Bicylindrico
Well-Known Member
Just kidding and not too concerned....yet. As per my introduction thread, I picked up an old 1965 Satellite for a local old timer that bought her new back in the day. He stated the car was ordered with a 318 but arrived with a 383. I have no clue if this was even a possibility but surely many of you do. It is a four speed car. He said he enlisted in the military shortly after purchasing and headed off to Vietnam. When he returned home he drove the car approx another 10 years before the engine developed a knock. He claimed he was friends with one of the local Columbus Ohio Chrysler/Plymouth dealers and was sold one of their old "race motors." The car and engine sat in his garage for a couple years before being installed in the Satellite and he believed this would have been the very late 70's to early 80's. He said he just tinkered with the car for many years off and on but probably never put over 500 miles on that engine in that car.
The engine appears to be a pre 69 440 due to the block missing the strengthening ribs. Please comment if this is incorrect. The heads are the 906's. It has a set of the old Super Scavenger headers that are in really good shape other than many 'reshaped' areas from a ball peen with some classic So-Cal valve covers. It also has a Ansen NHRA approved bell housing but I don't know that any modifications were done to the transmission itself. It does have a slip yoke output shaft and my understanding was this car should have had the trunion style. Again, please chime in anytime I am incorrect. The intake manifold is an Edelbrock CH4B with an Edelbrock AFB style 750 carb. He also included a Holley mech secondary 780 cfm. He claimed the 8.75 rear end is sporting a 4.10 gear.
Here is where the fun begins. The engine was started after I got there and she fired right up. He stated at that time that once warmed up it didn't like to start. "Compression is too high" he said. We took it around the block and I did a brief 3/4 throttle pull in second gear and it felt ok. Not amazing but I could tell by looking at the rest of the car that several factors could be out of order for her to run 100%. I bought the car and scheduled a couple days later to drive it home since it was mostly country roads and within 10 miles or so. He just said to not shut it off. Well I made it about 3 miles away and it shut off coming to a stop. I kept trying to crank the engine over would she wouldn't turn over at all. Several township police later directing traffic around me, it was flat-bedded back to the house.
That torture test at the intersection really cooked the starter and eventually the flywheel. It had one of those fancy PowerMaster starters with the adjustable collar and no nose cone. The starter would flex and pull away from the ring gear grinding away the tips of the teeth. I probably could have gotten away with just a rigid starter but there was damage to the ring gear and I just want stuff to be right as I go forward. I pulled the transmission and replaced the flywheel and starter with an additional engine ground. The Borg & Beck clutch looked in great shape with very little wear. The new setup has no issue cranking the engine over now.
I decided to go ahead and check the idle fuel mixture and initial timing after getting everything back together. I started the car and saw the timing at 8 before and the idle about 1000 rpm. I moved the car back to let it hang out the open door to warm up. I noticed what appeared to be missing and when I looked at my connected vacuum gauge the needle was all over the place. I grabbed my infrared temp checker and found cyl 5 & 6 header pipes cold. Rechecked my plug wires and all good. Pulled #5 plug and it's just kinda wet. Cleaned it up and reinstalled without any luck. FFFFFUUUUUUDDDDGE! Pulled the valve cover and found both #5 push rods mangled. Pulled right side valve cover and just one #6 bent. 3 other rods are just slightly bent enough to wobble when spinning in place. I did notice the left bank pushrods are different than the right bank and appear to be cheaper/weaker rods. The right bank are dark steel and I assume chromoly. Also the valve covers are double gasket'd and recently covered in black sealer. The old timer knew more than he let on and got me.
I threw my borescope down cyl 5 and the piston looks untouched. Perfect and clean TRW L2295's .030".The engine did not have that miss when I looked at it initially as it was a very strong misfire that I would have noticed. Somehow this happened during that cranking or during the subsequent startup. The engine was kicking back very hard during the attempts to get restarted but even with 25 years of professional experience I am not sure what happened. The heads have the 2 coil valve springs and the one flat spring(3 total). Not sure if this flat wound one is a spring or some kind of damper.
