Startin to work on the Clone Runner (it's PAINTED!)

71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Oct 06, 2024 2:39 pm

So since August I've had the car out (when the weather has been good) and put about 300 miles on it.
Yesterday that came to a grinding halt...

Out in the car yesterday with my wife - we were going for ice cream and I noticed while driving in the rear view mirror I was crop dusting behind me.
I wasn't too concerned as I had the rear of the oil pan seal leaking and throwing oil onto the header collector.

What I didn't realize at first that the smoke was not blue but white in color.....

It wasn't until I pulled over and had a look under the hood and heard sizzling noises coming from the engine.
WTF?
I pull the dipstick to find this..

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I look on the top of the valve cover to see this...

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My day is done....call CAA.

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Get it home and back into the garage - open up the oil cap.....

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Today I drain the oil....er I mean milkshake.

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I guess I'll be keeping this thread going as now the engine has to come out.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Thu Oct 24, 2024 7:03 pm

Well I hate to see that, that sucks

71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Oct 27, 2024 4:05 pm

Yes indeed.
So I haven't been too enthused about tearing into this as I just finished it not that long ago...

Today I started picking away at it.
First thing is to see how much water actually got into the crankcase. So lets drain the drain bucket.

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BTW I did buy Walmart's cheapest oil and put it in. The plan is to pull the distributor and intermediate shaft and use my priming tool to flush out the rest of the milkshake crap with clean oil before I pull the heads.

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Not as much water as I thought. I had 5 litres of the Lucas Hot Rod oil in it when it happened. I put back into the Walmart oil container that same amount but there was a skim of milkshake still in the drain pan.

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Next on the list, pull the valve cover - passenger side first....

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71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:08 pm

Well, a bit of time has gone by. There was a period of time where I didn't want to look at the car as I was just deflated over what had happened.
But pick myself up and get my ass back in the garage to figure out what happened.
So, lets dig into the engine.
Off with the valve covers.

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mmmmm - milkshake.
Next, pull the intake.

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Now the passenger head.

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Hmmm, some clean spots in cylinders 3 & 5.
Underside of head doesn't look bad and the head gasket isn't damaged.

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71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:41 pm

So next order of business is to inspect the bores for any damage.
Cylinder #1

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Cylinder #3

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Cylinder #5

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Cylinder #7

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71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:48 pm

No signs of any cylinder damage.
Next, pull the drivers side head.

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Looks cleaner in cylinder #6.
I checked the bores - they are the same as the passenger side with no damage.
So, I took the heads up to my engine guy (the same place that did the dyno work).
No sooner did I unload the heads from the trunk of my car and carry them in and put them on the bench does he find the issue....

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And this is before any pressure testing or magnafluxing has been done, which he will still do.

73X · Post by **73X** » Sun Jan 12, 2025 1:11 am

So what is the latest?

71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:10 pm

Well the latest is.........the head has been repaired!

I haven't been able to go and pick them up yet as my engine guy who repaired it said that one of the vales had a crack in it and he was ordering a replacement. He is also sourcing me a set of Cometic head gaskets and said to wait a few weeks.

I'll post photos of the heads as soon as I get them home.

71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:22 pm

Well...last weekend I went and picked up the heads.
I get there and Al pulls back the shrink wrap one the head with the hole and I see the hole hasn't been fixed.
I said to Al WTF???

He says that hole doesn't go anywhere - its not a thru hole.

He did pressure test them and the test was good.
He did say that the head gasket surface was warped and he took off .005" to clean them up.
He replaced the exhaust valve with the crack in it and cleaned up the chambers and installed the inner valve springs I removed when I broke the engine in the car.

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He did get me these MLS head gaskets - I thought they were going to be Cosmetics.

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71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Apr 06, 2025 1:59 pm

With the weather still a bit too chilly to spread silicone I prepped and painted up some parts to get them ready.
Here they are masked and ready for paint.

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And now some paint.

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71Beeper · Post by **71Beeper** » Sun Apr 06, 2025 2:02 pm

The outer head studs came out with the nuts as they had many coats of engine paint on the threads....so I soaked them in some paint stripper to get the engine paint off them.