Free 383 engines look inside....

[CaveBlazin]

Ok so I had to get yalls attention somehow..
Ok Im gonna try and explain my issues. First as most of you know I just built a 383 she came to life tonight but I had to shut her down soon after. First thing was there is a bad knocking sound like a rod. Is it a rod? what else could it be it sounds deep?? Second is I have oil pressure but for some reason oil is not spreading throughout the engine well, like the rockers were dry when I popped the valve covers. I dropped the oil pan and it seems like everything looks good but what else should I be looking for??? I really need some help I need to get home to my family in TN now I miss them alot!!! Please help any and all suggestions welcomed...

 

[bowtiebstrd]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

[ QUOTE ]
Ok Im gonna try and explain my issues. First as most of you know I just built a 383 she came to life tonight but I had to shut her down soon after. First thing was there is a bad knocking sound like a rod. Is it a rod? what else could it be it sounds deep?? Second is I have oil pressure but for some reason oil is not spreading throughout the engine well, like the rockers were dry when I popped the valve covers. I dropped the oil pan and it seems like everything looks good but what else should I be looking for??? I really need some help I need to get home to my family in TN now I miss them alot!!! Please help any and all suggestions welcomed...

[/ QUOTE ]
come on fellas! spence and i have been working on this thing until midnight every day for the past 4 days trying to get this thing going. the knock is a true knock, not a slap, if that helps, and we're 95% sure it's in the bottom end. we retorqued the rod caps last night, and they were all spot-on. spence noticed what looked like a little rubbing on one of the rods, where it might have been rubbing on it's partner rod.

i'm thinking, because there seems to be very little oil flow, the rods are knocking cuz they aren't getting good ol' lube. what totally mystifies us is we're getting good oil pressure on the gauge but nothing under the valve covers -- i mean those puppies were bone dry!

 

[CaveBlazin]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

ttt

 

[k20]

Did you pre-prime the motor? I know on mine I had to use the oiling tool (drives the oil pump only) for about 20 mins before i ever got any oil to the rockers, but once i did that it has alot at rockers. Also, when i first fired mine i freaked cause there was a grating/knocking sound ,turned out to be the timing tab hitting the balancer.

 

[muddinallday]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

hey guys. this is sean. first off dont start your engine again. if you can pull the oil pan, and spark plugs. take a breaker bar and put it on the crankshaft bolt and turn the engine over with the breaker bar. if the noise is coming from the rods you'll hear/notice them rubbing or hitting. my bet is that when you had the block clearanced for the crank and rods they didnt clearance enough off. check the rod bolts and the bottom of the cylinders of the block to see if its hitting there. if its not then you can check the rod play while your spinning the engine. once all that checks out, put your oil pan back on fill it with oil and go to auto zone and rent or buy you an oil pump primer. take it home and pull your distributor. what it is, is a hex shaft that you put into your cordless/cord drill and then put it into your oil pump through your distributor hole and turn the drill on for bout 5 min. what that will do is make the oil pump work as if the engine is running. you can leave your valve covers off for this test. let the drill run til you get good pressure at the valves. your pump probably has an air pocket and its not going to pump oil til that air pocket gets out of the pump. once you get oil pressure take it all out and button everything back up hook everything back up. DONT run the engine til you get oil pressure at the vavles though. you'll possablly spin a bearing if you do. then you'll be back at square one. hope you get it figured out guys. let us know how it goes or if you have other ?'s /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

 

[clarkjw24]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

I had friend that built one a year ago and sounds like he had the same problem. I want to say that it had something to do with the oil pump touching the bottom of the pan? That caused a knocking noise and limited oil flow. I can't remember how he resolved the issue but I'll find out and post. Maybe a little trimming in the pan or a different oilpump pickup. Thought this might help yall, feeling a little bad Spence if your using the oil pan I gave you. /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif I'll post a definate answer tonight when I get a chance to talk to him. Seems like it was an easy fix.

 

[sandy78]

Once you have primed the engine and checked for interferance with the pan off, rotate it again with the pan on, and see if you get a noise. Not all pans are compatible with a 383. You may need a large hammer to adjust clearance for the big end of the rod. Usual trouble spot is back by the filter. Use the Felpro 1 pc silicone pan gasket if you haven't already -- it will save you tons of time with the pan on and off.

 

[Beast388]

[ QUOTE ]
Once you have primed the engine and checked for interferance with the pan off, rotate it again with the pan on, and see if you get a noise. Not all pans are compatible with a 383. You may need a large hammer to adjust clearance for the big end of the rod. Usual trouble spot is back by the filter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Roger that!!

The stock oil pan that was on my 350 had to be clearanced substantially to work on my 388. I had to rotate the bottom end, find where it hit, persuade it with a hammer and repeat. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

 

[SUBFAN]

Recheck the rockers. usually 1 or 2 need to be readjusted.

Use a piece of clay to measure the clearance of the pan to pick-up....That will not cause a knock though.

Double check the end-play on the crank. Also the rod side clearance. Did you measure the bearing clearances?

Could be as simple as a flexplate or torque converter not being tight.

The oil pan issue sounds like it may just be the culprit. should be easy to spot.

Just a few things I thought of, Good Luck....

 

[CaveBlazin]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

ITS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well after lots of different things like priming the SH!T out of the oil pump and letting all the rockers get nice a oily, now after about 3 hours of adjusting and re-adjusting the timing cause we could not get it right. So after a loooong night of switching out dizzys and coils and well I think you get the picture our last try at around midnight we fired it up with the remote starter. If I had a Graemlin for "shitting in my pants" I'd use it cause we realized that the throttle lever was stuck at half throttle it fired up instantly and got a little loud hehehehehe sorry neighbors(base housing)... Thanks for all the help guys I'll try and break in the cam in the morning and if I still hear the noise(we didnt when we fired it up tonight) I'll try the oil pan idea cause that sounds about right. Thanks /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

 

[Mreetz]

Re: New engine troubleshooting?? Please help

Congratulations!! I need to put my 406 in now, my tired old 305 is knockin at the door..... /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif