Birthday Blues/Advice Needed

[73cudabr]

Hi Team,

Had a birthdayFriday and took the day off work and thought I'd start my day taking Cuda for a drive to breakfast. After I ate, I walked out started my car and it immediately stalled after firing up. Which is odd, as it's been running like a top for 6 + months. No big deal, its a carburetor likely the change of temps need an adjustment. Fire it back up, roll up to the stop light and it start's bogging down ready to stall. Considering I'd be blocking traffic if I died there on a busy street, I held the brake down and feathered the gas enough to keep it going while waiting for the light to turn green. Now I'm really starting to wonder what is going on with my tuning. Light turns green, roll into traffic and I start hearing a clanging sound. I know my flange where my headers meet the pipe sometimes comes loose so now I"m thinking I have to tighten that, right up until I feel a loss  power accompanied with the clanging. Now I'm on alert, pull off immediately and open the hood, I hear that the clanking is coming from the engine, so I immediately shut it down.

Trying to figure out what is wrong, I"m puzzled for a few minutes, then I notice my wing nut on the air filter is loose, So I pull the air filter off to see that there is no longer a stud there to hold it in place. It was sheered off at the nut that holds it to the carburetor. I can now immediately piece together the sequence of events that likely happened with the stall, which I'm assuming was the stud holding the carb open, then I likely sucked it down the intake when I restarted it, and the rest is a cliff hanger. I towed it home, and let it sit for a few days until I relaxed a bit. I just can't believe that such a stupid thing would be my demise. Come Sunday I started to pull plugs to see what cylinder is the winner. Number 6 plug is shown below. So thats the side of the engine that I'm starting with. I've broke it down to the rockers, and will get those off, along with head studs/bolts, then see what the cylinder wall looks like. Hopefully it's not too bad. Based on the outcome, I will need suggestions for new engine or refresh and will illicit help based on the pics I post.

IF by some miracle it's not damaged beyond repair, I may look into new heads and cam since I have the engine broken down, be a good time to upgrade the top end.

Anything else I should be checking for while I'm in there?

[67vertman]

That is not a good Birthday present. 

Once you pull the head, you will get a good look at the damage.  Hopefully the bolt got stuck behind the valve and there is no damage to the piston or block.

[anlauto]

My birthday was yesterday

[HP_Cuda]

If it is #6 the push rods don't looks really bad but you won't know until you pull them and roll em on a flat surface.

I would say you have to pull that head to get the full extent of the damage. If it's not bad then yeah a good time for a set of aluminum heads and a new cam!

[1 Wild R/T]

Good luck... I've seen damage like that plug go both ways... I doubt the block is hurt but the piston may either have a few divots or it could have steel embedded into it...

[73cudabr]

Well like I said...It's a cliff hanger at the moment. Ran out of time yesterday. I'll likely have an hour a night to work on it. So while a competent person can remove both heads in an hour, I've never done this before, So I'll likely have the rocker arms off today haha. From you tubing I need to get a shoe box to keep my parts synced up if I plan on re-using the heads.

[brads70]

aw yuck, not fun!   Hopefully nothing too serious !

[67vertman]

"From you tubing I need to get a shoe box to keep my parts synced up if I plan on re-using the heads. "

yes or a cardboard box.  The push-rods need to go back in the same holes.

[73cudabr]

You guys know the socket size for the head bolts? I need to buy a bigger extension, and not sure if my fisher price set has a socket that large. Also I'm reading there is a sequence to taking these off. Anyplace where I can find more information on that?

[67vertman]

Most say remove (loosen slowly) from the center out. Like this.  I believe the bolt size is 5/8 but don't renumber for sure.

[73cudabr]

Thank you! Maybe I'll grab a 6 pack and some more tools and have some pics for you guys tonight. I don't know how much longer I can wait anyways.

[AARuFAST]

   bummer  Looks like the inside needs freshened up anyway.
Good luck no damage inside cyl.
I broke exhaust manifold bolts on both heads last year.
Started to use oil earlier.  Was worth taking heads to Machine shop
replace valves, valve seals, springs.

[Chryco Psycho]

The torque pattern is for a small block you need a big block one . start in the center & work in a circle outwards , I work through the sequence 4 times in steps up to the final torque 30 -45-60-75 then do 75 again
 Use FelPro or thin steel shim gaskets
 head bolts 13/16 or 7/8 

[73cudabr]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice. Was hoping to have a look inside there last night, but after getting the rocker, studs,  and the upper head bolts I realized the header needs to actually come out. Was hoping to unbolt it, but leave it in the engine bay. However the lower bolts can't be accessed. So hopefully tonight I can finish it up.

[HP2]

I've had something similar to this happen to me once. It occurred while doing some tuning so I wasn't driving and was able to quickly shut it down so I never got the clanging. Tried fishing it out with a magnet with no success. Once I pulled the head, found the culprit and looked over the damage, it was minor enough I just buttoned it all back up. I did need to deburr the piston some since it has bolt thread imprints pressed into it. I was lucky and had no damage other than that.