[enkeivette]

Well despite what your engine company may tell you, ALL goods have a 30 day warranty of merchantability under the UCC. So don't sit on this, send them an EMAIL immediately describing the failure.

[BRUTAL64]

Sorry to hear of the problems.....

Usually with a failed head gasket two cylinders show low compression. If one cylinder shows low compression it is usually a cracked head or block ( with water temp issues ). But this is not 100%. If it is either they can be repaired.
I have had many blocks welded, sleeved and heads (cast iron) welded also. All these repairs lasted as long as an unpaired part.

If it is a failed head gasket....well I know Ron will know what to do. If I didn't build my own engines...I would feel just fine letting Ron build me one. That is the best compliment I can ever say for a person.


I know when stuff like this happens to me....I want to kill someone.

If it is a bad head I might have a source for less expensive Alum heads.....If you need a price let me know.

[Vettezuki]

Originally Posted by BRUTAL64

Sorry to hear of the problems.....

Usually with a failed head gasket two cylinders show low compression. If one cylinder shows low compression it is usually a cracked head or block ( with water temp issues ). But this is not 100%. If it is either they can be repaired.
I have had many blocks welded, sleeved and heads (cast iron) welded also. All these repairs lasted as long as an unpaired part.

If it is a failed head gasket....well I know Ron will know what to do. If I didn't build my own engines...I would feel just fine letting Ron build me one. That is the best compliment I can ever say for a person.


I know when stuff like this happens to me....I want to kill someone.

If it is a bad head I might have a source for less expensive Alum heads.....If you need a price let me know.

And if you need welding, I think Jeff's (big2bird) buddy can handle it. He welded the blower back together and did a fine job.

[Leedom]

The motor has been sitting in my dad's garage for a few years now so there is no warranty on that. I just talked to my dad and he said Ron tested the thermostat and the thing did not open until 200 degrees. Don't know if that caused the problem or if that was just one thing in a list of things that might have gone wrong. We will have to do some more investigating next weekend.

[enkeivette]

Never reuse a thermostat, after theyve been hot and wet, once they hit the air they have a much higher tendency to oxidize and seize up.

But motors dont crack at 200 degrees, they crack at 300 degrees. It was prob a bad motor going in.

[Vettezuki]

Sadly, but all is not lost if it's just a simple crack, as BRUTAL says. PITA, yes, catastrophe, no.

[Leedom]

Originally Posted by enkeivette

Never reuse a thermostat, after theyve been hot and wet, once they hit the air they have a much higher tendency to oxidize and seize up.

But motors dont crack at 200 degrees, they crack at 300 degrees. It was prob a bad motor going in.

The thermostat was new.

[BRUTAL64]

Originally Posted by Leedom

The thermostat was new.

Sadly...NEW...doesn't always mean good..

[94cobra69ss396]

Originally Posted by BRUTAL64

If I didn't build my own engines...I would feel just fine letting Ron build me one. That is the best compliment I can ever say for a person.

That means a lot to me, thank you for the compliment.

Like Adam said, the thermostat was a new 180 unit. After Andy left I decided to pull it and test it to see if it was the cause of the over heating. I put it in a pan of water and put it on the stove. It did open but not until 200 degrees. However, it did open so that shouldn't have been the issue unless it didn't open when it was in the car.

We didn't fire the engine until about 8pm because we ran into more issues that delayed us. We started the day with reinstalling the crank spacer that Andy had 5/16 taken off of. That's how much we needed it to move in for the pulleys to line up. Next I installed the balancer, crank pulley and belts and everything lined up perfect (except for the AC which we bypassed).

Next I checked to see if the old fan and fan shroud were going to fit and of course they didn't. The old fan used a 2 inch spacer to place the fan properly inside the fan shroud. The fan shoud protrudes 5 inches from the radiator. However, there is only 3.5 inches between the radiator and accessories. Even without the spacer the fan would hit the accessories. I had a dual fan setup off a Ford Taurus that would fit in the space so I spent the rest of the afternoon making brackets and wiring the fans up to a controller that I also had. They pull a ton of air so they should have been enough to keep the engine cool for the 15 minutes that it was running. I know they pull more air than the single fan I have on the Chevelle and it doesn't get hot. So hopefully that isn't our issue either.

