can get the cam, lifters and springs all in one go. Here's the numbers (with NAPA cross reference): Melling Cam SBC-3 (came with high regard from Ken, and others who have used it in their 322s on other websites): $121.99 Melling Hydraulic Valve Lifter JB896 (Sealed Power HT896): $7.49 (x16: $119.84) Melling Inner Spring VS2203 (Sealed Power VS932): $4.99 (x8: $39.92) Melling Outer Spring VS540 (Sealed Power VS680): $5.99 (x8: $47.92) Total: $329.67 (Adjusted for 10% tax: $362.64) Then add turning down the cam journals would be another $100 under the table. The project is getting a little bit pricey, but my machinist said I would regret putting in a 60 year old used cam with a lot of heavy mileage on it. I tend to agree with him. Without knowing what lifters were put in there, the condition of the cam during assembly the first time and the rest of the valve train quality of 60 year old parts, it's better to start fresh. Plus with everything I've read, especially through Ken's post, you don't get any information with a "stock cam" from any vendor. Who knows, we might even be able to make an accurate measure of the stock 56 cam and then find a blank to grind down. It would be as easy as just bringing the Melling cam back to AutoZone with the receipt. And of course, per Ken's advice and pressure from the machinist, we'll dial in the cam to confirm valve lift, coil bind, or any other gremlin that may come our way. Was surprised to hear the news today that my dad would front $400 as a graduation/moving up gift. Didn't see that coming, but that will most likely go to Greg for a set of fresh, clean 56 heads. Cam specs are as follows for the SBC-3 cam: 207 IE duration @.50, .269 IE cam lift, 114 LSA (I centerline 112, E centerline 116). With 1.6:1 rockers, this is .430 valve lift. From Ken's thread, this was pretty close to his intake cam specs, but from reading his was a split cam. Also going to the junkyard tomorrow (today) to pull an aluminum timing cover and valley cover off one of the 401s, and order on the shelf a fuel pump and water pump for the 401.

Well not even 24 hours and I am inconveniencing the delinquents. Guess I go to Plan B, on the street in front of the house...

PCV works really well. I forget the part number for the one I used, but it's basically the late Nailhead PCV valve with a 90 degree bend. Difference PCV valves have stamped letters on the piston indicating spring pressure. Basically, look for something that has about 16"Hg at idle, like a high torque low RPM engine from the 70s. I think I used a BB Corvette? I'll dig around. The breather cap is off a 1975 Ford Country Squire, it's solid with a sponge mesh on the inside and a rubber grommet for the PCV system. The other breather cap is also a Stant cap, which you can look up on RockAuto for a stock 322. I had redone my original breather caps, but having one looked out of place so I put the Stant cap back on to match the PCV cap. If you go PCV, though, you have to plug the road draft tube otherwise it won't evacuate properly and you'll end up sucking things up the pipe.

The FAST EZEFI company makes one, called the Fuel Command. Looks much better than the Edelbrock one for half the price. I figured the LuberFiner would be an adequate candidate since they don't make filters for it anymore (well they do, but you need to buy a pallet...) and it has a screw on nipple on the inside that would be perfect for mounting a pump on. You would just have to fashion a needle and seat like a float bowl so it doesn't completely fill up and over pressurize. A vent could be drilled into the top bolt and wires could be fed in from the bottom extra port with an appropriate seal. It would look functional and fit right at home. Everyone always asks about it, so I haven't removed it. In fact my grandfather was upset I replaced it with a toilet paper roll for about a month, since he installed it himself. Speaking of my grandfather, the car is back home. I originally lost my spot last year when my cousin let this drug dealer move into the spare bedroom. My grandfather doesn't know how to say no, so there was this sort of falling out. We eventually kicked him out after his third trip to the precinct. That was a few months ago and I've been hesitant to take the car over there because my cousin still has questionable people by. But there is really no other way for this to go down without the car being on concrete. This is by no means an extended stay and as soon as the engine is done, the car is back out in the open. I would rather have it in the rain than be subjected to being leaned on or "accidents" occurring by drunk, high young adults who can't grow up. it is still bitter sweet... here is the car seven years ago when we first pushed it out on it's H78 bias ply tires: it came with one white wall, the original spare in the trunk. Here's how we started 3 years ago (engine was just a shortblock in the car since the 80s): And this was 2 years ago, right after the Dynaflow came back from the shop and right before we put the rebuilt engine back in. The first week it was on the road "test driving" around the neighborhood, it looked like something out of Mad Max. It ran so poorly, we couldn't figure out why until we later found out the same guy who built the engine switched the check balls in the 4GC and it wouldn't transition properly. Should have been an indication... the rest is history, and that was when I started really getting involved asking questions on the forums. As always, it has been a pleasure to know you all and I continue to learn from you all every day. My experience with my Buick has been a sour one, but also sweet. I know who I can count on to steer me right.

