Big Blue BUTT-Kicker: Can I Save This Tired Old Engine?

Añadido: 2026-05-07

[00:00:03][music] [music] >> Good morning friends. You find me wallowing in the crushing depths of anxiety and self-doubt as I tumble aimlessly down the well-lubricated rabbit hole of my own naivete.

[00:00:23]Boldly attempting to apply my experience with lawnmower engines to the 65-year-old big block blue succubus.

[00:00:33]UPS lost my new valves somewhere in Chicago and now they're out of stock.

[00:00:37]So, I've been lapping the old valves like a dehydrated cat. And now let's play a game by pouring spirits of mineral into the freshly serviced and freshly inverted cylinder head to confirm my suspicions that I actually did a pretty damn good job.

[00:00:54]And now we wait.

[00:00:57]1 hour later.

[00:00:59]It's 2:00 a.m.

[00:01:00]I just want to GO TO BED.

[00:01:05]>> [laughter] >> GOOD MORNING. GOOD MORNING.

[00:01:14]>> [snorts] >> My second attempt sealed up cylinder six nicely and before they're running out of ideas.

[00:01:23]And before I reinstall the head, I want to put a fresh set of valve seals on it.

[00:01:31]Old.

[00:01:35]New.

[00:01:38]I also want to get these lifters out to make sure they're not sticking.

[00:01:45]Ugh, I feel like a midwife.

[00:01:48]It's so slimy in here.

[00:01:55]I haven't done any research, but I assume the concept is the same as the ones in the Miata. You just got to very carefully Grody.

[00:02:09]I got it cleaned up, but that piston is welded in there.

[00:02:16]Now I'm wondering if that valve job was necessary. I mean, I'm glad I did it, but I think we have a root cause right here.

[00:02:25]Maybe a box cutter would help.

[00:02:45]>> [singing] [music and singing] >> It moved the piston up a little bit.

[00:03:04]I don't know what's in Tri-Flow, but I doubt it's good to breathe.

[00:03:11]There we go.

[00:03:18]And there it went.

[00:03:21]This is, I believe, how an empty non-seized lifter should spring.

[00:03:37]Come at me, homie.

[00:03:47]Now I've just got to go through that same process 15 more times.

[00:03:58]24 hours later and I've gotten exactly three of them apart. I may need to betray the ethos of this channel and buy nice new things.

[00:04:09]I cleaned up one of the ones I was able to get apart on the grinder wheel and I'm going to reassemble it. I'm going to keep it in my daily as like a fidget device for when I'm sitting in traffic.

[00:04:19]Got to keep that finger strength up for you know what.

[00:04:39]>> [snorts] >> Engine Tech. With a name like that, you know it's got to be literal.

[00:04:47]This is really hot. Hot take in this the year of our Lord 2026, I prefer made in Taiwan to made in USA. I also got this lifter removal tool. Thank you very much, Patreon.

[00:05:01]They've pre-lubricated them for me.

[00:05:10]And I can't push them down. So, they're either pre-primed or pre-seized.

[00:05:56]>> [music] [clears throat] [cough] >> God damn 12-point sockets.

[00:06:14]>> [clears throat] [cough] >> Someone is used to electric fuel pumps and didn't think anything would happen as long as I disconnected the battery.

[00:06:55]Won't make that mistake a third time.

[00:06:57]I'm going to crank it over and you guys watch and make sure the valve train is doing valve train things.

[00:07:04]I'm nervous.

[00:07:18]Got shiny new exhaust manifold nuts, but I'm reusing that manifold gasket cuz you can't see the exhaust manifold gasket, but you can see these nuts.

[00:07:30]>> [music] [music] >> This is the side that tested okay. So, if I just push the pull rods or replace the lifters, degrease the low-hanging fruit, then I can completely avoid having to pull another head.

[00:07:57]Perfectly straight.

[00:08:02]Perfectly straight.

[00:08:15]Don't mind the screaming in the background. It's just the boys murdering each other.

[00:08:20]Got to let them sort it out themselves.

[00:08:47]I see these were replaced with new ones.

[00:08:51]These are from the Honda ATV.

[00:08:54]This isn't that important, I hope.

[00:08:58]You're not supposed to see that yet.

[00:09:01]Got her all back together and it's time to check for leaks.

[00:09:04]Vacuum could be leaking from the intake manifold or any of the lines I had to remove.

[00:09:10]Coolant that could be leaking from the cylinder heads or my new block heater.

[00:09:16]And compression. That could be leaking from my workbench valve job or my half-a-head gasket job or my offshore lifter replacement or a bent pushrod or oil could be leaking from the valve covers, but I don't need to test for that. I'll smell it soon enough.

[00:09:33]And of course, there's five exhaust gaskets under here.

[00:09:39]Starting with vacuum everything I touched looks good.

[00:09:45]But I see a a wisp over there.

[00:09:55]See, I didn't even touch this.

