Initial Condition Assessment - Deciding How To Proceed
HomeThe first order of business was to determine what condition the engine was in. During the PPI we tried to turn it over (it was frozen solid) but why? Was a catastrophic failure the reason Dr Jensen to parked it? As there was nothing obviously wrong on the outside (except all that oil), the next place to look was under the cam covers - would all the valves still be there?
At this point, I was still hoping that we could change the fluids, bleed the brakes, do a few other things and go for a spin around the block. But first I wanted to see what condition everything was in. I found the throttle linkages to be a little loose, and there was a good bit of carbon in the bores, but everything looked OK. The distributors had not needed to be turned at all, so they hadn't been tweeked to coverup a stretched (i.e. high mileage) cam chain. Unfortunately, much of the engine compartment had been sprayed with black paint.
Next, I removed the cam covers. Make a note - the distributors are held on by studs & bolts in both the head AND the cam cover, so be sure *all* nuts and bolts are removed before assuming anything is stuck. Ask me how I know! - one of these bolts were totally buried under greasy dirt, so I missed it initially, but no damage done. The exploded views in the parts manual are not too too clear on where these are exactly. Once I knew what was there, access to everything was actually pretty good.
The site that greeted me was non too pretty - what a mess. Lots of oil sludge, but it looked like nothing was broken or missing. Scraping at the stuff showed it was thick as tar in places, which had me concerned it was also blocking the oil channels. As you will see in later pages, this turned out to be true in a potentially catastrophic way. There were also these rust colored flakes on everything, which wiped off easily. My guess is it was from the steel crank case vent filter elements, as these had mostly rusted away. That it was in the oil was a bad sign, though.
Closer examination of the intake runners showed cylinder 10 had a problem - there was no carbon in this bore, unlike all the others. Not good. My guess is that this cylinder was dead, probably no spark, and with all that carbon it looks like it was running pretty rich too. So I pulled all the sparkplugs and again a problem with number 10 - this plug was filled with nasty smelling tan/black crystals. At this point, I decided the engine had to be rebuilt - too much risk.
The mess in the drivers footwell needed investigating too. Pulling up the carpet reveiled the floorboard had come unstuck, and oil and who knows what else had seeped in under to soak the batting and carpet. A little rust, all on the surface, but the crossmember underneath will have to be seen to at some point. I also found a little rust around the seat belt holes in the passenger footwell, so decided to pull out the interior to see if there was any more. Easy enough to put it back, plus the dry leather can be treated more easily with less chance of it being damaged.
Also, pulling the transmission cover found it to be in good shape externally, with the speedometer cable still connected. (this picture was taken a little later). As this cable is still attached here and at the speedometer end (and not broken), it's a clue that the mileage is accurate. The belly pan was still on too, although it was carrying a full inch of Nevada sand mixed with oil!
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Revised: December 29, 2002 Copyright © 2002 Jonathon Brent