I initially thought to throw a set of pushrods in and see what happens. I saw there was enough room to remove a cyl #1 lifter through the pushrod opening to inspect and it's toast. Ground to a concave dish.
I have decided to just pull the engine and go through it. I will have all winter to work on it in my nice warm shop as I would have to move it in and out if it stayed in the car. I just don't have to room to leave a car sit in my shop. I will post some pictures of this mess when I am back in the shop tomorrow. Gonna be a good time I am sure.
The engine appears to be a pre 69 440 due to the block missing the strengthening ribs. Please comment if this is incorrect. The heads are the 906's. It has a set of the old Super Scavenger headers that are in really good shape other than many 'reshaped' areas from a ball peen with some classic So-Cal valve covers. It also has a Ansen NHRA approved bell housing but I don't know that any modifications were done to the transmission itself. It does have a slip yoke output shaft and my understanding was this car should have had the trunion style. Again, please chime in anytime I am incorrect. The intake manifold is an Edelbrock CH4B with an Edelbrock AFB style 750 carb. He also included a Holley mech secondary 780 cfm. He claimed the 8.75 rear end is sporting a 4.10 gear.
Here is where the fun begins. The engine was started after I got there and she fired right up. He stated at that time that once warmed up it didn't like to start. "Compression is too high" he said. We took it around the block and I did a brief 3/4 throttle pull in second gear and it felt ok. Not amazing but I could tell by looking at the rest of the car that several factors could be out of order for her to run 100%. I bought the car and scheduled a couple days later to drive it home since it was mostly country roads and within 10 miles or so. He just said to not shut it off. Well I made it about 3 miles away and it shut off coming to a stop. I kept trying to crank the engine over would she wouldn't turn over at all. Several township police later directing traffic around me, it was flat-bedded back to the house.
That torture test at the intersection really cooked the starter and eventually the flywheel. It had one of those fancy PowerMaster starters with the adjustable collar and no nose cone. The starter would flex and pull away from the ring gear grinding away the tips of the teeth. I probably could have gotten away with just a rigid starter but there was damage to the ring gear and I just want stuff to be right as I go forward. I pulled the transmission and replaced the flywheel and starter with an additional engine ground. The Borg & Beck clutch looked in great shape with very little wear. The new setup has no issue cranking the engine over now.
I decided to go ahead and check the idle fuel mixture and initial timing after getting everything back together. I started the car and saw the timing at 8 before and the idle about 1000 rpm. I moved the car back to let it hang out the open door to warm up. I noticed what appeared to be missing and when I looked at my connected vacuum gauge the needle was all over the place. I grabbed my infrared temp checker and found cyl 5 & 6 header pipes cold. Rechecked my plug wires and all good. Pulled #5 plug and it's just kinda wet. Cleaned it up and reinstalled without any luck. FFFFFUUUUUUDDDDGE! Pulled the valve cover and found both #5 push rods mangled. Pulled right side valve cover and just one #6 bent. 3 other rods are just slightly bent enough to wobble when spinning in place. I did notice the left bank pushrods are different than the right bank and appear to be cheaper/weaker rods. The right bank are dark steel and I assume chromoly. Also the valve covers are double gasket'd and recently covered in black sealer. The old timer knew more than he let on and got me.
I threw my borescope down cyl 5 and the piston looks untouched. Perfect and clean TRW L2295's .030".The engine did not have that miss when I looked at it initially as it was a very strong misfire that I would have noticed. Somehow this happened during that cranking or during the subsequent startup. The engine was kicking back very hard during the attempts to get restarted but even with 25 years of professional experience I am not sure what happened. The heads have the 2 coil valve springs and the one flat spring(3 total). Not sure if this flat wound one is a spring or some kind of damper.
I initially thought to throw a set of pushrods in and see what happens. I saw there was enough room to remove a cyl #1 lifter through the pushrod opening to inspect and it's toast. Ground to a concave dish.
I have decided to just pull the engine and go through it. I will have all winter to work on it in my nice warm shop as I would have to move it in and out if it stayed in the car. I just don't have to room to leave a car sit in my shop. I will post some pictures of this mess when I am back in the shop tomorrow. Gonna be a good time I am sure.
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