Well folks I called myself getting a 350 so I could take the 307 out my car!!! So I found the motor on Craigslist for $300, went and listened to it for bout 10-15 mins, paid & pulled it!!!!!! It had a lil tick when we first got it started but it soon left and the dipstick was broke off in the block and the hole covered with silicone!!!! So you know!!! I degreased it and put it on the stand to change the gaskets and chain!!!!
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AFTER!!!!!

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So I start tearing it apart, first the valve covers and intake!!!
This is the first thing caught my eye!!!

Holes in intake gasket pan!!!!!
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Intake manifold gasket pan!!!

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So what do you guys think could these pushrods be bent??? Is there any way to check them without taking them out????

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If I wiggle the rockers they will mave a little!!!
Should they be tight???

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the rockers have a specific torque, right?

do you have a rebuild manual with clearances, torque #s, tolerances and such?

I am no mechanic, but I wouldn't attempt something like that with out a good manual

 

No I don't have a manual but I got classic Olds.com!!! Lol

 

spin the pushrods, youl see the bent ones, lifter can be a little loose, just loose enough to spin the pushrods. theyl tighten up with oil pressure

 

That's what I was gonna do, put something straight next to it and spin it to see if it moves away from it at any point!!!!

So you guys know this is my first time going in an engine!!!

 

How far do you want to go. I would suggest going all the way. In the long run you will be happier with it.

 

i would check some clearances at least since you are going to take the oil pan off to fix the dipstick issue possibly? you already have it on the stand nows the time to save yourself a ton of work and have a piece of mind that she isnt gonna scatter the first time you step on it a good shop manual is a good start it will have all the info you need i just dove into a motor myself its not as bad as you think. some plastiguage and some torqe specs can save you a big headache later the valley pan gasket may have been bent to rub on those pushrods but if the rods are bent that bad it should be easy to see. whatever you do make sure you mark everything so it can be put in its original location. a compression check would be a goodthing also though it might be tough to do on the stand .goodluck you came to the right place theres alot of good guy's here with the knowledge to help

 

To be honest with myself, I don't have the money to do a complete overhaul!!!! But I do wanna get it to were I'm not worried about stepping on the gas!!!!!

Took the pan oilpan off to get the broken dipstick out and look what I see!!!



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1 of the pistons looks new!!!!! Is there anything else I should look for???????

 

i would get some plastiguage at your local auto parts store a torq wrench from a friend a manual and check those rod and main clearances you can probably do this for less than a 100 bucks plastiguage is only a couple bucks you would need too mark each bearing cap by stamping them or do one at a time keeping the cap oriented the same way all you do is take the cap off put a piece of plastiguage in and retorq the cap too spec remove the cap and match the width of the squashed plastic guage to the lines on the package too see your clearance some assembly lube would be a good idea the clearance shouldnt be greater than .0035 the bearings are cheap enough its worth checking if the clearance is bad then you would need to check and see what the journel size is on the crank if this motor was never worked on they should be near stock if not it may have been reground and you would need to know this to order the correct bearing size also look for scoring on the crank if its bad enough it will need a regrind i can get the torq specs for you if your in a hurry let me know what year the motor is

 

The motor said 68-72 when I ran the numbers, it's got #5 heads!!! I got a wrench already!!

I got a buddy who is gonna sell me a slightly bigger cam set, I'll have to get the specs!!!!

 

here are some torq specs to get ya started main bearing caps are as follows #s 123&4 are 80ftlbs #5 is 120ftlbs rod cap bolts are 42ftlbs oil pump 35ftlbs rocker arm pivot to head 25ftlbs cylinderhead bolts 80ftlbs your crank main journals should be #1 2.4998- 2.4988 #2 -#5 2.4995- 2.4985 cylinder bore dia stock was 4.057 these specs are for a 350 455s are different saw some blue paint in the pics i wasnt sure

 

Yeah at first sight the blue through me off also, but it's gold under it!!!! I guess whenever they changed the piston they painted it!!!
I put a pencil next to the 3 pushrods and rolled them!!!


Yes they are slightly bent!!!

Can someone please tell me how to change them!!!!

Thanks, Drew

 

Wyze, If your push rods are bent, something isn't right..... and 1 oddball piston DEFINITELY isn't right.
Does it have a different piston dish too?

Hate to say it, but the whole thing has to be torn down , cleaned and inspected through and through.

 

Wyze,

Remove the rocker arms from the cylinders that you think have bent pushrods, and pull the pushrods out through the cylinder head. Roll the pushrods on a glass table, or other surface you are confident is truely flat, and verify whether the pushrods are bent or not.

Are the ones you suspect are bent in the same cylinder that you think there's a new piston? If the pushrods are bent, it could be something happened, like the timing chain jumping, that caused the vales to hit the piston, which bent the pushrods and potentially damaged the piston (why it was replaced). Or the piston was replaced for another reason, and something wasn't right (wrong piston, or timing chain wasn't re-aligned correct) that causes contact with pistons and valves.

