Sebringcharlie
Active Member
So I inherited a very rough 72 satellite Sebring. Moved it from British Columbia to Ontario. Found an awesome restorer who has gone above and beyond to bring the beast back from the dead for me. We sourced doors, glass, fenders, front floor pans, rear quarters, the entire missing interior, and countless other bits and pieces. 2 years ago, i bought a 340 block and x heads at Moparfest. I was told the motor came out of a stock car, but only had a few races on it as they moved to crate engines. It was a great deal, and i set about to purchase the rest of the bits for it. Went to the local speed shop, told them I had a 340 block and x heads, and had them assist with the purchases required to make the engine go.
I am not mechanical. I had a mechanic (heavy equipment) coach me on putting everything together. completed the motor and gave it to the restorer, and he installed it and the tranny (727) and the rest of the mechanicals.
From the get-go, the engine sounded off. The restoration guy, while able to install the mechanicals, is not an engine guy. We had a few hiccups along the way with odd things coming loose (torque converter, rocker bar to name a couple). I decided to take it to the speed shop for a tuning. Talked to my now trusted restoration guy, told him I'd be taking it to see if we could solve some of the quirks.
The speed shop fired it up, and said there was serious issues. He opened the engine up, and the pushrods were rubbing on the heads, said the wrong length rods were installed. Installed shorter ones, no change. Changed lifters that were shot. No change. Took rockers off, found out they weren't mopar original (they came with the x heads). In fact they are completely custom, and the geometry is all wrong. The shop changed the lifters as they were all shot again too. The shop offered to machine the heads to enlarge the rod holes. I couldn't see altering x heads (which I read are very desirable. Told you I was a complete noob), so I opted to switch the rockers out, to have actual mopar rockers to start with. So another set of short rods (its speculated that the heads have been altered anyway) and brand new rockers later, the car still doesnt sound right. The rods are no longer rubbing the heads and appear to be the correct length. Ticking. It's better sounding than when i brought it in, but not 100% right. So they look at the lifters, and they're fried again, but this time when they remove the lifters, they see some kind of bushing in the holes that is preventing the oil from reaching the hydraulic lifters properly. So now they want to pull the engine out, and either drill out the bushings/add holes so the oil gets through, or replace the hydraulic cam and lifters with mechanical/solid. Either way, I'm looking at 1500-2000.00 in labor alone.
I've got a current bill for the rocker/rod diagnosis of about 2000.00, and I'm choking on dropping another 2k on a maybe fix (no guarantee) or the solid cam fix. The solid cam is an issue simply because, I'm not mechanical, adjusting or monitoring valves through the season isn't in my realm of expertise.
I suppose I'm bitching and moaning here. I know restorations aren't cheap. This one has taken two years and almost 3x more money than I had budgeted. And the money I'm dropping on this engine is killing me. So if anyone has any engine related suggestions (please refrain from laughing or telling me to suck it up lol), I'm all ears!
I am not mechanical. I had a mechanic (heavy equipment) coach me on putting everything together. completed the motor and gave it to the restorer, and he installed it and the tranny (727) and the rest of the mechanicals.
From the get-go, the engine sounded off. The restoration guy, while able to install the mechanicals, is not an engine guy. We had a few hiccups along the way with odd things coming loose (torque converter, rocker bar to name a couple). I decided to take it to the speed shop for a tuning. Talked to my now trusted restoration guy, told him I'd be taking it to see if we could solve some of the quirks.
The speed shop fired it up, and said there was serious issues. He opened the engine up, and the pushrods were rubbing on the heads, said the wrong length rods were installed. Installed shorter ones, no change. Changed lifters that were shot. No change. Took rockers off, found out they weren't mopar original (they came with the x heads). In fact they are completely custom, and the geometry is all wrong. The shop changed the lifters as they were all shot again too. The shop offered to machine the heads to enlarge the rod holes. I couldn't see altering x heads (which I read are very desirable. Told you I was a complete noob), so I opted to switch the rockers out, to have actual mopar rockers to start with. So another set of short rods (its speculated that the heads have been altered anyway) and brand new rockers later, the car still doesnt sound right. The rods are no longer rubbing the heads and appear to be the correct length. Ticking. It's better sounding than when i brought it in, but not 100% right. So they look at the lifters, and they're fried again, but this time when they remove the lifters, they see some kind of bushing in the holes that is preventing the oil from reaching the hydraulic lifters properly. So now they want to pull the engine out, and either drill out the bushings/add holes so the oil gets through, or replace the hydraulic cam and lifters with mechanical/solid. Either way, I'm looking at 1500-2000.00 in labor alone.
I've got a current bill for the rocker/rod diagnosis of about 2000.00, and I'm choking on dropping another 2k on a maybe fix (no guarantee) or the solid cam fix. The solid cam is an issue simply because, I'm not mechanical, adjusting or monitoring valves through the season isn't in my realm of expertise.
I suppose I'm bitching and moaning here. I know restorations aren't cheap. This one has taken two years and almost 3x more money than I had budgeted. And the money I'm dropping on this engine is killing me. So if anyone has any engine related suggestions (please refrain from laughing or telling me to suck it up lol), I'm all ears!
