Ever have one if those days?

Topic: Ever have one if those days? (Read 1539 times) previous topic - next topic

Ever have one if those days?

October 13, 2007, 01:29:05 PM

I figured instead of throwing tools and blocks around the garage I would post it here. To start, I have been waiting to get the spare cash to finish the build up on the T-Bird. (brake upgrade, suspension engine and interior) Anyway, I find a suitable block. Have all the machine work done ($493.60) get all the parts and planned on having the Bird running by Sunday. Anyway after being happy that all the parts came in on time before the weekend I started preping the block for assembly. Painted the block, cleaned all the oil galleys, de-burring all the rough edges, mic'd the crank and bearings checked the rods and the cylinder bore. (basically double checking the machine work) Well, after all that I was about to install the main bearings and lay the crank in. Well, as I was wiping the mains down I found a hairline crack in #2 main saddle. WTF. AArrggg, All of this mature patiently waiting and this is what I get...Block is totally not useable. On the upside, I guess if I would have missed it, it would have been worse...Okay, now I am down off my soap box...I think I feel a little better, well, atleast until I walk in the garage and look at my new $500 boat anchor...On top of this I can't even go for a motorcyle ride because of the rain forcasted for the next 4 days....It's going to be a long winter..

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #1 – October 13, 2007, 01:38:31 PM

That sucks! Didn't you pay the shop to do the work and check it out for you. I know you need to double check them to make sure. Take it back to them and ask them why they didn't find it. Maybe they will help you find another and do the work for free or a good discounted rate. They should have caught that crack.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #2 – October 13, 2007, 02:24:46 PM

Yeah, they should have caught it and the guy admitted it also. He will re-do the machine work for me but I have to get another block. I have been looking but haven't found anything yet. I can go a couple of different ways. Find another roller block that will go 30 over, find a 68-74 or maybe a mexican. I have retro fit lifters, balancer, flywheel, and crank for these older blocks also. I just need to find one...

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #3 – October 13, 2007, 04:18:57 PM

I sort of have the same luck as you Uncleford. Got my TC all together (complete rebuild suspension motor and new "Turbo")
Take it around the block only to hear a loud metal to metal screeching when I tried to boost.

Take the "NEW Turbo" off and determine it is srewed up. Send it to Charlie at Evergreen to fix. He tells me the guy I bought it from just slapped new parts on an old worn out bearing housing with a bent Turbine shaft (out .006). $1000 later I should have it up and running again.

So if you ever need a turbo rebuilt Send it to Charlie at Evergreen He is Fantastic !!!

Dont get anything from "east coast turbo" in NC !!!!

Also have to clean out the metal shavings in my Brand new motor from the F'd up turbo. Thanks east coast :(

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #4 – October 13, 2007, 06:51:09 PM

Yeah, sometimes I think, if it wasn't for bad luck, I would'nt have any luck at all...It's a never ending saga with me..

I checked out your link. Man your car is clean. What did you use for the gauge pod on the side? I was trying to find something to fit but none of my mustang stuff would fit.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #5 – October 13, 2007, 08:21:31 PM

Some days it's just not worth fighting the clowns under the bed.

Some days it's just not worth chewing through the wrist restraints to fight the clowns under the bed.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #6 – October 13, 2007, 10:41:01 PM

Last night I was up all night playing with the timing trying to reset it. but I think the tps sensor went out. anyways today I put my ratchet on the belt tensioner and pulled to take off the belt and...POP!!! there goes my wrench and I fell backwards on my butt and landed on my radiator shroud and broke the top of it off. not to mention a fender light got busted and a gallon of antifreeze got spilled. another time I was on a ladder getting parts from above the garage and the ladder slipped out from under me and luckily it landed on the top door frame of my bird and not the glass, because one time a tackle box fell on the old windshield and busted the cowl and glass after it was just painted. and also I`m glad it landed there cause I could have broken my legs or something.
Another time at the shop we got a customers car totally done and I was washing it so they could pick the car up, and the paint booth door decides to fall off the hinges and land on the hood of the brand new paint job.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #7 – October 13, 2007, 11:43:44 PM

