Originally Posted by crash93ssei

Engine started rattling yesterday on my way to Midland, when I got to my dads house, I pulled the valve covers off and found some more loose rocker arms. I tightened them back up, 1/4 turn after there was no more play in the pushrod, and put the covers back on then fired it up. Sounded great, but on my way back home, it started rattling again. When I got home I pulled the covers back off and the same two rockers were loose again. After snugging them back down again, and again, the rattle just kept coming back, so I suspected a couple collapsed lifters.

Today, after replacing the rear shocks, rotors, and pads on my wifes car, I had a chance to look further into the engine in the Cutlass. Pulled the valve covers, intake, rockers, and pushrods off. I checked all the pushrods and they were all perfectly straight, as that was another thing I thought could have been a problem. When it came time to pull the lifters out, the first one I pulled was the exhaust side on cylinder #8 and it just would not come out. I fought with it for a couple minutes before I finally won. At first, everything looked fine and normal, then I turned the lifter upside down and found this....



All said and done, there were four smoked lifters and you know the cam is wiped out, though I have yet to pull it. The heads should be off tomorrow as well as the accessories and water pump. Might have the cam out as well, but we will see how it goes. Should have a new cam ordered by the end of the week, and while this is going on, the Trick Flow heads will go on as well. The springs on the Trick Flow heads are rated for a max of .480 lift, so I will get a cam as close to that as I can get without going over. Not even sure what is out there yet, haven't had a chance to look.

I was planning on swapping the heads anyways in the next few weeks, but I wanted to get everything around before I even tore anything apart. Looks like it will happen a bit sooner then I had expected

Thinking about it now, I might just end up pulling the engine and taking it to the local machine shop for some cleaning and new cam bearings, and check the crank. The engine never did have great oil pressure, but not terrible either, about 25 - 30 psi at idle when warm. Damn good thing I have overtime right now

Originally Posted by crash93ssei

All done!!!

Total cost $1,285

Here is a rundown of what I had done...

Disassemble the engine
Hot tank for cleaning / degreasing
Mag the block ( check for any cracks )
Decked the head gasket surface, just enough to clean it up
Polished the crankshaft
Fully balanced the rotating assembly
New cam bearings, rod bearings, main bearings, and rings
New oil pump and pickup
New brass soft plugs
Honed the cylinders
Comp Cams 280H cam installed ( not included in above price )
ARP rod bolts installed ( not included in above price )
Rods resized after ARP rod bolts installed
All Fel Pro gaskets
I also had them completely assemble the short block for me

Additional cost was about $350 - $400 for the ARP bolts, camshaft, shift kit, trans fluid / filter, break in oil, Valvoline VR-1 20w50 race oil, and two oil filters.

The engine should be painted tomorrow and the installation will begin as soon as the paint is cured enough to handle.


Funny thing is that the engine already had a Comp Cams 280H cam in it, the same cam that I just bought for it. Good thing I didn't go with a smaller cam

The guy that built the engine for me said to expect about 9.5:1 compression and about 350 - 375 hp. I plugged some numbers in camquest ( free program from Comp Cams ) and I came up with 370 hp and 440 ft. lbs. That should be close to what I end up at! I hope the car show in a couple weeks has a mobile chassis dyno again this year... if they do I will be on it!

Originally Posted by "crash93ssei?

These are the heads I have, but mine are about two or three years old - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFS-30400001-M64/

The intake is just a standard Edelbrock Performer intake, but will eventually be swapped out for a Performer RPM or RPM air gap intake.


This is the last pic I took of it, but since this pic I have the headers bolted on as well as the alternator and PS pump. Tomorrow all I need to do is hook up the radiator, header collectors, carb, plug wires, shift kit, then break the cam in. Should be on the road by mid day

Originally Posted by crash93ssei

Shortly after doing this


last weekend, my rear axle started to make some nice howling noises. Last night I went to a friends house and it was sounding really bad, woke up this morning with a mega hangover, hopped into the car only to find it was making some NASTY grinding noises at pretty much any speed over about 20 MPH if I was accelerating or keeping speed. I limped it home and tore it apart.














Needless to say, once you start pushing some power through a 7.5" axle (at least double factory power) and running tires that are over an inch wider and MUCH stickier then stock well.... I guess this is to be expected I already got a ring gear and pinion gear lined up for it, should be back on the road tomorrow.