Ken Crenweldge get's the prize for the advice about Marvel Mystery Oil and ruling out simple things before taking things apart that I may never get put back together.
The furthest I took things apart was to lift off the rocker arm assembly. The crank and pistons turned very smoothly and silently when there was no rocker arm pressure or cylinder compression, so I was able to rule out interference between the cam and connecting rods. And the cam was still in perfect position to have #1 at TDC with respect to the timing ball in the flywheel, and the cam had no play at all so I was able to rule out any timing chain/timing gear issues.
While the rocker arm assmbly was off, I cleaned out all the oil passages... I reinstalled the rocker arm assembly (forgot to reapply fresh lube/oil after cleaning it) and then when I turned everything by hand, I had the same noise back, but this time in about 5 or 6 places... It was a noisy rocker arm all along... My conclusion is that I wasnt getting oil pumped through all of the rocker arm assebly passages, and I had a rocker arm getting dry...
The cylinders soaked in MMO for a good 2 or 3 weeks, as did the rocker arms/assembly. Filled the crankcase with some Mobil 5000 5w30 mixed with MMO, to get some good low viscosity lubication flowing through to try and give the oil passages a real good cleaning.
Got it fired up again finaly yesterday. It ran very rough for a while, and then eventually cleared up and ran much better. I think it was the burning out of the MMO in the cylinders that was bogging it down. Also the carb had a fuel/MMO mix soaking in it for a while... probably too rich on the MMO. Hoping to add some octane boost and fuel treatment to the gas and start her up and let her run for a good long run today. Maybe even get a short drive or two around the block... If good gas and 20 or 30 minutes of running doesnt get her running nice and sharp, then I'll get under the dizzy cap and make sure the rotor and points are clean and well adjusted...
Only minor stuff, either way. I took a good look around inside the crank case, and feel very good about the lower half of this engine. And on the top half, I think it has new valves and well machined valve seats... and when the PO got the block/head back from the machine shop, I think they just reinstalled the rocker arm assembly without cleaning it at all.
I'll take the valve cover off while its running today, and make sure there is good oil flow everywhere it should be ....
Last edited by MacX; 09/07/2010 6:09 PM. Reason: Starting and running fine now. Oil pressure gets a little low once the engine is hot. Next job is relocate the oil filter return line to the correct place on the drivers side of the block...
