Ever drop a valve?

[big d's red67]

Here is what happened when I droped one in my 454.
This is in number 3 cylinder.

[passthebuck]

Ouch...

Were they factory-type valves or some sort of spendy-type valves?

[pritch]

Yep. That's just what they look like. Man, that sucks. Did it tear up anything else?

A few years back, one of my kids (against my counsel) bought this POS square body with great big tires and bigger rust holes. Just rebuilt motor, they said. It lasted about 200 miles and when it went, it went big. As near as we could tell, it dropped a valve-that piston looks just like yours-but the rod is twisted, it broke the cam, crank, head and block. I have seen lots of motors let go, but never had I seen one do quite so much damage.

[big d's red67]

They were stock valves, I think it was caused by a crack in the head that turn in to a big hole that was letting water in the cylinder. It didn't tear up anything else as far as I can tell, haven't opened up the bottem end yet.

[pat 70/71]

Bummer, stuff happens sorry , motor time! I'm sure you will get her taken care of all the best, Pat

[big d's red67]

Thanks Pat, Yep it's motor time never built a big block lots of small blocks, didn't want to do it now, should be fun though.

[stealthy '69]

at least it didn't look like this one, sorry the pic is a little big.

[vectorit]

Yep, in a 1972 Toyota Corona running a 22R. I hated that car...

[GRX]

If it was me, I'd probably replace the rod bearing in that cylinder just to be sure. Hard knocks = distortion. Likely you'll rebuild it anyway.

Never dropped a valve in one of my personal engines but have seen some real doozies in my time. Back in the early 90's Ford Escort heads came into the shop all the time with valves sticking out the side.

[68shortstep]

The "color commentator" at the Nascar race yesterday described dropping a valve fairly well:

"First a little piece breaks off & falls down & hits something, then it rattles around in there a while & hits something else, & finally a big piece comes out the side or the bottom."

I love it when they "talk technical" like that ...........

[JMac11]

Dropped one coming out of the waterbox in a 69 Nova 454, Coasted into the staging beams, was spotting the other car and he turned on the redlight. Limped it to the finishline and collected a quarterfinal paycheck. One valve and a little sanding the piston top and we were racing the next week. Will post a pic of the valve tommorrow, almost unbelievable story, wait till you see the valve.

[stevencvn72]

Not to jack this thread...(I say that a lot) or even site related however, this reminded me of something and I thought I'd share a couple of pics of the engine in my Dad's little bi-plane that threw a rod in flight! Pert near cut the engine in half! Enjoy!

[magicoolbus]

That Great Lakes got a Ranger in it? Hard to tell from the pics, but looks like a 390b?
Hope your dad made it down okay?!

[stevencvn72]

Originally Posted by magicoolbus

That Great Lakes got a Ranger in it? Hard to tell from the pics, but looks like a 390b?
Hope your dad made it down okay?!

Sir you know your planes. Yep, it's got the ranger but wouldn't be able to tell you the model. He was flying along I-5 on his way back from having his fuel cell rebuilt when kabam! Landed in some old farmers hay field with nothing more than a little injury to his pride. This was a few years ago...been up with him a bunch frying the friendly skys with no problems since then.

[LONGHAIR]

Originally Posted by 68shortstep

"First a little piece breaks off & falls down & hits something, then it rattles around in there a while & hits something else, & finally a big piece comes out the side or the bottom."

It may not be "elegant"....but it is accurate.

[cam.man67]

I knew a guy that had the same thing happen to his '87 F-150 (I know, I know, it's 'cuz it's a Ford ), only it punched a hole clean through the piston.

[magicoolbus]

I used to work in an Auto Machine Shop and this was not that unusual to see, most are very suprised that the damage can be repaired. I would suspect that that block will need a sleeve and probably the crank will need to get inspected. Obviously a new set of pistons (or at least one) and possibly a rod or two. Usually the junk from one cylinder makes its way to the others. The head is probably toast. If it just beat up the valve seats, they can be fixed too. Whatever needs to be done, be ready to spend a few benjamins!

[C-10 simplex]

Yes; cyl #4 on a crate 350







i suspect that the previous owner overheated the engine, a crack formed either in the head(hopefully) or in the block, so eventually #4 filled with coolant and hydrolocked?

i still haven't gotten around to fixing it and this is why my truck now has a 305 in it---pays to have a spare engine around.

