Restoring Rusty

[69heavychevy]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I believe I am, it's the Fel-Pro 1255 part number, and this is what Summit says:

"Designed for GM Vortec, ZZ4, Edelbrock E-Tech cylinder heads. End rail seals are not included. Installation to be done with a bead of silicone at the manifold ends. Dual bolt pattern. No exhaust crossover openings. Not for use on 1982-85 fuel injection. Gaskets fit many O.E. and aftermarket heads."

I was going to use fel-pro ms98000t, but if those 1255's seal just as good i'll use those instead. I like that price a lot better.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 69heavychevy

I was going to use fel-pro ms98000t, but if those 1255's seal just as good i'll use those instead. I like that price a lot better.

That is a good gasket but I think it's only available in a kit, which is pretty expensive if you just want that gasket. Stock Suburbans run them, see below

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Now I had some feedback, so I took it for a spin and Idle mixture was good in the upper 13s, but WOT was rich high 14s sometimes 15s, so I think it's time to go to bigger jets

You mean LEAN, right? WOT should be around 13, and it's an AIR/FUEL ratio, so 14 or 15 means the air is high, which is lean.

Bigger jets is right, though. Adds more fuel, which is in the denominator, so it brings the number DOWN.

For cruise, low 14s is right. What's your cruise reading?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

You mean LEAN, right?

Yes, dope, my bad.

Originally Posted by rich weyand

WOT should be around 13, and it's an AIR/FUEL ratio, so 14 or 15 means the air is high, which is lean.

yes I am shooting for 13s

Originally Posted by rich weyand

For cruise, low 14s is right. What's your cruise reading?

My cruise currently is 16/17 I like it in the 15s especially since I didn't like seeing those white exhaust valves, but you may be right I may need to bring it down to the 14s

just need to relearn what this new(ish) (healthier) engine likes now, and the seasons change aint helping in comparing apples to apples as the cold air is much denser, and I swear Sacramento likes to go from the high 90s F to the 50s F over night this time of the year

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

My cruise currently is 16/17 I like it in the 15s especially since I didn't like seeing those white exhaust valves, but you may be right I may need to bring it down to the 14s

14.7 is the stoichiometric value, in which all the air and all the gas take part in the combustion event. None left over of either. So a cruise in the 15s is OK. 16/17 is getting pretty thin for my taste, but some people like it for the mileage. I aimed at 14-14.5 in cruise, which runs a little cooler, I think, than going quite so lean.

[rich weyand]

One other complication to note. The number of oxygen molecules in a given volume of air varies with temperature. So when it gets cold out, the mixture numbers will run leaner, and when hot, they will run richer.

I have the thermac air cleaner on my truck, so the inlet temperature is always about the same, winter or summer. BUT, when I get on it, the vacuum drop will open the air door and pull in ambient air. So I run my secondaries with an A/FR of about 12.5 in 70 degree F air. In the winter, that number will be much higher when the air door opens, but I don't want to have to swap needles twice a year.

Fuel injection compensates for all of this stuff on the fly. This is just a carb consideration, particularly since you aren't running the thermac air cleaner. Going into the winter, lower numbers now would be better, because they will climb as the temperature falls.

[Gregski]

Status Report: so after rejetting the carb to the 63/67 primary/secondary jets the truck runs better, I drove it in to work today again then ran over to SEARS, but its still lean at WOT, so tonight after it cools off (the engine not the weather, ha ha) we will rejet it to 64/69 the default jets the carb would have come with new

[Gregski]

Well not good fellars! After putting on just over 100 miles on the newly reassembled engine I started hearing a rattling sound coming from the engine. Naturally I can't tell where exactly it is coming from, (I even tried the long pipe to the ear trick)

Sounds like there is a loose nut bouncing around one of the valve covers.

So I removed both valve covers and did not see anything peculiar there. So I thought maybe a rocker is loose, nope. Maybe a collapsed lifter, nope. Well I readjusted the valves just for good measure, and went for a test drive, and the rattle is still there. Cant really hear it when the engine is idling but it increases with RPMs gets faster and louder.

