So everything did not went as planned, seems like I had to learn some valuable lessons first.
The noisy tappet did not go away as I hoped.
Some of the guys on the Pontiac forum warned me and said that loose tappets will eat the cam shaft.
I did not think it was possible, but because the noise did not go away ordered a new cam, rockers and lifters anyway.
At first I wanted to just replace the cam and lifters. Then one ou toppie warned me and said that if the filings from the cam went into the oil it will eat my bearings.
So I drained a bit of oil and yes... there were plenty of metal in the oil and I decided to rather open the engine again.
One of the guys in Langebaan who knows american V8s very well and who also race on Killarney with a V8 told me the camshaft story is bogus according to him. His opinion is that there is only one thing that will eat the motor and that is incorrect oil. The area where the hydraulic lifters rub on the cam is a high friction area. On these engines you MUST use oil designed for Diesel engines as they are the only ones which still contains Zinc and provide enough protection.
Go Google it, it is very interresting. In the late nineties when goverments got obsessed with emission control, they ordered that some additives in oil being remove and Zinc was one of them. Then the americans all of the sudden experienced many engine failures on V8 engines. Now they all recommend either Diesel oil or additives to normal oil.
Another interresting thing about this V8 is that it does not have channels in its cam shaft. It depends on oil splattered from the crank to lubricate it. On most of the web sites they advice that when you fit a new cam you must follow the proper "run in" procedure; once you started the engine for the first time to keep it running at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes. That is because at idle there is not enough oil at the cam, apparently. They even supply a "run in lube" with the cam which will lubricate it the first couple of minutes. One guy said that in the olden days the guys put grease on the cam during a rebuild so that there is enough lubrication during the first couple of minutes.
Project was then halted for a month or two while a sulked, moaned, complained, cried, kicked myself and were busy with my work.
Eventually today I got time to pull the motor to see what the damage is.
The oil I drained was very thin and smelled like petrol. I presume during the time I was battling with the turbo, fuel got into the oil when it was running rich.
Also when I was battling with the turbo I always let it idle because of all the smoke I did not want rev it, and I guess if you read above this was one huge mistake.
Will strip the engine tomorrow.
- Pontiac 301 turbo
- Pontiac 301 turbo
- Pontiac 301 turbo