blew up

['68 longbed]

JUST BLEW UP MY TIRED OLD 283!!

well at least a head. what's real bad is i was going to run it up to il. next week to pick up my $4000 thumper motor. and now I don't have a way to go get it!! arggghhh!


spend the money on this motor, then waste it when I get the other motor?

skip the other motor and get a junk yard motor...?

decisions decisions!!!

[Rickey]

Have you thought about getting a GM crate motor might save you a few bucks.

['68 longbed]

were talking daily driver, and not alot of money. I have a great motor but it's 700 miles away.

so far i'm thinking of just getting a junk yard motor. seems to be the least hassle so far.....at least in my head.

[paaw]

Where about in Mississippi r u, where is the motor at

['68 longbed]

basically gulfport mississippi.....but jsut talked to dad , he sold the motor for a measly 1000.00 a couple days ago!!! politely told him he was a flaming idiot that dude just got the bargain of a lifetime.

[paaw]

was in vicksburg this past weekend

[Pumped 68]

How much are you looking to spend on this?

['68 longbed]

sorry pumped , lost track of the thread. had some family arguments about selling a $3000+ motor out from under me for a stinkin' grand.

soooo. out of lack of resources I'm gonna' slap some head gaskets on the ole girl for now and hope it's drivable for a while. I have a pretty little 85 monti with a spent 305 and four barrel carb. I'm thinkin' of robbing the heads off the 305 and getting them rebuilt and putting the 305 heads on the 283 with the four barrel.

I'm under the impression that the 70's 305's have large valves ......anybody see any problems with this set up?

I usually relagate this stuff to a freind who is smarter than me but I'm without resources here, so this is my plan.

longer term plan is to find somthing healthy and try to get somthing close the motor I had. 350, '57 corvette fuely cam, 1:6 rockers , then i might as well keep dumping money in it and change the gears for somthing more highway freindly.

['68 longbed]

confused!!

I finally picked up the truck today from where i left it. filled the radiator, and drove it down the road. doesn't seem to be losing water anywhere internaly or externally.

i only drove it about 10 miles but doesn't seem to be getting hot at all and very little pressure on the cap when I popped it.

the primary reason i figured the head gasget blew was because of the steam blowing out from the valve covers....maybe it was just burning oil smoke???

the radiatior has never had coolant in it only water and until today it's always been clear. today the radiator was basically empty and after filling there is a rust color and a little white foam that is a little heavier than the consistancy of a head on a beer.

the water flow when it's running, and doesn't seem to be boiling or bubbling....

I sure hate to tear into this motor If i don't have to, and especially don't want to spend anymore money on it if I don't have to.

anybody have an idea? or am I just trying to be too optimistic that a head gasket isn't blown?

[masterbeavis]

How does your oil look? If it looks different,(say milkshake like) you blew the headgasket, or cracked a head/block. If the "steam" you are getting from the valve covers puffs as the motor runs, I would strongly lean towards calling that blow-by, from weak rings. If you don't want to tear into the motor to diagnose the problem, you need to do a couple of things. One is do a coolant system pressure test. This will for sure tell you if your cooling system is holding pressure or not. It should be able to at least maintain 15psi. Another test is a compression test. Pin the throttle WOT, and pull all spark plugs(mark wires for easy reassembly.) Your numbers should be within 10-15%, highest to lowest cylinder. You can also do a leakdown test, but if the compression test comes out ok, I wouldn't bother with a leakdown.

What is a thumper motor BTW? I assume for a motorcycle??

['68 longbed]

oddly the oil looks ok and other than the discolor of the water everything looks fine....I'm leaning toward believing the radiator leaked down on me. however it has never shown any sign of leaking before.

my redneck compression test consists of putting it in gear and seeing if i can push the truck....i can...motor turns over with relative ease.

sorry about the "thumper motor " reference. in my world that's just what you call any motor that makes that "rumpity rumpity" sound! ;-)

I'm gonna drive it tomorrow and see what happens. i left it idle for almost an hour today and nothing happened.