Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Well yesterday morning i tore apart my motor that has been giving me so much trouble from Taylor Made Motors in New Braunfels Texas. What i found was what i thought it was, piston slap. I took some photos, and i will share the link to the photo bucket album that i made for this motor. I for some reason can never get photos to upload on this website from my computer. If someone can take my photos from photo bucket and upload them to this thread, i give them full permission to do so.

Piston slap wasnt the only thing i found though. Some of the stuff in the motor, wasnt as it was suppose to be. James Taylor advertises that he only uses the top quality parts so that he can provide the best motor possible... Well what i had was a fiber timing gear, which is okay but not something you want in a motor you plan on driving across country in. He advertises that he installs aluminum timing gears, but i was told that i was getting a bronze gear because he liked those more at the time my engine was being built. I was also told several several times that he instals the new High pressure oil pumps in his motors. He wanted to be sure that all his motors had sufficient oil at all rpms. I can not physically prove that it was suppose to have a high pressure pump though. Because this was only told to me from him over conversations on the phone. He said he didnt raise his prices when he started using these pumps, because he felt like he didnt want to charge more, and by installing these pumps he was taking $200 out of his profit to ensure the quality of his motor. Well what i got was a stock rebuilt oil pump. Which works fine, but i expected to open it up and find one of the new pumps like i was told i was going to get.

As far as the bearings, some looked okay, and some i am concerned about. The rear main bearing has some weird pitting in it, and it doesnt seem to have a normal wear pattern. Some of the engine builders on here can take a look at it and tell me what they think. Also another thing i thought was kind of weird was the fact that there were no shims in this motor anywhere. The bearings that were used were from AER in skokie. I'm not sure if there are no shims because the bearings can come out, and be replaced with different sizes to compensate for wear, or if he just simply felt like building a motor with no shims in it.

This piston that failed was scared pretty badly. About the worst that i had ever seen. the piston pretty well fell out of the block without hardly any pushing on my part to force it out. when i took the piston and rod out, i held the piston and rod parallel to the floor, and the rod wouldnt fall with gravity if that makes sense. In order for the rod to move i had to forcibly flick my wrist as hard as i could, and the rod would fall about half way, then i would flick it again, and it would fall the rest of the way. also the wristpin had no side to side movements. it was frozen in place. I havent taken the pistons off the rods yet, but the wrist pin on piston 3 is as purple as it can get. Another thing that kind of concerns me is all the rods were discolored and some what purple by the wrist pins. I dont know if this is normal for these rods, since they are brand new, and made of a different material from originals. This is the first time ive messed with a motor using these rods, and AER bearings. So im not real sure of how everything is "suppose" to look after some wear and tear. I'm afraid that all the wristpin fits were to tight, and this is what is causing the discoloring in the rods.

As far as the rest of the motor, it was about as i expected. There was Gasket maker/sealer in every nook and cranny you could imagine. The valve chamber cover had a blob of the gasket maker about 3 inches long and probable 2 inches wide. Im not sure why there is a big blob of it in there, because it doesnt seem to have a crack. Also 2 of the 3 ears holding the threaded part for the oil return tube were cracked from over tightening the bolt. I'm one of those people who likes to use as little gasket maker/sealer as possible so that it doesnt get into the oil passages and clog them up. I also removed all the head studs with my fingers with the head still on the block. I know this is "okay" but i would feel more comfortable with the head studs snug in the block rather than loose. The camshaft also had some rust on it. Which pretty much just shows that it was sitting out for some time. And i'm pretty sure everyone will agree that there shouldnt be any rust inside a motor at all.

But thats pretty much it, i'm sure im forgetting some stuff but here is the link to the pictures. Like i said, if someone can take them and post them on this thread, i would appreciate it. I'm 20 years old, and i must have been playing with model a's to much growing up, because i understand less about computers than just about anyone i know. Anyways, all thats left is to get all the machine work checked, have the cylinders rebored, and i guess put it back together and hope it last longer than the first time... all of 1500 miles this past time after it lost piston #3 the first go around. The first time piston #3 failed was at about 200 miles on the motor.

Here is the link: just copy and paste into your website bar. http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/Lo...glass/library/

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Your photos have to be less than 575k each. jpgs work best.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Sorta looks like it got warm.

