Copper shavings in oil? What’s going on!

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Hipster

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Says you. I have plenty of broken attempts laying around my shop. I just blew $420 on a Redhead Steering gearbox because the box I rebuilt blew out the bottom seal immediately. Come to find out I probably wasn't careful enough bleeding the gearbox I rebuilt.
I'd be lying if I said I never destroying anything. Mostly in pre-internet days. There wasn't anybody to ask, and an engine builder/machinist wasn't to give you much advice.

The worst part about this is that in his vortec threads he mentions having a set of Z28 springs he's sitting on. Probably about perfect for this but he took a shortcut. .430 lift on the exhaust under stock rotators with the valves cranked too tight? SMH, I bet it's ugly in there.
 

sewlow

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I have plenty of broken attempts laying around my shop.
Ohhh man. The stuff I've I've bent, broken, blown-up. Both by lack of knowledge & abuse.
I wish everything that I've ever done to a vehicle was golden the first time around.
Some kinda natural-born automotive Einstein.
I'd be a helluva lot richer.
The Geezers got the know-how by fixing the broken ch!t.

I look at at it as, I tried 'this' & I done phukt it all up. Well...now I know what doesn't work. Oops.
Lesson learned.
Having to shell out some more $$$ to cover that hurts, but that's the slap up-side the head just to drive the point home so you don't forget it.
 

Erik the Awful

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Work the steering wheel back and forth lock to lock about 10 times before ever starting the engine. Check your fluid level, then turn it lock to lock another 10 times or so.
Yeah, I know that now. Also, after you first start it, you don't turn it lock to lock - that's where I was blowing out my seal. You have to turn it just short of lock to lock. On the plus side, the Redhead is in WCJr and I now have a rebuilt gearbox for Roscoe. I just need to put the seal back in it and install it.
 

RichLo

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A couple quotes come to mind right now

'Learn from your Mistakes'

'Take your time and do it right the first time' ... Next time.

Dont get too discouraged. We have all been in similar situations but dont insult the people who were just trying to help you this whole time.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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LOL, hotrodded , super-tuned, and freshly painted.


You're a bad influence to all of us.....lol
:lol: And deja vu, now I'm doing it all over again (sounds like Yogi Berra) but with a roller cam swap. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?
Seriously, even though my Mr Goodwrench block has the bosses for a roller cam, drilled, threaded for spider, dog bones, and cam retainer plate, it's gonna take some more work. The roller cam kit came with the wrong retainer plate bolt spacing. I need to find the correct one (or drill it out). After installing bigger Comp Cam springs and shims to get the proper seat height, we measured the push rod length with 1.5 roller rockers today, need 7.25" chromoly ones instead of 7.90" I have with my flat tappet cam. BTW, the roller cam has a smaller bolt pattern for the timing gear set too, luckily I ordered a Trick Flow set with up to 4° advance/retard timing. So far I have close to $1500 in parts (more to come). I'm thinking of maybe starting a new thread about this, IDK if anyone really cares :biggrin:

And, I'll have to tune it again but, the paint is still good, other than rock chips! :rolleyes:
 

L31MaxExpress

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:lol: And deja vu, now I'm doing it all over again (sounds like Yogi Berra) but with a roller cam swap. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?
Seriously, even though my Mr Goodwrench block has the bosses for a roller cam, drilled, threaded for spider, dog bones, and cam retainer plate, it's gonna take some more work. The roller cam kit came with the wrong retainer plate bolt spacing. I need to find the correct one (or drill it out). After installing bigger Comp Cam springs and shims to get the proper seat height, we measured the push rod length with 1.5 roller rockers today, need 7.25" chromoly ones instead of 7.90" I have with my flat tappet cam. BTW, the roller cam has a smaller bolt pattern for the timing gear set too, luckily I ordered a Trick Flow set with up to 4° advance/retard timing. So far I have close to $1500 in parts (more to come). I'm thinking of maybe starting a new thread about this, IFK if anyone really cares :biggrin:

And, I'll have to tune it again but, the paint is still good, other than rock chips! :rolleyes:
GM offers both plates for about $8-10 each. I forget which is which, but my GMPP Timing set came with both. I have the older design one laying around my shop somewhere.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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GM offers both plates for about $8-10 each. I forget which is which, but my GMPP Timing set came with both. I have the older design one laying around my shop somewhere
Yeah, mine is labelled "Older Design". I took measurements and, hopefully, I'll find the correct spacing. IIRC the one I have is ~3.3625", I need one a little smaller.
 

L31MaxExpress

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I found the part numbers for you, just measure the distance between the bolt hole centers.

1st design 10088128 with 3.620"
2nd design 10168501 with 3.294"

I think GM switched around 1990 on the production line stuff. Service replacement could be either depending on when the engine block was made and how long it sat around the warehouse.
 
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