65 Barracuda daily driver
It's been a while. I think since my last post I replaced the intake gasket twice, but finally I'm getting somewhere. I've actually been driving the car quite a bit. There was a coolant leak at the intake and it's possible that that came from the heat crossover block-off plates that I made, but I also took closer look at the intake itself and there was some damage from prying off the intake. Not sure if that was me or a previous owner, but it sure didn't help sealing. I thought about filling it in with some high heat epoxy, but decided to smooth out the surface best I could and make sure there was just enough RTV to make sure it sealed. I also looked a bit closer to where the intake seales to the China wall at the rear of the engine. I abandoned blocking the heat crossover and instead used an Edelbrock insulated gasket (#9265) to remove some heat from the carb and I guess it's also a bit of a carb spacer (3/8" or so). Since there was a bit (not a lot) of coolant in the oil, I took apart every single lifter and cleaned them. I was also recommended to use a thinner oil. So I used a full synthetic 5W-30 Valvoline oil and that seems to finally helped with the cold start noise. It still take a moment until it builds oil pressure and if you listen closely you can still hear a hint of lifter tick, but it's quite the difference. This time I took the valve covers off while priming the oil pump and checked if there was oil coming to the rockers. At first I was just bumping the starter, but was only getting oil to one side. Then I just turned the engine by hand and got oil to both sides. I did not expect it to squirt out like it did... I also replaced the harmonic balancer and the engine runs a lot smoother than before. I replace the transmission pan once again with the newer style Mopar gasket (#4295875AC) and that finally stopped the leak as far as I can tell. Anyways, it runs really good now! I tuned the carb a bit, but I'm only getting 13-14 inches mercury of vacuum at idle. When I put it in gear it goes down to about 10. I don't know if that's normal or if I have a leak, but I will also check with my neighbors fancy digital vacuum gauge.
Anyways, the whole process was quite frustrating, but it looks like the engine is finally running well. I learned quite a bit about small blocks in the process and I'm sure there's a lot more to learn. But at least I can drive the car now and maybe I even get to start on some bodywork and fixing the paint?! Oh yeah, and installing some sound deadener. We'll see...
It's been a while. I think since my last post I replaced the intake gasket twice, but finally I'm getting somewhere. I've actually been driving the car quite a bit. There was a coolant leak at the intake and it's possible that that came from the heat crossover block-off plates that I made, but I also took closer look at the intake itself and there was some damage from prying off the intake. Not sure if that was me or a previous owner, but it sure didn't help sealing. I thought about filling it in with some high heat epoxy, but decided to smooth out the surface best I could and make sure there was just enough RTV to make sure it sealed. I also looked a bit closer to where the intake seales to the China wall at the rear of the engine. I abandoned blocking the heat crossover and instead used an Edelbrock insulated gasket (#9265) to remove some heat from the carb and I guess it's also a bit of a carb spacer (3/8" or so). Since there was a bit (not a lot) of coolant in the oil, I took apart every single lifter and cleaned them. I was also recommended to use a thinner oil. So I used a full synthetic 5W-30 Valvoline oil and that seems to finally helped with the cold start noise. It still take a moment until it builds oil pressure and if you listen closely you can still hear a hint of lifter tick, but it's quite the difference. This time I took the valve covers off while priming the oil pump and checked if there was oil coming to the rockers. At first I was just bumping the starter, but was only getting oil to one side. Then I just turned the engine by hand and got oil to both sides. I did not expect it to squirt out like it did... I also replaced the harmonic balancer and the engine runs a lot smoother than before. I replace the transmission pan once again with the newer style Mopar gasket (#4295875AC) and that finally stopped the leak as far as I can tell. Anyways, it runs really good now! I tuned the carb a bit, but I'm only getting 13-14 inches mercury of vacuum at idle. When I put it in gear it goes down to about 10. I don't know if that's normal or if I have a leak, but I will also check with my neighbors fancy digital vacuum gauge.
Anyways, the whole process was quite frustrating, but it looks like the engine is finally running well. I learned quite a bit about small blocks in the process and I'm sure there's a lot more to learn. But at least I can drive the car now and maybe I even get to start on some bodywork and fixing the paint?! Oh yeah, and installing some sound deadener. We'll see...