After that I filled up the primary fuel bowl and poured a little gas down the carb and had Andy fire it. The engine fired right away and we were running it at around 2000 rpms to break in the cam. Everything sounded good and there were a couple of little leaks that I took care of while it was running. After about 15 minutes I saw blowby at the breather and imidiately had Andy shut it down. As soon as he did the radiator started spewing water.

We let it cool down for about 15 minutes while we put all the tools away and then I pulled the spark plug looms, valve covers and spark plugs to do a compression test. All cylinder were in the 150-160 range except 7 which had 140 and 4 which had 120. I connected the air hose up to 4 and listened and the air is passing past the rings into the crankcase which makes me think the cylinder wall may be scored. Hopefully it's not but that'smy guess.

We did fire the engine up before I pulled everything back apart after letting it cool just to see if there was still blowby and there was. I think what I'm going to next is gut the thermostat and reinstall it, the spark plugs and valve covers and fire it back up. I want to make sure that the water pump is circulating water through the radiator before I start tearing it down to inspect it.

Oh, there is also no water in the oil or oil in the water and the oil is not burnt and looks good.

[BRUTAL64]

Originally Posted by 94cobra69ss396

That means a lot to me, thank you for the compliment.

Like Adam said, the thermostat was a new 180 unit. After Andy left I decided to pull it and test it to see if it was the cause of the over heating. I put it in a pan of water and put it on the stove. It did open but not until 200 degrees. However, it did open so that shouldn't have been the issue unless it didn't open when it was in the car.

We didn't fire the engine until about 8pm because we ran into more issues that delayed us. We started the day with reinstalling the crank spacer that Andy had 5/16 taken off of. That's how much we needed it to move in for the pulleys to line up. Next I installed the balancer, crank pulley and belts and everything lined up perfect (except for the AC which we bypassed).

Next I checked to see if the old fan and fan shroud were going to fit and of course they didn't. The old fan used a 2 inch spacer to place the fan properly inside the fan shroud. The fan shoud protrudes 5 inches from the radiator. However, there is only 3.5 inches between the radiator and accessories. Even without the spacer the fan would hit the accessories. I had a dual fan setup off a Ford Taurus that would fit in the space so I spent the rest of the afternoon making brackets and wiring the fans up to a controller that I also had. They pull a ton of air so they should have been enough to keep the engine cool for the 15 minutes that it was running. I know they pull more air than the single fan I have on the Chevelle and it doesn't get hot. So hopefully that isn't our issue either.

After that I filled up the primary fuel bowl and poured a little gas down the carb and had Andy fire it. The engine fired right away and we were running it at around 2000 rpms to break in the cam. Everything sounded good and there were a couple of little leaks that I took care of while it was running. After about 15 minutes I saw blowby at the breather and imidiately had Andy shut it down. As soon as he did the radiator started spewing water.

We let it cool down for about 15 minutes while we put all the tools away and then I pulled the spark plug looms, valve covers and spark plugs to do a compression test. All cylinder were in the 150-160 range except 7 which had 140 and 4 which had 120. I connected the air hose up to 4 and listened and the air is passing past the rings into the crankcase which makes me think the cylinder wall may be scored. Hopefully it's not but that'smy guess.

We did fire the engine up before I pulled everything back apart after letting it cool just to see if there was still blowby and there was. I think what I'm going to next is gut the thermostat and reinstall it, the spark plugs and valve covers and fire it back up. I want to make sure that the water pump is circulating water through the radiator before I start tearing it down to inspect it.

Oh, there is also no water in the oil or oil in the water and the oil is not burnt and looks good.

With water pumps the only way it could not move water is if the shaft to impellers is broken.

From the information I have seen here...I see no reason to believe there are any cracks----low compression in the two cylinders can not be the usual head gasket problems since they are not next to each other.

Again going from what is stated here...thinking ring problems or broken ring lands...down to cracked pistons to poorly seating rings (but not leaning this way).

But this is not absolute.