I am not having good luck with rebuilt motors

I used to be able to take a 100 thousand mile used motor and get around another hundred thousand miles out of it but it seems like I cant get 20 thousand out of a rebuilt motor,I dont know if its the quality of parts or the machine shops not taking the time to do it right. First it was the 235 in the 37 as it developed a noise in #2 cylinder that is internal and now its the motor in the convertible,last year I had a lifter start ticking after start up right after the trip to Florida that went away after it got some oil but now it has a constant tick but made it back from Florida with no problems. I did not assemble the motor in the 55 and before I blame the builder I need to do some checking as I think it might be the cam loosing a lobe,I broke it in right when the oil was loosing the zinc that nobody seemed to know about that happening but would have thought if it was the cam it would have showed up much sooner then after 5 years of driving it. It has another noise with the tick and since it does not go away when each cylinder is shorted so I hope its in the top end but if it turns out to be the cam the motor will be replaced with a used one until I get the Y block built which I will do all the assembling myself and take plenty of time so its done right,since I have plenty of time and other projects to get done this winter so I might try to find a decent running Y block so I wont have to change two motors and get the motor I really want in it. I probably should not have sold my wagon but could not afford to fix both if I still had it.

Hey Jeff,
This post reminded me. Sorry for all the bad luck but were you the one looking for a Y-block truck bell housing? I could look for the post but I'm thinking it was you. I can get one that is on a 292 in a 63 or 64 pick-up. I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure it would have the mounts on the bell. It was supposed to be a fresh motor that had to have an external oiler installed for the top end because the cam bearings were installed wrong. Who knows? I can find out what he wants for the whole truck or just the parts.

If it wasn't Jeff, Speak up!

That was me looking for the bellhousing and might be interested in that motor,I hope the tick in the motor in the convertible is just a bad rocker arm or something simple but it also has another noise that I need to investigate.

I had a 390 that did the same thing on the right bank. Started with a tick on startup that would go away after a minute or so. On the last cruise of summer, it turned in to a constant tick. Pulled the valve cover and found the rocker shaft chewed up on the number 4 cylinder. The oil hole through the middle of the shaft was almost completely pluged. It had also worn the end of the valves a little, put a new shaft and rocker set on, and that seemed to fix it.

junkyardjeff wrote:That was me looking for the bellhousing and might be interested in that motor,.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a driver. It might be stuck. It has been sitting for probably 20 years. My brother bought it and didn't get the title before he payed for it. Before he managed to get the title out of the guy, he lost intrest and moved on to something else. I know he drove it to where it is sitting. I'm willing to bet the keys are hanging in the switch. I had forgotten about it 'till my dad was up at Thanksgiving and we were talking about my putting the 390 in the Merc. He reminded me the truck was there if I wanted to go with a 292. (No thanks )

I'll ask Ed what he will take for the whole thing. Even if you took the bell and front mount that would leave me with a complete Y-block, car bell and 3-speed (not overdrive) tranny. Not sure what I would do with it but it might be a seed for something.

I presume the builder installed all new rocker arms but I heard nothing but horror stories about that shop after I got the motor so when I get the time will pull the valve cover and see whats wrong.

The first thing I did was pull the cover and start the motor, noticed no oil on the number 4 rockers. Turned the engine off and lossened up the rocker shaft bolts, you can slide the rocker over enough to check the shaft. The shaft was toast, along with the rocker arms. Their use to be a guy on ebay that sold rebuilt shafts.

The 55 has a 351-W so if its just a rocker or two it wont be a big deal but the other noise has me concerned and might look for a used motor until I get the 292 built.

Is it a roller motor? I worked on one with a buddy that the lifter roller had siezed up and it made funny kind of squealy grindy sorta' noise. Like to have never figured it out.

It should be a flat tappet motor and it kind of sounds like a main bearing knock,its not a rod since I pulled each plug wire off and still had the noise.

If it's a wrist pin, it will still make noise with the plug wire pulled. It will just change sound a little, because now the rod is not only pushing the piston up, but also pulling it down. If you can slow the RPM down enough, it should be a double knock with the plug wire pulled.

If I can get the lifter tick repaired without too much work I will step up the Y block build and live the noise for now,I will have to check #5 cylinder again since I think it changed a little with the plug wire off but I am not going to waste any money on it right now. When I pull it I will put it on the stand and see what is going on as I would like to reuse it in my 65 custom 500 if its saveable,I bought this motor from Indy mustang and heard nothing but horror stores about that place since buying it. It sucks as I might have two rebuilt motors with a bad wrist pins so I might go back with used motors.

I had a company truck with a 302 that developed a knock that I thought was a wrist pin. I complained about it but kept driving it. Was working south of Birmingham and driving to Nashville every weekend. It ran with that knock for about six months before they got me another truck and sent it to the shop. When it was torn down they found the whole top of the piston broken off at the top compression ring. The shop replaced that one piston and the company put it in the general fleet and ran it for three or four more years.

When breaking in this motor I had 3 plugs close the gaps so it could be anything.

Hope it doesn't wind up like this!