Please Help, I need some advice (kinda long)

[MIDNIGHT]

Electric motor

Yea, meaninig quiet.

Try some di-electric grease

better yet just drop a chevy in and be done with it.

If I had ever known that AMC had ridiculous problems such as this, I would have never mess with one. I tried to go the cheap route by replacing my 258 with a 360. Plus I got the 360 for free in need of a rebuild so I can't complain too much. But, I should have known that free would equal some kind of bothersome worries. If I had just bought the $400 worth of adaptors for the chevy, I would never worry about my engine eating bearings b/c of poor oiling issues, especailly in an engine with 15-20,000 miles on it. How retarded.

[FrankNB]

But an AMC engine adds to the coolness factor... a 350 is just another dime a dozen v8 engine..

[MIDNIGHT]

true.

and as much as I wanted a chevy at the time (mainly cause I had alot of chevy parts) I wanted to keep the Jeep all AMC for some reason. I just wish AMC would have worked the bugs out before production

[Dusty]

Poor oiling issues.... not as much of an issue as building an engine based on POOR advice. Vasaline in the Oil pump gears will kill even a chevy engine. The vasaline takes so long to warm up and move out of the oil pump that it restricts the pump from doing anything for a fatal amount of time after inital fire up starving everything in the engine that needs oil imeadiately.


The Bugs arent that big of an issue as they are made out to be. the bypass spring issue can be avoided with a new one at assembly (which should be done) and the oiling issue could have been avoided by sticking a flathead screwdriver in and priming the system with oil before putting the distributor in and by not putting jelly in the oil pump housing. Other than that i say put it back together and run it.


I hate to say it but an engine is only as good as the way it is assembled and thus it lasts only that long. Have had and seen numerous AMC's go to 150-200k miles and have the block be in great condition for rebuild. Hell i bought a 401 in LA for $400 that the heads were done improperly and the timing cover had been stuffed with vasaline= long time without oil cause it takes so long to heat up and move the vasaline out. The engine's bottom end was roached.

Bought another one for $400 out of a beat J truck running with 235,000 miles on it, machinist said i could probably polish the bearing journals and run std bearings again and that the taper in the cylinders didnt merit boring it out at all.

And the same holds true for GM motors i have had some go 50,000 miles before it blew it up and i have had some go 200k and work great all along. Its all about who built it how they build it.


Anyways you can rebuild that AMC for just as little as a 350. Compare the same rebuild kits... parts cast pistons ect you'll be within $100-200.

Its a shame that it happened to you, but it wasnt the oiling issues as much as they sound like constant headaches most guys with a little attention never experience these issues.






Good luck

[MIDNIGHT]

[/quote]Poor oiling issues.... not as much of an issue as building an engine based on POOR advice. Vasaline in the Oil pump gears will kill even a chevy engine.
[quote]

I agree, but like I said before the internet wasn't available to me at the time for advice and all I knew was that the AMC oil pump was differnt and thats what the JP article said do. I doubt my bottom end is roached. I still primed it with an old dizzy and a drill as well as using a little vasoline.
The oil pressure was up before I cranked it.

But I never used vasline in a chevy motor rebuild.

[pyagid]

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[Goose]

Just a thought, but after rereading this thread I have to mention a couple obvious things.. (please dont assume Im slamming you by pointing out the obvious) But have you pulled a vlve cover yet?? You know these goofy cast aluminum rocker bridges on amc motors do break and it wont "clatter like a SBC it kinda taps or clicks as the two pieces move against each other and this last is way obvious but since I have overlooked it myself (and since I am a Minor Diety when it comes to wrenching ) Does it still have the heat riser?? if so is Loose and flapping around like mine was?

Hope something helps.. I would seriously doubt that if you have no metal and it has oil pressure that anything is serious wrong.. but do listen closely to the rythm of the knocking sound If it sounds like "hoosier daddy hoosier daddy" Check the grille of the truck and see if it's grinning AMC's are well known for thier ability to breathe and jerk your chain at the same time..

[Dusty]

........I would seriously doubt that if you have no metal and it has oil pressure that anything is serious wrong.. but do listen closely to the rythm of the knocking sound If it sounds like "hoosier daddy hoosier daddy" Check the grille of the truck and see if it's grinning AMC's are well known for thier ability to breathe and jerk your chain at the same time..

LOL.... seriously I hope i didnt come off as slamming you either, i did read all the previous info you posted. Got kinda wrapped up withthte vasaline issue but Goose makes a good point about no metal in the oil

[ol' school power]

The AMC engines didn't last the first 30+ years and 100k+ miles cause they were flawed.
You just have to be careful with checking the aftermarket replacement parts since some of the suppliers aren't.
If the trouble is from a machine shop that doesn't know AMC, then they're idiots that have too much ego or not enough common sense to open a book. All the specs are published.

[79cj7duner]

another ididot thing to check would be the exhaust. I know for a fact that my Jeep has a small exhaust leak at the manifold to pipe joint.
That being said, I just ordered all new rocker arms, bridges, and pivots to do my entire engine because I have now broken 2 bridges, and this time it bent a pushrod and threw a lifter out of it's bore. Just wonderful news on the amc front. Oh, I almost forgot, the valley pan is leaking water into the valve covers, so I ordered Mr. G. intake gaskets for that. I think I'm going to do the oiling mod while the intake is off.