Hey this valve is stuck open, is this a bad sign?

 

The oil pump drive assembly could be the cam sensor drive shaft and I can see that being damaged very easily. The "freeze" plugs are actually casting core support holes that hold the cores that make the cooling jacket. After casting the metal, the sand cores are broken off and the cores themselves broken up into just sand by either banging on the block with hammers or by ultrasound. Then the core holes are machined to take mental plates bent in a cupped form and flattened to seal. The ones in the back should be true 303 stainless steel so they don't rust ever, but usually aren't. I've seen antique engines with brass plugs in them, although those systems weren't pressurized.

Any engine can be kept perfectly clean inside simply be running it 30 minutes after to gets to OT to evaporate all the water condensation that's built up after letting it cool overnight.

 

It probably has debris on it's seat that entered after it was removed from the car and should be only stuck there by the pressure of the valve spring. Vacuum it out, turn the crank until both valves in that cylinder are open, then use air pressure to blow it out.

 

Thank you Dave! My partner is about to lose his mind and has been cursing the junkyard right and left. I know I'm not a pro, but I do know that this stuff is never easy or as straightforward as we want them to be. We're going to vacuum everything out, turn it, blow it out right now!

Seriously again - thanks to everyone who has commented on this thread. I think you've been helping keep me sane through this engine thing!

 

Valve stuck open or is it opening with the cam? Might be normal valve operation if the rockers and pushrods are all in. Probably close when you rotate the crankshaft.
If that's the intake valve it looks reasonably clean.

 

Yeah, okay guys. I'm still a little bit whonky after just getting out of the hospital so it could just be "up on the cam." D'oh!

Sorry, for the last 4 days I've been being pumped full of the best antibiotics available to kill a pneumonia infection, but the first thing I had to do after getting home was to get caught up with this engine job!

 

That's ok Dave. I think they may need you to explain how to put in a cam sensor.

 

Valves are opening and closing normally when we turn the engine!

New problem: manifold bolts.The two middle ones on the bottom are corroded and not spinning and snapped off. Working on ways to get them out because we want to drop this engine in as is with as many of it's original parts as possible. Worst case is we'll use the Clearwater head but we're hoping to sell that. Of course my plan of having it ready to drop in this weekend was terrifically optimistic lol.

 

Just cut those bolts flush with the manifold, take it off, then heat them with propane torch until they glow then put vice grips on and turn them out.

 

Bolts are stuck in the head, manifolds are off.

 

If you mean they are already cut flush to the head and nothing to grip on to, only one option, drill out and tap. Can tap a little undersize and just have a couple 'special' bolts. Easier to do it now with the engine on the stand.

 

Be extremely careful if you take a drill to metal. Go very SLOW. High RPMs, hand drills, torque, and metal do not mix well. If it catches somehow in any way it could hurt you very badly, or the metal, or snap a drill bit...

 

There's something to grip but it's not turning. He tried one of those extractor sockets and it wouldn't grip. We have a tap and die kit and my partner is planning on trying to do it today. He's nervous as heck about using power tools on the head, and I don't blame him.

 

The bolt will be hard to drill. The objective is to get the drill started in the center and not to take metal out of the head. Try to put a indentation in the center of the broken bolt with a center punch to help get the drill started in the right place. On each bolt use a new, much smaller bit initially. Lubricate the drill/bolt with light oil throughout the drilling process and take it slow. Wear safety glasses. Work up in drill size but try to stay under a diameter of what is called the root diameter (also called minor diameter) of the bolt thread – the inner/smallest diameter of the thread, and don’t go deeper than the bolt. Take best measurements that you can from a good bolt. You can find root diameter dimensions on line once you know the bolt size – I don’t recall what it is right off hand. Once the bolt has a drilled hole use gentle heat and tapping on the side of any exposed bolt material to try to collapse it just a bit. It may then be possible to loosen the bolt. Chances are it is rusted in only the first couple of threads in from the surface.

 

Piece of cake. Dont be scared just start a drillin. You'd have to go WAY off to hurt the head. Good sharp bit with oil sprayed on it, it'll go right along. Just get a hole in it somehow, then try the easy out extractor, use lots of cutting oil to drill. Oil makes it easy. Once you get a hole of some kind in there you can tap any size bolt or keep increasing bit size.