| [GMCnet] Part 1 The Untimely Demise Of A Well Maintained 455 [message #280957] |
Sun, 28 June 2015 20:28 |
BobDunahugh
Messages: 2465
Registered: October 2010
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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> Over the last few years. I've been hearing more and more stories about rebuilt, or remanufactured (there is a difference)GMC engines failing. Thinking back I remember how long the OEM engines have lasted in so many cases. My interest in this issue comes from building engines that are bone stock and others taken to extreme limits that GM had no idea that someone would ever think of doing. It's a hobby for me. I just love building these things, and have for the past 50 years.
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> I talked John and Teresa Miller into getting Glenn and BJ Hertzbergers's GMC with a bad engine. They are now officers in my club. The Bob Dunahugh's made me spend a lot of money club. I'm the CEO.
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> I needed to understand why a well built and maintained GMC engine failed. I told John that if they brought their drive train to me complete,I would remanufacture their 455 for the cost of the parts only. (I've had second thoughts on that being a good idea every time I have to lift any part of that BIG stinking thing.)
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> The super short version of the failure is contamination of the system by material in the passages in the block and in the engine oil cooler. This was acerbated by the oil filter bypass valve. Below is a simple summary of thought on this subject. I really would have liked to go into every detail, but then the description of the details would have been the size of a book.
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> John and Teresa called me on what they found in the extensive records that Glenn keep on their GMC. After the teardown and examining the engine parts this last week. The basic conclusion is that the engine issues transpired over a few years. There were three repair shops involved. In examining the engine components, and producing a timeline of those components. It seems to come down to issues that weren't addressed by the first shop about the work they did. Then a second shop attempting to correct the issues the first shop didn't totally resolve. Or at least it appears that way. This seems to have caused the introduction of more contamination of the internal components. The third shop ended up inheriting the problems of the first two shops. I'm NOT trying to place blame on any one shop or person. Bad things just happen in life to us all. However, if I can help to make people more cognizant of some of the possible pitfalls that we all cause ourselves, we can all benefit in the future. It's my hope that with some good dialog some other solutions may arise. When we get to Rapids City we can bring these ideas up to more GMC owners and can go away with some solid ideas.
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> There were costly items that were done that I question the value of in our application. And some shops feel strongly that these items are a good idea. As an example, there was a set of 16 ARP rod bolts installed...$125.00 plus $70.00 to install. Great bolts in competition engines at 6,000 RPM. But in a GMC at under 3,000 RPM's, probably not needed. My question is this, in our application, were these bolts a useful upgrade for the money spend? (As a note, we have the rods that the bolts are in, so I'm using them in the next block. But I do need to see if these bolts can be re-torqued. They are very nice bolts that were paid for by Glenn.) I’m sure they sounded and looked look good on the invoice to a novice that hadn't rebuilt a 455 Olds. I must say that the work done on this 455 appears to have been well done.
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> Continued in Part II
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