I have a 62 Nova. I assembled the engine (early GM 350) about 12 years ago with parts bought 4-5 years earlier. Not state of the art parts. Just some decent parts at the time. A forged crank and rod setup (prolly eagle or cola at the time). Manley forged pistons and some speed pro file fit rings. All spun balanced (cept the rings). And the block was aligned and honed, its a 30 thou over block with splayed studs (ARP for the entire engine) for the main caps.
So without actually going out to the garage and doing some pressure checks (got a nice tool for that but it SUCKS removing spark plugs on this engine) Im just pissin in the wind.
The pistons would slap a lil during a start up. But they would all chill out after the block and pistons got up to temp.
Issue Im seeing now is I have one cylinder that wants to be a lil loud.
The reason Im posting is because the one piston seems to be slapping even when she is warmed up. All the rest of the pistons are good and never made any noise once warm.
I noticed this piston from day one by the way, was always loud.
So what do I do!! Let the loose piston ride in the bore or rip the engine down and measure it again.
I say again cause I did this already with this engine. I Mic'ed ALL the journals, bearings, bores and pistons AND filed the rings. I made a record of all the measurements and swapped parts around to get the best overall clearance. Kinda like "blue printing" an engine. Yes? I even checked the lifters and bores, its a nice engine.
Some folks dont know, I didn't, but engines are into the tenths (.0001"). Im a hobby machinist and like a thousandth (.001"). When turning metal a thou is a nice goal. Grinding is the 10ths side.
So I needed to be able to measure in the 10ths. Anyway I did. Was a lil new for me but working with tenths became comfortable.
What I didnt like was the Manley forged pistons and fast forward to today (20 years later) I still dont like them.
I just dont like to hear the piston flopping around in there.
There is too much money (which I dont have alot of) in the engine. I dont want to ignore the one cylinder but I also dont want to have to pull the engine. And thats what it will take. I cant hang over another fender working on an engine. My back is trash.
Any advice that does not include pulling spark plugs or the engine would be cool.
Obviously I want someone to say its ok, the piston slap wont kill the engine. Sure I know better, that thing is gonna beat itself to death.
I need to get my but on the video camera and take a vid with sound so you could hear it. Its not loud, Id shut her down if it was. Its just there and I don't like it.
Any opinions are welcome... Thanks Guys... JR
So without actually going out to the garage and doing some pressure checks (got a nice tool for that but it SUCKS removing spark plugs on this engine) Im just pissin in the wind.
The pistons would slap a lil during a start up. But they would all chill out after the block and pistons got up to temp.
Issue Im seeing now is I have one cylinder that wants to be a lil loud.
The reason Im posting is because the one piston seems to be slapping even when she is warmed up. All the rest of the pistons are good and never made any noise once warm.
I noticed this piston from day one by the way, was always loud.
So what do I do!! Let the loose piston ride in the bore or rip the engine down and measure it again.
I say again cause I did this already with this engine. I Mic'ed ALL the journals, bearings, bores and pistons AND filed the rings. I made a record of all the measurements and swapped parts around to get the best overall clearance. Kinda like "blue printing" an engine. Yes? I even checked the lifters and bores, its a nice engine.
Some folks dont know, I didn't, but engines are into the tenths (.0001"). Im a hobby machinist and like a thousandth (.001"). When turning metal a thou is a nice goal. Grinding is the 10ths side.
So I needed to be able to measure in the 10ths. Anyway I did. Was a lil new for me but working with tenths became comfortable.
What I didnt like was the Manley forged pistons and fast forward to today (20 years later) I still dont like them.
I just dont like to hear the piston flopping around in there.
There is too much money (which I dont have alot of) in the engine. I dont want to ignore the one cylinder but I also dont want to have to pull the engine. And thats what it will take. I cant hang over another fender working on an engine. My back is trash.
Any advice that does not include pulling spark plugs or the engine would be cool.
Obviously I want someone to say its ok, the piston slap wont kill the engine. Sure I know better, that thing is gonna beat itself to death.
I need to get my but on the video camera and take a vid with sound so you could hear it. Its not loud, Id shut her down if it was. Its just there and I don't like it.
Any opinions are welcome... Thanks Guys... JR