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The 2 skull faces are fiberglass. I will install them on the portion of the body located between the door hinge & the firewall. My attention is being redirected to my chevy 327 sb. The engine is supposed to be rebuilt ( remanufactured ). The ability of the 2 rebuilders is questionable. So , a disassembly & a thorough inspection is mandatory. GIT ER DUN !!
 
When i inspected my rebuilt engine , i found a bent push rod & some collapsed hydraulic valve lifters. So ; i will purchase new lifters , push rods & 2 head gaskets. The bent push rod has an obvious dent on its side. Some of the other push rods have rust spots. I also have to correct the rod cap situation. I was told by Leroy months ago , the # 6 rod cap was on the wrong rod cap journal.
 
DonnyRay said:
When i inspected my rebuilt engine , i found a bent push rod & some collapsed hydraulic valve lifters. So ; i will purchase new lifters , push rods & 2 head gaskets. The bent push rod has an obvious dent on its side. Some of the other push rods have rust spots. I also have to correct the rod cap situation. I was told by Leroy months ago , the # 6 rod cap was on the wrong rod cap journal.
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With errors like that, I suggest dismantling it and starting over with a micrometer. Be a shame to put time and money into it only to have it self destruct.
 
The owner of the shop ( Leroy Hunt) Looked at my engine with the intake manifold & heads removed. He said all i needed to do was replace the push rods & valve lifters. I agree with you fletcherson. I purchased the engine from Leroy about a year ago. The engine sat wrapped up on an engine stand all that time. Leroy's son in law Jonathan & his father are the rebuilders of my engine. Leroy has had a repair shop for more than 30 years. By following Leroy's instructions regarding my engine , Leroy is NOW responsible for any unseen damage that may pop up. Since i bought the engine from him (Leroy ) he'll have to make it good. So , if it self destructs , it will be Leroy's legal obligation to fix the problem. Once again , i agree with you totally. Leroy is considered to be a master engine rebuilder by his peers. I now have my doubts about his engine building skills. I expected him to be more thorough. I was raised in a family of journeyman mechanics ( my father & his brothers ). So we'll see how this all turns out. As far as i'm concerned , your advice is right on the money.
 
Among the top reasons for bent pushrods and broken lifters is a stuck valve or valve piston interference . . . .

Wouldn't hurt to pull the valve covers and timing cover and verify that all the valves are free to move, and that the cam wasn't installed with #1 at TDC, on exhaust instead of compression, or something similar . . like using the wrong cylinder for #1

Roll the crankshaft thru a full 720 degrees of rotation with a ratchet/breaker bar, watching and feeling everything carefully. . . . even pros make a mistake once in a while.

Keep in mind that a lot of motors use pressed in valve rocker studs, and if there was enough force to bend a pushrod or damage a lifter, that it could well have pushed a stud up too.
 
DonnyRay said:
The owner of the shop ( Leroy Hunt) Looked at my engine with the intake manifold & heads removed. He said all i needed to do was replace the push rods & valve lifters. I agree with you fletcherson. I purchased the engine from Leroy about a year ago. The engine sat wrapped up on an engine stand all that time. Leroy's son in law Jonathan & his father are the rebuilders of my engine. Leroy has had a repair shop for more than 30 years. By following Leroy's instructions regarding my engine , Leroy is NOW responsible for any unseen damage that may pop up. Since i bought the engine from him (Leroy ) he'll have to make it good. So , if it self destructs , it will be Leroy's legal obligation to fix the problem. Once again , i agree with you totally. Leroy is considered to be a master engine rebuilder by his peers. I now have my doubts about his engine building skills. I expected him to be more thorough. I was raised in a family of journeyman mechanics ( my father & his brothers ). So we'll see how this all turns out. As far as i'm concerned , your advice is right on the money.
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It’s not about being right to me, I just worry about bearing specs, etc, when I hear it was assembled and ran with the rod caps on the wrong rods... were they resized? Were they correctly marked prior to disassembly? Etc... nothing more demotivating than a “Fresh” engine with oiling issues or rattles... personally, I would be very skeptical about it and verify at least to the journal size/bearing clearance and the roundness and size of the rods in question. You’re going to have it almost apart anyways. Then there’s the valvetrain crash... what happened there? Lifters too tight? Timing chain installed wrong? Was it broke in right? Lots of potential heart break if not. Your friend may be a guru but he apparently wasn’t supervising this one, it happens. It’s your project, just sharing my thoughts. I’ve had to pull a few back apart over the years for miscellaneous reasons... not fun! Best of luck, keep us posted what you find.
 
