This is insane!! I started with a 454 bbc that the guy told me i could just put an intake and cam in and it'll be good to go...yea right! I open the heads, found a problem, removed the pistons, found a problem, removed the crank, found a problem. Well, i ended up building it from the ground up. Well, after many delays with REBUILDING it, i was putting the oil pump on today and i get the torque wrench out to torque it to 65 ft. lbs. and i was the gauge as it gets to 20, there was a jolt and then the bolt spun freely! I take the pump off and come to find the main cap has a chunk broken off!!! WTH did i do to deserve this!!?? So basically, i have NO money, and i'm stuck. The car is my daily driver and i haven't had it for a month or so now! It makes going to work and school a P.I.A! Can i use the cap with the chunk gone? If not, where can i get a stock rear cap for a 2 bolt 454? Thanks guys, it's good to know something is on my side! (team chevelle)

that's a definite bummer. how big is the piece that broke off? can you post a pic? was it all the way down one side of the threads? is the chunk broken off exposing the oil galley?

changing a main cap, especially a rear main cap requires align-boring the block. essentially a complete tear down. Sorry for the bad news, but you might as well accept it.

however, there's a possibility that your cap could be fixed. whatever you do, don't lose the broken off piece. I don't know where Murrieta is, are you near a large metro area? There's people who weld or braze this kind of stuff all day. If you could locate an industrial machine shop that does this stuff you might be able to get it welded or brazed, then install a heli-coil in the bolt hole. Wouldn't be the strongest thing in the world, but you could get it on the road. It really depends on how it's broke and if you're willing to live outside the box a little. I've learned that because something isn't done or hasn't been done does not mean that it can't be done.

Again, can you post a pic? it's really key to attempting something unusual.

He's 4 or 5 miles from me. Email me at mustang15@gmail.com & I'll do what I can to help. It would help if I could see the piece.

That's great, exactly what I was hoping for. we have good people here.

This is insane!! I started with a 454 bbc that the guy told me i could just put an intake and cam in and it'll be good to go...yea right! I open the heads, found a problem, removed the pistons, found a problem, removed the crank, found a problem. Well, i ended up building it from the ground up. Well, after many delays with REBUILDING it, i was putting the oil pump on today and i get the torque wrench out to torque it to 65 ft. lbs. and i was the gauge as it gets to 20, there was a jolt and then the bolt spun freely! I take the pump off and come to find the main cap has a chunk broken off!!! WTH did i do to deserve this!!?? So basically, i have NO money, and i'm stuck. The car is my daily driver and i haven't had it for a month or so now! It makes going to work and school a P.I.A! Can i use the cap with the chunk gone? If not, where can i get a stock rear cap for a 2 bolt 454? Thanks guys, it's good to know something is on my side! (team chevelle)

Welcome to working on cars! I am sure most people will agree that there are many difficult extraganzas while building and working on cars. You just come to expect it. And then there are those lucky people that have minimal problems, (they must be the ones that have someone else do the work or just plain do things correctly). At your age, I remember when I spent almost all the money I had to get my Chevelle ready for the local cruise night. Just get through college and get on a career track, then these things won't be such a worry. I am on my third time rebuilding my engine because the machine shop did not balance the rotating assembly correctly, twice. That burns up cash quick. I wish you the best of luck. I wish I had an extra rear main cap for you.

This is insane!! I started with a 454 bbc that the guy told me i could just put an intake and cam in and it'll be good to go...yea right! I open the heads, found a problem, removed the pistons, found a problem, removed the crank, found a problem. Well, i ended up building it from the ground up. Well, after many delays with REBUILDING it, i was putting the oil pump on today and i get the torque wrench out to torque it to 65 ft. lbs. and i was the gauge as it gets to 20, there was a jolt and then the bolt spun freely! I take the pump off and come to find the main cap has a chunk broken off!!! WTH did i do to deserve this!!?? So basically, i have NO money, and i'm stuck. The car is my daily driver and i haven't had it for a month or so now! It makes going to work and school a P.I.A! Can i use the cap with the chunk gone? If not, where can i get a stock rear cap for a 2 bolt 454? Thanks guys, it's good to know something is on my side! (team chevelle)
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Hopefully Charbilly can help you as I am too far away or I would be glad too.

As Tom asked , can you put a pic of it up?
How many threads did the bolt go into the cap? It sounds like the wrong bolt.
Is it just the part that sticks up in the middle?
If so, chances are you will be able to install a stud deep enough to save it as changing caps is not a simple deal as Tom already said.
Do not torque it to 65lbs, torque to 50 if a stud will work.

They also make a deal called a Keensert that is a very thick insert that could be installed if it did not break one whole side away which would be very unusual.
These are very strong & solid not like a helicoil but you will have to have it installed by someone with the correct tooling.
I am sure if it can be fixed someone local can do it. If not let me know & I will be glad to take a look at it for you but you will have to send it to me.

Ok, maybe it is fixable, none of the threads are affected, it is the metal at the face of the threads (like where thefirst thread starts/the threaded hole is flush with the surrounding metal, a chunk of the metal broke off.) I'll try to get a pic later tonight, i'm on my break from work right now. Also, i should have described it better. When i was tightening it, there was VERY LITTLe resistence (Just enough to want to use a wrench) and then all of a sudden no resistance at all! (And i got that classic feeling of stripping out a bolt where, after the fact, you think if you don't take the bolt and and just turn it slower, it will fix itself! LOL, i was in denial).

