Whoa that's a first.   I thought for sure Ray was gonna try to buy this one too.   

Since Bebo has finally had a free moment from school, wrestling and scouts... we finally got the the intake intstalled today. We are getting really close and he is getting pretty psyched.  We will be taking care of a few misc. items and then should be trying to install the engine. I doubt we will have it ready for the TPM, but we might make it out there just for the show. I am just looking forward to being able to say "We did it!" . And have a beer of course!

Almost there guys!!!!! I havnt been on my A game with this but i finaly have some time to work on it! Its almost dont painted the bulge and ready to put the motor in for the final time! Hopefully getting it done soon (:

As if today was not hard enough to deal with already we had major setbacks on the float. We have no idea what the hell happened but after some serious late night sessions getting the motor in, wired and plumbed we were ready to start it today. Afterpriming the oil and hooking up the water hose (low pressure) we started cranking the engine over. No fuel was getting to the filter, the enging seemed to be a little bit labored and then disaster... we saw something dripping from the carb. Turns out that it was WATER! I don't know how it happened and we are still looking in to it, but all 8 cylinders fill with water and into the carb.

There was no water in the lifter valley and the intake gaskets were intact. We checked the dipstick and there was no evidence of water in the oil although we have not yet pulled the plug to check the pan.

We removed the logs and snails after installing a new intake gasket and cranked it over again with a very low water pressure to see what would happen. We were getting a water buildup in the cylinders if we waited a little while then cranked it.

Pat (lbhsbz) was a huge help throughout the day taking all my calls and walking us through things. Probably gonna take the motor to him this week to have a look and see where we are from a knowledgeable viewpoint.

Worst thing of all was seeing the dissapointment in Bebo's face. It absolutely dropped. We went from absolute excitement to complete discouragement in a matter of seconds.

I promised him that I will not let him down. He said some very positive things after all was said and done. We will get through this. Sorry for the rant.

No rush now- just determination. Can't let my kid down.

Bring it down here....it'll save you some money.  I've got some ideas

Thanks guys for all the support!! thanks to pat hes helping us out and checkin our motor out for us..we got no compression and we think we set the cam wrong with the timing chain and stuff..Anyways we should be running soon thank to pat thanks man! Cant wait to hear it start for the first time!

We had a friends boat in here last year, he worked on it himself, with the cam 45* out....and running!  Bent every intake pushrod. I replaced them and away he went, still running today....compression is fine. Unbelievable, 'member that one Ray?

Yeah, That one was one for the record books!  How it ran before, or after and had no bent valves we'll never know........and how you just happened to have a set of correct length 3/8 pushrods for those rockers........Jay must be Irish..........I was just telling that story to a guy that bought a cam and timing set the other day! 

Two old farts, with reading glasses on, bickering like "Grumpy Old Men" in 105* heat (Was the 4th of July, if I remember right) for about 3-4 hours until we figured out what was up. I think Rivermamma was about to kick both of us square in the nuts if she heard 1 more F-Bomb...........

Good to hear that one is still running good, Tdawg!

Bebo, Pat'll figure it out PDQ. Sounds like he might find exactly what happened with that other boat, and hopefully just as good of luck! 

A more common mistake from what I'm gathering than I would have thought, and just as an FYI. I'm sure Pat will post it if this is the issue, but it's a pretty common mistake to align the keyways on a BBC as timing marks from what I've learned. The crank keyway should actually be at about the 1:30 position and use the almost invisible, tiny, timing marks stamped near or on the teeth of the gears themselves.    Happens to the best, and only on the Chebbie as far as I know. Terry and I had to go then online and download Comps instructions for the timing set to know for sure what mark was what on the crank gear when resetting it (There's three of them, and we had to have 2 other guys ID the marks we couldn't see).

Then the arguements started over how to set the lash...............fun day............But we were all on the water the next morning! 

Ray

Thanks again Pat for all your help. If it is the cam timing I am glad to hear that I am not the only one to pull that one.  We were really happy that we saw no damage in the initial search after pulling the intake and heads. Still hoping for the best.

Only reason the heads came off is because when I pressurized the cylinders, it sounded like it was leaking into the crankcase.  The rings are new and haven't seated yet...so that might explain some of it.  I've never leaked down a fresh motor before (never had a need to)...so not sure what I shoulda seen.  regardless, there's so much water in this thing....it needs to come down and get all cleaned up before initial startup.

I don't know....I'll see when I tear it down.

We had 2 known problems....water in the cylinders and no compression.  The cam timing explains both of those, but not the 40% leak down I saw with the valves closed....or cylinders that had a cup of oil in
them when we got the heads off.  We'll see what I find.

The rings were not lined up when installed. They were "clocked" for lack of a better word. And as for the head gasket - we did see a couple of spots that left some unusual but not definite marks.

I don't feel that 40% leak down on a cold engine with marine tolerances is excessive.  My 454 was at 60% leak down (cold) before rebuild, and the main reason for the rebuild was, I was tired of it pushing oil out the breathers.

60% leakdown is a badly worn out motor or one that someone forgot to put rings in.  I wouldn't imagine a fresh, cold motor to be much more than 20% or so, but I dunno....never had a reason to pump
A new engine....we'll see what's inside.   This one isn't hurt.  I had to play Dad tonight so didn't get a chance do much.  Tomorrow is the day.