So I have this 70 GTX 440/4 auto that I picked up from another guy that was his project car. He was having health issues so he decided to let it go and here I am. I have been working on it starting from the back going forward. Well I have gotten to the point to make it run and drive again. The engine is all original and needs a lot of work. I start with belts and hoses to get the cooling system operational.
See this thread for T stat issue. Rad ID help and T stat miracle
The valve covers had leaked so bad nothing in the front would ever rust, so off they came. Man is it cruddy inside. With a documented minimum 125000 mi I think the oil has been changed 4 times. After a little investigation I find there are several rocker arms very loose. Upon spinning the push rods I see some that don't act right and a couple that might be in contact with the head. This is not good. I pull the rocker arms and sure enough there are 6 bent push rods. 3 on each side. I pull the intake to see inside and see nothing that looks out of order for now. Pop the lifters out and several are dished on the bottom which is probably from lack of maintenance, but no cam lobes wiped out.
So I'm thinking I'll need to put a cam and lifters in it, and some new push rods to get it on the road. In the process of removing the timing cover for the cam, it comes right off with part of the pan gasket glued to the bottom of it. Now I'm thinking someone has been inside of here before. After getting it off I find this.
A practically new plastic tooth cam sprocket with just a little wear. Now I'm thinking new cam sprocket, bent push rods equal one thing. The timing gear has gone out of this at some time. So I do some more investigation with my cheapo borescope camera to see what's in the oil pan. I flush the pan with some cleaning solvent and no big chunks come out so I look inside and the oil pickup screen is clear with no timing gear teeth sucked into it. Seems odd to me but I'll take it as a small win.
So now it's back to getting the cam out. In the process again I find this.
The pushrod for the fuel pump has the end worn off severely, and the lobe on the cam has worn down as well. You see how much the pushrod has worn compared to a new one. Now I'm thinking I have the whole top end open is there any chance there is any further damage from this. I decide to go a head and bite the bullet and pull the heads to see for sure. Well here's what I find.
This is only #1 and 3 pistons as they all look the same. Smiley faces on every one. Seems the exhaust hit 1,7,2,8 and intake on 3,5,4,6. None any worse than this. I haven't looked at the heads but this is livable here.
I start cleaning stuff up to go back together and decide I better look at the cam bearings just to make sure we can put it back together safely. The straw that broke the camels back.
This is the number 3 cam bearing. It has started coming apart. I've never seen one do this before. Usually they are just worn through, but it is coming apart. Anybody seen one do this? Is it just a product of the lack of maintenance, or would the cam gear going bad and the valves contacting the pistons have something to do with it too?
Now I have no choice but to pull it out and start from scratch. I'm hoping now that the crank is okay. I just built a 493 stroker for my 65 Coronet last winter, spending mucho denero, and was hoping to just do some normal maintenance on this and get it on the road. I might have to find a job and go back to work to pay for my toys. Nobody said this hobby was cheap.
See this thread for T stat issue. Rad ID help and T stat miracle
The valve covers had leaked so bad nothing in the front would ever rust, so off they came. Man is it cruddy inside. With a documented minimum 125000 mi I think the oil has been changed 4 times. After a little investigation I find there are several rocker arms very loose. Upon spinning the push rods I see some that don't act right and a couple that might be in contact with the head. This is not good. I pull the rocker arms and sure enough there are 6 bent push rods. 3 on each side. I pull the intake to see inside and see nothing that looks out of order for now. Pop the lifters out and several are dished on the bottom which is probably from lack of maintenance, but no cam lobes wiped out.
So I'm thinking I'll need to put a cam and lifters in it, and some new push rods to get it on the road. In the process of removing the timing cover for the cam, it comes right off with part of the pan gasket glued to the bottom of it. Now I'm thinking someone has been inside of here before. After getting it off I find this.
A practically new plastic tooth cam sprocket with just a little wear. Now I'm thinking new cam sprocket, bent push rods equal one thing. The timing gear has gone out of this at some time. So I do some more investigation with my cheapo borescope camera to see what's in the oil pan. I flush the pan with some cleaning solvent and no big chunks come out so I look inside and the oil pickup screen is clear with no timing gear teeth sucked into it. Seems odd to me but I'll take it as a small win.
So now it's back to getting the cam out. In the process again I find this.
The pushrod for the fuel pump has the end worn off severely, and the lobe on the cam has worn down as well. You see how much the pushrod has worn compared to a new one. Now I'm thinking I have the whole top end open is there any chance there is any further damage from this. I decide to go a head and bite the bullet and pull the heads to see for sure. Well here's what I find.
This is only #1 and 3 pistons as they all look the same. Smiley faces on every one. Seems the exhaust hit 1,7,2,8 and intake on 3,5,4,6. None any worse than this. I haven't looked at the heads but this is livable here.
I start cleaning stuff up to go back together and decide I better look at the cam bearings just to make sure we can put it back together safely. The straw that broke the camels back.
This is the number 3 cam bearing. It has started coming apart. I've never seen one do this before. Usually they are just worn through, but it is coming apart. Anybody seen one do this? Is it just a product of the lack of maintenance, or would the cam gear going bad and the valves contacting the pistons have something to do with it too?
Now I have no choice but to pull it out and start from scratch. I'm hoping now that the crank is okay. I just built a 493 stroker for my 65 Coronet last winter, spending mucho denero, and was hoping to just do some normal maintenance on this and get it on the road. I might have to find a job and go back to work to pay for my toys. Nobody said this hobby was cheap.
Just kidding!
