A good mechanic isn't worried about sharing their mistakes. "Yould better learn from the mistakes of others... You'll never live long enough to make them all yourself.."😮😅😊
From listening to the video I heard it right away, but I too thought it was piston slap. I've always wondered what would the engine sound like if the pistons were put in backwards, now I know! Keep the good content flowing.
I'm glad you found the issue.... We all make mistakes no matter how good you are... !!!!! Can't wait to see that VROOM VROOM on the road doing a burn out....!!!!
The funniest part is he saying the time it took to do something that in camera was a couple seconds :D I loved it! I wish more youtubers would do the same, watching it is pretty easy...
Wow, good sleuth work. I've done that, too. 62.5 piston pin offset and backwards rod side to side clearances on the chamfer. Nice you avoided rod bearing failure in those two cylinders. Love your work, 209. Only the Good Guys Learn from a mistake and Keep Winning!
Back in 1976 I bought a 1970 Nova SS 396/375 HP. I blew the engine up a week later. I replaced the short block, found a set of rectangular port heads and proceeded to assemble my first ever engine. Upon startup it ran like a scalded dog. I did find that there were two problems. A lack of top end power and the sound of what I thought was a ticking valve or lifter. After weeks of research it all came down to the wrong mechanical fuel pump pushrod. It turns out there are two different lengths of pushrod for the big block fuel pump and I had installed the shorter one. This was the source of the ticking sound and the loss of power was due to the fact that the fuel pump was only operating at about 80% capacity, causing the engine to starve for fuel above 5000 RPM. It was a 10-minute fix, but a real pain in the ass to discover .
Don't feel too bad brother, we all make dumb mistakes sometimes! 🤣 Get that ratty Nova running & bring it to the No Name Nationals 2024! We'd love to have you! 😊
Pretty sure that was covered in chapter 13… being a good human being, fathering children & engine building…. It’s that same guide book we all got 🙄😎. You found it. You’ll fix it. Take care dude !
You are an awesome Man, it is Men like you that help others. Many that I have encountered in my life would have blamed someone else for this simple mistake.
See that's how we get better at it... that's something you will never overlook again on a engine assembly... I respect you for calling yourself out on that... shit happens
Loved the detective sleuthing aspect of this video. I was guessing wrist pin problem about the noise, glad it was something simple. You got that engine yanked so fast!
This is exactly why guys who do this sort of fun, home shop work needs a ENGINE RUN STAND OF SOME SORT ! SAVES YOU A WHOLE LOTTA WORK. AND YES THIS IS THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE TALKING.
Enjoy watching your videos. Glad you found it hope it runs well once you get it going again. You seem like you could do this in your sleep having done it many times. Im the same way some times we just need to slow down a bit. 👍
Great video! This helps to understand what the mis-installed piston / rod assemblies sound like... I like the fact that you switched the rings back to their mated positions... Good diagnosis & repair...
@@Shop209 You are welcome!!! I noticed that You are timing your work... Nice $ saving ethic, but it tends to over-emphasise speedy repairs and puts careful assembly in a place of lower priority... This can be very expensive for any shop... Try to put the priority of Quality first, then you'll probably notice fewer problems... There was a time, when I timed myself at what I was doing, and the problems from mistakes soon started to develop... I know what several production supervisors want and often do, which often causes several problems and even dangerous situations from many types of business's... Even the larger companies have had serious quality issues when their people are forced to cut corners , pinching pennies , trying to save minutes... An example is one of the largest companies in the U.S. that is now having several troubles with quality issues with several of their products, and they are currently under severe scrutiny from the FAA. They make large planes, and their name begins with a 'B' and ends with a 'G'... Try not to make the same mistakes that they have.... If you pay attention to this, You'll be thanking me later.... Quality and Safety are closely associated with each other... It is those two factors that really help to make mediocre products , into the products that people wait in line to buy.... They will gladly pay a little extra, to get a lot more confidence , in what they are buying.... Be on the receiving end of the accolades from satisfied customers...
@@michaelmartinez1345 I normally don’t time myself. Although I have a few times. Just figured on getting the engine out I would see how long it would take. Most of these videos take me multiple days. If you look close you can see some clips are when it’s dark and others are daylight. My shirts also change. Lol.
I appreciate you for showing the opps along with the win. Some channels always show the win. In real life that doesn't happen. There is the hair pulling mistakes. And there are the wins.
Good on you for sorting it out. Much better to find a fixable issue than messed up parts. The positive is, now you will probably never make that mistake again!
