In another thread, cdnpont suggested doing some engine stories, successes, failures etc.
In my early 20's I rebuilt a supposedly virgin 67 Impala 283 for a friend. Rings, bearings, gaskets, cam and lifters etc. No boring, no crank grinding, just a freshen up.
Put it all together, fired it up and it ran very nice. Excellent. As I warmed it up, the oil pressure slowly decreased until it got to the point that at regular idle speed the oil light would flicker. Strange.
Pulled it out, dropped the pan and checked the bearings. Measured the crank, which I hadn't done when I had it apart for rebuild because we "knew" it had never been open. Rats, the crank has been cut at some point in life! Standard size bearings on a .010" cut crank doesn't work. Lesson learned. NEVER assume anything is virgin, still standard size.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
I was 19 years old, being a newby to engines, I'd decided I'd rebuild the 351 Cleveland from my 73 Grand Torino in my parents driveway.
Rented a hoist. Lifted it out, put it on a 3 point stand which I'd also rented. Proceeded to aggressively roll it over in the drive, to the spot where I was going to break it down. One of the tiny front wheels hit a pebble, stalled, and the engine toppled over. Oil began to gush out from somewhere (as I had not drained it), and began to promptly flow down the sloped driveway, making it almost to the sidewalk.
Finally got it back up on it wheels, eventually rebuilt it. Got it back in, fired it up and in seconds a small stream of oil appeared under the engine, and began to promptly flow down under the car.
Shut the engine down. It was the rear main seal...guess what, I'd installed it backwards!
Pulled the pan and cap, switched it around, and eventually got it all together and driving.
We all had to start somewhere...
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67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT. 69 Parisienne Convertible.
It was back in 1992 when I was stationed in Trenton ON (I know late bloomer) The engine in question was a 1966 Pontiac 389, someone had to teach me to use a big pipe on top of my breaker bar to get the mighty tight balancer bolt off, then I had almost broke the head / engine block when I thought I had all the bolts off the cylinder head except for the funny looking middle one that looked like some sort of cap (see picture attached) Me and my buddy were hitting under the head with a BFH on a block of wood till we realised this was a bolt ... Thank GOD we didn't destroy the engine ... BTW I know someone who did the same thing around here and broke his block using a crowbar, the poor soul.
I have two stories off the top of my head. The first involved a Rambler six cylinder. An apprentice replacing the head gasket and not realizing that there was one short head bolt. After starting the engine it heated up very quickly. One of the older guys started to tell him he had better pull the water pump. When he removed the water pump from the engine there werent any fins on the impeller. Thats when he learned about the short head bolt.
The next one was in a friends shop when he had a high school student on a placement. The student had a Dodge Caravan with a 2.2 engine. It didnt run well and my buddy was going to help him with it. After showing him how to diagnose the problem it was found to have a hole in one piston. Buy the end of the week he had the head off and the pistons out. Come Monday the kid is driving the van. My buddy asked how he got it together on the weekend. The kid said that he went to the auto wrecker Saturday morning and got four used pistons and put them in. No new parts, even used the old head gasket.
... there was the time in school auto shop that I was using a valve spring compressor on a old 289 Studebaker engine and the compressed spring shot across the shop and nailed the teacher (Mr. Boudreau aka "Babbit Boudreau") in the head ... I still passed.
I gave him the nickname "Babbit" because he liked to say the word so often.
By-the-way, that yellow-painted valve cover Stude engine ran better than all the small block Chevies and F**ds in our class.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Yes high school shop could be a dangerous place. I took rotating shops in grade nine and in the machine shop one of the students was drilling a hole in the drill press. The drill bit caught and the vise was spinning around. Well the kid didnt know what to do,and just backed away from the drill press leaving it turned on. The vise lifted up, spinning on the drill bit and flew across the room almost hitting the teacher and then hit the wall. The teacher was not impressed, but was very professional. Our next class was about shop safety, again.
