'67 Oddfire 225 Bent Push Rods

Maybe a Leak Down..?

 

Your right. I will have to do a leak down or bolt the rockers back on.

 

Went by the machine shop at lunch today and this place is the best. He explained this is a common problem and if they ran when they were parked, they probably won't 10 years later. It the varnish that seizes up things. He said to make it worse you might think you flushed your tank and lines good enough but usually your pumping more vanish into the engine and don't realize it. He said this is terrible for the valves and will mess up a new value job.

As far as options, he said I could try unsticking them with carb cleaner then do a compression test. If I can get them to open and close without sticking maybe I got lucky. Worst case to do the heads is 150 bucks for a redo. Hardened seats brings it up to to 200. Parts are extra. I'm going to start with the valves that had bent push rods and see what happens.

 

i wish i would have taken pictures of my engine when i rebuilt it. there was a ton of really thick black sludge all in the bottom of the heads. lots of sludge in the oil pan as well. it was unbelievable.

 

If you discover parts in your valve train that are not repairable, like push rods, rockers or lifters, send me a PM here, I have 2 engines torn down, plus some spare heads, I'll be glad to send you whatever you need if you pay the shipping, parts will be free. I'm in Alaska, so shipping whole heads is expensive, even USPS. I do not like to reuse lifters, do so at your own risk! I'll still send you lifters if you need them.
If you remove the heads, try bumping the tops of the valves with a non-marring hammer to see if any are stuck, use your preferred choice of penetrating oil, MMO or whatever, if any are stuck, and you can get them to move, apply oil to both sides and try tapping back and forth. Hand lapping is a cheap way to get a valve to seal, IF IT IS NOT BENT, lapping with a drill or other power tool is not recommended, but being "financially/facility challenged" sometimes requires it. Auto parts stores have a hand lapping tool that is a wooden rod with a suction cup on each end, should be less than $10 to buy, some may have one to rent? Good luck!

 

Thanks for the parts offer. I knocked the stuck valves loose with with hammer and soft metal punch. The valves seem to be freed up now. I used 100lb of compressed air to push each cylinder down and in the process I heard very little leaking. cleaned all the lifters and inspected the cam. One lobe is worse than the rest but it still has a little life in it.

 

In my experience, mostly with SBC's and V8 Pontiacs, once the surface hardness on a cam starts wearing, it deteriorates quickly. Finances sometimes dictate our choices, they certainly have mine at time, so, I understand. My offer stands if you need anything I have. Good luck!

 

I finished getting the valve train back together and primed the engine to get oil in the lifters. While priming the engine I didn't see any oil running down the push rods. Seems like it was mostly coming out between the rocker arms and not much at that. I'm sure the passages are clear in the rocker arms because I blew them out with air. My guess is the ball end of the push rod is blocking the oil flow and very little oil actually makes it way down the push rod. Also, I'm not sure how the valve stems get oil. The valve stem seal looks like it sits pretty high and is above and oil that pools in the head.