I have a 302 block out of my 79 cougar if your interested. not sure if its any good though. it twisted a rod and broke a few main caps but the block seemed to be alright. it has the rope style rear main seal. thought I'd try to help since the block is doing me no good and I'll probably never use it for anything.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #8 – October 14, 2007, 12:50:20 AM

88turbo, thanks for the offer. I may have a line on a 74' block. I have to call the guy Monday to see how far it has been bored. Ha, maybe I will get lucky and find out it's a virgin Mexican block!! Nah, who am I kiddin....

Yeah I have busted a few knuckles over the years but I guess in the end its been worth it.

Just a quick one... When I bought my TFS Alum Hi port heads I bought them from Ronnie Crawford. Kinda the guy who started the whole 347 craze in the early 90's. I figured, name brand shop, pay a little more but they would be good. Well, as it turns out I paid $1750 for the heads assembled. Supposed to come w/ 205/160 valves. Of course they were not. They were actually 202/160's. Also to add insult to injury they were "blem" heads AND the springs were wrong. They charged me $280 for a "custom" grind cam that was a $149 Wolverine Blue Racer cam. While it was a good off the shelf cam it was still off the shelf. I called em up on that and Jay Allen said "Look man do you want to sit here and argue that we over charged you and screwed up some stuff or are you going to put your car together and go fast.". Yeah I was pissed because by this time I had already sent them out to Ron at Fox lake and spent another $1350 on a stage II port and port match the intake (Vortech Saleen) Here is the kicker, I was really butt hurt when I kept having intake leaks and no one would own up to the problem. Fortunately I got married and my father in law built 24 hour LeMans R302 engines for Panoz Racing. He looked at em, did some measurements and told me for these to work on a N/A motor I would have to spin my little production 2 bolt main about 9000 rpms. Nice huh, well NOT THAT THEY WOULD EVER ADMIT but their CNC program must have been off or they were severely hung over but they ported them too tall. Meaning I only had about an 1/8 of an inch of aluminum at the top of the port. Yeah, to make these work we had to put some porting epoxy inside the ports to take up some space. What a bitch. Yeah this is the begining. I have more stories but I will stop now because I just caught myself looking for the baseball bat and wanting to find some old "friends"...Heh heh. As a matter of fact I may look for some clowns under my bed:beatyoass:

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #9 – October 14, 2007, 08:02:39 AM

The gauge pod is an Autometer AT 10120 that I got at Summit, for 94 and newer Mustangs.

Good luck on finding your Mexican Block too.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #10 – October 14, 2007, 01:52:35 PM

My buddy Jim and I just dropped his block back off at the machine shop. After being fully cleaned honed and new cam bearings installed, the camshaft would not go in the block. Neither would two other cams. So Jim is experiencing a set back because of a machine shop.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #11 – October 14, 2007, 02:29:12 PM

Hmmmm, How far in would the cam slide in? Would it even go in through the first bearing? If not you or they may have to chamfer the bearing at a 45 deg angle. OR maybe they put in the wrong cam bearings...

Chri85tc...how does it fit? It looked good from the pics but does it fit tightly or did you have to modify it? Thanks for the info..

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #12 – October 14, 2007, 04:08:59 PM

When I had my 5.0 rebuilt the machiene shop put a cam in with the wrong firing order (1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 the standard 302 firing order) instead of the 5.0 HO/351W firing order. The did own up to the mistake and replaced the cam for free. They even pulled the cam and did it for me with the engine already in the car:D At least some people own up to a screw up and fix it.

Ever have one if those days?

Reply #13 – October 14, 2007, 04:59:01 PM

Yeah, that gauge pod did need a little modification, I used a heat gun and kind of molded it to the pillar. But it was the best one I could find to fit. As I said though it is not perfect.

It does look ok though. Now if I could only figure out what color my interior is I would paint it to match too.