My engine was NEVER ran. The bent push rod had an obvious dent in it. I installed a new oil pump ( because my engine didn't have one ). Also; no oil filter & oil filter adapter. I purchased a new oil filter adapter ( don't have it installed yet ). My engine has a new double chain timing chain ( already installed on my engine ). The valve lifters are still in the engine ; i haven't removed them yet. Leroy said one of them is collapsed. Leroy says the engine hasn't been broken in yet ( it has zero miles since the rebuild ). Johnathan ( Leroy's son in law ) & his dad have a 1967 Camaro i believe they were rebuilding a 1968 Chevy Caprice 327 engine to install in the 1967 Camaro. I think Johnathan & his dad changed their mind & decided to use a stroked 383 engine instead. That's how i acquired the Caprice 327 engine. There has been several mind changes regarding their 67 Camaro ( through the past 3 years ). The 67 Camaro was on a lift in Leroy's shop during those 3 years.
 
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I've been building my project at Leroy's shop for about 38 months. Alisha ( Leroy's daughter / office worker ) is married to Johnathan who co-owns the 67 Camaro.
 
I also believe the push rod was bent before it was installed. The collapsed lifter could've lost it's prime. The lifters may have been used lifters that were installed by the amateur rebuilders. That would also explain the bent push rod. I'll remove the valve lifters next Monday & check their bottoms. If i find any worn bottoms , then i'll remove the camshaft & check it out also.
 
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Well, I sure hope it works out for you. The good thing with first gen sbc is a flat tappet cam, lifter, pushrods, etc won’t break the bank if that’s all it needs. I personally never re use cams or lifters, except rollers, when rebuilding. I have re used used sets but only low mile performance shafts. Still not a fan of doing that. I consider them to be disposable parts when rebuilding, like rings and bearings. Of course there are exceptions like if it was a recently replaced part. The lifter issue is puzzling. They normally are not pumped up until pressurized. They will all bleed down if left dry under pressure from the valve spring. Anyways, keep us posted as you figure it out.
 
I also don't like to use any PREVIOUSLY USED moving parts on a rebuild. However , the rocker arms look good. I will examine them too next Monday (10-4-21 ).
 
The only time I would re-use a cam is if I removed the cam and made notes to which lifter went to which lobe. It's not only if it's worn or not, it's the wear pattern that develop between the lobe and lifter that matter too. Mismatch them and you can be facing rapid cam wear.
 
Lifters & cam shaft are both new. So , i'll just clean the lifters & re - install them. I'll still need a pair of cylinder head gaskets. The engine situation is becoming cheaper to correct.
 
HenrysT said:
The only time I would re-use a cam is if I removed the cam and made notes to which lifter went to which lobe. It's not only if it's worn or not, it's the wear pattern that develop between the lobe and lifter that matter too. Mismatch them and you can be facing rapid cam wear.
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I would only reuse the lifters in the same block they were broke in and removed from. New lifters if in a different block for the same reasons. Lifter bore/cam lobe relation could be different from block to block.
 
Don't forget fletcherson , my engine has never been ran since it's rebuild. Leroy say's the lifters & cam shaft are brand new ( i've been asking questions re: the engine's build ). During an earlier inspection , Leroy said my engine had a collapsed lifter ( which is why i removed the lifters ). I didn't find any collapsed lifters when i removed them & inspected them . I showed Leroy my removed lifters , he told me to clean them & apply fresh pre - assembly lube , then re-install them .
 
Now i need to purchase a complete set of NEW pushrods & a pair of head gaskets. I believe since Leroy & the 2 rebuilders are related, he probably tutored them during their rebuild. This is a very common situation for Leroy.
 
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