Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

you know the drill, time for a stare and compare

old bearing and new bearing

[mini rant] I don't know about you, but I struggle to view these things as bearings, to me a bearing has balls in it, you know what I'm saying, these there things are like shims to me, I just can't wrap my small mind around the concept thats all [/mini rant]

[rusty76]

That really sucks. I hope replacing the bearing helps. Seems I've never heard my old truck not tick somewhere. Lol. My toaster(daily) is just too quiet. But it does have AC.

[Gregski]

well, so I replaced the #4 con rod bearing, did that make the engine ticking noise go away?

NO

my goodness, what is up with Rusty? so I parked it on the street and started drinkin'

[Jake Wade]

Keep in mind the cam turns at half the speed as the crank so a piston or rod noise would be twice as fast as a valvetrain related noise.

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

not arguing with you, but not in California here's a pic I took for you at our local NAPA store today, so with tax and license you're looking at $20 bucks out the door

Yeah, but to get your zinc (ZDDP, actually) up to where it needs to be, you only need to use four ounces. ZDDPPlus is $10/bottle on Amazon, and you only use half a bottle per change. Too much is not good either.

[peabobble]

Wrist pins maybe?

[SkinnyG]

Did you Plastigage #4? That would have been a quick way to rule out or condemn the rod bearing.

I still maintain it's a piston problem; I'm with peabobble.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by peabobble

Wrist pins maybe?

I tried to check those, all I got was the con rod was able to slide side to side on the wrist pin a bit, but it did not have any up and down play, as good as I could tell with it being in the truck

[Gregski]

Gentlemen, could it still be the exhaust header even if the noise goes away when I unplug the spark plug wire on #4?

I am tempted to pull the headers off (at least on that side) and bolt up my old manifolds and see what that does, but if you think its a waste of time knowing that there is no noise with #4 plug disconnected than let me know.

[SkinnyG]

You won't likely feel any up and down play - you need the piston out, and try to rock them.... um... like, rock the piston down while you rock the con rod up - kind of feeling if the wrist pin hole is elongated.

Assuming a piston skirt or ring isn't broken.

[SkinnyG]

Oh. Exhaust leak....... Interesting.

Can you give a listen with a stethoscope or long screwdriver, and see if the sound is coming from the BLOCK, or from the HEADER TUBE.

Sometimes header tubes make a ticking sound, just the speed of the gasses hitting the corner of the tube or something.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Can you give a listen with a stethoscope or long screwdriver, and see if the sound is coming from the BLOCK, or from the HEADER TUBE.

I tried that with both a stethoscope and a long screw driver, and a rubber hose, and my buddies tried it and none of us can pin point where the sound is coming from. I even got under the truck and tried to listen to it from there, still can't tell.

The stethoscope and the long screw driver let us hear the internals of the engine but thats not the ticking sound, also there is no tapping sound from the distributor, no sound from the fuel pump, no sound from the starter, no sound from the exhaust manifold, its so bizarre

actually drove the truck with #4 spark plug unplugged to show my buddy and man the truck sounds so smooth without it, I just wish I had a V8 and not a V7, lol

[Gregski]

well seems like this dude on YouTube has the same problem, and of course the video is abandoned and we don't know what it was or how he fixed it

Piston Slap, Spun Bearings, Valve Lash, Engine Noise Diagnostics

02 Engine Noise Diagnostics

[Gregski]

Man I wish I tested my pistons like this guy is doing in this video when I had my engine out and the cylinder heads out, check it out and tell me what you think

5.3 LM7 Piston Rock aka Piston Slap

[hatzie]

This isn't an LS motor or even a Vortec smallblock like you liberated the heads from. Tolerances were pretty loose on the earlier Gen I smallblocks.

Look in the 1974 service manual. The '70s GM engines were intended to be run on 10W40 and even 20W50 motor oil except at fairly low temperatures. The chart in the 1974 GM service manual says to run 5W30 if the outdoor temps range from less than -30°F to 60°F max. That same chart says to run 20W50 between 20°F to over 100°F.

Sacramento averages 60°F year round... For Sacramento to get below 20°F would mean the apocalypse is fast approaching.
Try swapping to a higher SAE weight oil... Running a good synthetic 20W50 should quiet her down and it will not hurt a thing to use year round. If it's a loose wrist pin it won't change a thing.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

This isn't an LS motor or even a Vortec smallblock like you liberated the heads from. Tolerances were pretty loose on the earlier Gen I smallblocks.

Look in the 1974 service manual. The '70s GM engines were intended to be run on 10W40 and even 20W50 motor oil except at fairly low temperatures. The chart in the 1974 GM service manual says to run 5W30 if the outdoor temps range from less than -30°F to 60°F max. That same chart says to run 20W50 between 20°F to over 100°F.

Sacramento averages 60°F year round... For Sacramento to get below 20°F would mean the apocalypse is fast approaching.
Try swapping to a higher SAE weight oil... Running a good synthetic 20W50 should quiet her down and it will not hurt a thing to use year round. If it's a loose wrist pin it won't change a thing.

ever since the engine rebuild I have been running 20W-50 engine oil with the Lucas zinc additive

yesterday we put brand new 20W-50 engine oil in with a brand new oil filter, the Lucas zinc additive and added the Lucas HEAVY DUTY oil stabilizer, our ratio is extreme for testing purposes of 2 quarts Lucas and 3 quarts oil, its really thick on purpose right now to see if it will quiet down the noise, and it does NOT

[79sierra]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Gentlemen, could it still be the exhaust header even if the noise goes away when I unplug the spark plug wire on #4?

I am tempted to pull the headers off (at least on that side) and bolt up my old manifolds and see what that does, but if you think its a waste of time knowing that there is no noise with #4 plug disconnected than let me know.

Sure, but hard to tell without hearing it. I wouldn't put the manifold back on, I would pull the header and check the gasket around #4. Double sure would be to remove the header and check it for any high or low spots with a straight edge and also check the head around that exhaust port. Hope it is not internal!

[Gregski]

Well, well, well, what do we have here?

Could that be numero quatro?

[Jake Wade]

You need some 1444 Felpro's

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Jake Wade

You need some 1444 Felpro's

Jake I dont think those be the crushable kind, they look similar to the ones i was runnin'

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by chaplain

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[SkinnyG]

[Jake Wade]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Jake I dont think those be the crushable kind, they look similar to the ones i was runnin'

I use them all the time. I am currently running a set on my personal truck that have been on there for three years now, and that's with cheapie flowtech headers.

They fit the Vortec exhaust ports perfectly. They are the only kind that I have used that I would recommend. They are great gaskets with metal reinforcement.

[SkinnyG]

I've had great success with these:

[buffydores]

Just finished reading the whole thing. So glad it's just a gasket. You've done such wonderful work. I can't wait for my kids to get a little older to give me some more time to work on my stuff.