[00:09:57]I don't know what these pieces of mid-century devilry are, but they're very tricksy.

[00:10:07]There.

[00:10:09]Fixed forever.

[00:10:12]Now, I see smoke over there.

[00:10:22]Oh, good. It's just pouring out the spark plug holes. Nothing to see here.

[00:10:27]Vacuum is tighter than a nun's bum. On to compression.

[00:10:39]All four cylinders I did are now between 145 and 160, which makes me the happiest girl at the ball.

[00:10:46]And if you're wondering why I'm filling the radiator with hose water out of a buttercream icing bucket I trash picked from behind the grocery store, because I'm confident.

[00:11:01]Why does it sound like a shower drain in a sorority house?

[00:11:05]Clogged full of something.

[00:11:07]Full of woman's hair and no dads around to fix it.

[00:11:10]>> [sighs] >> That ain't good.

[00:11:13]One problem at a time.

[00:11:28]And full.

[00:11:37]I'll give you a three guesses, but you're only going to need the one.

[00:11:44]I tightened and I tightened and now it's loose again.

[00:11:48]And I don't even have a freeze plug to put back in.

[00:11:51]>> [laughter] >> Google and Amazon and RockAuto confirmed that this 1 and 5/8 heater, which doesn't fit, is compatible.

[00:12:01]And that this 1 and 3/8 heater, which fits great, is not.

[00:12:08]Don't complain. Just be grateful and enjoy.

[00:12:12]>> [music] >> I was tidying up my shop as is wise to do periodically and noticed something about my valve seal kit. This bag has two left over.

[00:12:31]And this unopened bag here has eight, which means that the head I just put in is missing two valve seals.

[00:12:40]All right, I got the rams off and back on a second time and it's running worse than when I started. I ran it for like 15, 20 minutes and it did not get better.

[00:12:54]That side sounds totally normal on the stethoscope as does the back of this side, but the front of this side sounds like death.

[00:13:07]I must have screwed something up or got a defective lifter or accidentally bent a push rod.

[00:13:14]Off comes the intakes.

[00:13:17]Third time's the charm.

[00:13:21]All eight lifters look great, nice and pumped up and the push rods all look nice and straight. The ticking noise, I believe, was stripped out threads on the intake for the exhaust heat riser, which was causing a massive exhaust leak.

[00:13:35]I fixed it, but I'm not proud of how. A longer bolt and no more shits to give.

[00:13:51]What in the Sam Hill is that noise?

[00:13:54]That sounds bad, like really bad.

[00:13:58]Guess I'm pulling the intakes off again.

[00:14:00]What's the old saying?

[00:14:02]Fourth time's the charm.

[00:14:06]So, I had to make these gaskets myself out of some copper sheet I had lying around and I doubled them up and I guess they needed to be re-torqued after getting hot.

[00:14:16]I made an oboe.

[00:14:19]If you know, you know.

[00:14:22]It's much quieter now, but still runs like a crapped out diesel.

[00:14:28]I think it's time to do a leak down test.

[00:14:33]I use my trusty test long all the time to see when a cylinder is truly at top dead center and it's never given me this error before.

[00:14:44]I always go too deep.

[00:14:48]>> [sighs] >> There we go.

[00:15:08]Just about there.

[00:15:21]Whoop.

[00:15:23]Top dead center, you dolt.

[00:15:32]All eight cylinders test damn near perfect.

[00:15:36]So, I don't understand what's going on!

[00:15:42]All righty, I took a walk and here's the situation. My leak down test results are excellent and by some miracle the compression tested within 10% on the head that I uh >> [clears throat] >> serviced.

[00:15:57]And while it's a little less consistent on the head that I did not molest, it's still better than when I started.

[00:16:03]And even back then it ran much better than this. So, I doubt that head is my problem.

[00:16:09]My gut is screaming it's timing, timing, even though I didn't touch any timing components. This car has always had timing issues. My harmonic balancer, that keeps slipping on me. And the timing chain, I'm pretty sure, is OG.

[00:16:27]And who the hell knows if this distributor is in right?

[00:16:31]So, I'm going to pull the radiator out to make room for my ugga dugga, back flush the hell out of it while it's out.

[00:16:37]Lord knows it needs it.

[00:16:39]Then I'm going to replace on that balancer, replace the timing chain, and then pray.

[00:16:47]But before I do any of that, I'm going to end the video here.

[00:16:52]I'm going to go do something much more worthwhile. I may not have closure for you, but I have advice. Never become a slave to your projects. They'll still be broken next week. Life is short.

[00:17:04]Focus on the things that aren't broken today.

[00:17:08]Thanks for watching.

[00:17:31]I told you not to go in there.

[00:17:34]Can you Can you push him out?

[00:17:37]Gentle.

[00:17:39]Jesus.

[00:17:45]Look at him.

[00:17:46]He's going right back in.

[00:17:56]There's one in every family.