Blew the 400 up

[Deadman walking]

Update. I finally got the engine sealed. Now it's ready to throw in. I'll be a rotten ******* if let this truck go to the scrap yard. My neighbor down down the street "suggested" that I just haul it off since I bought the 72 monte Carlo.

 

[Deadman walking]

The Vortec springs have very light spring pressure. I can open the valves with my bare hand on one. Like 80# at the seat and a weak 256 lb/in rate. The uber basic aftermarket "Z/28" spring is 90-110 # at the seat and around 320-340 lb/in depending on who you talk with.

I thought a flat tappet needed lighter spring pressure than a roller so you don't destroy lobes. Maybe I got the 2 switched up.

You know I've been eye balling the melling 22280 hydraulic roller cam for a while now. All it is basically the roller version of my melling 22301 cam. I was thinking about it and I just don't really feel like having to run ZDDP all the time. I'm pretty tired of breaking in flat tappet cams. This new oil ******* sucks. I'll never run 5w-30 in a 350 ever again. I'm running straight 15w-40 from now on.

I only haul with that truck since I build custom track monsters for people.

 

[Deadman walking]

Oh yeah and finally I had a couple of questions about the vortec. I don't want to take the timing cover off the thing and have to remove the reluctant wheel for the ckp sensor.

Can I use the vortec water pump with the TBI belt drive?

Does the vortec water pump have the same rotation as the older style water pump?

Is the shorter harmonics balancer compatible with the older knock sensor or can I just use the one that's already on the vortec block with the TBI?

 

[Schurkey]

I thought a flat tappet needed lighter spring pressure than a roller so you don't destroy lobes. Maybe I got the 2 switched up.

Depends on the cam lobes. A high-lift flat tappet can require more spring pressure than a mild roller.

I'll never run 5w-30 in a 350 ever again. I'm running straight 15w-40 from now on.

MILLIONS of people use off-the-shelf 5W-30 (or even thinner oil) successfully, on roller-cam and flat-tappet applications. Thick oil is NOT a benefit in most cases; assuming proper bearing clearances.

Oh yeah and finally I had a couple of questions about the vortec. I don't want to take the timing cover off the thing and have to remove the reluctant wheel for the ckp sensor.

Can I use the vortec water pump with the TBI belt drive?

Depends on the "Vortec" water pump. Apparently there's different pulleys and pulley spacings. The one I have--which came on a core engine of unknown origin--has the pulley belt travel spaced differently than my TBI pump 'n' pulley. So that style water pump/pulley wouldn't work with TBI accessories. Whether you can switch pulleys, or find a different-length water pump, I can't say.

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Does the vortec water pump have the same rotation as the older style water pump?

Define "older".

It's the same rotation (reverse rotation) as the TBI that also uses a flat (not ribbed) water pump pulley, driven off of the back (smooth) side of the belt.

Is the shorter harmonics balancer compatible with the older knock sensor or can I just use the one that's already on the vortec block with the TBI?

The knock sensor has NOTHING to do with the damper.

You will have to verify pulley alignment, and you'll have to verify the timing mark alignment with the timing pointer. Wouldn't surprise me to discover that the timing mark is 13 degrees different. I think the diameters are the same.

First Guess: The Vortec damper MUST be used with the crank sensor reluctor, or it'll be too close to the engine. Might even rub the timing cover. The TBI damper cannot be used with the crank sensor reluctor, or it'll space the damper too far forward.

 

[Deadman walking]

So I got curious about the 400 and this motor is cooked.4 bent push rods. spun bearing and no oil pressure. how this made it 40 miles home is beyond me.

 

[Deadman walking]

And here

 

[Deadman walking]

This is all I've gotten done so far. Gonna get this done this weekend been too long.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

So I got curious about the 400 and this motor is cooked.4 bent push rods. spun bearing and no oil pressure. how this made it 40 miles home is beyond me.

Does not surprise me. I had a 350 make it home once and the crankshaft was in two pieces when it was removed. Crank snapped in the 7/8 rod journal at approximately a 45* angle. The rod bearings and main bearings were literally holding it in one piece. Oddly enough it only made a weid knocking noise at idle and I thought it was a broken flex plate. Once I pulled the converter back and noticed the crank flange was rotating with the flexplate, realized it had a broken crank. I bolted the converter back up and drove it home. It had some metal in the pan but I think it may have run alot longer before giving up.

 

[Deadman walking]

So I started going through some of my old 91 Camaro parts that I saved and woulda know a crank pulley and a water pump line up!

 

[Deadman walking]

Here's the pulley for the vortec motor and then a l98 side by side (l98 left vortec right) I'm not sure if the l98 water and crank pulley will work with the rest of the TBI accessories. I'll have to look and see.