Time to yank the engine.

[McGary911]

Some of you may have read that my 502 BBC developed a slight miss toward the end of my last run. Well, I pulled the plugs, and a couple were fouled for sure. I saw evidence of moisture in 2 cylinders. I suspect a head gasket, but the heads will have to come off to tell for sure. Before the teardown, I'm gonna do a compression test too. I don't suspect reversion at this point, as the cylinder that was the worst was #3, the other was #7. If it was just 7, I'd be thinking reversion.
Couple of questions: Any good online source for my head gaskets? I'd like to have most parts in hand before the tear down. Should i rering the 2 cylinders that may have had water in them? Shouldnt be a huge deal, with the engine out. With modern rings, is cylinder honing still necessary to seat the fresh rings? Should i have a automotive machinist check out the heads, make sure valves are still doing their job?
I'll know more after the teardown, but these are a few things going through my mind right now. Any other thoughts or advice is certainly welcome.
At least I'll be able to do a super clean up job in the bilge with the engine out. Hey, that's something, right???? :rolleyes:

As always, thanks for the help.

BTW, I won't get to start this for 2 weeks (damn, sister getting married), but i can guarentee that my boat WILL get wet again this year, and will be put away for hibernation running perfectly. :)

[MOP]

Maybe there are better gaskets out there for your appication but I have had very good luck with the FelPro, so far after three years use on many engines -0- failures. A light honing to break the glaze is the way to go. If a water track is not visable on the surfaces the heads should be checked.

[MOP]

I would pull the heads in the boat you may not have any cylinder damage, minor discoloration will go away after a few hours. If caught quick enough the rings usally don't get stuck. You should be shooting light oil in it while running to keep things from getting worse.

[smoothie]

Any water in the oil?,I would do a compression check before I start doing any wrenching.....

[McGary911]

Smoothie, Compression check for sure before anything else. Oil looked good on the stick, I'll know for sure once i drain the pan. Scot/MOP, i just ordered the head gaskets through summit, got the fel pro MARINE gaskets. There is a chance that this motor was built with ordinary head gaskets, as the motor was built when it was a great lakes boat, fresh water. The PO ran it in salt a few times and ive run in salt and brackish, so im gonna change them out just to be sure.

I tracked down the owner from 1995-2000, (who happens to run Bertram now) and plan on giving him a call this week with a question or 2.

My sisters's getting married this weekend, so i wont have a chance to dig in for 2 weeks. I'll keep everyone posted.

[McGary911]

Well today was the day. With sisters wedding out of the way last week (no more apple martinis for me)I had a chance to work on the boat. Friend left his compression tester in his other truck, so i was reluctant to pull the heads. Instead, i started checking for obvious stuff. Cleaned the plugs on a plug bench, and fired it up. Ran worse than when i parked it. Check distributer. Wet inside. Dried it and cleaned the green off the brass. Still running like crap. Double checked plug wires. All ok. Still crap. Maybe i need to dry the cap more. Start pulling wires, and next thing i know, the distrubuter moving just from the wiggle of pulling the wires. The hold down was super loose. I'll bet the crank torqued the loose distributer out of time. From that a couple plugs fouled, and without the spark, a bit of water probably got in. I reset the timing, cranked down the distrubuter holder. Guess what? It sounds like a boat again! Ran it for 20 minutes, checked the plugs, and they looked fine. I wont know for sure till i get it out on the water, but i think i fixed it. :)

I'll water test it next weekend and will let everyone know how it turns out. Wish me luck.

[smoothie]

Glad to hear it was something simple as that... wink

[RickR]

Hope you lucked out! :D