1981 Bird resurrection!!

[Fbird]

A sad day this past week. I finally got the TA in for tear down... It did NOT go well. June 23 about 8 pm i discovered WTF actually happened on that short journey 5 yrs ago July 4th 2016.

more pics coming as i load stuff.
The intake vavle head popped off...bounced around in the cyclinder (thats the beat up valve head laying in the other combustion chamber) ...then when it punched up thru the water jacket it flooded the oilpan with coolant that in turned welded the crank to the bearings. Gear drive is actually in really good shape. So complete catastrophic failure.

 

[xten]

That truly blows. What now? Got a plan?

 

[Zstar]

Holy head job batman!

 

[Fbird]

AND the block is cracked...
After typing my conclusion of results I still was not IN 100% that 5-10 revolutions of the crank WITH coolant instead of oil would seize it up.
After taking nasty parts to car wash and giving everything a "clean up" I threw a hone in hole #2 to see what I am working with.....NOW I KNOW! It took some measuring to confirm what happened but.....
Piston SWEDGED out, cracked the block high in the bore and then COULD NOT FIT in the lower bore area!!! Micrometers do NOT LIE. That makes a little better sense (even though there were score/gall marks on the crank and bearings)

New plan is...probably build a 455 i have but will need some BUTLER help with pistons as the only good heads i have are 72cc....(NOT 114cc) I will need about -18cc dish to bring comp down about 10.2 : 1 With iron heads thats about as high as i can go and about as low as I would bother building as these heads #62's are virgin so they are not going to be great at flow IIRC about 205 cfm @ .500 so i gotta keep some compression.

 

[Fbird]

yay got a deal on some Blazer rear disc set up. My bird in 4 wheel disc ...oem. But the rears rusted up and are stupid expensive and the e-brake sux at best. (my opinion). So decided to go bigger/better cheaper.. Will be looking to sell off the oem complete set-up lines, cables brackets and calipers (good for cores).

 

[Fbird]

Yay... finally good...ish news....the one 455 turns over!....

 

[Fbird]

finally uploaded "my garage"..
https://nastyz28.com/media/albums/fbird-1980-ta-build.180/

 

[Fbird]

After teardown of the 455...discovered 3 spun rod bearings and 1 baddly beaten rod bearing. This motor either ran with NO OIL. So 4 bad rods (non issue as i have 2 more sets) then also discovered 1 busted piston skirt and 1 cracked ring land. With the latest developments the build plan just changed....AGAIN
So I tear down my spare set of virgin #62 heads to finally find something GOOD. Guides are good already machined for teflon seals too. I will replace valves do valve job and be good!
Since i have to put pistons in this NOW.and the #62 heads are THAT good I will use forged dish tops to give me a CR of 10.4..Spending money on pistons instead of upping the 4X heads makes a doable combo as the old 400 was 10.8 and worked for many many yrs.
Crank and flywheel are first to go to the shop as the crank MAY be dead ...yeah it will depend on WHERE the wear is as it measures -.027 under on 1 beaten rod journal. I hope to clean up at .030 but can go .040 if needed.

 

[roadrace2]

Wow Fbird......if you didn't have bad luck you wouldn't have luck at all with this engine fiasco.....sorry to hear about all of this. I see you are determined to get that 455 done! Keep at it!

 

[Fbird]