Valve seals floating in the heads... Where to go from here?

[fatecaptured]

Well the title speaks for itself. I pulled the left (driver's side) valve cover and discovered a lot of gunk and particles. I'm pretty sure thats what it is. Looks like hard rubber pieces. So what should I do? I'm looking for some options here.

Should I pull it and rebuild the whole block?
Tear off the heads and bolt on the redone 906's i'm getting?
Or clean up the gunk and just fire it and see what it does?

Here's some pictures:

 

[68sportsatelliteragtop]

If you got a set of rebuilt heads coming seems like that would be the way to go, assuming the rest of the engine checks out. Is this a running engine in your car, or an unknown piece that you haven't run?

 

[RustyRatRod]

If it's that heavy in the top of the heads, it's that heavy in the intake valley. Pull it and do it right.

 

[Someotherguy]

you aint lived until you find acorns in your engine valley :grin:

 

[lewtot184]

you aint lived until you find acorns in your engine valley :grin:

speed secret?

 

[lewtot184]

Well the title speaks for itself. I pulled the left (driver's side) valve cover and discovered a lot of gunk and particles. I'm pretty sure thats what it is. Looks like hard rubber pieces. So what should I do? I'm looking for some options here.

Should I pull it and rebuild the whole block?
Tear off the heads and bolt on the redone 906's i'm getting?
Or clean up the gunk and just fire it and see what it does?

Here's some pictures:

if the upper end is that sludged up then the bottom end is probably shot. half the oil seals are probably laying in the bottom of the pan getting ready to clog up up the pick-up. i doubt there's any babbit left on the rod bearings. time for a rebuild.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Pretty common to find pieces of valve seal in an engine that has a million heat cycles and sludged up like that. You can also do a leak down before you tear it apart to get the condition of the rings and valves. If it checks out OK you might get away with popping on a set of seals and milking it for a few more miles. I'm thinking you have the classic cloud of blue smoke when firing up first thing after sitting all night? If your eventual goal is to build a nice street engine then I'd milk it along until you can pull it and do it right.

 

[Someotherguy]

I found some pieces of valve seal in my heads also, but they were still under the springs....surprisingly it barely smokes at cold startup...

 

[fatecaptured]

Nice road runner meep meep. Acorns... wow.

Well this is what I know:

The car hasn't ran since I bout it. Seller said it ran briefly when he bought it. When he bought it? I have no idea. No idea if he was being truthful either. Did a compression leak down test. Posted it on here in another thread. Was no good. 110-50 lbs. I figured i'd try and start it. Went through the electrical. Replaced the engine harness, plugs and wires. Went to start it and carb was leaking all over the intake. When I removed the carb(avs 4640) there was no gasket. From a visual inspection I noticed the valley pan has been replaced recently. The radiator was unhooked and there was no thermostat in the engine. I fixed all that. I guess theres no luck for this project. I was thinking pull it. But guess I needed to hear someone else to say it as well. Boo....:sad2:

 

[Meep-Meep]

Yeah, those numbers don't look too good. You might be able to fix it with a good set of heads (probably has a burned valve) but how long before you have to do something else? All that work changing heads in the car for no guaranteed result. Pull it!

 

[Sixer]

That's one sick puppy there. Time to rebuild-rings are junk too, the cam, you'll have trouble finding a good part in there.

 

[65 Plymouth Satellite 426]

That Engine Going To The ...Squirrels?

 

[1948 santa]

If you bolt on rebuilt heads and raise the compression it will leak oil past the rings even more. It's not that uncommon for valve seals to become brittle and break apart on 383 and 440 with HP exhaust manifolds,seen it happen in 20k miles.