1963 Still Smoking

[Joel T.]

Hi Guys,

Some of you might recall a number of posts from me a couple of months back reagrding my 1963 engine. This was a fresh and complete rebuild on a restoration block.. My buddy did the assembly (against my better judgement..). The engine was producing oil smoke out of the right hand cylinder bank from the get go and I was looking for suggestions... We had the heads checked and the intake manifold checked, etc. to no avail.. the puppy still smoked (a lot), just from the right side.

I wound up pulling the engine (nothing like doing work twice) and sent it back to the machine shop for tear down and evaluation. The results totally blew me away!

Upon pulling then engine apart, they found that one of the camshaft lobes was almost ground round; i.e the lobe was almost gone!!! The corresponding lifter had a groove in it almost a 1/4 inch deep!! There was a ton of metal particals floating around in the oil which wound up scoring just about everything. Oil rings on two of the right hand cylinders were essentially frozen which accounted for the oil smoke, but strangely enough, the worn camshaft lobe was for #1 cylinder on the left side!!!

The machine shop spent a ton of time (not to mention my money) straightening things out... re-honed cylinder walls, two new pistons, new rings, new bearings, new cam and lifters, crankshaft cut and polished, heads disassembled and cleaned, etc. etc. etc. Included in this mess were 8 new push rods, the originals were slightly bent.

The shop did the reassembly this time around and did the break-in work on their dyno set up.... ran it for a couple of hours... I picked the engine up this past Friday and am getting ready to put my 1963 back together, finally!

I guess there are a couple of lessons here, and some things are better off left unsaid...

I figured that I would share this story just in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation....

Thanks again to all of you who offered up advice and suggestions throughout this entire situation.. I look forward to finally getting my 1963 back together and on the road!!

[John D.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking

Joel, I feel bad for you. My 63 engine was started after a fresh rebuild about 6 weeks ago and we didn't have any problems but I was holding my breath. Had a great engine builder though that h ad a lot of experience because that is all he does. Hope you used the Shell Rotella oil though. John

[Philip C.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking Cant blame

Joel cant blame the machine shop I hear cams going flat all the time I had two big blocks go down on the dyno myself. The cam makers are manfacturing junk today. I think one company is making them for everyone. I put every motor on the dyno if the cam goes flat or somthing brakes the builder is responsible and it saves time tuning and other prolbems like water and fuel leaks etc. Phil 8063

[Joe L.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking Cant blame

phil------

Most of the camshaft cores of the present for PRODUCTION, SERVICE and aftermarket are manufactured by a company called CWC-Textron. I believe they are one of the largest manufacturers of camshaft cores in the world. The camshafts, themselves, are machined by different manufacturers.

One solution to the camshaft break in problems: those hydraulic roller set-ups that we both love!

[Duke W.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking

Who is the can manufacturer and what is the part number?

Duke

[John D.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking

Joel, You need to give the guys more info. Too many posts to remember old ones. What HP, type of cam and brand, type of lifters and brand. Part numbers would be wonderful also. If it is a solid lifter for your 63 let me tell you what I used in my car. Speed Pro CS113R Sealed Power by Federal Mogul. Used to be the old TRW TP113 cam. My friends and customers have been using this cam for over 25 years with no problems. They also have lifters which are AT992 although you can buy better ones and more expensive ones. As mentioned before though the flat tappet cam requires you doing your homework as far as oils go. All this info in the archives extensively. If you have a hydraulic cam you will need someone else here to help you such as Duke and Joe. Clem really knows about this cam stuff. He must be sleeping or away. Probably out checking the fall foliage in his new C6. John

[Clem Z.]

you must check to see if the lifter turns

freely in the lifter bore and i always used a brake cylinder hone in every lifter bore on any engine build. on BBC i would use either lifters with the hole EDM in the face or ones with a .003 deep flat on the side to allow more oil to the cam/lifter interface. make sure the lifters you use have a slight champher on the edge of the bottom face as a sharp edge there will cause problems

[Joel T.]

Re: 1963 Still Smoking

Guys,

The engine is the solid lifter 327/340. The cam was originally supplied by the machine shop and was a Competition Cams Grind Number CS 282S-10 Part Number 12-223-4.

In hindsight, I should have let the machine shop do the engine assembly and break-in. This time around I had them do it and saw how they ensured that all lifters and pushrods were rotating.

Joel