Need help, advice, and numbers

-
MeucciGarage

MeucciGarage

Mopars Unlimited Seattle
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
107
Reaction score
7
Location
Washington State
hey guys please dont be mad at me but im in a huge pickle with my truck which is a 73 chevy ck20 and it was this thread or general discussion i figured id get better help here. my truck has been down with bent push rods and between work and school i havent had a whole lot of time to get new rods in and its been to dark and cold when i do have time. my fear is that when i was wheelin last i lost some antifreeze and trail fixed it with water because its what i had and totally forgot about and am worried that water froze and may have cracked the block or atleast the freeze plugs. i am preparing for a new motor even though itll push back my duster progress the truck is a higher priority. anybody know how much an engine rebuild would be compared to a crate motor, have a shop build a motor, etc. please any and all help is appreciated once again plz dont get mad for a chevy post. thank you in advance
 
First, a little education. Your truck is not a "CK" truck.

If it is a 2WD, it is a C truck. 4WD it is a K truck. Sometime in the 80s, that designation was combined into the "R" truck designation.....then in 88 back the C and K.

That said, if you can turn a wrench, you can build a small block Chevy......and cheap. Regardless of what some Mopar snobs might tell you, they are fine little engines and very capable.
 
First you should determine if it really cracked. Anything beyond that is cart before the horse. If some antifreeze was present (and unless you holed the block low down on it there was) the freezing point would be below 32*. How far below depends on the mix.
Chevy 350 crates are pretty cheap. But if you have no cash, a simple replacement used engine will be cheaper if you can find one. They grow on trees around here but that might be different than your neighborhood.
As RRR said - you can also rebuild yours which will probably fall in between the new crate and replacement used pricing.
 
I recently bough a crate engine for a friend and put it in his truck for him.
300+hp 350cu for about 2,300 with no tax delivered to my door and ready to go.
It was an ATK rebuilt out of Texas, had great oil pressure and ran perfect pulling 315hp/325tq on the dyno tune.

FYI, if your freeze plugs are still in the block you are probably ok.
I had an engine freeze and pop 3 of them out and it was still ok.
 
You're in the big block section. Does that mean you truck has a big block?
 
MeucciGarage said:
hey guys please dont be mad at me but im in a huge pickle with my truck which is a 73 chevy ck20 and it was this thread or general discussion i figured id get better help here. my truck has been down with bent push rods and between work and school i havent had a whole lot of time to get new rods in and its been to dark and cold when i do have time. my fear is that when i was wheelin last i lost some antifreeze and trail fixed it with water because its what i had and totally forgot about and am worried that water froze and may have cracked the block or atleast the freeze plugs. i am preparing for a new motor even though itll push back my duster progress the truck is a higher priority. anybody know how much an engine rebuild would be compared to a crate motor, have a shop build a motor, etc. please any and all help is appreciated once again plz dont get mad for a chevy post. thank you in advance
Click to expand...

What bothers me are the bent push rods. Is the timing chain good? Do you know how to adjust the valves? As the rest have said, If it is not leaking water you should be good. Chevies actually cost more to rebuild since you have to do more machine work and replace the more parts. Beware of crate motors, I have seen enough mistakes to make me want to pull it apart and put it back together to be sure. I'd get a good core and rebuild it in parallel so you won't be down long.
 
yes the truck is a big block 454. the timing and everything is all good and got the valves adjusted back to just your basic adjustments. except one rod got snapped immediately when rotating the motor. it was cylinder one. the exhaust valve is stuck open i believe because the spring is fully compressed and didnt move, so i fear that i have a bent valve and worse.
 
Yup - that's what it sounds like... Question is - what bent the valve? Sounds to me like the fastest course of action is replacement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top