Thoughts?

[1970Bee]

Doing the post mortem on my 383. Looks like I collapsed on #5 intake. Reckon it took the cam with? What else should I be looking for?

 

[RemCharger]

Pop the intake and have a look
Where's the pushrod

 

[1970Bee]

It was just chilling in the guide hole. I fished it and looks ok. Was going to put it back together and crank it with the coil unplugged to see how things moved. Guessing the whole shaft assembly has to come out?

 

[RemCharger]

Yes or loosened off significantly. That's the problem with those adjusters you can't back them out

 

[1970Bee]

Yeah. I’m kinda new to MOPAR’s and this motor has had a ton of work done to it and I’m doing a bit of discovery learning here!

 

[#41]

Assuming the pushrod and rocker arm are ok, you just need to to remove the intake so you can get some eyeballs on the lifter and cam lobe. Expect not to be happy.

 

[1970Bee]

Yeah. I’m guessing it’s not great. Guess we shall see. Will pull off the intake tomorrow

 

[devinism]

Any idea on the cam / lifters?
I just watched this last night. The lifters seem to be a problem.

 

[1970Bee]

Have family visiting now, but will pull the intake tomorrow. Hoping not to find too much shrapnel!

 

[Geoff 2]

Probably a collapsed lifter...which gave enough clearance for the prod to jump out....

 

[1970Bee]

I’ve yet to take off the intake. I’ll get to it a bit later today. But I’ve been going thru the car’s historic receipts…I assumed the cam was hyd flat tappet, but it seems it’s actually a “bottom of the page” solid roller (248/254, 576/582).
Might set my expectations of what I’ll find when the intake comes off. Also informs me that valve springs are almost certainly in order, since I have no evidence they have been changed since installed in 2006. My limited knowledge tells me that a cam that big would need valve springs to be changed periodically? Valve adjustments, too, but that’s another topic.

 

[1970Bee]

Pulled the intake off and found the culprit lifter. It didn’t disintegrate, but the roller is pushed up some and doesn’t move as freely as it should. Didn’t feel anything too heinous on the cam lobe, but will rotate the motor by hand and feel for any obvious scoring.

The first challenge will be getting the lifter out; it mushroomed some and won’t come out easily. Didn’t get too aggressive with it, as am hoping not to damage the lifter bore. Any prob tips on getting a mushroomed lifter out?

At this point I’m optimistic about the short block. Will drain the oil and mine for metal tomorrow. I’m less optimistic about the cam, but guess we’ll see.

 

[dvw]

Do not force the lifter up. it will damage the lifter bore. I know this isn't what you want to hear but the cam has to come out. Then the lifter can be dropped out the bottom. My buddy's racecar car had even a worse failure last weekend (killed the cam as well. Less than 100 passes). Saw another failure on FB today. Both were Comp lifters. I ran brand new Comps in my racecar. After 150 passes one failed the needle bearings. 6 other others were spread at the bottom. That was the end of the line for me with Comps. Installed Isky Red Zone bushed in 2014. Still running them 950 passes later.
Doug

 

[1970Bee]

yeah. Was going there was a magical solution, but kinda knew that’s where things were headed.
Might be a good time to figure out what I want out of the motor (besides just to run!).
I suspect it has more cam than the heads can use. It has a set of 452 heads that had about $1500 of work done on them (in 2006) by an outfit called Hensley Racing in NC, but doubt they are enough with that pretty stout solid roller with a 2.14 valve. I can also assume it needs springs, since I have no evidence they have been changed since the motor was built, and that cam had to be stressing them pretty good.
So…lifters for sure. Valve springs seem like a good idea…
So might make sense to have a touch less cam, better heads (440 source?) while I’m torn down this far?

Or maybe find a decent 440 short block, source heads and cam and call it a day?

This was supposed to be a “driver” while I work on my long term project .

 

[Geoff 2]

Check for valve spring coil bind...or any other area of the valve train that might cause binding & that lifter problem.

 

[RemCharger]

Sounds like the cam was not known to be solid, so the necessary lash checks weren't done, and the result was smashed rollers.

 

[1970Bee]

I kinda came to the same conclusion. Doesn’t look like I can finesse the lifter out from the top, so… getting ready to drain the radiator and pull the cam

 

[1970Bee]

I can feel that the wheel was pushed up to where it no longer sits just proud of the bottom of the lifter. It must have spread it just enough to where I can’t easily pull it out of the lifter bore.

 

[PRHeads]

Those are probably Comp rockers as well.
From that time frame, they weren’t bushed(steel On steel), and weren’t always happy with SR spring loads.
Be sure to pull all that stuff apart and look for galling.

As for getting the lifter out…….I’m not sure if the link bar attaching hardware will pass thru the bore…..but you’ll find out soon enough if that’s the case.

Edit- I just checked, and the lifters link bar attaching “tab” doesn’t go thru the bore.
That means it might get messy to get it out of there.

My first thought is, try breaking the strut off the lifter body, then it would pass down thru.
Or removing the link bar attaching hardware.
Just Don’t over stress the lifter boss area!

 

[PRHeads]

I’d have the springs tested so you know where they were at.
If they were light enough to allow some valve float to occur, that hammering can really take its toll on the lifters.
I know the “standard” recommended springs for that cam are a fair amount lighter than what I’d ever use in a BB with a SR cam.