What a morning

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73smallblock

73smallblock

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Came over to the garage to button up a few things on my car. First thing I did was jack up and try and change the oil. I pulled the drain plug out and no oil came out. I got a magnet and stuck it through the hole and there was a metal piece blocking the hole. I started panicking thinking something in my engine broke started looking and figured I could pull the pan fairly quickly. Here's what I found. It's a piece of the windage tray. I had to clearance it when putting it all together to clear the oil pump pickup. Probably wasn't supported very well and probably vibrated and the crank kissed it at one point and broke it off. Everything else inside the engine looks good. No damage to the crank or rod. Thank God.

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WOW! You did dodge a bullet but, Damn... that engine is still sterile inside... the way it's supposed to look! Since you're into it, it may not be a bad idea to pull the tray and look for other witness marks and retorque everything "Just Because"...
 
Holy smokes, you have some great timing on your events
 
pittsburghracer said:
Take that dog gone thing off. It’s doing more bad than good.
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Unfortunately I already have the pan bak on. I pulled it and everything else is fine, no marks anywhere else. I got very lucky with this, probably was like that for a few races last year. Thank God for magnetic drain plugs because that likely saved a lot of damage from it blocking the pick-up or something... I should play the lottery today, lol.
 
Maybe it was bent when fiddling the pump on, that's whybthe counterweight left a nice witness mark on it..and if it has the little cut in it..that's what grabbed and ripped it off, obviously . Glad it wasn't worse.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
WOW! You did dodge a bullet but, Damn... that engine is still sterile inside... the way it's supposed to look! Since you're into it, it may not be a bad idea to pull the tray and look for other witness marks and retorque everything "Just Because"...
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I am a oil big on changing the oil multiple times a season. Nothing has been in this engine other then Lucas break in oil or VR1. I'm actually switching to maxima because I hear it's better oil.
 
Well it's all back together and running, no leaks. Unfortunately I had to use a felpro cork gasket, which I'm not a huge fan of but that's all I could get local. I only had to pull the passenger side header and drag link to get the pan out. Slip tube hedman headers make taking the header off (apart) very easy.
 
73smallblock said:
Well it's all back together and running, no leaks. Unfortunately I had to use a felpro cork gasket, which I'm not a huge fan of but that's all I could get local. I only had to pull the passenger side header and drag link to get the pan out. Slip tube hedman headers make taking the header off (apart) very easy.
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Great job. I hope to be working on my junk middle of next week.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Great job. I hope to be working on my junk middle of next week.
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You're running out of time John. The only reason I was pushing to have mine ready for the first test and tune was all the changes I made over the winter. Different converter, split model leaves and caltracs, spring sliders, and new shocks are going to keep me busy dialing them in.
 
Sounds like you’ll be collecting some good knowledge to pass along. Definitely looking forward to seeing what kind of times your combination runs.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
Sounds like you’ll be collecting some good knowledge to pass along. Definitely looking forward to seeing what kind of times your combination runs.
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Definitely. That's what's great about communities like this, the collective knowledge. Always happy to help out the next guy.
 
If you look at the broker piece it was laying on the pick up tube did someone bend it for clearance ?
 
teringer said:
If you look at the broker piece it was laying on the pick up tube did someone bend it for clearance
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It was not touching the pic up tube. There is a notch in the windage tray for the pick up but needed more clearance so it wasn't hitting the pick up, so I ground the slot making it longer. Imagine that, something from milidon needing modified, lol.
 
As long as you don't over tighten, cork lasts a long time. You were extremely fortunate with that one. Glad there was no appreciable damage. Mine wouldda tore all to hell. lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
As long as you don't over tighten, cork lasts a long time. You were extremely fortunate with that one. Glad there was no appreciable damage. Mine wouldda tore all to hell. lol
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You are right, don't over tighten and you're good to go. I just like composite gaskets better because they are more rigid but you don't get the squeeze like you do with cork. I'm very fortunate that nothing bad happened but I'm sure the 8 quart pan was the largest factor in it staying far away.
 
A thin coat of aerobic gasket maker spread by rubbing it over a sheet of newspaper works pretty well if cork is all you have access to. Permatex Ultra Grey works well, too, spread out as thin as your finger can take it over the gaskets and pan rails before assembly.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
A thin coat of aerobic gasket maker spread by rubbing it over a sheet of newspaper works pretty well if cork is all you have access to. Permatex Ultra Grey works well, too, spread out as thin as your finger can take it over the gaskets and pan rails before assembly.
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It got some right stuff on it just to be sure
 
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