I recently was preparing to install a 1954 235 engine in my 48 P/U when I had a embarassing shop mishap. The engine was mounted on a wood pallet inside my open 5 x 8 utility trailer in the adjacent bay to my truck. I was 5 minutes from hooking it up to the hoist and taking it out of the trailer when my father in law and I lifted the old 4 speed transmission out of the front of the trailer. Well taking that weight out of the trailer was enough to cause the engine to roll backwards out of the trailer onto the concrete floor. It didn't fall out but nonetheless still rolled out onto the concrete floor Damage to the engine appeared to be confined to a bent fan pulley, cracked the dist cap, and the little after market air filter was squashed. The engine does not have any visual damage to the oil pan or and although the valve cover was off so was the rocker arms and push rods and it doesn't appear that any part of the valve springs or head made contact with the floor. Fast forward / engine turns fine with a braker bar and 3/4 inch adaptor. We went ahead and installed the engine, but have a few misc items to put in such as trans. When I turn the engine over now with the breaker bar there is a rubbing sound that occurs once every time I rotate the engine 360. It is hard to say where the noise is coming from. With no visual evidence of damage to the engine, I still realize they are not designed to take the punishment this one received. Dist looks fine, and is rotating. installed the psuh rods and the rocker arms and valve cover. Again this sound is a metal rubbing sound not loud but I would imagine it will increase I do crank it up. Where do I start to figure this problem out. I have beat myself up enough about the mishap, but go ahead if you must and tell me how stupid this accident was. Hopefully this will be recoverable without totally tearing the engine down. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
