hey guys been reading up on this board for the last 3 hours before posting. i have a 54 chevy truck with a 56 235 (according to the numbers) possibly rebuilt. the truck had sat for about 4-5 years b4 i got it. got it running after a new fuel pump, points, plugs, rebuilt carb, fresh oil, antifreeze and new coil. i pulled the oil pan to change a leaky gasket the other day and noticed the pistons and cylinder walls look way too clean for a 60 year old engine. however the cam had some wear?!
right now the truck runs but fouls plugs within a couple weeks and backfires sometimes around 3k rpm and has the dreaded flat spot as soon as you hit the gas. oil pres. is right around 55-60 on start up then drops to 30-35 under load and 5-10 at idle. have yet to do a compression test.
another thing i noticed is the truck almost ran dry in oil after 2 weeks. i'm using 20-50 and had just changed it. however there is no smoke what so ever.
i'd like to determine if the engine has in fact been rebuilt first. and i plan on pulling it and freshing it up in the next months. i have a 3x1 offy intake with 3 matched 60's truck rochesters (RP's) to put in and plan on doing dual exhaust with speedway headers, as well as a HEI distributor. what would you guys recommend i do about the current issues and the future freshening?
here are a few shots i took when i pulled the pan plus some others
Make sure the breather is not clogged and check for leaks at both ends. If it's not blowing oil out or leaking it it's burning it. After seting for years things may have to seat and unseat to get back to normal. While rebuild in a can does not exist there are products that can help to reseal and reseat an engine. This is a good looking engine and your performance stuff looks great!
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
any opinions on the cam wear and the cylinder walls? should i swap that cam out when i freshen the engine or are they suppost to look like that? should i have the head rebuilt? if so what specs? should i have it shaved? how much, how about valve job? 3 angle fine?!
i'll switch to 30 weight oil this weekend. there is allot of oil on my tail gate but not 4 quarts which is ended up having to add. so is it all suppost to come out the crankcase breather tube like that?
i'm basically looking for reliability 1st off and a little extra performance 2nd if at all possible
the pictures posted won't give much of a clue as to the cylinder wear. Pop the valve cover while it is running and look to see of there is any obvious cam wear. To rebuild the head, do a search here or on the hamb and you will get tons of info. Those head questions are awfully broad questions for a general "how should this be done" post.
By the time you are talking cam swap and cylinder head overhaul, you are most of the way into a major rebuild, in my opinion
