Hey, when i first put my engine back together, i ran it for a min with only a quart or oilin it, just to see if it fired, well it did, then i almost forgot about not much oil so i shut it off. Now, since then, the engine has a small knock from the drivers back cyl when idling and cold. IS this a bad thing to have, in terms of reliablity? Id like to keep modding it more, even a SC, would it be bad to put that ontop of this since it is "hurt"? since this knocking is only at cold startup and idling, will it ever go away? or should i start on a new rebuild? The car still performs flawlessly, but i dont want this hicup to hold me back or cause more trouble down the road. -Jon

 

you should tare it back down and fix what ever you find it will not last, It will only get worse

 

Let me regale you with a story of sorrow and woe.

I did a hard burnout (7500rpm) on a sharp right hand turn and starved the number 1 piston of oil.

The symptoms sound exactly like what you are describing. Heavy bottom end know when it is cold and it goes completely away upon warmup.

I couldn't stand the knock so I tore it down and found that I scorched the piston skirt and caused some slight gouging in the cylinder wall. I replaced the piston and rehoned the bore. I haven't started it back up yet, but I should have it back together here in the next day or so.

From what I found, it looked like it would run just fine even with the knocking and scorched piston. There was no lose of power or compression, I just couldn't stand the sound on startup. Heavy bottom end knocks at the cruise in lose you some serious cool points.

You can put up with the noise and party till it pukes or ****** the pan and head off and look for something untoward.

 

The engine had 3k miles when i got it and had one different rod on it, makes me suspect that it wasnt me, and the knocking isnt that "heavy" u cant hear it unless u got the hood open and ur head at Powersteering height level -Jon

 

why dont you pop the pan off and inspect / change the bearings while leaving the rest of the motor alone? i'f you found a bum bearing you'd know your culprit and its cheap enough for bearings and a oil pan gasket.