panos

Well after almost a year of waiting and over 8k ,now my 455 has a loud banking sound at the bottom end i thing is a rod gone! im frustrated mad and dissapointed at the same time if i dont burn down the s**t car and decide to fixe it once again im gonna go the 383 way ,im really done with it.

citcapp

Sad to hear that news. Did it just start all of the sudden or slow build up. I understand your frustration and anger. Are you going to pull it and take a look?

nonhog

Man thats a bummer!

ROBZ442

That does suck. I know how you feel. Last week I lost oil pressure in my freshly rebuilt motor after 430 miles. I felt the same way you do but hopefully after a few days it will get better.

Good luck

442scotty

Hope its not too bad...good luck!

442scotty

I had one rebuild go on me right away...couldnt do anything...the supposedly reputible shop closed their automotive rebuild section and my engine had been sitting for three years while I got the body ready. Poor machine work and my fault for not double checking their work...My new 455 was built well and runs great but if it doesnt last a long time Im getting a new Chev crate injected engine next time.

2blu442

Ouch! Sorry to hear of your bad luck

panos

Oilpressure is all good like it was,knocking sound increases with rpm,im gonna pull out the intake hoping for a bad lifter or something,otherwise is got to be a rod pin or piston and that would be the end of the road for me.

panos

I just want to make clear that i dont blame my engine builder for that,he is helping me out as we speak to solve the problem and i would let him build an engine again in a heartbeat! i guess **** happens.

Project Grandpa

Ask the car lots of questions. If there is no noticeable loss of oil pressure, I doubt it is bottom end. Look for a loose or cracked flexplate. Pull the valve covers and look for broken valve springs, bent pushrods, or broken rocker arms. The internet is tough to diagnose noise issues. Just ask the right questions and remember that a no answer is just as important and a yes. Gots to cover all your bases.

442scotty

X2 on the flex plate and rocker arm...had one get a little loose and it made quite a racket and had a rocker break....

MDchanic

A flex plate CAN sound JUST like a rod knock.

When I was a kid I remember my boss got a very nice slant 6 Dodge in with a bad rod knock. Paid $25 bucks for it.
Had me crawl under it with a wrench and tighten up the converter bolts.
Sold it for $500 a few days later.

- Eric

firefrost gold

Can you have oil pressure with low flow from a chunk of crap in the line somewere ?
blocked push rods

507OLDS

What oil pan is on it?Any chance it got dented during shipping,and the crank is hitting it?This will happen with a Toro pan,with the slightest dent in it.Makes a bad noise.

67Olds442X2

Sorry to hear, I feel your pain. Happened to me couple of weeks ago. Check valve train, I had rockers come loose. I eventually spun a rod bearing and the knocking was the piston hitting the head. Best of luck.

panos

Thanks for the tips everyone,im gonna check out the flex plate as soon is stops raining although im almost sure it is not it,since the knocking comes after the engine is warmed up but you never know. Already changed oil 3 times cutting open every oilfilter and all of them were clean.

Brian,i have a brand new 7qt moroso pan with straped bottom end,no dents there.

budgdawg

I feel ya. Built a 454 to go in motorhome and decided to bolt in in a bare chassis and check before the pain of installing it. Glad i did. 30 minutes and it started knocking. I had noticed a spot on the crank that i had polished. Called the machine shop. The foreman that had been doing machine work for 40 years said "I saw it but its fine. Won't hurt a thing". Well, guess what. It was that journal that chewed up a bearing. I've left it in the corner until i cool off enough to get back on it. Don't give up on the Olds.

442scotty

Another thought is the rod, crank bolts if ARP bolts, studs are used...some have to be loosened and retorqued 3 times before they are finally ready for use I believe

Bill in NC

Did you need to re-adjust the rockers after break in? I would def pull the valve covers/intake before I pulled the whole engine. If the upper valve train all looks good, pull the lifters and check for a wiped out lobe. Best of luck to you.

I've done the math on a sbc swap. If you already have a running big block it is actually cheaper to fix what's wrong with it than to do a complete sbc swap and end up with half the torque. JMO.

panos

Already pulled the intake,rockers,lifters ,pushrods out,pushrods seemed to be to long and were slightly bent,my engine builder is sending me new shorter ones as we speak

