Hi all,
I need some advice from the Rocket scientists out there on my '70 Cutlass vert build. I've got a 1969 455 w/ 'C' heads, which had a little over 60k on it when it came out of the donor 98 (one owner, documented mileage). Ran great before I pulled it, no noises, smoke, leaks, etc., and has obviously never been opened up, so I'm really hesitant to break it down before poking it into the Cutlass.

My question - am I asking for trouble by not opening her up and at least working the top end and replacing seals / gaskets, or do you think it will be ok for another 30-40k? 44 years is a long time...

Also, I know this will not have hardened seats, and have heard conflicting opinions on whether this is a significant issue when running unleaded. This car will strictly be a cruiser (that will get romped on occasionally), any thoughts on this?

 

The hardened seats are not an issue. I would at least replace the timing set and water pump since it will be off anyway. Tearing the top end off while it's in the car is not a big deal if you run into problems down the road.

 

X2. The timing chain should be replaced by 80K miles, so do it now while the engine is out of the car. Removing the oil pan makes it MUCH easier to get the front cover back on, so you MIGHTASWELL put a new oil pan gasket on now too. Inspect the freeze plugs for any that look rusty, but anything else is relatively easy to do with the engine in the car.

 

And since your dropping the oil pan, you can remove and clean the tiny bits of plastic from the old timing gear from the oil pump pick up screen.

 

Good stuff guys, thanks. Maybe go ahead and put a new oil pump in while it's open, or were they pretty solid?

 

They almost never fail.

 

Personally, I would replace the valve stem seals, too.
DW

 

what about a compression check & cylinder leak down....can't hurt while the engine is out.

 

The MAWs are taking over this thread

 

Agree with the above, but remember that for a compression and leakdown test, the engine must be warmed up, which means it must run, which means you need a run stand, so I'd leave that alone until it's in the car.

If you've heard it run and driven it, then I'd just change the pan gaskets while the pan is off, but if not, I'd consider pulling the bearing caps to double check the bearings.

Also, you may want to take the opportunity to check how much rust and gunk is inside the water jacket and give it a good flush with something nasty - we can discuss the best ways to do this if you decide to pull the drain plugs.

- Eric