Technical What if I left a rod slightly loose

I have a 57 235 that has a rattle coming from one rod,its not quite a knock but if I would have kept on driving it I know it would be hammering now. The motor is in my 37 Chevy p/u and not looking forward to pulling the motor since the front sheet metal will have to come off to keep from scratching the paint,so I was thinking about pulling the pan and checking the torque on all the rods and mainly number 2 where the rattle is coming from. If I did happen to forget to torque it. back down after checking the clearance could I just stick another bearing on the rod and put back togather.

 

yep, if the crank looks good.

 

hard to say without seeing it...but it's been done before....

 

I am going to drop the pan and inspect the crank before pulling the motor,I really need to pull the motor so I can remove the head and see what was causing the lack of oil to the rockers at first fire up and to repaint it to get rid of the orange paint but getting lazy.

 

I think you should just s**** it, take it apart and give the good stuff to the restorers and then send the rest on a raft headed for Cuba

 

If the crank journal looks good I would still put one new bearing insert in there just to be safe. The insert is softer than the journal and may be beaten up a little.

Don

 

If I pull the 235 I would be tempted to stuff a V8 in it and then it and the 2 other 235s I have could be shipped to Cuba along with the other parts I can not seem to be able to give away.

 

if you didnt scar the crank you should be ok,with a new bearing. i ran 235s for a long time in my 55 not a v8 but still alright motor.

 

You would need to make sure that said journal is round and not scared.

 

When the motor was at the machine shop the block was bored and the rods reconditioned and the block align bored too but I think the crank was just polished so at worse I will have the crank turned if it has not been turned too much before.

 

Dam man I about choked myself out laughing so hard spit went down the wrong pipe.

 

Hi. I am with you on salvaging the 235. The 57 blocks & heads are considered the best of all the 235 castings so it has a lot going for itself there. If you do not see anything wrong at the crank check the piston pin.

My 46 Coupe is hopefully going back on the road early next week as my mehanic has been lazing around getting everything finished with the new engine, 12 V conversion, new gas tank & a bunch of mechanical repairs. It has a 1957 235 bored 0.060, 264 grind cam, & everything new inside the engine except crank & it was turned. Did hardened valve seats & new valves for todays gas. Equipped with Clifford water heated dual intake with 2 two bbl Webber carbswith progressive linkage, tube headers & lots of chrome & polish under the hood. The rest of the car has been redone original & other than the 2 chrome exhaust tips under rear bunper it will appear totally stock.

My reasons for wanting to keep it an inline 6 is it will never be raced but instead it will be my daily driver & I need it to be able to drive with the traffic on todays highways. It will likely be the ONLY traditional street rod at the car shows & cruises that does not have a V8 engine upgrade & that should work in my favor for crowd appeal. I know it will have more appeal to me. Time will tell on the crowd appeal thing. The engine is painted in original 46 engine grey so to most folks looking at it it will look just as it did with the 216 engine with a few subtle change in things like the placement of the oil filter lines at the block and the location of the throttle bellcrank. I used the original 216 crankcase vent tube to keep original look there.

With this engine & its upgrades it will be a good driver at today's hwy speeds with the 355 rear end & have plenty of power & torque to pull the AC compressor.

Just picked up my new Vintage Air unit this week with heat, cool & defrost & will get that installed next month as I have to put some miles on it first. Then it will be nice driving in any of these dang Texas tempratures & constant weather changes.

Good luck finding the problem. Jimmie

 

The more I think about it I would send the junk parts to the restorers and send the good parts to the Cubans,I am a little irritated at the restorers right now and would rather send parts to people who really could use them so that is what made me think of the people in Cuba and their old cars.

 

Have you started a 'free parts' ad here, yet? I'll go look.

 

This motor had all new parts installed and I hope its not a wrist pin since it has less then 10,000 miles,of all the machine work it got I think the crank was only polished and the more I think of it the rattle has been in the motor since I got it on the road. I initially thought the rattle was in the valvetrain but I went all through it and nothing bad there so I am thinking its either caused by the just polished crank or a error on my part. One cylinder was sleeved and if it came loose I will junk the block and keep everything else and install the 1960 235 I picked up last year,I really want to keep the six but have been tempted to put a V8 in it.

 

**** it, send it to cuba, load the bed up with parts and ship the whole truck.

 

damn, beat me to it

 

Lack of oil to the rockers. Do you have an external oil feed line to the head?

With the stock oil p***ages it can take a very long time for the oil to ozze it's way up to the rocker shaft.

 

No external lines but initially had to grind a slot through the threads on the head bolt to get it to oil,after a few years on the road I heard about the drilled head bolts and found one in a junkyard and installed it so its getting plenty of oil now but curious why it never got oil the first time.

 

No they are not getting my truck,they can have my left over parts and my dark side wants to put a Ford motor in it to really piss off the purists in the VCCA which I am a member.

 

I have the front suspension from my 66 F250 you can have.

 

Alright, fine, proving a point because shipping would cost a *****.
If I had time, a road trip would be nice. And I'd do it too!!
Most generous and thank you for the offer!
Got anything small enough for a flat rate box?

 

...nothing to add to your dilemma but I do like the 55 in your avatar... Care to share any details?

.

 

My dad bought it new and it has a 351-w/C-4 in it with disc brakes and a maverick rear end,as soon as I find a car to put the 351 in I am going to put a Y block back in it.

 

Isn't leaving a rod slightly loose like being a little pregnant?

 

As mentioned above, check wrist pin fit. Also, piston slap is not uncommon on those engines as I recall.
In that regard, you might look intro whether or not the pistons are designed with a 'thrust side'. If so, and a piston was turned around, that can cause a piston to be noisy (slap).

I very, very much doubt a cylinder sleeve is loose. Also, Older Chevy sixes used to have some timing gear noise issues. I think that was with the old style fiber gears when they got worn. As I recall, later models used aluminum cam gears and I ***ume you replaced that during rebuild. Might be worth checking, though.

Ray

 

It has a aluminum timing gear and I think they had a notch or marked to go towards the front if I remember correctly.

 

I like the idea of putting a better Ford engine in it!

 

I have a 351-C but the 37 has a narrow engine compartment so a 289/302 would be much better,if one shows up that I could just drop in and go then it might happen but for now I am going to see if I can save this 235. That 351-c would be nice in a tri-5 but they are not cheap these days.

 

I finally got around to dropping the pan and it needs rod bearings,it looks like some debris got in and scored the bearings but the crank is still good. The upper bearings were down to the copper with only around 10,000 miles which seems unusual but going to order bearings and put it back togather,if it does not last it will be V8 time.