77-C3 & 89-C4

Haven't you noticed that every dam ad you see they always state that the engine and trany are rebuilt. At this frequency of rebuilding these old engines by now should all be at least 800 cu in. What gives here. My take is this unless the dude has a receipt from a well known engine and trany shop you can kiss that as a big lie. I would not believe a word. Am I alone on this?

JJ Deuce

heck no - you gotta remember these cars are OLD. I wouldn't be surprised if the tranny and engines have been rebuilt a couple of times in some cases. Also, you don't have to bore an engine to rebuild it. Depends on cylinder wear, and/or your desire for the car.

Metal Wulf

:yesnod:

JIM

I've rebuilt my motor twice and trans once. Second time was due to a pistong ring land breaking.

fauxrs

Hell no you're not...that is the first line any car seller adds to his Ad...Engine rebuilt 30,000 miles or trans rebuilt 5,000 miles. this is because those distances are far enough that dirt could build up and hide the fact that the engine was little more than washed.

Certainly the engines are old enough to have been requilt, that is not the issue here. You would be an idiot to take anyones word on a rebuilt engine if they had nothing to back it up. now it doesnt have to be a well know shop - I've known people who had gas stations rebuild their engines - but a reciept from a shop indicating they did the rebuild would suffice as support to thre claim.

without support to the claim, it (the claim) has no value.

Boofers

I'm with you on this one. I am taking an engine rebuilding course at a local college. The teacher is amazing and he makes us do everything by the book. So far this course has been a real eye opener :eek: My buddy and I are working on a 396 Chev BB from a 68 Nova. The car has been through about 5 owners in the past 10 years and somewhere along the way the engine was "totally rebuilt" by a "professional". Well, once we got inside of her we found all kinds of problems. It had a mystery cam with its lobes worn way down, lifters were garbage, two broken piston rings, piston to cylinder clearance was way out of tolerance, bearings and journals were all scratched up, the list goes on... Apparently what somebody calls a cam swap another guy calls a total engine rebuild :rolleyes: As you suggest, if there is no receipt you are relying on the word of some guy's brother's uncle's best friend's coworker who once watched an oil change.

TedH

Age of the components.

I keep ALL of my rebuild project receipts.

Matt Gruber

up to 15 year old cars, REBUILT is a big nagative. means it was trashed.
Rebuilt is a good word for NOT ORIGINAL.
REBUILT in an ad is to discourage NCRS guys dreaming about a rare perfect unrestored car.
Rebuilt in an ad often means that that item actually works!.
. my 61 had ~11 engines. the one in it now was rebuilt twice. yes, it works!
:yesnod:

Kevin_73

The engine in my 73 was " rebuilt " by the previous owner. When I questioned him about what exactly he had done to it and why he had rebuilt it he told me that according to a buddy of his who helped him with the rebuild it had spun a bearing. They had had the crank reground, installed new bearings, a new cam "with a little more duration than stock". Supposedly the pistons were within tolerance so they re-installed them after honing the bores and installing new rings.
He called this a total rebuild.
:rolleyes:
What I found while chasing the post warm-up knock, vacuum leaks, and exhaust leaks that remained in the engine was horrifying. Even though they had replaced the cam, the timing chain was still original and so stretched that it was slapping the cover and permitting almost 10 degrees of play in relation to the crank. Someone at some point had attempted to install the harmonic balancer without aligning the the keyway to the crank, when it didn't fit they just used a bigger hammer (evidenced by the deep dents on the front) and hammered away until they had actually cut about half of a new keyway slot into the balancer (the "cutting tool" was the woodruff key). They apparently finally gave up, removed the balancer, filed it relatively smooth and re-installed on the mangled woodruff key. They had decided to eliminate the EGR valve but were too cheap to buy a block off plate, so they broke the diaphram off of the base and spot welded a plug into the center hole. This would have worked if they hadn't left the three surrounding 1/8" holes open allowing a massive vacuum leak. The distributor had more than 1/4" up and down play in the shaft. They had re-installed the old spark plugs and wires, and the exhaust manifold studs were so rusted that in places they were less than 3/16" in diameter (these broke when I attempted to tighten them).
Once I had fixed most of these problems the engine finally ran pretty well but still had a noticeable knock after it had warmed up. I know that the knock is coming from the #1 cylinder because it dissappears when that plug is disconnected, and I am 99.9% sure that it is the wrist pin. I am also 99.9% sure that this same knocking noise is what the previous owner had diagnosed as a spun bearing in the first place.

Bottom line is that just because someone says the engine is rebuilt it doesn't always mean that it is in any better shape than it was before they started wrenching on it.

1Bad69

has the monster ever been rebuilt? :hurray:

77-C3 & 89-C4

Well it is a 5 owner so I would have to say that it has been rebuilt at least 5 times, It must be a 502cu in by now

79VetteMike

Personally, I trust almost no one. I would much rather have an engine with 170,000 miles on it that has never been molested. A buddy of mine has a '71 GMC truck that I wouldn't mind having. Problem is, it has an Autozone rebuilt engine with some hi-po parts in it. Honestly, I'd be afraid to drive it.

joeveto

These are old cars. It's a necessary evil.

But you're right, you want to see receipts, or evidence it was done right. Price accordingly.

no_radio

If you use a reputable engine builder and pay for good parts you will end up with an engine that is stronger and more reliable than original, especially on a high mileage engine. I had the engine in my '74 rebuilt a few years ago and I beat the crap out of it pretty much every time I take it out. No problems at all, and I know that the oil has been changed and the carb kept in spec, etc. I would rather have a fresh engine/trans that I know was built and maintained correctly than a worn out old unit with no history.
That being said, I wouldn't want to buy someone elses' "rebuild" without knowing the person or the rebuilder that did the work. Too many idiots and thieves out there.
Jeff

mrvette

It's a fairly easy thing to tell if an engine is rebuilt or not....and given 1/2 a chance correctly.....

look for new usually brass replacement freeze plugs...look for oil/sludge buildup in the valve covers....on the heads in the filler area....look at the valve train....see how it runs....puff oil on startup??? blue smoke???
how quiet is it, pull smooth and strong....when ideling....is the crank case giving out with a LOT of blowby?? is the breathers weeping oil???
underneath...is the block clean?, skirts?? look in the bellhousing area...no one cleans it there....check the oil pressure, any fresh rebuilt will be pulling about 25 lbs at idle....hot....and do an easy 50-60 at say 2500 rpm's....

auto trannies need rebuilt every 50k miles, if factory....if modified for shifting, and durability....they should last forever, nearly...unless it's an overdrive 4 speed auto...then they last not at all, very poor reliability....especially a 700,.....

GENE

GDaina

Bye Bye Georgie, had us fooled for a while....at this point, I have to say Georgie has become The Forum's Numero Uno :troll


[Modified by GDaina, 9:17 AM 10/1/2003]

SuperFast80

GDaina, locked and loaded. :rofl: :seeya

Jughead

Aw, who was it? I missed it again. :mad

75Rag

I feel like I'm forever playing the Forum's version of "Where's Waldo?"

GDaina

The author of this thread