Ah... One of my movie favorite lines... too bad it sucks when it happens in real life!

Out for a cruise late last friday night with a buddy when motor in my elk went out. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG (you get the idea) Shut her down quick and called AAA to tow me home.. :(

Finnaly had time tonight to take a close look...Pulled the valve covers- everything looked fine- Pulled all the spark plugs to inspect (no damage) pulled the fan so i could turn the engine over by hand. Inspected all the rockers & valve springs while turning the engine by hand. Everything works as expected- no binding or broken top end stuff.
Pulled out the compression guage and did each cyl one by one... everything looks awesome for an old worn out engine... 190, 175,185,180,190,185,180,190- Didn't hear the bang sound when turning by hand. Doesn't have any noticeable timing chain slop- No cracks or damage on the flex plate...

So with two local gear head friends present to listen, i put the plugs back in & fired it up for about 20 seconds... Both agreed immediately that it is a rod bearing- which was my initial guess when it happened friday night. :(

So... The rest of this week after work i'll be stripping the engine down to the longblock- then on saturday My neighbor and I will yank that bad boy out of there and do a full teardown on it... Guess I need to check craigslist for an engine hoist and engine stand to work on this thing...

Once I find out how bad it is- then we'll start making plans as to the future combo.

From what I can tell this motor is a total virgin block- looks like it has never been apart. Everything is date code correct 1970 chevelle 350hp M/T motor. Intake, Heads, Block all match up. Too bad its not correct for my car, but still cool it is all date code correct for 1970. ANy 1970 owners have a late 1967 396 motor they'd like to trade? ;-)

I have been pretty happy with the power it had- would like to make a bit more, but I don't think I need to go crazy with it.

Combo suggestions would be appreciated!
Basically thinking this will be rebuilt as a "mild" big block- I'll be keeping the factory 3.07 gears the car has now- so I want this to be a low end torque monster- no need to rev it high with these gears. Basically 350-375hp w/ as much down low torque as possible.

Sucks that it happened right in the middle of cruising season (summer didn't really start here until beginning of July) but i am looking forward to this project as i have never gone through the engine building process. Have a couple close friends who are chomping at the bit to help me through it though, so that helps! :cool:

Anyway... Just had to share!

Ben - Same thing happened to me last year - one week before I was planning to bring my car down the shore on vacation I mashed 2 rod and 2 mains. I had a hard time relaxing on vacation thinking about my build up options....You're car will likely be better for it, mine is - unfortunately it's the checkbook that suffers.

Hey Ben,

I've got a stand you can borrow. I'll PM you my number if you are interested.

Thought you might want to look at something like this too.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/pts/188264808.html

Greg

Ummm Ben?
I just tried to PM you my number and it said your mailbox is full.

I get home around 6:00 tonight if you want that stand.

Why don't you PM me your number and I'll give you a call and figure out how to get it to you.

Greg

I got a cherry picker that you can use for the duration. Plus I'm headed to Kirkland this saturday. If you wanna hook up to get it, let me know.

Too bad about the motor, but if you get to thrashin on it, you'll be ready for the show.:D All it takes is cash.

thats sucks! that happened to me last year, and now the vehicle that motor was in is going to the junk yard.......it a total waste. hope you can figure something out man, good luck

Hey guys-
Greg & Dave- Thanks, but a guy down the block from me loaned me his engine hoist, and decided I'm just going to buy my own engine stand... I have a feeling the 396 may be sitting on it for a while.

I did some quick calculations yesterday as to the costs of various stuff- and I'm now leaning hard toward getting a GMPP 454HO crate motor...
This isn't the original motor for my car anyway- So why beat myself up trying to rebuild a 396 when for a few bucks more i can have a kick ass, modern roller cam, 454 and save myself the headache of the rebuild-

Anyway- Already have most of the accesories off the engine- will finish taking stuff off it tonight- then friday night or saturday the motor will be coming out for disassembly to find out exactly how bad it is.

I'll post some pics when it comes out :-)

Sounds like the 454 is the way to go. Sell the 396 to a Chevy gearhead!!

So why beat myself up trying to rebuild a 396 when for a few bucks more i can have a kick ass, modern roller cam, 454 and save myself the headache of the rebuild-




What? WHAT???? the engine assembly is 90% of the enjoyment of working on a car!!!

:) :)