Grandfather's 68 SS Camaro.

[JRC99]

Pulled the pan off tonight. I could feel the grit in the bottom of it. I'm very glad I listened to the folks on here and my friends outside of here who told me it needed to come out of the car. Might check one of the bearings tomorrow just to see how bad they're mangled. I know it needs a set regardless (and even if it somehow didn't. I see no reason not to do it).

[Too Many Projects]

May as well accept that the engine needs to come down to bare block, tank cleaned and start from there. That "grit" can hide all over in the block, especially oil passages and come back to haunt you.
How is the new job going ? I assembled Fords for a year too, waaaay back in '72/73.
But I did drive a Chevrolet to work...

[JRC99]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

May as well accept that the engine needs to come down to bare block, tank cleaned and start from there. That "grit" can hide all over in the block, especially oil passages and come back to haunt you.
How is the new job going ? I assembled Fords for a year too, waaaay back in '72/73.
But I did drive a Chevrolet to work...

Job's going okay. It's rough on the body but the pay's good. Call me hardheaded but I really, really don't want to go to a bare block. Afraid I'll never get the damn thing back together if I go that far. Who knows, I'll probably end up doing it.

[BJCHEV396]

Good luck,hope it goes well for you!

[67since67]

Originally Posted by JRC99

Job's going okay. It's rough on the body but the pay's good. Call me hardheaded but I really, really don't want to go to a bare block. Afraid I'll never get the damn thing back together if I go that far. Who knows, I'll probably end up doing it.

Please Learn from my experience with a Chevelle I bought a few years back.

Engine had 800 miles on rebuild, looked great on the builder's invoice, SpeedPro stock 11-1 forged pistons, ARP bolts in re-sized rods, balanced, new vales and guides etc.

Oil came out looking like liquid graphite, sludge in filter. And pan. UH OH!

Bearings were down to base metal, crank had grooves, five rods out of round, loose valve guides and grit everywhere.

After a back to basics rebuild put up great numbers on the dyno and break-in oil came out clean. Runs great and runs to redline with confidence.

Save your nickels and dimes, get a competant engine builder involved, no short cuts, and it will be good for another forty years!

[JRC99]

Originally Posted by 67since67

get a competent engine builder involved,

There we see the problem and my biggest fear. I never hear anything positive about any machine shop or builder, and when I do, they're halfway across the country and or have a year long waiting list.

[JRC99]

I pulled the timing cover. The cam is not a 305H, it's a 300H. Much, much milder than I thought. Compare this to the 305H's .575 lift and .253 duration @ .050 and a 110 LSA versus the 300H. It doesn't look like this grind is available anymore, either, so I'm not 100% sure what I want to do.

[Too Many Projects]

That looks like a nice street cam. If you can swing it, a roller conversion would be the best insurance against cam failure again. I'm sure there is a cam that is close to, or a copy of, this grind, If not others have called Erson cams and had one made.

[JRC99]

There's an NOS one on eBay and I'm really, really tempted to pull the trigger. I'd imagine a vintage, never used one would help circumvent the issues going around with softer cams, no?

[Too Many Projects]

Does the NOS cam have original packaging with a date produced on it ? If it's from the 80's or 90's, one would think it was a better quality product back then.