Logan
Well-known member
Well yesterday morning i tore apart my motor that has been giving me so much trouble from Taylor Made Motors in New Braunfels Texas. What i found was what i thought it was, piston slap. I took some photos, and i will share the link to the photo bucket album that i made for this motor. I for some reason can never get photos to upload on this website from my computer. If someone can take my photos from photo bucket and upload them to this thread, i give them full permission to do so.
Piston slap wasnt the only thing i found though. Some of the stuff in the motor, wasnt as it was suppose to be. James Taylor advertises that he only uses the top quality parts so that he can provide the best motor possible... Well what i had was a fiber timing gear, which is okay but not something you want in a motor you plan on driving across country in. He advertises that he installs aluminum timing gears, but i was told that i was getting a bronze gear because he liked those more at the time my engine was being built. I was also told several several times that he instals the new High pressure oil pumps in his motors. He wanted to be sure that all his motors had sufficient oil at all rpms. I can not physically prove that it was suppose to have a high pressure pump though. Because this was only told to me from him over conversations on the phone. He said he didnt raise his prices when he started using these pumps, because he felt like he didnt want to charge more, and by installing these pumps he was taking $200 out of his profit to ensure the quality of his motor. Well what i got was a stock rebuilt oil pump. Which works fine, but i expected to open it up and find one of the new pumps like i was told i was going to get.
As far as the bearings, some looked okay, and some i am concerned about. The rear main bearing has some weird pitting in it, and it doesnt seem to have a normal wear pattern. Some of the engine builders on here can take a look at it and tell me what they think. Also another thing i thought was kind of weird was the fact that there were no shims in this motor anywhere. The bearings that were used were from AER in skokie. I'm not sure if there are no shims because the bearings can come out, and be replaced with different sizes to compensate for wear, or if he just simply felt like building a motor with no shims in it.
This piston that failed was scared pretty badly. About the worst that i had ever seen. the piston pretty well fell out of the block without hardly any pushing on my part to force it out. when i took the piston and rod out, i held the piston and rod parallel to the floor, and the rod wouldnt fall with gravity if that makes sense. In order for the rod to move i had to forcibly flick my wrist as hard as i could, and the rod would fall about half way, then i would flick it again, and it would fall the rest of the way. also the wristpin had no side to side movements. it was frozen in place. I havent taken the pistons off the rods yet, but the wrist pin on piston 3 is as purple as it can get. Another thing that kind of concerns me is all the rods were discolored and some what purple by the wrist pins. I dont know if this is normal for these rods, since they are brand new, and made of a different material from originals. This is the first time ive messed with a motor using these rods, and AER bearings. So im not real sure of how everything is "suppose" to look after some wear and tear. I'm afraid that all the wristpin fits were to tight, and this is what is causing the discoloring in the rods.
As far as the rest of the motor, it was about as i expected. There was Gasket maker/sealer in every nook and cranny you could imagine. The valve chamber cover had a blob of the gasket maker about 3 inches long and probable 2 inches wide. Im not sure why there is a big blob of it in there, because it doesnt seem to have a crack. Also 2 of the 3 ears holding the threaded part for the oil return tube were cracked from over tightening the bolt. I'm one of those people who likes to use as little gasket maker/sealer as possible so that it doesnt get into the oil passages and clog them up. I also removed all the head studs with my fingers with the head still on the block. I know this is "okay" but i would feel more comfortable with the head studs snug in the block rather than loose. The camshaft also had some rust on it. Which pretty much just shows that it was sitting out for some time. And i'm pretty sure everyone will agree that there shouldnt be any rust inside a motor at all.
But thats pretty much it, i'm sure im forgetting some stuff but here is the link to the pictures. Like i said, if someone can take them and post them on this thread, i would appreciate it. I'm 20 years old, and i must have been playing with model a's to much growing up, because i understand less about computers than just about anyone i know. Anyways, all thats left is to get all the machine work checked, have the cylinders rebored, and i guess put it back together and hope it last longer than the first time... all of 1500 miles this past time after it lost piston #3 the first go around. The first time piston #3 failed was at about 200 miles on the motor.
