I just had a 396 rebuilt by a so called reputable engine builder. I just got everything hooked up and ready for priming. Well I primed the engine for 5 minutes and would turn the crank by hand a quarter turn and prime for another 5 minutes did this for 20 minutes. Put in the distributor hooked up the wires and checked over everything to make sure I didn't forget anything. Now came the moment I have been waiting for, I had my wife turn the key and after a couple of turns she fired up (the engine not my wife) I had to adjust the timing a little and took it up to 2000rpm for the cam break in. Well thats when it happened, I started hearing a slight ticking sound coming from the right valve cover. Then it started getting louder so I shut the engine down after 5 minutes of run time. At first I thought it was a collapsed lifter. I decided to take off the valve cover to take a look, the #6 exhaust lifter was really loose. So I took off the intake this morning to find that four lobes have been wipped. The part that really gets me about this whole thing is that I paid alot of money top get this thing rebuilt ($4800.00) and I have to take it back out to get them to fix their mistake. I wonder about the components they used. They used a Mellings cam,lifters,retainers,springs,push rods and oil pump. I heard Mellings makes good oil pumps , but what about the rest of these components.
Sorry about the long post, just trying to vent some frustration.
I,m not bashing Mellings just curious, I didn't even know they made cams.
Sorry about the long post, just trying to vent some frustration.
I,m not bashing Mellings just curious, I didn't even know they made cams.
