"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/08/2016 at 22:19 • Filed to: '71Chevelle
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"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/08/2016 at 22:19 • Filed to: '71Chevelle | 0
| 13 |
As background, I’m the second owner of my Chevelle and have full maintenance records from the late previous/original owner. Both those and my experiences pulling the intake today indicate that this is the first time the engine has been opened up.
Valve covers need re-refinished, with proper prep this time...
I spent all day (minus the time for three trips to the store and half an hour to eat lunch) swapping the new intake in. Upon removing the old (remarkably heavy) intake, I made a discovery.
Why hello there
Why yes, that is the top third-ish of a broken pushrod. None of mine are broken, none look to have been replaced, and all the maintenance records and what I saw today indicate that this engine has never been opened up.
Upon close inspection, you can see where it bent and failed (very hard/brittle). I guess now I can tell people my car came with 16 1/3 pushrods from the factory...
(Yes I cleaned up the crap that fell in when I pulled the intake before closing it up. I don’t think my shop vac liked it).
As a bonus, here’s today’s progress. Need to pick up a fitting for the vacuum port on the rear and figure out how to make the upper alternator bracket work (it misses the hole by like 1/4").
A lot done, a lot to do.
camaroboy68ss
> MM54
10/08/2016 at 22:26 |
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Yeah those cast iron intakes are heavy SOB’s. Also they could have just pulled a valve cover and replaced the broken pushrod. No need to pull the intake even though it should have been done. With that part rattling around in there, could have easy caused some carnage.
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MM54
> camaroboy68ss
10/08/2016 at 22:29 |
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I suppose that’s possible if this was the lower-end of a pushrod, but again I have full records for this car and there’s nothing remotely about it. I’m prettys sure when I replaced the sieve-like valve cover gaskets several years back I was removing the original cork.
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camaroboy68ss
> MM54
10/08/2016 at 22:37 |
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Cant be a lower end. It would have stayed with the lifter and would have had to be pulled out to fix. Also depending on which plant built your motor, it would be next to impossible for a broken chunk like that to come out of the factory. pulling the valve cover and swapping would have been a 10 min job and if the car was new enough and who ever did the work could pull it without ruining the cork.
crowmolly
> MM54
10/08/2016 at 22:41 |
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Looks good! If you blocked the heater hose ports with NPT plugs be aware that they need sealant. I can’t tell if you used it or not.
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MM54
> camaroboy68ss
10/08/2016 at 22:44 |
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Then how/why would the top part of a broken pushrod end up in the lifter valley if the lower half remained in a position such that it could be removed from the top of the head?
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MM54
> crowmolly
10/08/2016 at 22:46 |
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Last time I was at Summit I saw they had thread sealant
in a stick
which I was quite pleased with when using today (zero mess). Used the same sealant on the fitting which the heater hose connects to.
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camaroboy68ss
> MM54
10/08/2016 at 22:51 |
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laziness, what probably happened is it broke on the lope so it was opening the valve, broke then the upper part fell into the valley. You pull the valve cover, and you can stick a pen magnet down and grab the lower part and remove it. The upper half is unreachable without pulling the intake.
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crowmolly
> MM54
10/08/2016 at 22:51 |
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Maybe popped at the guide hole and fell through.
Frank Grimes
> MM54
10/16/2016 at 00:55 |
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Why that intake? I thought my years of reading hot rod and car craft the ultimate is the RPM air gap.
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MM54
> Frank Grimes
10/17/2016 at 12:45 |
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Not a race car & Money is a thing
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Frank Grimes
> MM54
10/17/2016 at 18:39 |
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doesn’t have to be a race car to use a intake manifold that sacrifice nothing and adds more power.
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MM54
> Frank Grimes
10/18/2016 at 16:43 |
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I don’t even want to try to imagine warming up an air gap intake on a 30 degree morning on a 3 mile drive to work. Also like I said, money.
I also just thought about hood clearance, stock hood comes decently close to this intake/carb/1" drop cleaner so there may be issues there, too. I don’t want a different hood, either.
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Frank Grimes
> MM54
10/19/2016 at 01:07 |
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easy just run the exhaust to the turbo under the carb.