The first "Hawk-Rod" resurrection, Roadkill style

[HawkRod]

OK, new development.

There was/is NO evidence of any issues at all with my engine from any actual checks. Pressure tests and compression tests came back normal. So I went up to my father-in-law's and he looked at the video I took. He smiled and said he is convinced there is no issue with my engine.

Remember that my engine self destructed 3+ years ago. This wasn't a minor failure. #3 rod broke and the remains of that broke through the bore while the piston bent valves. #4 piston/rod twisted and crushed through the bore into the water jacket. Parts of the rods flew out through the oil pan and even broke the oil pan rail. Bottom line is it was a VIOLENT failure!

So what does my father-in-law think is going on now? Leftover oil in the exhaust system from 3+ years ago!

So I just finished cleaning and reinstalling the intake manifold. Tomorrow or Friday I will run it again but with open headers and see what happens. I hope my father-in-law is right!

 

[Builderguy]

Knowledge comes from both experience and education. As your father-in-law is an older engine builder, I would place my bet on him being correct. What he theorizes never even crossed my simple mind.

 

[qkcuda]

Good luck with the retest Hawk!

 

[Don Frelier]

I'm not surprised there was nothing wrong with the engine.
Knowing the process I was kind of baffled as well.

My son got a 5.9 from a rollover that had sat on a pallet for about 20 years.
The engine was like new inside, pristine.
When we started it it smoked like crazy for 5-10 minutes.
But it was blue smoke.
When I blew my power steering hose on the way to Carlisle this year the fluid sprayed on the header.
It was white smoke.
So burning oil can be white, just depends on the combustion process.

 

[zyzzyx]

Breathe a sigh of relief and relax! No use pushing yourself. You've done so much in a short
time period and you need to re-load. This isn't one of those car shows on T.V. The Welcome
mat will be ready whenever you "Buzz" through my Friend! Brrrrrrrrrr! Winter! Yuck.

 

[HawkRod]

Generally lately, if it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. My ignition system quit on me again. I tried everything, but had no spark. Long story short, it turned out to be my tack wire for the dash tack that was intermittently shorting out as it passed through the firewall. Took hours to find, since I (of course) assumed it was the ECU or coil. Once I disconnected that, then I finally had sparks flyin'.

BUT, finally, some really good news! I fired and ran the engine again. First with open headers (yes, I pissed off the neighbors, but too bad). There was ZERO smoke or nonsense. Then I hooked up the exhaust again and it smoked just a little bit, and then nothing. So the engine was 100% OK all the time!

Then I got the car back down on its wheels for the first time in months. I backed it out of the garage and drove it up and down my street. This is the first time it has moved under its own power in almost 5 years! When I drove it, I was really taking it easy and not punching the engine or going above 2500 RPM. I need to finish breaking it in, and it has really weak springs that I will change after about two more hours of run time. Even being that careful, it easily ripped the tires loose when accelerating from a dead stop, so it has some serious power!!!

Sorry, no pictures or videos yet. I hope to get some more run time tomorrow.

 

[Don Frelier]

As long S the oil pressure and temperature are good after a couple heat cycles I punch it pretty hard but keep the rpms from going really high. I think it helps seat the rings. I did that on the 5.2 in my Dakota. It burns zero oil and runs like a top.

 

[HawkRod]

As long S the oil pressure and temperature are good after a couple heat cycles I punch it pretty hard but keep the rpms from going really high. I think it helps seat the rings. I did that on the 5.2 in my Dakota. It burns zero oil and runs like a top.

I'm just worried about floating the valvetrain. The springs I have in it were specifically put in for cam break-in. They have maybe 50 pounds of pressure closed, so they are really wimpy springs. Once I get my intended springs installed, then I will drive it more aggressively. I can still do some more spirited acceleration, but don't want to go above about 4000 RPM.

 

[Don selleck]

great build, and even greater story Hawk, It's very cool reading thru this thread, learned alot, always had motors sent out for rebuild, did manage to rebuild some 2 stroke motorcycle engines back in the day with success. going to do a slant six this winter for a project I just started. Thanks!

 

[HawkRod]

great build, and even greater story Hawk, It's very cool reading thru this thread, learned alot, always had motors sent out for rebuild, did manage to rebuild some 2 stroke motorcycle engines back in the day with success. going to do a slant six this winter for a project I just started. Thanks!

Thanks Don!

