Fresh engine, wiped cam? Tick? (new pics added)
Well... I was there when the shop rebuild it, so I'm pretty sure it has 250mi :)
They said it was $1500.00 to tear down the whole motor and rebuild it. they said $500.00 to install a new cam.
I did change the oil and there was like a metallic film floating on top. I didn't think metal would float, but maybe small enough particles would. It just looked like a swirl. Kind of cool looking really. At the time I thought maybe it was just from the cam lube or whatever. It was the first oil change. I looked for bigger pieces of metal, and I used a telescoping magnet inside the oil pan to see if it would pick up any larger pieces, and I found nothing. Nothing large in the oil either, just a swirl.
I would think the bearings would be good? Is there a easy way to tell?
I do have bolt down rockers, and I adjusted them to 20ft lbs. When I adjusted the rockers to 20ft lbs, their was no play in the push rods at all. I will look again tomorrow.
How do I test a lifter to see if they are bad? are they just squishy?
Timing chain and everything is new.
Thanks!
Oh, is it ok to use new lifters on a cam with 250mi? I know your not suppose to switch the used ones around. What about new pushrods? Thanks!
some minor metallic in the oil would be normal for break in on a new engine but its hard saying with out seeing it first hand to know if it was alot or a little.
for a 318 the rocker shaft mounting bolt torque specs are 17ft pounds but 20 ft pounds wouldnt be overly excessive to cause any damage.
if you have a collapsed lifter you will know it...it will tick pretty loud. but to check it manually you will need to pull the valve cover.
if a lifter is collapsed it should drop down a good 1/4 of an inch I think (maybe more maybe less) which means you may be able to grab the pushrod with your fingers and rock it up and down...if you can .....thats no good and you found your problem. you may want to pull the rocker shaft off and manually push the pushrods into the lifters.....they should be hard to push but you should feel a slight squishy feeling to it ....like a high strength spring almost......if you find one that does not give you any squishy feeling,you may have found a bad lifter (either that or a lifter that is just pumped up really good)....best way to tell is to take each one out and inspect it but to do so the intake needs to come off.
as mentioned before checking the valve lash is a good idea.
you can use new lifters on a cam that has miles on it.....its just a good idea not to go swapping parts around that are used that have worn in at a specific location in the engine.....I always put used lifters back in the holes they came from,just like you would always put rod caps back on the rods they came from.
couple questions,were you hard on the engine in the 250 miles that are on it? high revs? anything like that?
and are you running flat tappet lifters? reason I ask it that you may have dished a lifter......which can happen from wear and tear or beating on an engine or running at high rpms.
could be a number of things but I wouldnt go having your engine rebuilt just yet....I would run through the list of things to check and start ruling stuff out.....first things first get them valve covers off and make sure everything looks as it should and inspect torque and lash and things of that nature .....shouldnt take you long to do that....then let us know what you find and I am sure someone will be able to help you get it figured out!
