[HWYSTR455]

How 'bout maybe the rear cam plug, driven in too far, a brass one that the back of the cam is digging into?

And as I mentioned before, and as many know, bearing material isn't gold. If it were so hammered out, it would show up with a knock, low psi, etc., there would be other signs.

The spring shims is a good guess too, and you can tell by pulling a cover as mentioned.

And we're sure that crap wasn't in the drain bucket before you started?

And when I said anodized, I meant cad, my bad there. And I personally have had that issue with a Milodon pan and tray, only rinsed it, but it was all through the oil, smaller particles, not flakes.

.

[gtofreek]

Thrust bearings material will look copperish/brass color. Spring shims are copper coated.

[meanone]

Originally Posted by gtofreek

Thrust bearings material will look copperish/brass color. Spring shims are copper coated.

I said bronze. They are copper.

[grivera]

I may have missed it- have you measured the thrust clearance since discovering the gold flakes?

[rtanner]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

How 'bout maybe the rear cam plug, driven in too far, a brass one that the back of the cam is digging into?

And as I mentioned before, and as many know, bearing material isn't gold. If it were so hammered out, it would show up with a knock, low psi, etc., there would be other signs.

The spring shims is a good guess too, and you can tell by pulling a cover as mentioned.

And we're sure that crap wasn't in the drain bucket before you started?

And when I said anodized, I meant cad, my bad there. And I personally have had that issue with a Milodon pan and tray, only rinsed it, but it was all through the oil, smaller particles, not flakes.

.

yes all this, the flakes and nothing in the filter comment is really cotradictory and throwing me a curve

[vidguy]

I had (and posted about it a few years ago) the same thing after running my 455 I built. I'm with the guys that say to pull the distributor and make sure you dont have a bronze gear. Then you can eliminate that... The clue for me was the timing seemed to "Slip" but the hold down was tight. It was the gear wearing that much..

[67Twistytee]

I've been crazy busy at work and haven't had a chance to work on the car. I'm hoping to tackle some of the easier items this weekend and will report back. I'm pretty sure it has a cast iron dizzy gear. Distributor still had the original vacuum advance can when I got it. And likely no reason to switch to brass with flat tappet cam. I'll also pull a valve cover and check there for wear. For a few of the other responses and per earlier in the thread, the drain pan was clean before this change. Filter was clean. No play in the crank when I pry on the balancer. I have a magnetic dial indicator and will try to measure actual movement this weekend.

I'm going to end up pulling this engine regardless because I want to put in dished pistons to lower the compression. Good news is it's stll running well so hopefully I caught it in time.

[rtanner]

you dont need a dial indicator to check thrust if its BAD, push the crank pulley toward the rear of motor, pry it forward, there will neglible movement, if its bad it will really move, hell ive had em go clunk-clunk back and forth!!!!

[67Twistytee]

I know it's been awhile since I started this thread. Thought I'd post an update in case anyone was curious on the outcome. My engine is apart and headed to the machine shop. Good news is no signs of detonation, but there was metal in the oil pan.

Pistons are all original/good shape. They've never been removed from the factory rods and the rings were all intact. No signs of hammering from detonation. They will get upgraded in my rebuild but I'm happy with the condition they were in. I plan to overbore as light as possible to clean things up.

I had a couple exhaust push rods with tip damage on the rocker ends (pic below but my camera wouldn't focus well). Looks like I had a few lifters that were not rotating. I was probably headed for a wiped cam lobe before too long. We can't identify the cam that was in the motor. I thought it was an 068 replacement, but the only identifying stamp is "922987". Pic attached. Any ideas?

The block has never been machined and it appears the line bore maybe off from the factory. We will measure and machine accordingly, but I had asymmetric wear on some of the journal bearings and cam bearings. No wiped bearings or wear into the brass, so I still can't explain gold flake in original post.

The crankshaft is original and the journals had been polished but they probably didn't mic/measure for rebuild size bearings. Everything looks standard size. I have minor scoring on journals from bearing movement that can be corrected. It was in tight (maybe too little endplay?). Will obviously check and correct for rebuild.

Distributor has original iron gear. The shaft was loose so that explains my problems holding timing. I plan to get it rebuilt and will probably replace the internals with Crane or Petronix.

Full length windage tray is original and in good shape. No signs of wear. Same with valley pan and oil pan. 60lb melling oil pump also in good shape and was still producing 60 lbs of pressure at speed.

Heads look good with no valve recession or signs of unusual wear. There were no brass valve guides installed. They will be getting new valves/springs and a port job.

Well that's it for now. I'm working on a budget with my builder and going through a wishlist for a street 400. I will probably open the 670 heads, go with forged rods and pistons, and figure out what to do for a cam. I'm leaning towards another flat tappet cam given this is a street build. I know with proper break-in and oil I should be ok (and more budget friendly), but some of the lifter wear I saw has me rethinking this option. Any other reasons to go roller cam for a mild 400 build?

[JSPONT]

Does not look bad. Looks like the push rods had enough. Do yourself a favor and buy good push rods. Manton is a good source. Keep us posted on the build. I know it will snowball, it always does. LOL

[mgarblik]

If you have a really good machine shop doing the rebuild, I can offer some money saving suggestions. If you are actually building a mild street 400 engine, I can think of no reason to replace the connecting rods. They should get new hardware and be properly reconditioned. Again, if this is a mild rebuild, 400 HP range, cast replacement pistons will also be just fine. Forged are better, but cost lots more and will be slightly noisy, especially cold. You will probably need guide liners and possibly exhaust valve seats. New valves would be great, but probably not necessary. For a mild build, port work is also not really needed beyond a really nice valve job and a little blending in the bowl and a light clean-up on the short side. Flat tappet hydraulic can also saves lots of money and with proper oil and proper break-in and continued use of high zinc oil, no problem. Again, if around 1 HP per inch is the target, no special, exotic parts are needed at all. High quality machining, proper hone job with torque plates, quality Molly piston rings, and a good valve job are what it takes to build a reliable, high quality engine, that will last. Best of luck with your project. By the way, the picture of the main bearing looks like a Federal Mogul bearing. If that's the case, someone has been in the engine in the past. The brass bits may be from a previous rebuild where the crud was trapped in the engine somewhere. Original bearings should be date coded with month and year and be Moraine 400 or Moraine 600 bearings. Good luck with your rebuild.

[67Twistytee]

Thanks for the tips. All good points. I know the person who owned and worked on the car previously and he did use federal mogul bearings. But he put the original pistons back in with just a hone job and the crank journals measure low due to a polish job. There is evidence of some rust in cylinders from when it sat for many years so an overbore and new pistons are necessary. Most of the parts are original except for a replacement cam and the lifters. Pushrods look original too. We need to replace the valves because there was some work done on them before and they now measure undersized.

This will be a mild street build so I'm still leaning towards the FTH cam but want to upgrade to forged rods and pistons for piece of mind. Buying new forged rods won't cost much more than trying to refresh the original cast rods, and once you press them off they expand some.

I know the budget always mushrooms but I'm trying to be sensible while still doing it right and doing it once.