Here is the link: just copy and paste into your website bar. http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/LoganDouglass/library/
Piston slap wasnt the only thing i found though. Some of the stuff in the motor, wasnt as it was suppose to be. James Taylor advertises that he only uses the top quality parts so that he can provide the best motor possible... Well what i had was a fiber timing gear, which is okay but not something you want in a motor you plan on driving across country in. He advertises that he installs aluminum timing gears, but i was told that i was getting a bronze gear because he liked those more at the time my engine was being built. I was also told several several times that he instals the new High pressure oil pumps in his motors. He wanted to be sure that all his motors had sufficient oil at all rpms. I can not physically prove that it was suppose to have a high pressure pump though. Because this was only told to me from him over conversations on the phone. He said he didnt raise his prices when he started using these pumps, because he felt like he didnt want to charge more, and by installing these pumps he was taking $200 out of his profit to ensure the quality of his motor. Well what i got was a stock rebuilt oil pump. Which works fine, but i expected to open it up and find one of the new pumps like i was told i was going to get.
As far as the bearings, some looked okay, and some i am concerned about. The rear main bearing has some weird pitting in it, and it doesnt seem to have a normal wear pattern. Some of the engine builders on here can take a look at it and tell me what they think. Also another thing i thought was kind of weird was the fact that there were no shims in this motor anywhere. The bearings that were used were from AER in skokie. I'm not sure if there are no shims because the bearings can come out, and be replaced with different sizes to compensate for wear, or if he just simply felt like building a motor with no shims in it.
This piston that failed was scared pretty badly. About the worst that i had ever seen. the piston pretty well fell out of the block without hardly any pushing on my part to force it out. when i took the piston and rod out, i held the piston and rod parallel to the floor, and the rod wouldnt fall with gravity if that makes sense. In order for the rod to move i had to forcibly flick my wrist as hard as i could, and the rod would fall about half way, then i would flick it again, and it would fall the rest of the way. also the wristpin had no side to side movements. it was frozen in place. I havent taken the pistons off the rods yet, but the wrist pin on piston 3 is as purple as it can get. Another thing that kind of concerns me is all the rods were discolored and some what purple by the wrist pins. I dont know if this is normal for these rods, since they are brand new, and made of a different material from originals. This is the first time ive messed with a motor using these rods, and AER bearings. So im not real sure of how everything is "suppose" to look after some wear and tear. I'm afraid that all the wristpin fits were to tight, and this is what is causing the discoloring in the rods.
As far as the rest of the motor, it was about as i expected. There was Gasket maker/sealer in every nook and cranny you could imagine. The valve chamber cover had a blob of the gasket maker about 3 inches long and probable 2 inches wide. Im not sure why there is a big blob of it in there, because it doesnt seem to have a crack. Also 2 of the 3 ears holding the threaded part for the oil return tube were cracked from over tightening the bolt. I'm one of those people who likes to use as little gasket maker/sealer as possible so that it doesnt get into the oil passages and clog them up. I also removed all the head studs with my fingers with the head still on the block. I know this is "okay" but i would feel more comfortable with the head studs snug in the block rather than loose. The camshaft also had some rust on it. Which pretty much just shows that it was sitting out for some time. And i'm pretty sure everyone will agree that there shouldnt be any rust inside a motor at all.
But thats pretty much it, i'm sure im forgetting some stuff but here is the link to the pictures. Like i said, if someone can take them and post them on this thread, i would appreciate it. I'm 20 years old, and i must have been playing with model a's to much growing up, because i understand less about computers than just about anyone i know. Anyways, all thats left is to get all the machine work checked, have the cylinders rebored, and i guess put it back together and hope it last longer than the first time... all of 1500 miles this past time after it lost piston #3 the first go around. The first time piston #3 failed was at about 200 miles on the motor.
Here is the link: just copy and paste into your website bar. http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/LoganDouglass/library/
