History: 1978 aspen 225 slant six motor.

I pulled this motor out of a parts car last month. I drove the car home, but only a short distance. It ran, but the carb was leaking badly at the trottle shafts and it had been sitting a long while. No exhaust on the car, so I couldn't tell if the motor was making any bad noises, but I did think it was ticking pretty loud. Inspection showed the the valve clearances were way out of spec, so this could easily account for the noise.

Engine was very dirty, but the balancer had been sleeved and it had a new oil pan gasket, leading me to believe someone has partially rebuilt the engine at some point.

Removing the head revealed a factory style metal head gasket which appears to be origional, so I don't think it was ever fully rebuilt.

Condition: Bores looked really nice! Much less wear than my current block. I bet it's just about right for a motor with 78,000 miles. (that's what the odometer in the car said.)

Problem: I found 3 little pieces of metal in the oil pan. They were thin and soft like bearing metal. I don't think I am mistaken, but I haven't rebuilt a motor in 10 years. (and only 2 in my life) Combined, the 3 pieces were about 1/20 th the size of what a bearing failure would produce. The rest could have been washed out with an oil change and I wouldn't know.

I can't find a spun bearing?? I plastigauged a couple of rod bearings at around .002 in (that looks fine according to the manual, right?) The bearings wern't beautiful, but hardly oil starved or ready to fail. Pulling and shifting all rods did not reveal any noticable bearing damage.

I pulled the #2 main cap to find a beautiful looking main bearing. Journal was 'visually' perfect. It looked so good, that I didn't believe it needed checked.

I spend a few minutes trying to view the cam bearings, but couldn't see any damage to speak of. I didn't remove the cam yet.

I would rather not tear this engine down the rest of the way if nothing is actually broken.

Does anyone have suggestions of where to look next or experience with 'hidden' bearing failures that indicate that I should keep looking?

Am I right in hoping that this is leftovers from a poorly cleaned out previous failure/rebuild. Thanks for your input.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

I've never torn apart an engine without finding some metal flakes in the pan. I don't know where they come from either, but most of the engines I've rebuilt have needed repair because they burned oil, not because they had damaged bearings.

It's also possible the metal pieces were not removed when previous engine work was done.

I have only had one engine with a spun rod bearing and it had no more metalic debris in the pan than others without bearing problems.

If it had a spun bearing you would know it. My buddy spun one in his Camaro and I will never forget that sound. Engine lost all oil pressure and threw a rod.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

this might sound weird, but it could be the end of a dipstick.

don't roll your eyes, I have seen a guy do this.

probably not what happened to you, but I got to laugh remembering it.

I honestly don't know what it was or how long it was there.

Thing is, the motor didn't die, it was taken out of a running car that had rusted away. If there had been exhaust still on the car, I would have heard a bearing knock.

Even with the loud exhaust I noticed that the tapping was very loud. I own 2 other slant sixes, so I am pretty familiar with the gentle song of solid lifters.

I was just feeling it out to see if anyone had -ever- experienced finding a bad bearing (on the second rebuild) that had been overlooked. If it hasn't happened to someone here, it's a safe bet that it's not a common problem.

Now I want to get this block decked. Do I need to pull it the rest of the way down or can they deck with the crank and pistons still installed?

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

Paul, The block Needs to be completley Bare No pistons, crank anything.

I just went throught that During the winter.


Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

its usually common practice to have the block hot tanked before decking, so yes, take her all apart.

If this thing had a bad bearing you WOULD know it... I owned a 73 dart once, had a rod knocking... I have never heard one louder.. don't know why, but it was just unbelieveably loud... deep heavy metal pounding sound... Funny thing is it actually ran fine..

I bought it for the body, I drove it a while.. it would overheat to the point that you could hear the oil FRYING.... it would sieze up... let it cool back down.. it would fire right back up... continuing the amazing racket. You could hear it knocking from 100 feet away.

The 225 is almost indestructible.....


Haven't you ever seen that Duralube commercial???.. You know the one where they pour sand in the valves, and the use the fire hose... If you look closely you will see it is a 225... I did notice that there is a mystery line going to the oil filter area mabye qan external oil source... I am not saying that DuraLube does anything good.. only saying that if you are going to abuse and engine the way they did... the 225 would be a good choice

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Stock 75 Duster 109K. Working on Turbo setup.

I recall spinning a bearing on the interstate in my 72 dart about 10 years ago. Now that you mention it, it was an unmistakeable sound! Now that I think of it, much louder and distinct than even a missing exhaust would hide.

I don't think this is the block that will get torn down and hot tanked. This one is going in to drive/enjoy until time and money allow me to rebuild the earlier steel crank motor which I have in storage.

Time will tell how good of a decision it is.

Thanks for the help guys. Engine swap in about 3 weeks if we can resolve the lawsuit with my wifes LEMON.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

An even more unforgettable sound is that 305 chunking a rod through the side of the block after it lost oil pressure. Me and three other people were in the car when this happened and we were going 80 MPH when all of a sudden clack clack clunk clunk clunk screee BLAM!

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

I know slants are tough as a friend had #5 rod come out the side of the block and was still able to drive it home (about 3 miles), albeit with a VERY Hellacious racket from under the hood. I've had a rod knocking in a slant and it's a very distinctive sound that increased as the RPMs increased.

[quote="65 Dartman"]I know slants are tough.


That 305 Chevy sure as hell wasn't.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2