Possible Rod Knock

[1952Chevy]

Got the timing issue/miss sorted out. Just got some dielectric grease on the contacts of the distributor cap.

Fired it up and it sounded ok. Could still hear the sound with the stethoscope from the bottom of the pan. I decided to take it for a short drive(something I hadn't done yet). Get it warm before I drained the oil and drop the pan. Drained the oil, removed the filter. Filter shockingly didn't show any signs of metal, but was very sludgy.

After that I went to move the drain pain out of the way and that's when I noticed the flakes/coolant in the oil. I'm positive there was not water/coolant in the oil the first time I drained it. There was this time.

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So, now I am trying to determine which route to go. Options are:
1. Rebuild stock
2. Rebuild with some performance upgrades
3. Rebuild as a 496
4. Buy a GM 488 crate motor
5. See what the junkyard has to offer, either stock replacement, or 8.1 with 0411 swap.

 

[Schurkey]

Coolant in the oil because you opened-up the cooling system when the intake manifold came off?

 

[1952Chevy]

Coolant in the oil because you opened-up the cooling system when the intake manifold came off?

I only took off the upper plenum, left the lower section of the intake manifold in place.

 

[1952Chevy]

Just realized I posted in my build thread but never here.

Bought a parts truck. $1000 for a 97 K2500 Burb. Trashed interior, questionable exterior, but a good running 454.

I will be using this motor until I can accumulate parts to do a cummins swap on the truck.

Once I have the bad motor out, and new motor in, I'll put the old one on the stand and tear into it and see what failed.

 

[1952Chevy]

New motor was super leaky. Got it on the stand and started pulling it apart. Never intended to pull the heads, but while pulling the intake, something fell into the cylinder with the open intake valve. I had no choice.

So, now its just a short block on the stand. Cylinder walls still have some crosshatch albeit not much. Plugs looked good. I got the headers off without any broken studs. Overall it was a smooth tear down.

I still need to flip it over and get the oil pan off, check the bottom end, clean it up, and bolt it all back together.