5.2 in a 68 Barracuda

Well guys - I got the engine in, all wiring hooked up and was ready to test. Turned the key on and no smoke from the wiring. Good sign since I rewired EVERYTHING. So I turned the key to start. The engine went clunk. I already did a thread on this part. Pulled the engine and finally turned out to be crap in number 8 cylinder. Oh, well!

So - the engine is on the stand with the oil pan off and the heads removed. You can probably guess what happens next - the "might as well syndrome". Since I have to buy all new gaskets might as well.......

Then I start researching rebuild kits. Golly, talk about exploring the unknown! These people that supply these kits only answer one question. That question is "How much?". Some of them (shhhh....Mancini) won't even answer that. They say " It will cost about (this much) before shipping". Two out of three didn't bother to reply to my emails. Either they don't really want to sell anything, or they don't want any prices they quote to be in writing. Then I thought - Well, this is a newer engine, guess they haven't put those kits together yet. Oh right, my engines only 14 years old! (sarcasm)

Then I start cleaning and disassembling the valve train. I did well by putting each lifter, push rod, rocker and other hardware in a separate baggie labelled by valve number. Back in the old days, I always just threw everything into a bucket of kerosene!

Not the cleanest engine I ever saw, but 14 years and 160K miles... Not bad.

Then I go through the leftovers from my old, trashed LA 318. It only had about 10K miles since a full rebuild by previous owner. There was a double roller chain and gears. Great! Then I ordered a timing chain tensioner from RockAuto (I love RockAuto). Tensioner, plus shipping was $29 and change.

More to come.....Later