ranman" said:I'm talking cam/lifters, possibly pushrods, plus gaskets and break in oil. I would do the labor. The timing chain only has about a year on it.
My van is old and tired but runs well. A rebuild is out of the question and so is a valve job. I'm thinking of putting a cam in to give the engine a couple more years. The van is a rusty POS, with a lot of miles on it and its just for work. No funds for a newer rig, so this would just be a patch job.
Not a performance cam. Something low lift, close to stock or mileage oriented. No plans to replace the valve springs.......... we're talking cheap and also a cam that would be easy on the (old) existing parts. The #4 exhaust rocker doesn't seem nearly as active as the rest of the rockers... Engine is hot, so tomorrow I'll toss my dial indicator on a few of them to see how bad the situation is....... It looks like the valve is opening about 1/4 of an inch.
The #2 exhaust valve appears to be opening .1"
Doing engine R&R in a van looks like a nightmare even if I could get one for free. I have not even opened the side door on this rust bucket for 10 or more years. I think that's where-n-how you install the engine???
I need another van, but that ain't in the financial plan right now, but Bandaids are, and since it's still running, it's not an emergency till it breaks down. I'm just pre planning and weighing my options right now.
When replacing the rocker seals on the drivers side, I noticed that only 4 pushrods were spinning. I didn't pay attention to look at how active the rockers were.
I have the passenger side rocker cover off now, and this is where I noticed how little the #2 exhaust was moving.
If the valve is only moving .1" or thereabouts....... should I assume the end of the lifter may have mushroomed a little? Will the worn lifter damage the lifter bore much when it comes out?
all the indications are that the cams excessively worn, and all that metallic debris that has undoubtedly resulted is now circulating in your engine,further degrading bearings lifters etc. its only a mater of time before it gets worse, obviously not what you want to hear!
yeah! I know this is not cheap,
or the best time! it rarely ever is.
NEVER RUSH TO BUY PARTS,
think it through, you have options,
thus a total rebuild, or engine replacement is in your near future as one option, but not the only one!
simply installing a new cam and lifters will without any doubt, rapidly result in a second cam failure as the oil passages are full of micro metallic trash, yes you could install a new cam and lifters but I doubt it would last more than 300 miles under the current conditions IF THAT!
yes at some point you'll want to decide if doing the repairs or walking away from the van and finding a new used van is the smarter route! putting the $2000 or so down on a newer van might be a smarter move than getting involved with the engine rebuild or replacement.
You might also want too look into a similar salvage yard engine, pulled from a newer year car wreck, these can frequently be had for well under $1000
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...k-after-a-cam-lobe-rod-or-bearings-fail.2919/
you'll want to pull it down, pressure clean the block after removing the passage plugs and rotating assembly and cam bearings, for a close detailed inspection to see what your dealing with.
don,t pull the damaged lifter(s) up, through the lifter bores as there's an excellent chance you'll crack or score the lifter bore, put the engine on a engine stand with the crank facing up, after the heads are removed, pull the rotating assembly then the cam and lifter will fall out of the bore as the blocks rotated after the cams removed with far less chance of damage to the block.
after you look over the components you'll see if it can be reassembled with new rings,bearings a new cam and lifters as an engine refresh vs a rebuild that will require more extensive work.
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/block-prep.125/
before you start thinking about the cost of a rebuild, let me assure you its generally a bit cheaper, and a bit faster to buy a basic chevy 350 crate engine for $1700-$2100, and yeah you have numerous options , but few in the long run are cheaper than a quick crate engine install.
yes you can buy a new 350-or-383 rotating assembly cheaply, but by the time you get the heads rebuilt and machine work done, to fit that rotating assembly, get it correctly balanced, fitted, clearanced ,honed, decked , new bearings and gaskets etc. its going to cost about the same total and its faster and easier to just swap in a new crate engine
, yes you'll find most of the cheap rotating assembly kits are lacking good quality components and are not correctly balanced, thus the mid range price kits are generally a better long term value so shop carefully, a 9000 series cast steel crank and hyper-eutectic pistons are fine for a street engine, you don,t really need forged
http://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/engine-rotating-kits/brand/scat-engine-components/actual-engine-cid/383?N=4294880931+401106+4294880930&SortBy=Default&SortOrder=Ascending
http://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/engine-rotating-kits
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12499529/overview/
RELATED BUT USEFUL INFO,
several hours reading could save you a great deal of wasted time and cash.
Obviously the cam selected must match the application
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/tbucket-engine-project-dart-shp.3814/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/crate-or-build.11257/#post-50889
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/bits-of-383-info.38/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/tips-on-building-a-383-sbc-stroker.428/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/bare-minimum-tools.11026/#post-48785
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ting-a-grip-on-the-concepts.10532/#post-44678
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ild-a-350-or-a-383-sbc-combo.8310/#post-28891
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ines-budgets-and-those-deals.6624/#post-20986
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/383-street-cam-choice.5988/#post-19550
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...good-street-combo-your-after.5078/#post-14433
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...eries-similar-350-383-sbc-info.519/#post-6077
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/matching-parts-and-a-logical-plan.7722/
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