I tried the hose trick and it didn't work. I couldn't tell when it was blowing. So ended up using the little woman. She wasn't happy about it either.

Now you see why I mark the balancer every 90 degrees. It doesn't have to be perfect as there are quite a few degrees around TDC where the valves are closed. But it lets you just turn the crank a quarter-turn and test the next cylinder in the firing order. However, you do have to make sure #1 is on the compression stroke before starting.

Leak Down Test Results !!
 

Well, like I was saying I went right in for the throat to cylinder #2 because that's where it was leaking last time (between 2 & 3). When I hooked the gauge up I had somewhere between 80 - 85% loss on the cylinder.


I listened to the tail pipe, carb, sump and watched for bubbles in the filler neck of the radiator. Nothing to be seen or heard. I called my tech in Skiatook to ask why he thought I would be experiencing that much loss without any signs of where it may have been going. His response was to pull and adjacent spark plug and see if the air was going there.


So I pulled #3 because again that's where the problem was last time ( I couldn't see not checking the obvious first). When I pulled #3 the loss went straight 90%. I thought I could feel air coming out . Just to be sure I stuck a lit cigarette almost in the spark plug hole and sure enough it was bellowing smoke right back at me. So the air was passing from 2 to 3. I don't hear the loud noise like I did last time so maybe it just hasn't burned through to the outside. I am sure it hasn't because I soaked the heat joint between the between the block and heads with soapy water and never saw any bubbles.


Now, here is the totally crappy part. The heads have been checked over twice at the machine shop and twice by my tech in Skiatook and myself. The machine shop pressure tested, mangafluxed and straight edged them . Once before the motor was built and again when the head gasket let go the first time. We did straight edge the block when the heads were off of it too. So I am inclined to think that the block could be cracked.


My thoughts are that the motor needs to come and be disassembled to check it. Also the rear main has been leaking since I built it. I didn't put the little dobs of silicone between the halves of the two piece seal when I assembled it. So hopefully that is where that issue lays. I am going to go with a higher stall on the convertor also while it's out.


Thoughts , suggestions or condolences ?

Condolences. :-down

As for what to do, I don't see anything to do but to pull the engine out and apart to see what's wrong with the block. This doesn't happen to be the block you got from me? :-hair Obviously something is wrong with the block as it has killed two head gaskets at the same spot - between 2 & 3. Did you have it Magnafluxed?

Check the block and make sure it's not warped. We went through about 4 head gaskets on a friend's 1098cc MG Midget before I found the block was warped pretty badly. We got it through the race that weekend by torquing it backwards, outside to inside and going a little high on it also.

Found a Murray (not a fan but its new with life time warranty) water pump at Oreilly for $29.99 that I picked up, I used the Stewart high volume thermostat though as the one I removed looks simmilar to this one. I got it all back together all I need to do is drain the oil and add water and the radiator cleaner with flush and drive it for the week and then drain it again and add coolant.

I hope I got every thing tight enough, most of the bolts were loose already but it wasnt leaking anywheres other than where the gasket failed at the timing cover to block for the coolant passage. I didnt torque it down that much cause the bolts started to feel funky like the threads were about to strip out. So I stopped there and pray to the auto gods that the RTV silicone I used on both sides of the gaskets and at all joints is enough to create a good seal.

I might be doing this again in the fairly near future as I noticed the coolant passage on the timing cover on one side was starting to get fairly thin. I plan on it not going till I pull the motor out to overhaul it that way I can see why the bolts felt funky and try to repair it or just find me another 302 block preferably a late '80s roller 302.

That block came from Jason's Dad and I paid $100 for it. No, I didn't have it fluxed. However, the guys at STK said it didn't appear to be cracked :-X18.


Did they say Dad's block didn't look cracked either?

Gary and I straight edged it when we had the heads off of it and it checked out. Also I had the deck leveled when the machine work was done. So I am saying it's cracked for the hypothesis. Now I just have to prove it.

They were to have magnafluxed Dad's block. As for "the guys at STK", there's Stanley, his wife, and their daughter Kayla. Hmmmm, I wonder if the wife's name starts with "T"?

This was back when Big Bobby was running the shop on Lynn Lane and Stanley was at another location. I would think they closed the other and moved everything out to Broken Arrow. That was during the recession and I bet they just couldn't sustain both so they let Bobby go and circled the wagons.


Bobby came highly recommended by Lucitos Machine. They were too busy to do it and said that's where they would take it. Also Stanley let him run that location and I heard Bobby was his right hand so the experience was there. Stanley trained him to do machine work.


You and I looked it over for a crack and didn't see one either. It must be really fine and probably expands when the cylinder fires. I am not saying I blame them for not seeing it. I should have paid the money and had it fluxed. STK didn't have the capabilities and said it would have to be farmed out if I remember right. I passed after I asked Bobby if it looked cracked anywhere. So hindsight being 20/20 I should have said send it wherever it needs to go.

They are on East Memphis now, just east of Lynne Lane. Is that a different location?

Doing everything "by the book" so to speak is how I've run up such a tab on this engine. But, with the aggro you've had I think it is worth it.

Yeah that's the same place. It's on the Northside of the road back in that industrial park. It doesn't cost $250 to have it inspected, but that's what I paid for just the parts and unnecessary inspection of the heads the second time around. Not to mention all of the labor you and I had in it. I think whatever it costs to check it would have been a bargain compared to the above.


Just for the sake of proper terminology Magna Flux is a brand name. People call adjustable wrenches "Crescent" wrenches , but that's not really the proper name. MPI , magnetic particle inspection is what the process is actually called.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_particle_inspection

A popular name for magnetic particle inspection is or used to be magnafluxing; The company of the same name was one of the early manufacturers of equipment and materials for the process.

Interesting. I didn't know that. I sit corrected.

But, I agree that the cost to have done so would have been well worth it.

I still call it by the brand name. Everybody knows what I am talking about when I refer to it. I ran across that tidbit of info on a competition diesel site years ago. One of the guys on there was being a proper stickler when we were discussing the machine work on my Powerstroke block. So I thought I would pass it on to anybody concerned on FTE. I find that type of stuff interesting. This was the go around when I discovered that Tudor's machine shop in Tulsa was not the place to take anything you value more than $1 US. This was why I say take it to Lucito's or Stanley's.

Gary, I didn't throw that MPI post up to be cynical to anybody. I hope you didn't think that. I just put it out there for general knowledge purposes since we have been discussing it quite a bit on the last couple of pages.


I am sure you didn't. I hope I don't ever come across to anybody on here as the condescending type .