took a day off from it and went up to the shop this morning and dropped the trans out of it.

Fluid is a little stinky so it has been hot at some point but otherwise looked great. I poked the input shaft into the converter and it spun what seems normally. (Comparted to the other converter I was putting back in).

Then I put a wrench on the flexplate bolts and tried turning the engine over by hand. It would turn, but had a very noticeable tight spot in the rotation. So something in there is not happy. To me it feels like a rod bearing just beginning to spin. So maybe we caught it before it really made a mess.

Anyway, I took advantage of the time I had and went ahead and pulled the engine out and put it on a stand. I probably won't dive into it for a while as I am kinda done with this car for now.

I have other stuff I want to play with.

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Way to leave us hangin!

 

It's like a cliff-hangar series finale!

 

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

????

 

Haha. I'll get around to it. Y'all should know by now I can't leave anything alone for very long.

 

Ok I couldn't stand it.

I popped the pan off and surprise, surprise, all the rod bearings and mains look just like they should look.

Tomorrow I'll bolt the pan back on and start looking at stuff on the top side of the engine. The distributor is first.

The very tip (pump side) of the oil pump shaft looks a little strange. Like it was getting jammed down in there. Inside of the pump looks normal for it's age. (2007 ish)

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OK, so........?

 

Patience! I have a job that I am expected to do occasionally!

 

Heads, intake and valvetrain all off. No smoking gun.

Engine turns over like butter. Lifters look great.

I took a closer look at the oil pump. There are signs that it was galling on the bottom plate. I banged it on the bench and pieces of metal came out of the hex drive hole. IDK if that was the cause, but it certainly isn't normal.

I guess I'll order bearings and rings and go ahead and freshen it up.

 

I am going to check some clearances. Back when Judd was building his Galaxie, I had to reinstall the dist gear on the drive stub shaft. IIRC there were 2 distributor pin holes. If I put it back in the wrong one, there is the possibility that the driveshaft could bottom out. Then the drive would not ride on the block like it is supposed to. The constant downward pressure from the cam would constantly be pushing the oil pump gear into the bottom plate.

It's a theory at least. Haha.

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Sounds goofy enough to just be a correct conclusion. That's the kind of shit that happens to me too. Get in a hurry and make a mistake.