[79W-150]

Humm.... shoulda taken this morning as a hint that today was gonna be a bad day. But no, I decided to go fourwheel a little to chill out with my friends. On the way home I was about ohh... 3 blocks from the house when something internal gave out. I heard clink, clink, bang, clink so I turned off the key rightaway and put it in nuetral. Managed to drift all but 10 feet off the main road. Some pig ass cop stopped being a real PITA about he can't leave my truck on the road. So I told him to stay there for one minute while I ran over to my buddies house (he has a truck too) to borrow a chain and have him pull me off the road. I got the chain, but his truck isn't running (didn't know that before going over there) so I went back to the truck with the chain. Started to flag down trucks again, tring to get someone to stop.

Finally was able to get a red Ford Diesel to stop (he was going the other way and turned around! where as the people I was waving at going my direction just kept going), and we hooked up the chain and off I went. He was really cool, and looked sorta familiar. It wasn't till I got home that I remembered that I put tires on his truck about 2 weeks ago up at Sears <IMG SRC="/board/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif">.

Anyway the truck is at the bottom of my street in a church parking lot until after dinner. Gonna go down then and drag it back up to the house with my grandfathers Bronco. I only hope that I didn't drop a valve, but I'm not sure. I really have no idea what happened internally cause it just went with no warning.

Later all,

-Chris

 

[79W-150]

I fear the worst...

I've pulled the intake off, valve covers, and all accessories off the engine. Pulled the rocker arms/pushrods/lifters off as well.

So far here's my list of casualties.

#6 Intake - Valve (the stem is snapped, I was able to pull the spring/retainer/lock/part of the stem off the head)
#6 Intake - Rocker (the adjustment stud ball snapped)
#8 Intake - Rocker arm chafing against the rocker shaft probably fixable?
#1 Intake - Rocker arm chafing against the rocker shaft maybe fixable (this is worse than #8)
#7 Exhaust Rocker arm chafing against the rocker shaft probably fixable.

I'm going to pull the heads off right now, but I'm afraid to see what damage the valve did. There is no way in hell that the valve could drop into the cylander and not cause serious internal damage (piston/head/cylander wall or some other part of the block).

Why did this have to happen today???

-Chris

 

[snowjay]

Well even if there are some nicks in the piston or head its wont be too bad. Just hope the cylinder walls are in good shape. I had a friend break a timing belt on a 1.5 Mitsu motor. After pulling the head, there were two broken valves and 6 that were bent. There were some good sized gouges (1/8") on the piston tops but no cracks or penetrations. The head had some damage on the #3 cylinder but it wasnt too bad. We ended up buying a rebuilt head ($275) becasue the cost of the parts (valves, seals) to fix the old one was actually more ($300). I took a small file to the top of each piston and flattened down the gouges (dont want sharp points they can cause detonation) and would of done the same thing with the head if we didnt replace it. I put it all back together and did a compression test and all the cylinders were withing 10psi of each other. I buttoned it up, put plugs in it and it ran fine for a few months before she sold it. <IMG SRC="/board/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif"> We both have actually seen it on the road since then going strong!

 

[79W-150]

Well today I pulled the head off the passanger side. As much as I didn't want to I had to see what the damage was.

I found the #6 valve that sheared off imbedded into the piston, and about an inch from the valve there is a NICE size hole (presumably where the rest of the valve stem went thru the piston). The piston cracked into three sections, I can't tell if they're still attached or not because they're still in the block. The piston is also about 1/4" above the block deck (so where the combustion chamber used to be is now the home of my piston), and the combustion chamber on the head is a little nicked up.

After examining the passanger side head a little closer and comparing it to the drivers side (which is fine) I think the valve locks failed which allowed the one valve to drop into the cylander, and two more valves were ready to drop (they weren't being held inplace by the valve lock). I installed them all myself and installed everyone the exact same way, checked the install height and everything so I know they were in there right, but just to make sure I'm taking the head down to the local machine shop to get their opinion on what happened tommorow morning. If they agree with me that it was bad valve locks that caused this I'm gonna get that in writing, come home and give Crane Cams a call about getting a new motor.

