As some of you will recall, at some point after the initial build of
my engine I somehow managed to bend 4 of my pushrods. It was
determined that I had set the lash improperly. I replaced the pushrods
and all seemed well with the world. I then got the motor started and
broke in the cam. I noted that my oil pressure was reading low during
running. 20-25lbs initially and 5-10lbs at running temp.
During the rebuild of my engine I asked the machinist if I could
reuse my lifters. He assured me that I could if I simply had them
refaced. The lifters were refaced and NOT hardened or treated in any
way. Additionally, in the fitting of larger valves, intake valves as
long as stock were unobtainable off the shelf. As a result, the
machinist fitted lash caps to the stems of the intake valves.
When the pushrods were replaced I noted that the rocker shafts had
been installed incorrectly, with the oiling hole from the "T" on # 3 &
4 facing outward. Thus, no oil was getting to those rockers. I
purchased a new set of shafts and the machinist installed them
correctly. However, when I picked up the valve train I noted that the
#3 intake finger was sticky. I figured the machinist knew what he was
doing and that the finger would break in easily. At some point not
long after this, while driving the car to work, the lash cap came off
of the #3 intake valve stem. I drove the car, not knowing the problem,
running rough for about 20 minutes to get it home. When I pulled the
valve cover I discoverd the lash cap missing and the pushrod bent. I
simply replaced the pushrod and the lash cap, thinking that would fix
the problem. The car had about 35 miles on it at this point.
Sometime last week I noticed the car running a little rough (50+
miles). My first instinct was to check the #3 intake, thinking another
lash cap was gone. The lash cap was still there, but I had noticed the
lash was quite loose, so I reset it. The car ran fine. The car
contiunued to run ok until this week when I noticed that the timing was
jumping around and that again, the lash was off (72 miles). I pulled
the #3 intake pushrod out and found it scored heaviliy. So I removed
the lifter. I could not believe what I found. My lifter was now a
HOLLOW TUBE!!!! The lobe to my cam was destroyed. All the other
lifters were ok except #4 exhaust, which had a bulge at the bottom. I
cannot explain how either failed. My oil pressure problem had been
solved the previous week. I was now running 40lbs at startup and 30lbs
during running at temp.
Naturally, my machinist does not feel that anything he did
contributed to the failure of my lifters and cam. I contend that the
sticky rocker finger was a contributing factor. He contends that my
bent pushrods contributed to the failure even though the engine never
ran with them in or with lash improperly set (it was turned over by the
starter to get oil pressure up only). He also contends that my oil
pressure problem contributed to the failure. I say that oiling to the
cam lobes comes mainly from splash in the pan and drip from up top (he
says there was no drip from up top). I contend that the lifters should
have been hardened and he asserts that 60% of his business is antique
engine and that they resurface lifters every day and do not harden
them. Shouldn't they be hardened and if so, how can I prove that the
shop failed me in this regard?
I do not know what to do. I am not an engine expert and feel as if
I'm being snookered. I would not know where to turn if this should get
ugly and really have no desire to litigate. Still, I cannot help
thinking that I am not entirely to blame for the failure of the engine.
I'm hoping that some of you can shed some light on this failure and
perhaps give me some guidance in how to preceed with the shop. I
prefer that my relationship with them not become adversarial.
Christopher
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:49:07 CDT