I know about the sbc BUT is always cheaper on future upgrades/problems since i dont live in the States ,even hear in Sweden there are alot of parts for an sbc to find and are cheaper to fix.Believe me i really want to keep that 455 its a totaly beast but if im gonna need to do any kind of machine job because of a bad rod ,piston or whatever then this is not worth it anymore for instance,only crank polishing hear costs about 800us

oldsguybry

omg , I wonder if this could be my problem with my 350 , I found alot of loose bolts as I make my way around the car....including the exhaust manifold and I noticed loose bolts on the bell housing....cant understand why someone left it that way....I thought the motor was replaced at some point , because the valve covers are blue and the engine block is what looks to be orange under all the sludge (original color of car)....but when i joined this site i think we cleared up that it was possibly the original engine or at least an Olds at that , so im gonna half to check those bolts on the flexplate....do you have to remove anything to get to those ?

panos

Last saturday weather was good so i decided to give it a try with the flexplate bolts,unscrewed the trans and put it back a few in. so i can get to those.Took out the hole thing to check it,nothing wrong there so i went further and took the engine out,remember i had 25psi warm oilpressure at idle,this is what i found cyl.6 rod was totaly gone but all the others didnt look good at all.

panos

The rest

OLD SKL 69

Wow, sorry to see that. Did you send those pictures to the engine builder? Do they have an idea about what could have caused that? What are they willing to do to make things right?

panos

Yes i did send him the pics,but i dont think he looked at them yet.
Well problem is my builder is in the US and im in Sweden,not too much to do there,he is a really nice guy and very helpfull but send an engine back and forth to the states is not possible.

oldcutlass

Sorry to see that happen. I know it sux! Well, your back to square 1. Is there a machine shop in Sweden that can follow directions. If so grab you one of those performance Olds books and carry it and your motor down there and do it there! It would be cheaper in the long run than buying another motor! Since it did not crator, you are way ahead of the game because the you can re-use most of the parts.

Good Luck!

RAMBOW

what were your crankshaft clearances? Stock, or did he have it ground w/ the extra clearance specs that everyone recommends?

what are/WERE the motors specs?

panos

.030 over 455
SRP pistons, 10.85:1
Stock N Crank
Studed and Strapped
Stock rods w ARP bolts
Stock C Heads w 4 angle valve job, 2.07/1.68
1.6 Scorpion Roller Rockers
Erson Hyd Roller 238/246, .584/.592, 110 lsa, in at 106
830 Quick Fuel
Stock Performer w 1/2 open spacer
Hedman 1 3/4 full length headers

465hp/525tq on 93 pump, 11.8-12.0 air/fuel

gearheads78

I think he was more asking bearing clearances.

Any chance the rod bearings were beat out of it from detonation? I have seen some nitrous motors look like that. I know you guys were pushing the limits of pump gas and iron heads.

panos

Not sure about the exact clearances but i know they were on the loose side like they should.
I couldnt see any evidence on detonation neither on the plugs or pistons.

507OLDS

How many hours or miles did you get out of it before your heard the noise?

J-(Chicago)

This one is my favorite. Did any oil even get to this one?


Last time I saw a bearing like that, the 455 motor had low oil pressure, the heavy stock rotating assembly, and was spun up to about 6500.

nonhog

I was excited to see what was new, then I saw the pictures and my heart sank. Really sorry for you. I'm probably with many others that were hoping for a pushrod issue.

panos

Less than 500 miles on it,i had an accel 300+ ignition box with the rev.limiter set to 5250 no need to rev a mild 455 more than that.

Here is how it sounded warm,you can see the oilpressure at the end of the vid. the elektric fan sounds a bit too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSc1WIXFUc

turnpike_cruiser

Any update on this?

panos

Im gonna drive to a machine shop at Mondey and talk with a guy there ,the crank must be turned for sure,also have to check the big end of the rods,especially the one that was tottaly destroyed because when i went to remove tha cap it didnt went smooth so i believe it is out of round,im looking at 1200-1500us +gaskets,that puts me at almost 10.000us and im beginning to regret that i didnt put a bowtie 383 in it.Im a stubbern person but not reach,right now im working overtime at weekends just for this cause

My442

I would let the guy who originally built the engine touch it.

You need to find someone competant.

And, forget going with the cheapest price too.

panos

Believe me,i really want my builder to look at it but as i mentioned before i live in Sweden and my builder in the US Im not trying by any means go the cheapest way otherwise i would buy an almost new sbc here in Sweden with 1 year warranty and be done with it.

J-(Chicago)

This is why everyone goes Chevy.
I'm not sure who is at fault here, or what was overlooked, but I'm very saddened by this.

Those rods are junk now. I wouldn't even run them. Cross your fingers and hope you have a good machinist out there who can safely save your pistons without galling them up or bending them.

It's probably a total loss on the crank too, and the whole motor needs to come back apart to clean all of the metal out of it now. Every last piece and crevice.
Cleanliness is godliness with engines, you don't want a speck of garbage in there.

J-(Chicago)

Who did you end up going with for your build? I remember you looking a while back.