I went thru my '63 Stude 289 motor that I have in my '49 truck. All of the crank journals, rod ends, cylinder bore and pistons measured out well within spec and the motor came out of a running '63 Lark with good compression. It smoked a tiny bit, but it had also sat a long time. I honed the cylinders, polished the journals and put in a minor overhaul kit which was all new crank, rod, cam bearings. A new oil pump, new rindgs, all gaskets and seals, a new timing gear and about anything else you need to rebuild it. I had the valves reground and new hardened exhaust seats installed. Flushed, cleaned and blew out all of the blocks water and oil p***ages and put in all new galley and freeze plugs. Every since I started it, it has ran like a champ, pulled hard and idled smooth....with one exception, there is a tick. It seems to have become a knock now that the motor has about 500 miles on it. I can not quite tell if it is top or bottom end, but I have adjusted the valves, they are great, and I have 55-60 pounds of oil pressure a R's and 25-30 at idle. Before I pull the motor and tear into it, any ideas on how to narrow it down, maybe even diagnose what it is? It seems to be the worst clatter at about 1500-2000 rpms, no knock on deceleration that I can hear, and a tick at idle. There is no real noise in the upper RPM range, but that could just be because it is drowned out. PLEASE help me figure out what it might be. PS: I had orginally thought it was a rod touching the oil pan because I used a pan off of a 232 v8 that has a shorter stroke, but now I am not sure.
Did you record the piston to cylinder clearance? Often in the old days on a re-ring job there would be a noisy piston. Did you look up in each piston and inspect for cracks? All this and you may be right, it could be a rod hitting the pan if the smaller motor was narower.
If I thought it was a rod hitting the pan I would put my hand it on the pan and see if I could feel it. Or better yet drop the pan and look.
My exhaust head pipe to the exhaust manifold joints on both sides are loose, I do not think that is the problem though, but it might be adding to the overall noise. Bolts are frozen so that will require some attention. I am quite sure it is a rod hitting the pan now. I started it and got under it and I could hear it quite pronounced. I then took a wood block and started putting a bit of pressure on the pan where it seemed it would be the closest to the crank and sure enough, in the same tempo of ticking, it got louder and I could even see the pan pulsing. I pushed a bit harder and I could see a line start to develop in the pan. I hate the idea of pulling the pan, If you have ever done a Stude oil pan, the gaskets and end seals are the WORST. Besides, since my truck is a transplanted V8 there is no way to get the pan out without pulling the motor first. So I am trying to figure out a temp fix since I will have to pull the motor to do a clutch in the not so ditant future. I will do it then. For now, maybe a suction cup dent puller, or see if I can get something down inside of it to tap it out ever so slightly....
Drain the oil, drill a couple of holes in the pan and use a big ol' screw-in type dent puller to pull it out a little then weld up the holes. I dunno...just a thought.
On my 289 Stude the harmonic balancer was not re***embeled correctly, the outer ring only goes on in one position, but alot of guys jam them together the wrong way without all new rubber parts and they knock Big Time !
Maybe weld something to the pan to pull on it. You could even try using JB weld to glue a piece on and try to pull it out.
Got a stud gun? If you do weld a couple studs on the place where it's making contact and pull it out just a bit, then cut the studs off.
That is what I was thinking of trying. I do not have a stud gun, but I have a MIG and a TIG so I was thinking of tacking a piece of angle on it right where it is hitting and pry it down to relieve it and then grind off the angle. Thanks for all of the input and help guys.
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