How to Assemble the Front of a Small Block
Damn! I'd hate to have to buy a $40 kit for 2 small pugs. I did notice the back of the thrust plate is machined flat. Does that not seal those lifter galley ends?
Hopefully I can find something that'll work at the auto parts store.
No, In my experience the camshaft thrust plate will not seal the lifter galley.
On the very first engine that my brother and I built when I was 13, the machine shop that did our block work did not put the plugs in behind the camshaft thrust plate. :eek:ops:
I installed the 340 in my 72 Challenger, and started it up. It only had about 25 psi oil pressure cold and would drop below 10 on a fresh rebuild. I pulled the engine out of the car 4 times before finally finding it. :violent1:
After the 1st pull, we found that the distributor drive gear did not line up with the hex drive for the oil pump and chewed it up. We repaired that and installed the engine and started it again. Same thing, barely 25 cold and about 10 when warmed up. :pale:
We were going around asking others what could be going on. Most of the people said that we trashed our bearings when we started it and ran it with low oil pressure. I didn't buy that. :tool:
I finally talked with a Ken Neve who was the head of Mopar Muscle Club back then and he ran a repair shop. Ken was a great mechanic. He told me to make a priming shaft and spin the oil pump and look for oil gushing out of the engine somewhere. Wherever the oil is gushing out, is where we were loosing pressure. That sounds more reasonable. #-o
The priming shafts were not available back then from Mopar, but I had a welding class in high school. (we built the engine and it sat for a few years before I put it in my car as I was 16 now). So I bought an allen wrench and cut the small end off and welded it to a 3/8 steel bar in class one day. So I pull the engine out for the 4th time now, put it on the stand and spin the pump... Nothing... :violent1:
We did not have our big garage built in back yet, and were renting a 7 car warehouse in an industrial strip "mall". So I'm hanging out in the warehouse, and my brother and his friend come by and he sees the priming shaft and drill in my engine and just HAD TO MESS WITH IT. (You know how annoying older brothers can be - monkey see, monkey play...). So he hits the drill trigger and spins the pump. I was standing about 6 feet in front of the engine and a jet of oil squirted out and almost hit me. I freak out and tell him to do that again (he thought that I was pissed and mad at him for a second). He hits the trigger again and the oil squirted out from behind the thrust plate. I yell, "there's the problem..." So I took the camshaft thrust plate off and the galley plugs were missing. :banghead:
The oil didn't squirt out when I was priming the engine, but when he did which tells me that it may sometimes seal them, and sometimes not. I went to the parts store that did the machine work and the a--hole only gave me the two plugs to install, not even offering me a set of gaskets or any money back for his short comings. I changed parts stores/machine shops after that. :finga:
When I installed the plugs and put the engine back in for the 5th time now. (I got to where I could put it together, installed, and started in 17 hours by myself after doing it so many times. - by the way, my main and rod bearings were still good as I suspected). The oil pressure now went to 65 cold start and 50-55 warm. Never had an oil pressure problem with that engine after that. :cheers:
So with the oil not squirting when I spun the pump, and then doing it when my brother did, that indicates that it can also be that way in the car, on and off with the pressure. Now I check every engine for those. After having to pull that engine 5 times, I will never make that mistake again... :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: