396 BigBlock, 4/05-3/12

[Barrman]

My 396 is no more. It almost lasted 7 years. Sad day.

I drove it a few weeks ago and everything was great. I went to start it last weekend and after turning over a little, the starter made a funny noise and I saw sparks under the transmission cover. I left it alone until it was light and I had time to mess with what I thought was a loose wire, failed starter or battery just a bit too low.

Yesterday afternoon I got Colton to back the M1009 up to it, hook up the tow strap and give me a pull. The rear just hopped at a slow speed and granny gear. I yelled for him to go faster and tried second. Same thing. I waved him faster and put it in 3rd. When I dropped the clutch, horrible sounds came from under the hood.

My thought was the starter must have been stuck on and was just getting pushed back. I tried it again thinking it would start now. Instead, the noise got worse. We got stopped and I walked around to look for a starter I figured would be hanging from its wires. Instead, I saw oil dripping from all over the pan. Walking around to the drivers side wheel well showed a nice big oily hole in the side of the oil pan.

I can only guess that either coolant or fuel got into a cylinder and the starter was stopped by hydrostatic lock. My pull start attempt snapped a rod and or the crank with it.

I wanted to go diesel, just not until after the 3rd weekend in May. I have a show in 2 weeks, a parade, show and people hauling duty for it already lined up. The Whistler will just have to fill in now.

Anybody need an Edelbrock Big block performer intake or any other Big Block stuff? 40 Grit already has dibs on the exhaust manifolds for his 454.

I am trying to be positive about this, but the death of an engine is hard to take sometimes.

Yes, I do have 5 stock engines. 3 of which run or rather ran when pulled. I just don't want to do the labor involved to put one of them back in only to pull it back out again.

[Flingarrows]

Man, thats not good news. Hopefully parting out the good stuff on the 454 will net enough $$ to offset the swap. Are you going to use one of your spare engines, or something else in mind?

[Barrman]

We had some other vehicle issues after the M715 died last night. Once I take care of them, I will start trying to start one of the spare 6.2's sitting here and then get to play the belt fit game you just went through on your truck. I have no belts, pulleys or mounts for the 6.2. Should be fun.

[Don Cavey]

Sorry about that problem! That really is a pain. And, since it isn't 1971 anymore, those blocks are not just sitting in the salvage yards for pennies on the dollar anymore. Hope you come to a reasonable solution.

[jpsnblood]

Barrman
I have a 365 tall deck bigblock just sitting.
You are welcome to parts if it helps.

[porkchop]

Sorry to hear the engine died. But like you said there is a positive, you now have a reason to install the diesel.

[Barrman]

Kwai called and reminded me of the 427 TALL DECK I have that runs and is in a truck just sitting. I forgot about the pair of 283's I have that run and work good too. Thanks for the offers, but I am going to turn this into a diesel swap oppertunity. That will make all of my vehicles below 2.5 tons get more than 15 mpg, EMP proof and at least in theory flex fuel able. Diesel all the way. Except for the Exploder, Mini and Gasser M35 of course.

[Flingarrows]

Sounds like a good plan Tim. Hopefully getting matched pulleys isn't too much of an issue

[m715]

Wow sorry to hear about the M715 and other issues...But sounds like you have a plan and are on course!

Makes the few problems I had over the last couple of days when I went to visit the parents not seem so bad...

1) Failed trunk latch (accent, right before the trip)
2) flat/destroyed tire (parents car)
3) dead battery (parents van)
4) dying wheel bearing in the Hyundai Accent...Pain in the butt to change
- for starters its a sealed bearing and you have to pull the entire knuckle
- half shaft rusted to hub...heat, gear puller and a BIG hammer fixed that
- snap ring defeated us, had a little rust impossible to get out, once I found I could order a replacement we torched it out
- old bearing took 30,000+ psi to press out, sounded like a gun went off when it let go, thought I had broken the knuckle

Just glad I was visiting the parents, the old man has all kinds of tools and knowledge...someday I hope to have 1/2 the understanding of cars he does.

[randyscycle]

Ouch! Sorry that it had to end that way.......

On a similar note, I was just talking with Ursulina this evening, lamenting how I would like to drive the 715 more, but with gasoline climbing in price steadily and 5-7 MPG, it isn't seeing nearly as much road time as it used to. I may also be dumping the gasser for that 6.2 diesel I have still sitting in the corner under the bench from a HMMWV. I don't really look forward to doing the swap myself, but the ability to actually drive without stopping for fuel twice or more in a relatively short road trip sure seems appealing.