Doing all the machine work and assembly on the the engine has been a great learning experience for me too. Yeah, people assemble engines all the time, but to truly check and adjust all the key parameters to get an ideal build is a crap ton of work! I have newfound respect for the high end engine builds with precise tolerances.
While my engine isn't a race engine (it's designed for the street), it is likely a high(er) dollar engine from a build perspective. It has about $3500 in parts (including the block I bought), but also has lots of dollars worth of machine work as well. I couldn't have afforded to pay that, but having access to all the machinery for free is great. My hope is I'll have a great performing total package that will also be dead reliable!

 

[HawkRod]

Had the car out again today just running it up and down the street a little bit. I now have about 1:15 on the new engine. If I get another 20 or 30 minutes that should be enough and I will change the valve springs to the appropriate ones.

Here she is "out in the wild". I need to set the front end better, both to get the front wheel alignment better as well as lower it a bit, but I wanted to give it a chance to settle in an bit so I knew how much to adjust it.

Hard to see that little gem of an engine in there with that big air cleaner and A/C, but it's pulling hard when I put my foot in it!

 

[zyzzyx]

It would have been a perfect first photo except for that C-C-C-Corvette in the background!

 

[HawkRod]

It would have been a perfect first photo except for that C-C-C-Corvette in the background!

Yeah, that is my father-in-law's special car that he had for many, many years. 3 years ago, I became the new caretaker of it. It's a 340 horse 327, close ratio 4 speed and 4.11 rear. It is unrestored and runs and drives excellent. Yes, I'm a Mopar guy, but I'm OK having that in my stable too!

 

[MoparJimT]

Very nice HawkRod. I am happy for that it was nothing serious. I seriously doubted anything was wrong with the detail you put into the engine build. Congrats of building a Great Motor.

 

[JDmac72chrgr]

BETTER THEN "ROADKILL" STYLE!, told ya!!! And you CAN get fun out of a LA small block withouth all that weight on da nose!!! Yes I like big blocks, but these SB Mopars are fun too. GREAT JOB HAWK!!!

 

[HawkRod]

Very nice HawkRod. I am happy for that it was nothing serious. I seriously doubted anything was wrong with the detail you put into the engine build. Congrats of building a Great Motor.

Thanks Tim. I feel I should have figured out sooner than I did that it was in the exhaust, but live and learn!

BETTER THEN "ROADKILL" STYLE!, told ya!!! And you CAN get fun out of a LA small block withouth all that weight on da nose!!! Yes I like big blocks, but these SB Mopars are fun too. GREAT JOB HAWK!!!

Yeah, with aluminum heads and intake, a few pounds have been shaved off the smallblock too. Of course, that big old A/C unit is like another engine sitting in there!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Glad to hear there's nothing wrong with the engine. That's a beautiful car, top of the mark just like your green one.
It's too bad you couldn't make it out this year but hopefully we get to see you in 2022.

 

[HawkRod]

Glad to hear there's nothing wrong with the engine. That's a beautiful car, top of the mark just like your green one.
It's too bad you couldn't make it out this year but hopefully we get to see you in 2022.

Thanks Rich!

We are now planning for a spring 2022 departure. If that happens, then we'll go West on a Southerly route and East on a Northerly one. But I can't count my chickens before they hatch - I need to finish the driveline and fix any issues first!!!

 

[Nxcoupe]

Man, I like this car. Like the color and the body lines.

 

[HawkRod]

OK, so I ended up with just a little under 2 hours of run time on the engine, so it was time to change the valve springs. As a repeat, I put very weak springs in the engine to help assure that I wouldn't wipe the cam before I broke it in. Now it is time to put the permanent springs in.

1st step is to remove the spark plug for the cylinder and put the piston at TDC. Then put compressed air into the cylinder to make sure the valves do not drop into the cylinder. The reason you want TDC is IF they do drop into the cylinder due to air failure, you can likely grab the stem and pull them back up. If they fall all the way into the cylinder life will suck and you need to remove the head to get them. An once of prevention....!

Here is the tool used to compress the spring so you can remove the keys.

Once the spring has been compressed, pull off the keys. I HIGHLY suggest using a magnet as your big fat fingers are almost guaranteed to drop one!

Speaking of an ounce of prevention, stuff rags into the slots that go into the lifter valley. Again, life will suck if you drop a key into the lifter valley!

Tighten the tool (I like to pull up on it to lock the keys as I am tightening it). Then pull the keys off and pull off the spring.

Here you can see the difference between the weak (short) and new springs:

Put the new spring on, and repeat 15 more times!

This is now done! Time to set valve lash and get it running again...