That's to bad John, glad it was nothing serious. Things happen to good people. The fact that you shared this, says alot to your character and integrity. Much respect Sir. Maybe this will help other people that have a problem. Happy New Year to you and your family. Take care, Ed.
This is my first Shop 209 video, great content and nicely presented! I had a '65 Nova that I really miss. On a side note, sometimes they plant trees too damned close to the road....
Hey bud I've made a lot of mistakes ,,,but I learned and never forgot them that's how we all learn ,,as I say if I ever get up in the morning and don't learn somthing that day then it's over for me ,,,I'm 65 yrs old (never stop learning ) and always admit your mistakes to others so they learn too great job
That's what I was thinking but not really that cheap. The last time I priced that out a few years ago it was around $240 for a set of 8, who knows how much they went up in this economy? It is an excellent option to reuse your high end pistons if the cylinders get washed out and they re-hone out of spec. though.😎👍
That's interesting. I'm glad you found it and fixed it. There is a guy on RU-vid' Uncle Tonys garage" and he swears every engine he builds he puts the pistons in backwards because they make more power. The guys at Roadkill garage and him had a big kerfuffle over it. I think the engineers who design them know best personally. All the best in the New Year!
I did a lot of that before I decided to pull the engine. Readjusted valves, ran with belt off, disconnected torque converter to make sure it wasn’t transmission etc. I guess I could have mentioned that in the video. Lol
Thank you for all of the great Nova info. I enjoy watching you videos. One tip for possible video: Quarter glass runners, etc. Are there any cheaper option for fixing quarter glass that does not fit in the rails? Mine worksonly down, but not up. Gets stuck. The window tilts forward and jams in the front runner. The car is shown on my channel, all mint, except the quarter glass problems (both sides). Thanks for posting and hope you have time to do a window video ;) . Sincerely KB
Well, we're all human, so messing up is bound to happen. At least you aren't one of those "mechanics" who think their work is fault free, and it was the other person's fault. Mistakes do happen, and at least it was caught NOW rather than after the guy took possession of the car and had a piston go through the pan or something else like that. Being willing to double check everything is something I'm glad to see, because that's the sign of a good mechanic. I wish more mechanics did that, so we would have less of these "mechanical nightmares" and "just rolled in" videos.
Anybody building multiple engines should build themselves a nice engine test stand. Way easier to diagnose and repair with the engine up at a comfortable height .
When I assemble an engine, I'll take a few pics at various stages. That way if there is an issue I can go back and look at the pics for anything out of the ordinary.
Like a few here I too guessed wrist pin having just gone through that with a Datsun Roadster U20... fractured wrist pin in #3. No sound below 1800rpm, then tap tap Tap! Thanks to forged pistons it didn't blow up. Oversized pin and some machine work and we were good to go.
Hang a second tarp or an old quilt or moving blanket over that plastic door opening to create an air pocket or just more insulation. Worth a try. Also maybe a milkhouse heater running all night to keep it over 45 at night.
I miss working on those old school 350's! I still have a couple of them sitting around my shop. Sadly, they're too old for my 96 Cheyenne. For what it's worth, you should consider a Felpro reusable one piece oil pan gasket.
Sorry that went down like that. I wish i was doing engine work though. Cut the tail panel out of my 69 today in preperation for the trunk floor replacement.
i picked up a 73 ss nova with no engine in it with gauges on floor rust free good clean body for 50 bucks then got a 68 pu with a 396 in it for 85 bucks . my new thing is i picked up another 68 pu very clean body full chrome trim with a fresh 327 / 400 turbo for 1000 bucks then got a 6000 mile 450 hp 454 for free with a 02xx 400r turbo dropped it in and put a 850 with high rise it came alive when i did that right now i have 2000 in the truck but it is getting sweat has heated full electric leather seats full gauges with tach all factory all i have left to do is finish the interior and final paint i do have the dash looking better then new have rally wheels and a set of inkees for it wood floor in box oak wood i feel i did really good for only having 2000 in it. plus still have a perfect cab doors and long box with 3/4 ton frame with running gear for extra parts and the 327/400 turbo sitting which i can get my money back plus more if i need too then i ended up getting 3 more 454's with the 02xx trans. my friends call me the budget man because i put rigs together for next to nothing if not free. next project is a 79 z28 rs t top have 2 extra z28's for parts got everything to build it but paint all for free
I'm an older guy and built many engines myself and just did same thing /similar on a teryx sxs engine. Reused a clip in trans part and it bit me in the ass and had to redo it a few days after finishing it. All good life is life but I won't learn from it
I went back and looked. At 6:51 you can clearly see third cap has 3, second cap has two and you can see one punch mark on front cap. Lot of people don’t mark 4th cap since if other three are marked it doesn’t matter. I’ve seen guys that only mark center three since the front and rear cap don’t interchange.
