[dasyhard]

A friend retimed the motor and it was way off the normal of 38. He adjusted the valves because there were some that were loose. He listened to the knock and informed me that the intake manifold needs to come out and maybe the heads too to find the cause of the knock. So it went from ticking to knocking from the beginning stages of this thread. He mentioned that it might be the wrist pins or one of the valves hitting the piston due to the previous off timing that was set from my other friend. I'm not taking chances in running this motor until we find the cause of the knock. Maybe it's time to go with bigger heads because of its closeness of .80 clearance from pistons to the valves. What a costly bummer this situation is.

[bigblockragtop]

Sorry to here that. I would not be so fast to say it was a timing issue that caused the knock though. If you have a mechanics stethascope that can help before you start taking things apart. I would even start by disconnecting all the belts first. Start with the least expensive and hope for the best. If you don't have a mechanics stethascope you can use a long screwdriver against your ear and different parts of the motor. A cracked flywheel will sound like a knock too. Pull the plugs and spin the motor with the starter to see if you can hear the knock without the engine running. Wrist pins have a different knock then main bearings. Just me but I would check all options first. Did it get worst as the motor warmed up? Don't forget forged pistons make a little noise until they get warm.

[dasyhard]

Thanks for the advice. I think at this point maybe I need to get a professional second and third opinion based on your theories and recommendations. I'l let you know the results.

[bigblockragtop]

Sounds Like a good idea but you can do the simple stuff first, but you don't want to hurt anything. Even disconnecting the belts and pulling the plugs etc. If you are not on a budget then nothing like a pro.

[topwrench]

To my knowledge the dizzy gear should be brass,check it,i think thats where your problem is!

[dasyhard]

Well I decided to take my car to a speed shop that has a good reputation for its workmanship and knowledge. After the disassembly of the top half this is what they found:

Excessive wear on the distributor gear
wear on the camshaft distributor drive gear
excessive camshaft "walk" forward
camshaft "walk" causing timing cover to flex out (recommend changing to stronger aftermarket cover)
er)
metal shavings in oil
wear&binding on the lifters (may be binding in the lifter bore either due to "walk" or misalignment)
distributor cap burned/ #1 wire terminal is no good/damaged
excessive oil being taken in (possibly through intake manifold)
excessive carbon deposits on backside of intake valves (recmnd a complete valve job)
after readjusting valve lash to spec the engine ran smoother but noise was still present. the finding
above are only from inspection of the top half from removing the intake manifold. complete finding
will be reported when we tear down the engine completely.

After removal of the partial bottom half this is what they found:
After removal of the timing cover we found that there is a cam button installed , however it is
wearing against the cover. We also noticed that there is no thrust plate/wear plate installed on the
block. Also the oil pump shaft is worn down, along with the distributor oil pump drive, this may
have been from the distributor being bottomed out on the oil pump shaft ( it was to late to confirm
because the manifold had lready been disassembled).

I spent almost 4k to have this new cam installed to include other components not related to this installation just 6 months ago; partially due to my stupidity in NOT ensuring the correct components was installed and NOT choosing the right speed shop to do it. So lesson learned the hard way. I'm not sure what the policies are on the old speed shop that did the work but I already submitted a complaint letter to them if it has any bearing for reimbursement. Good luck to me!

[bigblockragtop]

That is horrible. If you want to feel better since misery loves company. I made the same mistake but with a body man. I spent nearly 8 big ones to have rockers installed and since the car is a convertible it means the alignment is critical. I fought every weekend to get the guy to finish. He took my money got a divorce and I had to take the car back unfinished after 2 years. Guy number 2 had to completely take the rockers out due to guy number one welding the car together slumped in the middle after guy number one finally painted the car. Guy number 2 fixed everything, got the car back turn key 6 months 12k later. I was stuck, could not sell the car and could not afford to fix it but had no choice so I fixed it. Guy number 1 had begged me at the end to give him the final payment so he could get his kids christmas stuff then got divorced and left me hangin. Love to say the story got better but I asked him for my money back or at least the final payment he never came through but after his divorce he sold his house and I ran into him riding his brand new holley.
ps never got a nickle back. hope you make out better. How do these people sleep at night.