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc73bd8d.jpg

Use the address under "Direct" Click on it to copy directly to your clipboard. Image insertion using the quick reply (2nd icon from right) works.

Joe K

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

That piston,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,well,,,,,,,, ,it looks rather beat.
Wish you well resolving this Logan.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Teach you to fish...

Go to photobucket, hover over the thumbnail of the picture, a little star appears in the top right thumbnail. Click it, select "get links", copy the "Direct" link.

Come back to Fordbarn, click on the icon above the "Reply" part that looks like this... https://fordbarn.com/forum/hamb/editor/insertimage.gif

Paste the link into the window that pops up. You'll get this and it is all done.

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...ps016bb80a.jpg

-Tim

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Logan, I think the pistons used are press fit instead of the floating pins and the blue on the rods is from heating them to press the pins in. Dale

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Here are a few more of your pictures. Gary in MNAttachment 134998

Attachment 134999

Attachment 135000

Attachment 135001

Attachment 135002

Attachment 135003

Attachment 135004

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

And a few more pictures. Gary in MN

Attachment 135005

Attachment 135006

Attachment 135007

Attachment 135008

Attachment 135009

Attachment 135010

Attachment 135011

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

This should be all of them. Gary In MN.

Attachment 135012

Attachment 135013

Attachment 135014

Attachment 135015

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Certainly troubling when you put your trust and money into someone only to find out it was the wrong decision.
I hope this issue can be resolved without a hassle.
Wishing you good luck.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Insert motors are always built without shims just like a modern engine. The blue on the top of the rods is from the rod heater they used to install them. As for the piston, I will reserve an opinion on that till later. I will say I have seen this 3 other times and can probably tell you what happened. The bearings look pretty good for inserts and if you tear down a rebuilt 350 chevy with 500 miles on it, the bearings will look much like these.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

I believe you need to have someone look at this motor that knows how inserted motors are done and knows about engines in general. As far as this "he said, she said", if you don't have his comments on paper and it signed BY HIM, these comments are moot. I don't believe, from your comments here, you know much about how an inserted engine is done and need some experienced help with eyes on suggestions. No matter what kind of guarantee you may have gotten from him, it is over now since you dismantled the engine without his consent.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

I've done plenty of motor work before, just never any with this style of rod and insert. Although i am by no means an "expert" in the motor field. And trust me when I say, I voided no warranty by taking this apart because there is no warranty with his motors. He advertises a warranty, and even told me "as long as you keep oil and water in it I will warranty it for life". But he wouldnt warranty it the first time the piston failed. So after it did it a second time, I didn't even call him. Not to mention he's just a pain in the butt do business with, he doesn't want to do anything on any type of timeline. Just when he's good and ready to do it. I'm going to have all of the machine work checked by a guy here in Texas, and have him re-bore the cylinders and then I'll get new pistons for it. Then put it together again, and hopefully it last longer than it has the last two times. The reason I posted these pictures were because people asked for them once I took it apart. If anybody wants to know the story behind this thread. They can search the motor builders name in the search option above and find my thread from last week.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Are those Chevy pistons?

Bob

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

It appears the pistons were fitted with not enough clearance & the bores picked up metal from the pistons.I dont think the cyls are scored but just need the aluminum removed & the cyls honed to give correct clearance for new pistons.In my opinion,a properly rebuilt stock engine makes a great "touring" engine.My stock,except for 5.9 head 33 B engine still runs the original babbit & has been a great long distance driver.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

I'd say the piston damage was caused by a seized wrist pin. This causes the rod to jam the piston into the cylinder wall with high force, squeezing out the oil film and scoring the piston. I've seen this on late model engines where the pin was either too tight or assembled dry or sat a long time before being started. It takes some running time before any oil is splashed onto the pin area and finds its way into pin bore.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Piston pins looked tight. If you are worried about the cylinder walls getting thin, i honed cylinders worse than that in motorcycles and one car. Not picture perfect but it works ok for me.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

How are you guys determining this?

.

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Yes

Re: Motor UPDATE!!! It aint pretty
 

Not any more!! http://www.model-a-ford.com/LOL.gif