That guy needs his ass kicked.
Butternut the Gumball Camaro
- Thread starter AEGIS43
- Start date
Believe it or not, it gets worse. Or possibly a blessing out of a very bad thing. I had spent a good deal of time with a wire wheel on a grinder, a drill, and a dremel getting as much surface rust off the outside of the block as possible before the assembly. Also cleaned, if you call it that, as much as I could (what I could see) inside the block. Which is very, very little. When I took it to him, as he was looking it over, I said that I assumed we needed to take it to a machine shop and have it hot tanked, or whatever else they do to prep a block for assembly. He said it didn't need it. It looked good. I was surprised, but I guess along with my inexperience, I'm also incredibly naiive. I should have KNOWN better.
This engine was going to seize in short order. It had less that 10 minutes run time.
So had it not had the problem with the head bolt hole, it would have been far worse. The main journals have some mild scratches, as do the cam journals, but the engine builder at Chuck's Speed was able to polish them out enough. He carefully cleaned the lifters and they're going to be okay too, in his opinion. So just moving on from here. I learn the hard way. I need to trust what I know and not give benefit of the doubt on things like CLEANLINESS.
Below is right after teardown, before cleaning and polishing.
This engine was going to seize in short order. It had less that 10 minutes run time.
So had it not had the problem with the head bolt hole, it would have been far worse. The main journals have some mild scratches, as do the cam journals, but the engine builder at Chuck's Speed was able to polish them out enough. He carefully cleaned the lifters and they're going to be okay too, in his opinion. So just moving on from here. I learn the hard way. I need to trust what I know and not give benefit of the doubt on things like CLEANLINESS.
Below is right after teardown, before cleaning and polishing.
Also, while it was on the lift I noticed a drip on the floor that was clearly coming from the counter shaft of the Muncie. I don't have a pic of the actual drip, but I think this pic is kind of cool.
Detail of where the leak originates from faintly highlighted yellow below. Sorry it's hard to see.
So my guess is that labor rate for a tranny guy is $100+ per hour - at least, and to completely disassemble the transmission, replace any and all bad seals, and also any other worn parts, and reassemble is going to run what? Who knows? But doing it myself is outside my wheelhouse. And then I still have a 52 year-old transmission that puts the car at 3,147 rpm at 75 mph. So I bit the bullet, and now I should be at 2,426 rpm at 85 mph.
I got what Tremec calls their close-ratio, but I don't know why because it has way closer first four gears to an M20 than their wide-ratio unit. And the double upside is that 5th is .68 overdriven vs .72 Not a whole lot of difference, I suppose. But I prefer it this way.
Detail of where the leak originates from faintly highlighted yellow below. Sorry it's hard to see.
So my guess is that labor rate for a tranny guy is $100+ per hour - at least, and to completely disassemble the transmission, replace any and all bad seals, and also any other worn parts, and reassemble is going to run what? Who knows? But doing it myself is outside my wheelhouse. And then I still have a 52 year-old transmission that puts the car at 3,147 rpm at 75 mph. So I bit the bullet, and now I should be at 2,426 rpm at 85 mph.
I got what Tremec calls their close-ratio, but I don't know why because it has way closer first four gears to an M20 than their wide-ratio unit. And the double upside is that 5th is .68 overdriven vs .72 Not a whole lot of difference, I suppose. But I prefer it this way.
xten
Veteran Member
That is a cool shot!
I agree with this for sure. You've put a lot of money into this build and that screwed up bolt hole along with those scored bearings is just ridiculous.
2112
New Member
- Sep 23, 2022
- 4
Um +2
Hogging out the new AFR head? Dude has balls.
The remainder of his transgressions is ignorance. Then conceit by not admitting his ignorance.
I blame myself more than anything. I'm not a mechanic, but I've been bench racing all my life. I've read the books and magazines, sat and talked with my buddies, who really are mechanics, for over 40 years. I should have told Larry, "No, I'm taking it to get hot tanked." Then when I broke the tap off in the block, I should have told Larry, "No, I'm taking it to the machine shop to have them get the tap out." I know better. I should have thanked him for his time and found someone else to help me with it.
I've kind of been in a brain fog since December 2020. It's no excuse. It's just real, and it sucks. I also didn't have a lot of options last year. I'm in a different place today, thankfully.
I stopped by Chuck's Speed Center today. I'm third in line for their machine shop service. Most likely they'll have the machine work done on the new block and begin assembly the 2nd or 3rd week of January. They're not an assembly line type of business. It's very clean and methodical in there. I hope that's not just an illusion.
I'm a bit curious here. What brand was that tap that broke off? I am seeing Chinese bits and taps that break like pot metal. And the construction screws that I've seen are also absolute garbage. Screws with the square drive bits are what I saw. Expensive and worthless.
That Muncie case will need to have a taper bush installed for the counter gear shaft if it leaks there. If not fixed the shaft will spin which you don’t want. If it leaks then it’s no longer a true hole to the shaft and no amount of goo or silicone will fix it which isn’t the way to fix it. I think I charged $300 when I rebuilt a Muncie for a guy. https://www.my1970z28.com/COPO/images/muncie_4spd_exploded_view1.jpg
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Should be named The Butcher.
