So, today sucks. For the past couple months I've had some noise in one of the lifters. I decide its no big deal and figure I'll work on it this winter. Well then the motor decides it wants to have timing problems, if you set the timing to where it will start easily, it doesn't like to ideal once it's been running. So i put on my new fuel pump and fix the timing issues, and decided to have some one who knows much more than me listen to the lifter problem. I start the car and he immediately walks around to the back, puts his hands over the exhaust pipes and tell me I have a dead cylinder. I just stood their stunned, I'm not a mechanical genius but I figured I could tell when a car isn't running on all 8. He starts pulling the spark plug wires one by one and we find that it's cylinder #6 thats not firing, he then says, close the hood and get in. So we drive a few blocks and he tells me that the dead cylinder is the least of the problems and the lifter isn't the only thing he hears, he said the lifter is masking another noise, he said the other noise sounds like either a broken piston skirt, clearance problems with a piston, or a wrist pin making noise. So his suggestion is that i spend the winter tearing the motor down and checking everything as I go and then build it back up. So I'm bummed out today, looks like I'll pull the motor next month and start taking it apart. Or buy a short block and start over new, just thought I'd post this here to get it all off my chest.
Well, the way I see it, it's all about the attitude you adopt. This can be a great opportunity to improve your engine and an awesome learning experience. You can clean up your engine bay and paint it if needed or do other projects that are easier with the engine out. It's all good - just part of the journey I'll be doing the same on my '68 hardtop - the engine and tranny leak oil and tranny fluid like a sieve, so I'll be yanking them out to work on them. But I'll enjoy making my car a little better and the learning experience. Good luck
I absolutely agree that this is a great opportunity. Pull that bad boy out, tear it down, learn about it if you don't already know about the internals, have the machine work done and take your time to put it all back together. You'll gain a wealth of knowledge from doing that. Not to mention the feeling of accomplishment. Good luck
Ya, I've always wanted to run some of the wiring and some of the hoses in a more hidden way. So this will give me that chance. Plus I'll learn a lot about finding problems in the engine by tearing it apart and checking every piece. Who knows maybe this will give me a better chance and replacing some of the front suspenion while I have the motor out and if I can find a good junkyard t-5 doing the swap. I'll just have to see how the finances look, and put in some extra hours finishing our basement over the next month so my wife doesn't kill me.
T-5 swap will be a nice upgrade - do you have a C4 in there now? That car will be a load of fun come spring with a freshly upgraded motor and a 5 spd
I agree, I was expecting to see pictures of a totaled out 67 Mustang. Keep a positive attitude, it could be worse…..
Well me and the wife talked earlier and as long as I'm a good boy and get the basment finished before the new year I can start building my 351 stroker. So I might actually be pulling the 302 apart to sell off the parts. Since I've been planning the 351 build for sometime in the next two years I figure it's a little dumb to maybe drop 1000 to 1500 bucks into my 302 if in two years I'm going to spend the $5000 to build the 351. Talked to my dad today, he's going to bring the engine stand over in two weeks and I'll go rent a cherry picker and we will drop the old 4spd transmission and pull the 302. From their I guess I'll spend the next couple months working late to be able to buy my new parts. Hope to have the build done by April. I'll keep everyone posted with lots of pictures.