No I do not, but have considered it. I have an old Luber-Finer under the hood from when the car was contemporary. I always thought of turning it into a sump tank for a high pressure EFI fuel pump, maybe I'll install a fuel pump in it and run it as an auxillary for just in case. But with the mechanical pumps for $50 over the counter with 2 day lead at the most (first thing I'm doing when I get to college town is ordering some shelf items at the local NAPA just so its there if I need them), I don't think I will have anything to worry about.

The reason I'm asking is because the whole point of the timing cover swap is to finish the transition from "drive it sometimes" to "daily driver". Basically I want to find as many parts over the counter as I can in case something happens when I'm at the university. This is the only car I own, but I am permitted to drive another for the time being. That being said, I don't like being stuck under someone elses nail, especially my mother. My predicament is, buy the TA Performance timing cover for $300 which is machined for both early and late water pumps, get a $50 cast iron 57 cover that only fits the early pump or get the $10 aluminum 65 cover that only fits the late pump. All three give me access to over the counter fuel pumps, but the aluminum ones also give me access to new water pumps. The new $50 water pump from NAPA is only a 5 vane pump, though. I'll measure pulleys, but I am certain they are all the same size. I would hate to be out in the middle of nowhere for two weeks waiting on an R&R of a vintage part, or a rebuild kit at the very least. Others may have differing opinions, but to me these changes will make the car very dependable. Not that anything will go wrong, but I've always looked at the worst case scenario. For the record, I have read Willie's thread about the cooling fans. I'm running a 6 blade HD clutch fan for the summer but was running a regular duty clutch during winter. With going to a 60 amp alternator, I think I might just go to a high flow electric fan that runs off the other temp sensor outlet on the cylinder head. I would be hesitant to run a steel fan, they rob up to 40 HP, if you care about that stuff. Have had no complaints about the HD clutch, though, and I installed it last year when the thread was still fresh. About the radiator, it's a 3 core recore. I'm not sure how hot the car really gets but it never goes into the red on the gauge unless I park it somewhere.

Use a drift punch and a mallot.

Just found out the aluminum timing chain/gear cover at the 401 yard is only worth $10 to them. Might be worth it to pull both? Valley cover is worth $7.50, and the valve covers are worth $7.50 each. Too bad there aren't aluminum GS covers out there, they only want $15 each for those. Haha. Still curious about using a non AC water pump vs an AC water pump. I feel more vanes would be better but put more drag on the engine? In the long run I do want AC of some kind (most likely aftermarket) since us Washingtonians can't take 80 degree weather too well, so might be a good investment?

This is really important for future readers. Modern disc brakes need no more than 2lbs of residual pressure in line or they will prematurely clamp the rotor. The stock system is around 10lbs residual pressure, to keep the wheel cylinders primed for expansion and also to alleviate drain back to the master cylinder. Also brake calipers have larger reservoirs in comparison to wheel cylinders, and require more pedal movement to achieve safe braking. Think of how far the pedal moves on a modern car, then drive your 50s Buick - not a whole lot of pedal! The stock system may not have enough throw to completely pressurize the calipers to stop safely. Just make sure your drums are round and true and they will stop you right.