Originally Posted by magicoolbus

I used to work in an Auto Machine Shop and this was not that unusual to see, most are very suprised that the damage can be repaired. I would suspect that that block will need a sleeve and probably the crank will need to get inspected. Obviously a new set of pistons (or at least one) and possibly a rod or two. Usually the junk from one cylinder makes its way to the others. The head is probably toast. If it just beat up the valve seats, they can be fixed too. Whatever needs to be done, be ready to spend a few benjamins!

1) The sleeving concept intrigues me, but isn't this an expensive process?

2) i hear that iron heads if cracked, just aren't worth reparing?

[magicoolbus]

Sleeve repair is a matter of boring the block, much like for larger piston, but to a larger ID. The sleeve is a cast iron cylinder that is press fitted into the block. There is no worry about it moving as the head holds it in. Aluminum blocks use this method. The sleeve is then bored to match the other pistons. The cost shouldn't be more than a hundo. As far as labor time, I could do one in about 30 to 45 minutes. Some folks are leary of sleeving as there is an undeserved reputation of cutting into the water jacket and junking the whole block. In the 50 or so sleeves I did, I never hit water, I was much more likely to hit water when putting in hardened exhaust seats.

As far as your head goes, on the surface, it looks repairable. A new guide, exhaust seat assuming there's no cracks. If cracked there is options too: I have fixed many heads using cast iron pins. There are lots of doubters out there that this doesn't work or only last a short time, I probably repaired over 200 heads using this technique and never had a come back due to the same crack. Heres the web site of the pins that I used:
http://www.locknstitch.com/ Take a look and see what you think. Your other options for the crack repair is welding, I never did it so I can't comment on its success or cost.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by magicoolbus

Sleeve repair is a matter of boring the block, much like for larger piston, but to a larger ID. The sleeve is a cast iron cylinder that is press fitted into the block. There is no worry about it moving as the head holds it in. Aluminum blocks use this method. The sleeve is then bored to match the other pistons. The cost shouldn't be more than a hundo. As far as labor time, I could do one in about 30 to 45 minutes. Some folks are leary of sleeving as there is an undeserved reputation of cutting into the water jacket and junking the whole block. In the 50 or so sleeves I did, I never hit water, I was much more likely to hit water when putting in hardened exhaust seats.

As far as your head goes, on the surface, it looks repairable. A new guide, exhaust seat assuming there's no cracks. If cracked there is options too: I have fixed many heads using cast iron pins. There are lots of doubters out there that this doesn't work or only last a short time, I probably repaired over 200 heads using this technique and never had a come back due to the same crack. Heres the web site of the pins that I used:
http://www.locknstitch.com/ Take a look and see what you think. Your other options for the crack repair is welding, I never did it so I can't comment on its success or cost.

I agree, sleeves work well. I have had three done and every one worked great and saved the block from the scrap pile.

I have welded cast iron a few times. There is a special filler rod to use that matches the composition of the cast iron so it expands & contracts like the head. You also need to preheat the snot out of the head and let it cool down very slowly after the repair to keep it from cracking.

For the minimal cost of getting another stock small block truck engine it usually doesn't make financial sense to repair a head and sleeve the block on something as common as a truck small block.

I say pick up a good long block, go through it to freshen it up and put all your accessories on it to get you back on the road.

[big d's red67]

Update, got my 454 back from the machine shop today hope to get it assembled this week end and on the dyno by the end of the week.

[TRTDI]

Just did not too long ago. Godspeed little 283.

[QKENUF4U]

ive broke 3 valve springs in my life but never dropped a valve (68 camaro 327 engine) ....

ive lost a section of air cleaner stud down into #6 cylinder and cracked the piston (86 blazer, brand new GM crate motor with 50miles on it) was able to get the peices out of the cylinder and drove it back home to my mechanic (40mile or so).. he told me it wouldnt have been much longer and the piston would have come apart and destroyed the brand new motor....

[pro1955]

I dropped a valve in my superpro car at 7 grand in the lights, it was very ugly. I still have the piston with 2 valves stuck in it.

[powerbench]

My brother inlaw did it to his race truck...truck started popping and farting at about the 1000 foot mark.Got it home and torn it apart, exhaust valve broke off in cylinder number 2 and bounced around for a bit then some how bent the intake valve and sucked or something and found the head of the valve in number 7 cylinder....buggered the heads pretty good and screwed the pistons up quite nicely.