And i ran into another problem last night (well, a few others but they were minor). I got the wrong head gaskets in my kit. Mine are supposed to have the holes in the gasket for the extra water passages but they don't. Worse yet, i can't return them cause they were part of a kit! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! !!!!!

LOL, and on a side note, i thought it kinda ironic how i said Team CHevelle was the only dependable thing nowadays when i first posted. Last night, i tried to log on to check this thread and the server was busy! LOL...well, i wasn't laughing at the time. Thanks guys!

Rian, from time to time the forum software needs to do maintenance on the datatbase that contains all the messages and pics. There was an incident that took down the forums on the Camaros and Impalas sites for awhile the other day, I believe Al did some preventitive maint. here to avoid a similar outage. Actual uptime on the forums here is in the 5 9's category on a yearly basis.

So, back to the grind: did you ever get a pic? Or is it now being understood as a non-issue? there is usually like a little lip that sticks up around the bolt hole in question, is that all that broke off?

Need to double-check that you've got the right bolt, 7/16" coarse thread. It needs to be long enough to engage several threads like a head or main cap bolt but not bottom out in the hole or hit the back of the bearing. Like Mike said, if the threads are iffy it would be good to run a stud there.

what block and heards do you have? do you have one of the very recent block/head combinations that require a sort of adapter gasket? That doesn't seem likely. What exactly is it that is prompting you to think you need a different gasket?

Cloned-70,

If you see this, please see my response to you in the EFI thread.

Ok, maybe it is fixable, none of the threads are affected, it is the metal at the face of the threads (like where thefirst thread starts/the threaded hole is flush with the surrounding metal, a chunk of the metal broke off.) I'll try to get a pic later tonight, i'm on my break from work right now. Also, i should have described it better. When i was tightening it, there was VERY LITTLe resistence (Just enough to want to use a wrench) and then all of a sudden no resistance at all! (And i got that classic feeling of stripping out a bolt where, after the fact, you think if you don't take the bolt and and just turn it slower, it will fix itself! LOL, i was in denial).

And i ran into another problem last night (well, a few others but they were minor). I got the wrong head gaskets in my kit. Mine are supposed to have the holes in the gasket for the extra water passages but they don't. Worse yet, i can't return them cause they were part of a kit! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! !!!!!

LOL, and on a side note, i thought it kinda ironic how i said Team CHevelle was the only dependable thing nowadays when i first posted. Last night, i tried to log on to check this thread and the server was busy! LOL...well, i wasn't laughing at the time. Thanks guys!
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This is the part I was referring to. If I understand you correctly this is not an issue.
Buy a stud kit, install it & torque to 50lbs & you should be home free,, at least on this problem :sad:

You can use the early head gaskets with both passages open in the rear but the ones with the three coolant holes are better if the holes are open in the block.

Here are some pics. They are as good as i can get. The light grey is the area where the chunk came from (can't find the chunk now). If i can reuse it, what should i do with the area? The reason i ask is because it's that rough cast and if it's rubbed, little metal particles will still fall off (obviously don't want that in the oil!).

And earlier, about the team chevelle thing, i was just saying it, i wasn't angry when i posted that, i did think it was funny today. And the thanks wasn't sarcastic, i really do appreciate ALL the help i get here!


Pic 1 (http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/DSC00824.jpg)
Pic 2 (http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/DSC00823.jpg)
Pic 3 (http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/DSC00822.jpg)

Rian,

You can use that OK. use a wire brush or something similar to scrub any loose stuff from the grey area. It really looks like you either cross-threaded or the bolt is much too short. stick one of the main cap bolts through the main cap, see how much thread sticks out the other side. it's like that but not as much. make sure the bolt can be threaded in all the with fingers, make sure it won't hit the back of the bearing. In fact, if you pop the bearing shell out mount the pump on the cap and screw the bolt in all the way with your fingers, see how much farther you have before it would contact the back of the bearing. Should be at least a couple threads. Make sure the pump is flush to the cap for this, no gap.

You've only lost a thread or two there, no big deal if the bolt goes in at least 4 or 5 turns.

I would use a stud if at all possible. ;)
That way you can use all the threads, don't have to worry about the length of the bolt & will not be "working" the threads in the cap when you tighten it..
Take the cap off, clean it & smooth it a bit where it broke to be sure you don't have any loose crap left

I have no information but just want to say how good it makes me feel to see how fellow members respond and come to the rescue of another enthusiast.

A big Thank You to Tom and Mike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, thanks guys.

And i almost forgot. The head gasket situation, well, i got the fel-pro gaskets with pt#8180 PT but i have the coolant holes in the block so it says i need pt#8523 PT. Is this correct?

Also, the intake manifold gaskets come with a restrictor for the center port and fel-pro's little chart says "1970-1972 open (exc. Hi-Perf)" Does that mean if it is high performance it's restricted OR does that indicate that rectangular intake gaskets have no restrictor?

Thanks again guys!