looking for ideas on removing this gunk without taking the heads off .i want to avoid getting this stuff deeper in the motor .ive decided not to tear it all down being it runs so well with no issues .thanks

 

If it runs good I'd leave it, till the day comes your ready to freshin it up. If any of it gets stuck down in the valves you'll be tearing it down for sure then . I've seen worse . Just sayin if it was mine and it runs good , drive it .

 

Was thinking the same thing , but was worried this stuff could break loose and clog an oil port .

 

That is from too long of oil change intervals. You can bock off the oil returns, scrape and wipe everything down with parts cleaner and a brush to keep it from getting down into the engine. Just so you know, it will look the same under the manifold. Then change the oil/filter and pour some over the rocker perches before starting.

 

I did plan on replacing the intake with an edelbrock aluminum . This car and motor was sitting since 1986 til I rescued it . I'm sure it looks the same under the intake but I may be able to clean some of that as well.the oil pan will be replaced also. Could i blow compressed air through the oil ports or would I be doing more harm than good?

 

These look a lot better than mine did!
I carefully removed the rockers n push rods and sorted them by location. Push rod holes were corked up.
Then I scraped and brushed the head dry, while holding a vacuum nozzle right above so the loose stuff would get sucked away.
Oil return holes were chiseled out as well.
Lastly the rockers and rods were removed and cleaned in carb cleaner. The springs and rotators I did last with carb cleaner (I did not submerge the rotators). I made sure the valve seals were still fitting snugly before I had removed them so the valve would not drop.
All worked well - here it is in depth...
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post295310
and here:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post317189

 

Thanks for the input everyone . And speaking of oil pans I'm having a hard time finding one that isn't chrome . Would like a stock pan I could paint . Rock auto has one but says dipstick is pass side .there are some high performance ones out there but was hoping to keep it around 100 dollars

 

SHOP VAC

but not while spraying carb cleaner in there.

only whilst hand scraping the goo

 

SHOP VAC for sure.

I can do a pan.

Email me direct I will sell you a pan for $50 plus shipping

Direct email lemoldsnut@aol.com

Larry

 

thanks larry i ended up ordering one from summit at work today never checked the thread till now .i appreciate all the help from you guys .i made an adapter for the shop vac to reduce the hose size and it worked great. rob i checked you engine thread out it looks great i didn't have the confidence in tearing it down that far

 

here is where I'm at so far and thanks again

 

no idea why some of my pics end up sideways sorry :{

 

Nice progress, are you cleaning it up to repaint it and the intake installation?

 

Yes I plan on painting motor installing aluminum intake , new fuel pump , oil pan and water pump .

 

I'd check your timing chain and pull each lifter out of the bores one at a time and check their condition and the condition of each cam lobe while your in there. Also inspect to see if your valve seals are still intact.

 

Clean up as suggested above. If you are doing the oil pan, check the pump pick up carefully for debris. I would also do the timing chain, a lot of the early 70's plastic cam gears disintegrate and end up in the oil pick up, which is obviously bad. After everything is clean as best as you can and assembled, pick up some engine flush and run it through the engine. You can drive around town a few days to let do it 's work, just don't push it real hard.

 

I was thinking about a double roller while I'm in there and will check over the above mentioned . It appears it was apart at least once judging from the marred up harmonic balancer looks like puller marks .

 

hey guys i hope your still with me ,i dug in a little deeper today and found some gunk under the valley pan but not too bad . i pulled a few lifters (no easy way to do that)and they looked real good . my concern is in the pic those two push rods are pitted and were surrounded with a light brown sludge . is it possible some condensation was laying in there all those years or do i have bigger problems?

 

here is a pic of the whole area

 

The outside of the pushrods do absolutely nothing, you can take them out, number which location each one came from. Chuck them up in a drill press and polish them clean with some fine emery cloth. Don't mess with the ball ends. The valley looks clean surprisingly. Pull each lifter (not just a couple of them) and check them and cam lobes, return into the bores they came from.

 

I planned on removing more lifters tomorrow to inspect them they are a bear getting out there is residue on the lower ends of them preventing them from sliding right out. I wondered if that deep pitting on the push rods would effect the overall strength .

 

Probably not, its just surface rust.

 

I got the balancer and timing chain cover off today . Looks good in there has the original nylon style timing gear . Although its a low mileage engine I'm going to replace the timing chain and gear . Hopefully everything goes well putting it back together

 

With the tiny stock cam with soft springs , the push rods will be fine. I have had the same luck with the factory timing sets, others had them so bad, they were lucky they didn't skip or blow up the motor due to starvation.

 

That valley doesn't look bad, I used to work at a service station and some of those valleys looked like someone opened them up pooped in them, then put them back together.

 

It had its share of gunk in there the pic is the after shot but It cleaned up pretty well . Waiting for a new timing chain and gonna replace the two push rods . Have all the rest of the stuff to finish it .can't wait to work on it and not have grease up to my elbows

 

Gravity is your friend here, turn the engine on the stand so the stuff falls out.