Vacuum/boost line help!!
- Thread starter Noblel117
- Start date
I believe everything is hooked up correctly. Only thing that was different is my throttle body doesn’t have any ports but I see what line you’re talking about and where it needs to go. My project is almost done, all I have to do now is hook up the exhaust and I can try firing it up! Thank you for all of your help! I’ll post here soon when I get it running to share the good news hopefully
So time to update and I know I’m late lol. Finished up the lines and the good news is the lines were correct I believe, bad news… the motor knocks. So my journey begins right as I was hoping it was ending. I bought a variety of different colored zip ties to identify the lines this time around. I wanna thank everyone for your help. Back to work I go!
I like that zip-tie idea, and I will definitely have to get some of those for the next time I have a big project! Another tip I find very helpful for large projects is get a pack of zip-lock bags to keep bolts organized. As you take anything off or apart, write on the bag what it is, throw all the bolts or other small parts in the bag, and seal it up. When it comes time to reassemble, there will be no question about what bolts go where.
Make 100% sure that the knock is not the supercharger coupler , they can make some strange sounds .
I didn't read how far the engine was pulled down , in the car gasket swap or out etc. but if you drained the oil and as much antifreeze came out of it as oil and it was run that way for even a short time then ya, there is a good chance the bearings are wiped out .
But , I still would be spinning the supercharger pulley back and forth to see if there is a knocking sound from it , it should have spun when you started the engine just off of vacuum alone so they can make noise , or at least its possible.
double check the balancer bolt , pulley bolts, flex plate convertor bolts if its an auto.. only takes a few minutes for peace of mind .
Put the car back up on the lift this morning with it running and found that the knocking is coming from the bell housing. It’s got a 5 speed gear box, maybe I messed something up with the clutch. But with the car running and placing my hand on the pan I can feel the knocking but when I place my hand on the bell housing the knocking is 10x. I can also feel the knock on the shifter. Was there an ailment I was supposed to watch out for with the clutch?
Bell housing can act as an amplifier of engine noises like an acoustic guitar, an alum oil pan full of oil can act as a dampener so its not necessarily coming from the bell housing area but worth a look for sure .
Feeling the pulse/knocking in the shifter is odd , but again that could be sent threw the crank to the input shaft from a rod etc .
If you had the tranny apart it could be something inside banging around , clutch wise possibly a pressure plate bolt [ scary ] came loose or was not tightened [ a guy I knew years ago had a Vega with a SBC and stick , he revved the crap out of it on the street and dropped the clutch ,clutch blew apart, put a hole in the pavement and shot shrapnel into a neighbors speed boat a hundred feet away ] ... does the knock go away when its revved up at all , like say above 1000rpm? , that would indicate a rod issue.
Turn the engine over by hand [ not starter motor ] to listen carefully for anything that may be clunking around or rubbing against something else .
Unfortunately its leaning towards rod bearings .
Feeling the pulse/knocking in the shifter is odd , but again that could be sent threw the crank to the input shaft from a rod etc .
If you had the tranny apart it could be something inside banging around , clutch wise possibly a pressure plate bolt [ scary ] came loose or was not tightened [ a guy I knew years ago had a Vega with a SBC and stick , he revved the crap out of it on the street and dropped the clutch ,clutch blew apart, put a hole in the pavement and shot shrapnel into a neighbors speed boat a hundred feet away ] ... does the knock go away when its revved up at all , like say above 1000rpm? , that would indicate a rod issue.
Turn the engine over by hand [ not starter motor ] to listen carefully for anything that may be clunking around or rubbing against something else .
Unfortunately its leaning towards rod bearings .
That’s scary indeed! I didn’t rev it at all. I do know that when I put it in different gears the pitch changes and as I’m applying or disengaging the clutch it will make different sounds. I’m done for the day and I’m not sure when I will get back to it. But I’ll turn it over when I get to it. But I’ll probably take the time to pull it again and investigate deeper. The thunderbirds aren’t the best winter car anyway so there’s no rush to finish it when the snow is close. Thank you everyone and I’ll post what I find as I find it!
If the engine didn’t knock before, and does immediately after getting it running again, then it probably isn’t an engine knock. It sounds like it could be a loose pressure plate or flywheel. Did you have the engine out of the car to do the heads, or did you do everything in the car?
It is a salvage yard engine that didn’t get the attention it probably needed, so truthfully I don’t know the internal history other than the odometer read 94,xxx unfortunately so it’s definitely possible it’s the engine. Like I said about it not being a winter car I’ve decided I’m going to rebuild the engine from the block up just to have peace of mind over the winter with my uncle who has built several great running engines. I have enough saved up but I’m having trouble finding a rebuild kit for my 1990 super coupe, my eight vin digit is “R” and I’m finding a lot of “4” rebuild kits which I assume is the natural aspirated LX model. Does anyone know of a good master rebuild kit for my car? I’m gonna tow the car to my uncles and pull the gear box to inspect the fly wheel and clutch on it as well. So I will at some point definitely find the answer to which part is knocking on the door. Sorry this thread has jumped from vacuum lines to engine diagnoses lol
Ya, a salvage yard engine, especially an SC, if there is no obvious body damage ,its most likely there because of the head gaskets or in extension an engine knock.
Just as a last hail Mary , is it possible you let a bit of gasket debris , missing small screw,unlucky rodent , mob finger etc sit on top of the piston before the heads went back on ... it would not take much to get a loud piston slap style knock ... seen that happen [ was not a finger though ] .
You probably won’t find a rebuild kit, you’ll have to piece everything together. I know for the main bearings, on the SC motors one of the main bearings (I think it was the rear one) is .010” smaller than the others, which was done to prevent the factory accidentally putting the cast crank in the SC block. If I remember correctly, last time I was rebuilding one, the SC main bearing set wasn’t available, so I had to get one standard set and one .010” under set. Last I looked, Rockauto had the SC pistons, but I would wait to see what the originals look like. With only 94k miles, you might be able to get away with just a hone, new rings and bearings, and reuse the original pistons.
DOUG H
SCCoA Member
I think everything is available still, just not in a kit form. You would still need to know what work is going to be required to the crank-(if its even salvageable) in order to get the correct bearings & what work will be required to block to get the right piston/rings.
David Neibert
SCCoA Admin
Suggest you contact XR7Dave (aka David Dalke) at SCU Inc. He can provide you with all the parts needed to do the rebuild, or you can just have him build you a motor. You can get anything from a stock budget build to a 600 plus HP screamer.