Aluminum bits in pan?

[Steve009]

hey everyone, so I recently replaced my stock pan on my 383 with a milodon. After taking the old pan off I found these gritty pieces at the bottom that felt like metal. The engine was rebuilt about 1500 miles ago. I washed them off and they look like the pic below. I could hear some trapped in the old pick up and some at the bottom of the pan. I used a magnet and they are non-magnetic, must be aluminum? Weird thing is my engine runs great, doesn't burn any abnormal amounts of oil, smooth idle, etc. Any ideas what this could be? I did a double oil change/filter and don't see anymore left.

 

[Hemirunner]

Looks like media from the shotblaster. Was the block baked and blasted prior to the rebuild?

 

[Steve009]

Looks like media from the shotblaster. Was the block baked and blasted prior to the rebuild?

I really wish I knew. Purchased the car with the engine rebuilt. I'm just hopping it up a bit. I know the builder and could probably find out. Knowing the guy who did it I would say yes.

 

[747mopar]

Looks like melted solder??? Doesn't look like anything that should have been produced by the motor so I'm guessing a sloppy cleaning of the block.

 

[Steve009]

Looks like melted solder??? Doesn't look like anything that should have been produced by the motor so I'm guessing a sloppy cleaning of the block.

Ya it doesn't look like shards of something like a cam bearing or whatever. I hope it's just stuck in the pan and didn't cause any damage.

 

[Dibbons]

Looks like something left over from welding or soldering to me.

 

[ckessel]

Brass radiator? Solder maybe.

 

[mccoymail]

let's see pics of the motor. Radiator solder shouldn't get into the oil pan (should it?) I'm wondering if something else was soldered; valve covers???

 

[miller]

Looks like media from the shotblaster.

Wouldn't be blast media, either. They would be the same size. Sure looks like whatever melted.

 

[Glenwood]

could it be from any head repairs? my heads had some bronze work in some ports. scratch the surface to see what the metal is? Aluminum would be exceptionally light compared to bronze or lead.

 

[ckessel]

He did make it sound more like oil pan, was not paying attention. Can't think of any source for the items.

 

[moper]

Very strange. It's way too big for blasting media. Cant think of anything that might do that. Bearings tend to flake apart and you'll see glitter and scales of it and copper.

 

[Steve009]

im going to have the valve covers off of it shortly so maybe I could see if there were any repairs done to those. soon enough the cam will be out as well so that will be the next step. ill take a look at the oil pain, I never thought that maybe it was a repair job on the inside of the pan.

 

[khryslerkid]

Look the heads and block over for any repairs. Did you try to clean a piece to see if it brass? A lot of repairs on cast were done brazing with brass. I've seen oil pans repaired with brass also.

I'd save that debris for the builder when you get to the bottom of it, just in case it links back to him.

Good luck.

 

[mccoymail]

Did the previous owner braze any baffles into the pan?

 

[Hemirunner]

Did the previous owner braze any baffles into the pan?

He might have sweated a copper fitting on the house plumbing, let the solder drop into the oil pan, then bolted on the engine. Quite the mystery.

 

[mccoymail]

Well I guess we all do dumb **** sometimes.

 

[Steve009]

Did the previous owner braze any baffles into the pan?

brazing in the pan is the only thing I can come up with. I'll have to clean it thoroughly and look for any repair spots.