I have probably taken apart hundreds of SBC's but this one takes the cake for the liberal use of silicone. Also notice the upside down thermostat. A guy brought this into the shop for me to inspect as he had just purchased it.
That blue glue reminds me of the "Claimer" class at our old dirt track. If you won the Feature, your engine could be bought for 500 bucks. If you refused, the win was negated. So, heads were cut and blocks decked to the max to get the compression up. Fire the engine up and start smearing!!!
GASKET SET! We don't need any costly stinkin gasket set with this NASA inspired rocket science miracle sealing stuff in a toothpaste tube. As far as the thermostat installation.
And he still didn't use enough of it to keep the overspray from his engine paint from getting on the inside of the block!
I didn't take pics of the pan but he used a one piece fel pro gasket and a whole tube of red rtv on it
Proof that the guy who did this should not be allowed access to tools of any kind. That of course would be due to his limited intelligence
not as bad as that flathead Mopar six I saw many years ago, that was back at the machine shop to replace parts...because yahoo owner used enough silicone on the oil pump gasket to plug a passage. The worst ones are the guys who use it on a carb. Every taken a Holley apart where it was smeared on the metering block gasket? that takes the cake
I dont think it was ever actually fired up, it appears whoever built the long block had a clue but the person who put on the sheetmetal and intake didn't
Guess the assembler (term used loosely) worked on the "a little's good, more is better, too much is just right" theory.
I’ve seen this wayyy to many times to count. just had a diesel inline six at the shop for over heating issues by another company 4 head gaskets and 2 exchange cylinder heads. Hmmmm ??? Ok let take it apart n see..... both sides of the head gasket where gooped in silicone !!!! and just like your intake silicone holding the t/stat in place, water pump oil pan etc etc guess buddy thought it was a structural part of the engine ! most newer cars use only silicone to seal parts and spec is a bead 0.30-0.50 mm thick. Essentially a pin prick in the end of the tube and run the bead real quick!! You would think it’s nothing but it seals and lasts .
I remember my dad came out as I was changing the intake manifold on my truck. He saw me laying down a nice, thick even bead of whatever we had at the time. Told me to “scrape that shit off”. Then took over and I was amazed when he laid a bead of it on the China walls, I was about to give him shit, but then he laid the intake on top of it and told me to tighten it down. The things we learn and how we learn them.
I got a "freshly rebuilt" and never run 302 in a package deal. Before running it I decided to open it up and have a look at the work inside. They assembled it with gobs of Permatex #1 (the hardening stuff) on the stamped steel valve covers and oil pan. Removal was nearly impossible without distorting the covers. That was just one of many issues I discovered and this work was done by a rebuild shop ( I have the receipt).
According to Permatex history, in 1936, Bill France Sr. assembled Milt Marion's #23 car's engine using only Permatex products, no gaskets. Marion went on to win the first Daytona Beach road course race. In 1965, Fonty Flock ran a 1965 Galaxy 500 for 300 miles at 101.17 mph with an engine using only Permatex. That's a NASCAR certified run. I've used Permatex 2 on every engine I've built and never had a problem with leakage. Never used silicone, seems awfully messy to me.
I had to pull a transmission pan that appeared to have been sealed with silicone, Turns out it was actually windshield urethane! I had to destroy the pan to get it off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I ran a car in a motor claimer class for several years. About the only gaskets I bought were head gaskets. A nice thin layer of form a gasket to seal stuff, then big globe around the edges of the intake and cover gaskets to discourage would be claimers. Many of the guys running at the top of the class did the same thing. I think the entire class went 3-4 years without a motor claim, and those boys ran hard for the price the motors could be claimed for. They sure were not the "stock" motors the rules required. Fun times! Gene
If the seller says "get gaskets and put it back together when done"...continue If he say's "no problem, get me a big tube of RTV"...walk away
At least if you drop the manifold, it will bounce back up to you. I think they had one of them "run backwards" water pumps, so you can heat the motor up instead of cooling it down.
It's actually a pretty OK little engine other than the last guy who screwed the tin and manifold on it. It appears to have 1990 corvette heads and flat top pistons with a Comp 270H cam. It also has an early 80s vette pan and windage tray. I will post a video of it running after I screw it back together. With maybe way less than one tube of silicone involved, after all I do have to seal the China walls Oh , and the Erson rockers are going in the trash.
About 40 years ago I pulled the engine down on my brother's recently bought mid 70's Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 that allegedly had a 400 in it. He had knocked the bottom end out and my younger brother had helped tow it in to the school shop where I was teaching. We pulled the engine and pulled the pan and the pickup screen was solid full of red silicone. The 400 turned out to be a rather tired 350 to boot. That was my first dealing with red silicone.
The thermostat is obviously for a "reverse flow" radiator! But it must be used in conjunction with a reverse flow water pump! Jon.
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