My 235 with 40K on a rebuild sounded like it threw a rod about a week ago. I towed it home, took it apart and was hard pressed to find the source of the noise. Finally figured out it was the small end of #1 rod. The bolt looks like it was backed out 3/16 resulting in an oval small end. I don't see any marks indicating the threads tore out. How common is this failure? Should those bolts be lock tighted in or did they use lock washers? I did find a peice of what looks like a lock whasher in the oil pan. Don't have my shop manual with me so not sure how they went together. Was assembled by the machine shop.
Good news is this will be a cheap fix, new rod and perhaps wrist pin. Bad news I don't have an excuse to build a 261.
Also wonder if anyone has tried using non copper head gasket? Ordered a headset from Napa (Victor with Napa name) and it wasn't copper like the one I got from Patrick's. Think I may order from Patrick, also cheaper.
Thanks
