<VV> engine noise

[Cliff Tibbitts]

Lonny, 

I cannot remember all of your original post.  If lightning can strike in the
same place twice, you might be the recipient of some really bad luck.
Crankshafts can on rare occasion split in two.  It happened to me once in my
dad's 61 Rampy.  The engine will still run, but vibrates and knocks like
crazy.  I drove the rampy about 10 miles with the busted crankshaft, never
running over 45 MPH.  I doubt if this is your problem, or at least I
sincerely hope not.  The point is, a lot of stuff can happen and most of us
are just groping in the dark here. 

It really isn't that difficult to get the top cover off of the engine and
you will then be able to see the crankshaft, the rods, and with a light and
mirror you should be able to see all or most of the camshaft and lifters.
With a bit of care, you should be able to rotate the engine and see if any
of the rods are hitting on anything.  I think this is the only way you will
know for certain.  Good luck.

Cliff Tibbitts
Lexington, KY

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Lonny Clark
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 7:16 PM
Cc: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> engine noise

Wow, lots of replies. Thanks to everyone who put a little thought into my
problem.

To those who asked, the valve seat was intact, but was not seated in the
head. The pocket where the seat goes was chewed up a little, which is why
some welding need to be done. The other pistons on that side did not show
any marks from debris, but did have a light "dusting" of aluminum from the
afore-mentioned chewed-up pocket. I cleaned all off that off, and rotated
the engine to inspect the cylinders - there were no scratches or gouges on
any of the cylinders on that side.

I did put a stick on the engine in various places to see if I could figure
out where the noise was coming from. It seemed like the closest point I
could reach (with everything assembled except the lower shroud) was on the
top shroud, either cylinder 2 or 4 (or between those 2 cylinders).

The car is not really near any of the clubs, I work in Portland the car is
in Myrtle Creek, I only get to work on it a few hours on the weekends that I
am down there. So, it would be hard to get someone from the club over to
listen to it.

I did a compression check on the cylinder that had the repair, I'll go ahead
and check the compression on the rest of them first. While plugs are out,
rotate the engine to see if I can still hear it. Should be easier to hear
than if the engine were running...
After that, the next step will be to check the studs to see if any of them
are turned in further than the others.
If I don't get anything from that, I'll drop the pan to look for "spare
parts".
If I still don't find the problem, I'll try to tow the car up to Portland
and take it to the CORSA meeting. The local experts may be able find
something I missed.

If I still don't know by that time, I'll resign myself to yet another
teardown.

I'll post back to the list with any progress.

PS: Does anyone have a measurement I can use to determine if the stud is in
too far, or should I just compare them with each other?



>
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