ranwalk

iTrader: (1)

I dropped the pan again, this time I pulled off the cover under the crank so I could take a look at some things. The cylinder walls look fine,still have the crosshatch marks on them. Rods,crank,cam all look fine from what I can see. Once again,no metal in the pan,just a little bit on the drain plug as expected.
Where do I go from here???
While I have the pan off should I go ahead and install some arp rod bolts?
I'm totally stumped at this point.
Lifters?
bent push rod?
What in the hell could it be?????

goshawk23

well, once again randy, not sure what the problem could be but i have noticed a lot more noise in the early morning hours when it is real cold. mine does go away as the engine comes up to temp...

L-EATER

iTrader: (2)

Did you actually pull the caps and look at the rod journals and the crank? I would plastigage it and if you have too much clearance, Federal Mogul makes a .001 oversize bearing to take up excess clearance. Either way, if I had it down to that point I would put new rod bearings in. These motors use the same rod brgs as a regular SBC so you can get them at any parts store. The ARP bolts are good insure but in my opininon optional. Hope you get it figured out.

Flyer

iTrader: (1)

I thought you pulled the valve covers and checked the pushrods and the rocker arms for puked needle bearings??? That would be my next step. Then getting that bore scope you mentioned out.

ranwalk

iTrader: (1)

I'm going to pull the caps today. Just did a quick visual last night before I left work.
Anyone know the torque specs for the rod bolts??

99 2500

Torque steps for rod bolts:

Tighten the bolts a first pass evenly to 15 lb ft.
Tighten the bolts a final pass to 60 degrees.

This info is from the service manual.

GREGGO

iTrader: (2)

I've been playing catch up on a lot of your posts about this. Mine exibited some of those symtoms you mentioned. They pulled the heads and found a nickle sized hole in #5. Really no lose on power either. Just loud as hell for a while then sounded like a very faint leaky exhaust under accelaration.

BADMOFO

When I spun rod bearing in my race car, the caps had a bluish (burnt looking) coloring on the rod caps that had spun bearings. This bluing was faint but you could see it if you looked hard. This was caused by excess heat due to the fact that the bearing had spun inside the cap and the metal on metal friction caused heat. I would look for that. Also, I would not install good rod bolts without installing new bearings. I think that would definately be my #1 thing. Of course the big ends of the rods could need to be re-sized if you have a spun bearing. When I did my car, I had the rods re-sized, the crank turned, and installed the proper bearings. I also put new rings in it while I was freshening it up and honed the block with a ball hone on the end of a drill because my cylinders also looked good and didn't have any ridges. I think if it were me I would go for the complete freshening up. Rings and bearings and maybe even have the rods checked and new bolts installed. At that point your complete bottom end is like new! Good luck, and let us know what happens. (check those rod caps for bluing too)