watson

A few weeks ago I posted about a sudden loss of oil pressure on my 67 427/400 engine. Well I finally got the motor out and apart and I know what happened. It seems that a keeper wire inside one of my intake lifters failed. The lifter stayed together because the push rod held in in place. However, the wire keeper worked it's way into the oil pump. It really tore up the gears in the pump and ultimately parts of it got stuck in the relief valve. The stuck relief valve was the cause of the oil pressure problem. The metal that I found in the oil filter and bearings came from the gears in the oil pump. The end result is that I need a lifters, crankshaft, bearings, and an oil pump. I guess that it could have been a lot worse, but this will be the fourth engine in this car in 2,000 miles. Each time it comes out and goes back in there is a risk of damage to my nice paint and engine compartment. Let's hope that it lasts a little longer next time. Thanks to all who offered good advice, this group is always a big help.

Doc

66jack

Well that sucks...what was the cause of the other 3 engine 'deaths'..

Nowhere Man

Well that's good and bad news. Good news is the parts list is short and easy to repair. Bad news you have the engine out of the car and tore apart.

MikeM

Four engines in 2000 miles?

63Corvette

I concur??????????????????????????????

watson

The first engine was my fault. As part of the original build, I replaced the intake manifold with what I felt was a better one than what came with the car. What I did not know was that it had been glass bead blasted. I thought that I had cleaned it well, but when the engine got hot some of the glass beads came out of the aluminum and contaminated the oil. Being a bit gun shy, I had a local race shop build the second engine. It was clean and pretty, but it seized after 60 miles. We discovered that the guy who did the installation tried to fill the cooling system through the radiator cap. He later admitted that he only put in one gallon of coolant. I was driving the car home from the shop and the temp gauge showed 180 degrees when it seized. I guess the gauge was reading air and not water in the system. The engine builder then built engine three on his dime. That was the one that just failed at 1,500 miles. I do have to wonder just who I pissed off and how long before the next shoe drops. I just built a new 327 for my 65 project. I hope that this stuff is not contagious and the 67 problems do not spread to the 65.

Doc

cardo0

Sorry to read of your loss. I guess its better to share it than not. Now i can understand why the serious racing builders use magnets epoxied to the lifter valley and screen epoxied over the lifter valley drains. To bad that piece was small enough to make its way past the oil pick up screen.

Hopefully u can salvage most of the parts for a rebuild.

My sympathies and good luck.

Viet Nam Vett

Here's my surprise...Started the 502 up one day outside the garage... I heard a Clacking sound coming from the valve covers. Looked at my oil pressure gauge it said ..Your Screwed.. No Oil Pressure.

Shut down the motor within 30 seconds. No damage after #1 Journal inspection...(Mobile 1) ... 10 bazillion GM motors over the years with the nylon collar.. Mine let go and the drive shaft walked off the edge of the drive slot and sheered the drive on the pump.

DansYellow66

I've always heard those nylon collars can fail - and here it happened.

DansYellow66

This is kind of like auto CSI. Interesting for us to read about but I know it must be terribly frustrating. Good luck.

LSUvetteguy

Those could have been pictures of my BB oil pump shaft. I was on the interstate when the collar let go and had to drive for over two minutes to stop safely. No more nylon collars for me.

GTOguy

I'll chime in by saying that parts failures like the lifter of the OP and camshaft failures, etc. are common today with new, off-shore parts. The OEM USA made original stuff lasts for years and many, many miles without failure. As long as we keep buying the off-shore crap, they will keep making it. NO reason to have a lifter clip fail and destroy an engine in 2000 miles. As for bead blasting, it's great for bumper brackets and brake drums. Not so much for engine parts...or anything else you want to keep the integrity of.

Bluestripe67

Sorry to hear of these failures. In Watsons case I would wonder about the make/quality etc of the failed lifter. I realize that our forum is a small window on the performance engine world, and I don't recall any failures of this specific type being discussed, so this type of mechanical failure doesn't seem too be common. Race engines are another type of animal. Dennis

Viet Nam Vett

Yep from what I Hear It's rare but it can happen even with all those GM Motors going "Back In The Day" Till now...Ticking time bomb for cars that sit. That collar dries out.

My Vette was out of service for a year getting painted and that collar dried out and became brittle. Replaced it with the Steel oil pump drive shaft with steel collar made on to the shaft by "ARP".

A drag racer's must.

GTOguy

Yep. Pretty much ANY old plastic/nylon component will get brittle from age and will fail. Remember, these cars were originally built to last 5-8 years. Helped a friend reseal an original '69 GTO engine a couple of months ago, with only 60k on the clock, and saw my first nylon timing gears in about 30 years.....and every tooth was cracked and about to shear off. The chain itself wasn't even loose. Plastic+Age= Bad Ju Ju.

Westlotorn

With the damage seen on the Oil Pump shaft pictured I would tear the pump down. I bet you will find something between the gears that caused the shaft to shear.

In the last 30 years I have seen many oil pumps locked up by misc parts coming loose or getting into an engine. Most common were the lifter keepers, saw that one several times another is valve stem seals. They break up in chunks when they fail and many of those chunks end up in the oil pump. Most times the pump gears will have small dents where the gears lock and if you clean them and file any high spots they are good as new.
Always inspect the pressure relief valve.

The failure related to bead blasting unfortunately is very common also. Guys will sand blast or bead blast a intake manifold but not wash it with warm soap and water to remove all the small beads. They do end up in the oil and quickly destroy engine bearings and cylinder wall finish. The Scotch pads used do the same thing.

Hope this helps someone avoid similar failures.

Viet Nam Vett

Yeah ...Saw a few of those poor designed gears in my time. The thing is mine took a dump because it sat for a year during body prep and paint. The oil had gone away and being in cold and hot settings just dried it out.

Believe it or not their are still bazillions of GM engines from back in the day still cranking away with that Nylon collar. ...Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick

Viet Nam Vett

Thanks for your reply.. and this is true ...but in my case the pump was perfect in side... see pic's..

Westlotorn

When inspecting the gears, look very close. The gears are machined and should have very smooth finish consistent on all contact surfaces. If you see a dent or line on one gear and see a similar mark on the other gear where the surfaces meet when rotating you found your lock up. It does not take much to lock these because they operate with very little clearance. The pictures are hard to read but it looks like something went through the pump.

Viet Nam Vett

The only thing we found at the bottom of the oil pan after straining the oil thru a paint filter and carefully wiping the oil out of the bottom of the pan were the missing parts to the pump shaft.

The teeth looked clean with just normal contact ware. I guess the pic's don't give that close up look. Fresh oil and a Wix Top of the line oil filter were in operation at the time.