Thats all for tonight tho, I'm going to bed. Wanna be down at the shop early tommorow (they open at <IMG SRC="/board/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif">.

Night all,

-Chris


LOL that red smiley face is supposed to be "8 )" not a smiley.
_________________
1979 Dodge Powerwagon 150 with: a 318 cubic inch paperweight.

 

[79W-150]

Well, went to the machine shop this morning. The guys down there think it was because of coil bind (the spring bottoming out) and the rocker still had some more travel to go so it beat the head of the valve into the retainer to the point that it dropped low enough for the piston to hit it.

I've been on the phone with Summit and Crane Cams for about an hour tring to figure out what, if anything, they'll do to correct this since everypart I bought was the recommended part to match my Cam. Everything was installed right (the machine shop guys verified that) so it wasn't something I did.

But from the sounds of it Crane isn't gonna do anything (and I really don't blame Crane, it wasn't their fault it was more Summit's), and I don't think Summit is willing to do anything either but I'm gonna call them back here in a little bit.

Later,

-Chris

 

[RootBreaker]

Go Get'em. This will tell you if they really care about the customer or the power of the American $$$$
we shall see.. keep us posted.....
<IMG SRC="/board/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif">

 

[79W-150]

Ok... its been a while but I've been busy tracking down the right peoeple to talk to and here's what I have so far.

Crane is willing to replace the damaged valvetrain parts for no cost (rocker arms and the rocker shafts) but thats about the extent of it. Summit isn't budging on anything even tho their books say one thing and Cranes say something else. The parts I have are correct according to Crane, but NOT what I ordered from Summit. According to Summit my parts aren't the right one, and being that Crane actually designed the parts I'm goin on their word instead of Summits. So it's not what I wanted, but its better than nothing.

I went around to all of the local bone yards (and being about 2 miles from WV there are ALOT of boneyards to choose from), and found a great parts truck ('80-'85ish Dodge 3/4 ton) but can't afford the whole thing ($1500). Shame too cause its got the Dana 60 F/R's, NP205 (2 wheel drive transfercase), with the lockout hubs which woud go GREAT on my truck. Also being that the truck is a kingcab the driveshafts are longer which would go great with my 6" lift <IMG SRC="/board/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif">. I can't swing the entire truck so I'm just gonna gank the 360 4bbl outta it and drop that beast in my truck next weekend.

Hopefully within 2 weeks my truck will be back on the road again.

Later all,

-Chris

 

[Bill_L]

Chris,

I am not at all suprized that Summit will not do anything for you. I have had so many problem with them that I will not order from them unless there are no other options.

They do not care about customers at all, all you are to them is more money.

 

[snowjay]

The parts I have are correct according to Crane, but NOT what I ordered from Summit. According to Summit my parts aren't the right one, and being that Crane actually designed the parts I'm goin on their word instead of Summits.

So what do you mean by 'the parts I have'.. is that what you originally ordered or what Crane is replacing your broken parts with?

I'm confused...

I've never had a problem with Summit myself. They have always taken back wrong or broken items and have shipped me out new stuff before they had the old.

 

[79W-150]

What I meant is that according to the books that Summit has the parts they sent me (the parts I ordered are not the correct ones for my application). However the books Crane and Summit have do not agree. Crane says that the part #'s I have are the right ones for my particular application and they aren't sure how Summit got the incorrect #'s.

The whole thing is kinda confusing. I'm gonna call Summit again tommorow since I'm off and try to get the new parts thru them instead of thru Crane just because it'll be easier I think.

Going to pick up the 360 on Friday. Hoping to have the 318 out and stripped apart (gonna try to get the piston out in 1 piece so I can keep it to show) over the weekend with the 360 being looked over and reinstalled early next week.

-Chris

 

[NickBronco]

Whatever you do, don't let Crane or Summit screw you, give you the wrong parts, and grenade that 360 your droppin in there. Wish you the best of luck, don't work too hard and bloody too many knuckles, and when you comin out to Cali. to wheel at Hollister???
Bring on the beer, babes, and Broncos.