Flexplate looks alright, the sparkling engine oil has me a little worried.

 

Maybe the cam. Probably worth it to check the caps. It's about the only thing I could think of.

 

Tomorrow if i have the energy I will pop the valve cover off and check things out. I thought the sound was coming more from the back bottom end, but that could just be sound echoing off of the cement ground. It was just too loud to really pinpoint.

I installed a crank scraper during the build. When i installed it, i checked the clearance which seemed to be within spec.

 

I installed one without checking for clearance before sealing it up and it was fine. Unless you had a questionable tight spot I wouldn't think much of that.

 

Pearce has a point, those scrappers regardless or brand are made with tight specs.. but, wouldn't hurt too look. I doubt there was a dowel to guide it in place, so there is a possibility it was installed just a hair off and might be making contact with a counter weight face.. there's not much more rotating parts in that general area that you haven't already checked.. have you ruled out anything in the turbo? Oil gets fed through that as well..

 

The turbo was the first thing I tried to listen to, but it didn't sound like that was where the noise was coming from. I primed it with oil before installing, and it hasn't run enough to burn stuff up.
(A while ago I was talking to some guys over at MambaTek that had a ct20 for the land rover engine that they were willing to modify for our setup for a very reasonable price. It was a very nice looking unit, and I've heard good things about them, so a new turbo wouldn't be such a terrible thing.)

I popped the valve cover off this morning, and turned the crank by hand wrench and everything seemed to be moving smoothly and nothing looked funky. I turned the engine over with the ignition unplugged, and no real loud noise. So maybe something is fucked in the torque converter or behind that doesn't get spun at such low RPM??

I've got things to do while I brainstorm. I've gotta bleed the brake system front and back, re-braze some aluminum now that I have some special flux, and some other small things here and there that need finishing up.

 

Also, thanks to y'all for all the input and help

 

Spoke to a shop today. I used to take my mom's f350 there way back in the day, so I trust the guys.

One of the mechanics ran through some things with me: fluid pump in the trans, bolts on the flexplate, starter solenoid not disengaging. I went through why I ruled those out with him. He seemed to think what I have been doing makes sense. He said go back over everything, sleep on it, do a once over again, and finally if I am at a loss, he is more than happy to help me out if i get it towed to his shop.

So i guess I have a plan, and have to start saving up again.

 

If it needs a transmission rebuild I guess it is start time to think about a w58 swap

 

Itl probably be a lot more fun with a MT

 

I would then have to learn how to drive a MT hahaha.
I would also have to think about a BOV and such to treat the turbo nice. (Which would not be smog passable).

 

Not the biggest deal. I had to learn how to drive and use a manual in the same lesson. My teacher was drunk and I wasn't getting home unless I drove the 60 miles back home. At midnight in a storm. Best part is I had an essay to finish for a final exam by the afternoon. Got home and passed the class.

 

Finally had the time and a dry day to double check the engine over and check for leaks and such. Cardboard sat under the engine and didn't show any spots, so that is nice!
I Decided to stick to a stock AFM and ignition setup until I figure things out and get 'em fixed up.

Going with the Whiskey bottle wiper fluid tank theme I added some snips of Sierra Nevada Torpedo beer cans on the wiper motor and ignition.



Ignore the oil catch can, it isn't hooked up.

 

Beer can touches are nice. I dig it

 

I THINK I KNOW WHAT IS WRONG!!!

I think I installed the spacer that is supposed to go in front of the flexplate on the back side of it. The spacer is 4 or 5 mm, and that is enough for the flexplate teeth to interact with the starter teeth.
Simple problem, not simple to get to. Probably going to have to jack the truck way up, then drop the trans to get to things.

 

Hopefully thats it and it didnt fuck anything else up

 

The starter had some marring on the teeth near the end, so I put some washers in front of it to space the starter back a bit. If it doesn't make noise then that is definitely what was making the racket before. I'll run it like that to break in everything, then pull the trans. I think I just have to pull the driveshaft, jack up the trans, and slide it back enough to get to the torque converter and back of the engine.

My next day off is wednesday, so I guess that is when things will go down.

 

I ended up ditching my other plans and worked on things all day.

I took the starter off, and sure enough, the tips of the spocket were gnarled up a bit. I took 2 washers, and put them between the starter and the trans plate. Started up, and no obnoxious noises!!

I then turned the stop screw on the TB to open it up, and keep it at 1700ish rpm to break things in. For tue first couple minutes there was a funky miss every second, but that diminished afyer a while. Let it do that for 20 minutes to get everything happy.

Things were nice and warm then (but not too hot!), so I decided to check valve lash. There were 3 or 4 valves that tightened up just a bit with the heat, so I got them back to where they needed to be.

I used 4Crawler's very awesome write up on the TPS, and readjusted mine. I then coukd properly set idle and timing.

Gosh does she sound mean! Like wow. I may want a new muffler and some sound deadening under the hood. Cell phones suck at capturing audio, but I may try to see what I can get.

 

Now that the engine runs, here is a photo drop of a few of the new things going on other than the engine.

New headlights with a switchback halo. DRLs will be white halos, white corners, and white bumper lights. Turn signal is the amber corner, amber halo, and amber on the switchback bumper.

A little bit of a lean, but I think it evens out when I sit in the driver's seat.


Updated all the tail bulbs to LEDs. They are maybe a little brighter than stock.

 

And a few new touches inside too.

Temp, Boost, AFR


Put the map lights back in

Sub boxes, one on each side


New driver's seat with much better bolstering. It is quite comfy. You can't see it in the pic really, but I also upgraded the manual seatbelt to a retractable version.