The kit comes with pistons all pressed on rods. It’s already balanced so the rods aren’t numbered, at least that I could find. You just have to pay attention to rod chamfer and pin offset. If the dot/mark is pointing forward pin offset is correct. So they weren’t installed backwards on rod. I just put them in wrong holes.
Yeah you pretty much need to start the coffee, go to the shop and get the heater going while you eat some breakfast, then peel off the layers of shirts as the shop and you warm up these days. I don't know how yankees stand 4-5 months of cold icy snowy weather.
I am really suprised that it coused you piston slap like it did? For the sake of not writing you a book im leaving many details out, but i put together a old ford 390 for my truck. I had a block that was given to me with pistons for the bores. It was bored .060 over. It had been put together & run but disassembled with not even 100 miles on it. I decided to try a build on it. Keep in mind i have stock pyled many parts so i already had parts. I did have the block shaved, the crank reground, and rods resized with arp bolts. But total i have less than a $1000 in the entire build including machine work. So there were areas i closed my eyes & crossed my fingers if your following. Not exactly recommended. But i checked piston to wall clearance. These are cast pistons, i had .006 to .007 piston to wall clearance! Again, fingers crossed! But they are good straight bores & like new pistons. I put it together. Pistons not backwards though. But it runs fantastic! It moves my 71 f100 4x4 shortbox with a granny 4spd to a 0-60 time in 7.6 seconds & with a easy lounch as to not break a output shaft a 1/4 mile in 15.3 sec at 95 mph! It has 4.11 gears so when i cross the finish she is wound up at 95mph!!! I dont get any piston slap. I have about 7k miles on it now. Oh ya, its a 4700 lbs 4x4!!
Longer rod would would lessen side loading on piston for sure. I guess it depends on how much offset the pin has and also the wall clearance. I have ran cast pistons with .006-.007 clearance to and never had slap. It’s quiet now though. Thanks for watching!
I have a gmc my o2 sensor is out sounds like something is lose or piston slap but it my o2 sensor 😂😂😂 very nice motor u have an it don't sound like a bad problem it almost sounds like something is lose
I always try to have mufflers on at initial fire up. Don't always, but usually. Glad it was simple. I've NEVER made a mistake (🤣🤣🐂🐂) but I understand that it happens! Lol
I thought when you were hand cranking that motor over with no plugs in it, it looked too "tight". Did the crank spin freely, before you added the recpirocating parts?
Yes. The short block took 22ft lbs to rotate when I put it together. That’s about normal for a stock 5/64 ring piston. Keep in mind I was using a 3/8 ratchet to turn it.
Been watching your videos for a while now. Purchased a 71’ Nova with a 307 powerglide. After going through the car found that all of the numbers match. Also came across the broadcast sheet tucked way up into the dash. Thought that was pretty cool. I have been able to decode most of the sheet but there are a few options I am having a hard time finding the meaning. Do you have any suggestions where one could find that information? Thanks and keep making great videos!
At least this mistake was only a time waster and not a part destroyer count your blessings and some guys intentionally install their pistons backwards in the belief that it will make slightly more HP also they don't mind the extra noise but the rods chamber still needs to be oriented correctly if you are going to do that and you also have to know that your valve reliefs will still be correct this is because on some engines the wrist pin is not centered in the piston it is slightly offset to reduce the thrust load on the bore but this is not ideal geometry for making power.
Yes. I am. I cut a ton of corners on this car. It’s a budget car and real world. I’ve also built plenty of expensive engines and cars that didn’t get any corners cut.
on a 289 once it was knocking and I rebuilt the motor and it still was knocking and ended up being the fuel pump , the motor needed to be rebuilt anyway
Hey new guy to the nova community, was wondering what would be the best option for doors i cant find ones close to me. If i buy shells online i still need the guts to a door but then again i cant even find donor doors. What should i do?
Ok, I played the sound over and over and now paused the video to make a guess at the noise. It’s nothing I recognize as obvious or distinct like a rod knock. It sounds solid, not tin like that something hitting a cover would sound like. I’ve never heard of this before but right or wrong, I’m guessing a broken wrist pin. It’s an inconsistent sound. Alright, I’m going to watch now. Ok, close enough!
