Just pulled off the valve covers on my 303 rocket to find a rusty, crusty, wet substance trying to pass itself off as oil! This motor ran last about 3 months ago. Hapened to pull off covers while pulling out the motor and trans. I expected a bit of a clean a reseal, but is this valve train salvageable?? I really want to keep this motor for my build. Any suggestions? Rocket
I might take the poor girl out back and shoot her JUST KIDDING. For a budget deep clean, you could take it apart and do the whole molasses soak technique and see what you end up with. I'd be interested to see what the valley looks like in addition to the cylinders.
you'll be surprised what a hot tank will do to that. Pull the heads see what the cylinders look like might be able just top end rebuild it.
If you take and clean all parts,and keep them in order,and remove from shaft.On the end knock out the plug and clean inside napa has replacment plugs.You should remove the pan and clean screen and any dirt you can remove.Take the intake off and clean valley of dirt.Then put back together and run should be much quiter.Make sure the valves are not stuck.
I don't take old motors apart just because they are old...but in that case, I would take the whole thing apart. All those rust chunks are loose and must have been flowing through every moving part 3 months ago. I can't see the valve springs very well but if they have deep pits, they may crack. The rocker shafts might be rust free where the rockers pivot.
Ya, I will at least give it a shot. The next step is to get it and the trans out of the car this weekend and pull the intake and the heads. I will take them to work so i can clean them up when i get down time. Inside the intake right under the carb was really clean so my fingers are crossed. More pics, enjoy.
That's some crusty rust, there. Hate to say it, but you may have the same thing on the cam, pushrods, etc. as well. It's not fatal- I've saved worse- but if you keep running it as is, you'll ruin anything that may still be salvageable in there. As noted above, flakes of rust fall off and circulate in the oil before settling to the bottom. Bad juju. Sorry, it's time for a rebuild. And as another poster noted, of the valvesprings have pitted, each pit becomes a weak spot where the already-old-and-tired steel will probably crack. Ditch 'em. As for cleaning, it'll depend on the part. The old vinegar trick, sandblasting, electrolysis, they all work, they all have benefits and drawbacks. If the shafts aren't pitted underneath the rockers and stands, they're salvageable- pits on the open portion won't hurt a thing. Doc.
looks to me like an engine that was ran for short intervals (maybe even without a thermostst) and was never really ran up to temp...condensation set in and collected in the valve covers...kind of happens in road draft engines that didn't have PCV closed systems...If it doesn't have water in the oil and still has decent compression on all cylinders...I'd clean things up under the VC's and valley cover..maybe in pan and change oil and filter and run that baby......'course I'm a cheap SOB and ran my '52 303 for a couple years after getting the seized engine unstuck...smoked and burned a bit of oil,it did
Wow! Thats amazing that it even ran! You got to wonder what everything else looks like inside there. Did some body use that as a rain barrel at some point? Kidding of course! I'm with everyone who says hot tank it and rebuild it. YOu've already done the hard work of pulling it out and you would hate to have to do that again in a few thousand or hundred miles. If you do a quicky clean and stuff it back in you're going to be up nights wondering if you should have maybe done a total rebuild. Any strange noises or hiccups are going to get you sweating. And any trips outside your area code are going to be an adventure... thats how I would feel! Good luck!
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