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My new to me 85 had leaky valve covers. It also had a puff of oil smoke on startup, so yesterday I figured i would throw in new valve seals at the same time. I have done this a few times on small block Chevy’s, so should be no problem - right?
Well, as most of you already know, this small block Chevy is really crammed into the C4, making some simple tasks much more difficult. That driver side valve cover is more of a pain than I was thinking after reading many posts about it. I managed to get the covers off and started pulling springs and replacing seals.
When I got to #7, everything went downhill. First, my nice “over center” spring compressor would not fit because of the wiper motor. So I grabbed the old lever style compressor. It wouldn’t fit because of the intake runners. I had to bend it until it cleared the runners. The keepers were stuck on the exhaust valve. When i finally got them free, one shot out. I didn’t see it, but i heard it hit metal. Looked allover with a flashlight and fished around the engine bay and under the car with a magnet. No luck. I stuck a telescoping magnet into the lifter valley and swept around for it in there. Nothing. Finally it occurred to me that it could have fallen inside the heat shield on the exhaust manifold. Pulled the two halves apart, and heard it hit the floor- Bingo! I then finished the seals on both valves for #7. When I went to put the pushrods back in, the exhaust pushrod went down way too far. Upon shining a light through the pushrod hole, I could see the cam lobe! While fishing for the retainer with the magnet, i had pulled out a lifter - ****.
I grabbed my magnet and again went fishing in the valley - this time for a lifter. In the process, I managed to pull the intake lifter out of it’s bore! I took a few minutes to asses my options. It was either start pulling the intake, or see if I could get the lifters back in their bores. With nothing to lose but some time, I set to work fishing for lifters with a magnet. The first was pretty easy, as it was sitting where I could see it. The second took a while to locate, but once I had it, it didn’t take too long to get it back into it’s bore. I quickly dropped in the pushrods and set the rockers. I still can’t believe that I actually pulled this off. I then finished the last cylinder and put my tools away for the day. Didn’t want to tempt fate.
If all of this wasn’t enough, during the process I discovered that my Harmonic balancer has failed. The outer ring has slipped back toward the timing cover. New balancer and seal should arrive this morning. Hopefully I will find the ambition to try and get it all back together this afternoon.
Yes. I have been wrenching longer than I have been driving (so, 40+ years?). Damn, I’m old. I am reaching the point in my life where the larger projects like this just aren’t as fun as they once were. I would really like to put a cam in this car at some point, but after yesterday, I may just pay a mechanic to do a cam swap.
I did find the ambition to finish the job yesterday. Replaced the harmonic balancer, adjusted the valves one last time, and put it all back together with the new FelPro valve cover gaskets that have a layer of steel between two layers of rubber. Took it for a quick test drive last night and the engine is much smoother with the new balancer. The old one was about 180 deg out, as well as slid into the timing cover. Luckily, my timing cover was not leaking. Happy to have this project behind me!
OMG your story of struggle sounds like my weekly adventures with my 89!
I know it would have been more work but the timing chain could have needed replacement. At 72k miles my vette’s timing chain/ gears had significant play….. yep put a cam in it while I was there. That and a whole bunch of other stuff… while I was there…
Mine only has 30k on it. Even if it needs a chain, I’m not going to be the one doing it. Right now, I just want to fix the remaining items on the car and drive it for a while to enjoy it. Maybe this winter I will drop it off with a mechanic to do a heads and cam swap. I have learned that I don’t enjoy the engine work like I did when I was younger.
I find my 91 is not too bad to work on. When I have a lot to do, I put the front end on jack stands, pull the front wheels, and remove the plastic fender liners in the wheel well. Engine is pretty accessible. Now that I am past my mid-50’s, I find my lower back gives out long before my desire to work on it.
I would always cover upper control arms with rags straddle them and its the only car that come with a seat in engine bay, but I was 1/2 the size then. but still did it on last OPTI
Mine only has 30k on it. Even if it needs a chain, I’m not going to be the one doing it. Right now, I just want to fix the remaining items on the car and drive it for a while to enjoy it. Maybe this winter I will drop it off with a mechanic to do a heads and cam swap. I have learned that I don’t enjoy the engine work like I did when I was younger.
I am surprised your harmonic balancer went bad at only 30K miles. The C5 and C6 LS motors have a failure prone harmonic balancer, but Gen 1 small blocks have a generally robust design. Is yours a stock motor?
As far as i can tell, its all stock, except for a 160 deg tstat (which 8 will be changing out). The outer ring of the balancer was slid back against the timing cover, and the timing mark was about 180 out. I can tell by the rust on the hub that it has been this way for some time.
i’m really hoping to be able to start driving this thing soon, but every time I fix something, I find another issue. I did the clutch master and slave yesterday, only to discover a leaking brake master cylinder. That will be my project for this afternoon.
05-02-2022, 11:50 AM
Valve cover gaskets gone wrong