Hmmm sound familiar? I swear it better not be these pesky Hooker headers again!

I'm off to the gym now to blow off some steam, gonna bench press 300 lbs (plus or minus 200, ha ha) when I get back I plan on removing them headers and trying my old OEM stock exhaust manifolds, joy!

[Wide Open]

Wow that sucks
Posted via Mobile Device

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Wide Open

Wow that sucks
Posted via Mobile Device

Yup, big time!

[Gregski]

Well I strapped on my ol' exhaust manifolds back on with the ol' LMC Truck dual exhaust with the generic turbo mufflers and the rattle is still there, so the good news is it wasn't my Hooker headers leaking again, the bad news is we don't know what it is, and it could be ugly, something in the bottom end

[Gregski]

unplugged one spark plug at a time and started and ran the engine to see if the rattle noise goes away and it does not, darn it, tomorrow the oil pan comes off and we take a deeper dive

[harley87ta]

Good Luck.. Hopefully it's something simple

[Marshy]

In your last trip into your engine did you check the condition of the main bearings when you replaced the rod bearings? Did you check the rod bearing clearance when you were there? In most cases people have the crank polished when they do bearings.

I was surprised to see you deglazed the cylinder bores with the crank still in and replace the rod bearings without polishing the crank or check the makings (maybe you did but didn't tell us?). At this point you would have been farther ahead to send the block to the shop to get cleaned up inside and out, had crank turned or just polished and had them put new cam bearings in. Then you'd have a whole new motor. Sorry for the set back, I know how that can be. Knowing which corner to cut can be tricky.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Marshy

In your last trip into your engine did you check the condition of the main bearings when you replaced the rod bearings? Did you check the rod bearing clearance when you were there? In most cases people have the crank polished when they do bearings.

I was surprised to see you deglazed the cylinder bores with the crank still in and replace the rod bearings without polishing the crank or check the makings (maybe you did but didn't tell us?). At this point you would have been farther ahead to send the block to the shop to get cleaned up inside and out, had crank turned or just polished and had them put new cam bearings in. Then you'd have a whole new motor. Sorry for the set back, I know how that can be. Knowing which corner to cut can be tricky.

True but I didn't have $1,500 to spend and I wanted to do the work myself or at least see if I could

[SkinnyG]

Make sure the rod caps were put on the correct way.

The two "tangs" that notch the bearings in go together.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Make sure the rod caps were put on the correct way.

The two "tangs" that notch the bearings in go together.

Yes sir, I payed attention when I took them off and I noticed that there was a sharp pointy ridge or edge on the driver side bearing caps all pointing to the front of the truck and the opposite was true on the passenger side so I made sure I put them back in, in the same fashion, I even double checked after torquing down the cap bolts to spec

[Gregski]

I'll tell you this much I will be pissed and relieved at the same time if I just find my 9/16ths six point socket rattling in the oil pan (I'm looking at you Craftsman you know you love to get lost all the time) ha ha

[hatzie]

Did you change the oil pump while you had the pan off?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Did you change the oil pump while you had the pan off?

No, cause it is brand new I did that about 6 months ago already, new pump new pickup screen etc.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

No, cause it is brand new I did that about 6 months ago already, new pump new pickup screen etc.

Well it's probably not needed then...

[SkinnyG]

These notches, in green. You can see the shadow of the notch on the rod.

Though it sounds like you put the caps on correctly anyway.

[Marshy]

You bought standard size bearings IIRC. Could it be possible the rod journals are already 0.010 under and you bought the wrong bearings? If you have the old bearings check the backside and see if they are 10 under bearings.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Marshy

You bought standard size bearings IIRC. Could it be possible the rod journals are already 0.010 under and you bought the wrong bearings? If you have the old bearings check the backside and see if they are 10 under bearings.

I forgot about that, but I wondered about that too when you bought the bearings and mentioned they were standard size. Did you mic the crank to see if it'd been turned?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

Did you mic the crank to see if it'd been turned?

Of course not, ha ha, this is a dingleberry rebuild, if I was to do it all over again I would have re used the old bearings and just changed the rings, oh well, live and learn