But in any event, if the pushrods are bent (any of them) then your only non-half-azzed solution is to tear the motor down, check everything, and do a rebuild. If no machine work is required, then the cost of rings, bearings, and gaskets (which you already need) won't be that significant. If there are a lot of issues to fix and you don't have the money, just pile the stuff in a corner somewhere.

That solution is still better than going through all the work of installing an already broken 350 that completely fails and you have a hunk of junk installed between your fenders.

 

^^^^^^ I feel you on that but if I'm gonna have to do everything to it anyway I might *** well kill it dead!!! Lol



I don't know what a piston dish is??? How do I check the walls????

 

Hey Mongoose what specs should I re tourqe the rockers to??

 

Concaved or have a lower flat area in the center like a plate
Kinda

 

Oh so the dish is the top of the piston??? I haven't took the heads off to see that much yet!!!

 

That torque is in dgreen's specs above.... rocker arm pivots are tightened to 25 ftlbs.

 

Well I changed those 3 pushrods and, put my intake on and painted it!!!!!
It's running great, I don't see why it wouldn't make it until I go through the whole thing!!!

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Well thats good news!

 

Tell me about about it!!!! But there is a problem I notice, whenever I'm really on the gas and let off I get this backfire grumble from them exhaust!!! ( sounds like a belly growling followed by a couple pops!!!!

 

Check your timing.

 

I'm thinking my carb needs tuned!!! This motor is doing everything the one I took out was and the only connection is the carb!!!

 

What carb do you have on there? If it needs a tune, it would run rough, but I don't think it would be so bad it would groan and backfire. If it was that bad you probably wouldn't be able to start it. I noticed that it was originally a 2-barrel and you switched over to a 4. Is that a new intake manifold? Or is it the one off your old engine? Make sure the distributor/plug wires are in the correct order. Check the plugs and make sure the gap is set properly.

 

Yeah it was a new intake and the motor was a 2 barrel!!!! Carb is a Holley
I had the carb on the 307 I took out!!!! I need to recheck the wire order and the model # of the carb!!!!

When I hooked up my tac I started to notice Changing in idle the!!!! Sometimes it's near 0 and others it's almost at the 1!!!!!!

 

You mean the timing at idle was jumping back and forth? It could be a vacuum leak causing irratic idling, which could keep you from timing it correctly. Also make sure the carb/intake are compatible i.e. spread vs square bore. Since it's a bigger engine, you may need to adjust the air fuel mixture to get max vacuum at idle. It's all kind of a daisy chain, one thing effecting another which causes another. You really should get the correct shop manual, it is worth it's weight in gold! It will give you a step by step procedure for checking all this stuff.

 

That manual will be coming in the near future, like payday!!! Lol
I'll be checking Ebay for it!!!

The have one of those Mr Gasket adapters on the carb intake but I don't know if they match!!!
To be honest I'm new to this part of the game!!! I've done most of my work off the net and a buddy of mine, some of you guys may know him from ROP as Olds Thunder!!!
I'm gonna get that manual ASAP!!!

So thanks for the help!!!!

 

You said a bad vac could cause this!!!
Could the vacs not being hooked up properly also do the same??????

 

Absolutly. Just for example, if your distributors vacuum advance is not hooked up, or hooked up incorrectly, that would be throwing your timing off. It should be DISCONNECTED when you check the timing at idle. Then reconnect it when your done. I would search other forums for tips on checking the vacuum for leaks or being hooked up incorrectly. Vacuum is very important when it comes to the overall performance of the engine and can cause a lot of irritating problems.

 

I'm almost sure my vac lines aren't correct!!!! I'll look to see if I can find where they should be, it's only a couple since I switched intakes!!!!
Got in to go home tonight, looked at the gas hand and it was near the Hot!!! When I got to driving I looked again and it was where it should have been!!!!

 

engine looks nice in there young fella

 

When you started driving, how long did it take to become "hot"? Had you been driving the car before that, parked it for a few minutes, then start driving it again? If so, it could be heatsoak on the starter, possible due to the timing being too far off.

 

I don't have gauges yet, but I don't think it was to hot!!!! Well I know it didn't overheat!!
It's to the point I'm gonna have to put it in the performance shop!!!!
It's starting to drive me crazy because when I hook the vac lines up correct the car runs like **** but as soon as I change them around, and I know they're wrong the car runs alot better!!! I ready to start pulling my hair out!!!!!

 

Did you check the timing when you hooked the vacuum lines up correctly? If you have the vacuum incorrectly advancing the timing, and have the timing "correct" then when you hook the vacuum lines up the way they should be, then the timing would be incorrect and make it run like garbage.