[dasyhard]

Wow! I feel for you, thanks for sharing....but this tragedy that just happened to me is nothing compared to my 56 chevy. I could have bought a studio condominium here in Honolulu for the charges I had to pay on numerous mistakes that 6 guys made which totaled over 150k. Thank God this car is 95% completed and I expect to have it licensed and ready to roll as early as next week.
As for my ford, before I make any decisions, the shop advised that I send the heads and the block to the machine shop to check for damages. I don't know the specs on the block but I'm assuming its an LS6 454 4 bolt main, hopefully. They also recommended that I change the cam. That being said, I'm looking at boring the block .60 over (468) getting bigger heads (maybe afr's), and going with a slightly larger roller cam (lunati has variety of them with high lifts for the street). I know all these dream packages are probably going to cost a bundle but heck if my budget is 13k and the shop already quoted my 6k with labor and machining, what the heck, I'll just go for it. Do you have any suggestions or recommendations based on my wants?

[bigblockragtop]

Well since you are going to have to get new pistons, what crank and rods do you have? You know the old expression there's "no replacement for displacement" there are stroker kits that are priced well. I had the choice between 454 and 496 for the same price so I figured why not? Actually it is really a 489 because it is only .030 over, but everyone knows "496". I have an eagle rotating assembly and mahle blower pistons. and was told they will hold more than I can throw at it. I stay under 6k rpm just to play it safe anyway. I just went through a little problem with my car it was breaking up no matter what parts I threw at it. Put new plugs in worked perfect for one day then back to same old stuff. I pulled the coil to test it and the metal casing was rubbing on the engine and caused all the oil to leak out of the coil so I am guessing that is the problem. New coil on the way! If you belong to any other forums the turbo forums and yellow bullet have tons of info of big block chevys and builds.

[dasyhard]

Don't know the findings on the crank and rods yet. The block hasn't been disassembled until it goes to the machine shop. I'm still weighing my options whether to go the cheap sensible route by running the same heads and cutting the pistons so I can do a larger cam. The shop informed me that choosing larger heads might be risky in terms of what I listed prior such as boring the block, 12:1 compression and larger lift cam. This is due to not being in sync or not meshing to the "T" with the block if I choose to go with the AFRs. And its going to take some expertise machine work also. I really don't know if I should take this route if its going to be risky. So the cost for the just the heads alone might run me 4k which I think at this point is pretty ridiculous since I'm not racing it. I'll just wait and see how the block, crank and rods turn out first before I drive on.

[bigblockragtop]

I am not sure what you plan on doing with the car if it is street driven 12-1 means race gas. If you are running mostly on the street you would want large oval port heads which have better low end torque if you are racing large square for higher rpm and not happy on the street. Sounds to me you have the money to do a great build, have you thought about supercharging or turbo. I have 496 with a procharger 8-1 pistons happy on 91 octane I use water methanol under boost it should be at a conservative 750-800hp and it all fits under the hood! By the way I use world products merlin grumpy oval port heads. I wanted a reliable beast. It purrs like a kitten and roars like a lion. Jaws drop at the cruise ins when they see the supercharger. I could smoke the tires at 60 if I was crazy enough to.

[dasyhard]

Thanks for the suggestions but I've always been bent on high compression with tunnel ram and oval ports would not work because I have rectangular ports. Maybe I should look into getting a new long block.

[dasyhard]

Originally Posted by dasyhard

Thanks for the suggestions but I've always been bent on high compression with tunnel ram and oval ports would not work because I have rectangular ports. Maybe I should look into getting a new long block.

I just came across this website that sells a 496 long block w/AFR heads for 11K. If any defects are noted on my block or heads then I'm going to choose this purchase.

http://www.cmengines.com/Engines/Str...5/Default.aspx

[bigblockragtop]

There are a ton of good racing and street engine guys if you want to buy a built engine. If you are going that route gm crate engines are great try out the race 572 cubes I think it's 750 hp N/A. You would need race gas or the 572 street engine. Check out racing junk.com and even your local Craigslist. There are a lot of people selling off great stuff, there are scammers too so beware.

[dasyhard]

Thanks for the info but I'm afraid 572 is a little too big for my ford. I'll just wait and see what's the outcome on my present block/heads first before making any decisions.