Well, life for me is never easy - so I guess this is just another day. The
engine in my 58 Plus 4 was meant to have been rebuilt less than 1000 miles
ago. I say was 'meant' to have been rebuilt because the more I look, the
more I see inconsistencies. The latest is that I have started to hear a
'knock' from the bottom end in low gears, when pulling away from the lights
and the oil pressure is low. My oil pressure would drop to around 15psi at
idle but pick up to 50+psi at speed.
I removed the pan this morning and found a couple of things I didn't like
the look of.
One was that the connecting rods and caps are miss matched (according to the
numbers stamped on each, and the numbers do not match the cylinders the
pistons are in. The second is that I (have the car with the front wheels on
ramps) can see a few drops of green coolant inside the engine block. They
seem to be coming from the rear cylinder area somewhere, one is trickling
down the webbing between cylinders three and four, and the other is
collecting on the rear main bearing cap bolt. Is this a head gasket problem
or something else? I did re-torque the head a week ago (supposedly the head
was removed in the rebuild).
Getting back to the bearing caps - what's the best/quickest way of dealing
with this - if I just replace the bearing shells, and switch the caps back
to their corresponding rods, do you think I'll be ok?
Incidentally I checked the oil pump clearances, and I had 5 thou between the
outer rotor and body, and 7 thou between rotors - should I replace it?
(remember money is tight).
Please send me your thoughts.
Jeff
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