Alright so I've been having some issues with blowby. Oil was clogging up my air filter in a matter of days. Think I may also have a blown head gasket on account of the muddy look of the oil coming from the breather. I did a compression test and got 100, 100, 115, 130, 100, 120. This is after a bottle of engine treatment. Hoping to let this car last me another 6 weeks, at which time I will have about 7 grand and plenty if time, so I can delve into the problems and do a few other things as well.

Here's what I have:
69 valiant
225 slant
1bbl Holley 1920
Odometer shoes 83K miles but no idea if it's 183 or 283.
New pcv valve
Lots of smoke coming from the breather

What would you think should be the next step? Is a rebuild in order, or should I just check the head gasket, machine it flat and put it back together?

Keep in mind I am a rookie when it comes to this, but not afraid to learn. 1 year ago, I had no experience. Since that time, I've replaced the carb, shocks, leaf springs, fixed a number of electrical gremlins, turn signal switch, alternator, battery, spark plus and wires, heater core and thermostat.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

Are you consuming coolant? If the oil is getting milky from coolant, there should be a resultant drop in the coolant level. Milky oil can be caused by condensation of normal ambient humidity in the crankcase. If you aren't using oil, give it an oil change and drive it. Next day, see what you have.

Old engines tend to wear the exhaust guides. Since the exhaust would be under pressure, it is possible you're getting excessive crankcase pressure from there. Valve guides would be the fix for that.

With your compression numbers, I doubt you have ring or piston issues (at least not to that extent). Make sure your PCV port in the carb isn't clogged. That does tend to happen.

Let us know what you find.

Mike

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Recognized by US Federal Courts as a Fuel Economy Expert!

Haven't lost much coolant, though it has dropped a little. That could be a random leak though. It does leak oil from the pan, and around the breather.

I called the shop near me to see what he thought, and to see what kind of cost it would be for the valve guides. He said that if the valve guides are bad, most likely the engine's due for an overhaul. He estimated between $2200 and $2700 over the phone. Includes all machine work, and basically everything new.

Does this sound like a reasonable amount? Should I look around more? This shop came highly recommended from a friend of mine.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

Do you have vacuum at the port on the carb, where the PCV hose connects? Those carbs were known for that passage getting plugged up. Without vacuum, a new valve will not make any difference.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Yep, lots of suction.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

Is the PCV hose soft and collapsing under vacuum?

Mike

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Recognized by US Federal Courts as a Fuel Economy Expert!

How much smoke comes out of the crankcase and PCV holes if you remove the PCV and breather from the valve cover?
Where do you live and how often and how far do you drive the car? If the vehicle is not driven often or far enough for the motor to get fully warmed up, condensation can form in the crankcase leading to milky or muddy looking oil. This problem is more common in colder and more humid climates.
These aren't the greatest numbers, but aren't necessarily terminal. Did you do the compression check with the engine warmed up? The fact that you have this much compression across all the cylinders indicates that you do not have a blown head gasket.
Define "bottle of engine treatment." Most "in a bottle" products are junk that will either do nothing or cause other problems with your motor.
Here is what I recommend. Take the Valiant out for a good long highway cruise. 30-45 minutes. You want to get the oil in the crankcase hot enough for long enough to allow all the moisture in the crankcase to evaporate out of the oil and into the air.

As soon as you get home do a complete oil change. Replace the oil with 5W-30 oil and a new Purolator Pureone/Wix/Napa brand oil filter. Do not add any additive or cleaners or anything else to the oil. While the engine is warm (and after you have refilled the oil!) do another compression check (using a thread in tester, not the kind you hold in the spark plug hole by hand). Also, replace the breather and the air filter.

Pull the valve cover and inspect the valve stem seals on the exhaust valves.

Drive the car normally for a week or so, then look at the oil. Check for any milky or muddy looking residue in the oil.

Report back your findings re: compression test and valve stem seals and condition of the oil.

$2200 is about twice what you should pay to have a competent shop do a stock rebuild. It is entirely possible for the valve guides to be worn and the rest of the motor be perfectly fine and within specification. A cylinder head rebuild should cost no more than $300 for a full stock rebuild, even with new valve guides being pressed in.

Before you do any machine work or assume machine work is necessary, do the steps I outlined above and report back.

What temperature thermostat did you install?

This is about right:

$450+shipping+ mark up for full engine rebuild kit (no oil pickup/hopefully yours is cleanable, does not include new sensors if your old T-stat, temp sensor, etc aren't toast or really old).

$500+ hot tank, mag, clean bore the block (add labor for installing
freeze plugs before boring to make sure the block doesn't distrort during the boring), this might also include rod reconditioning, honing, and moutning the pistons, this might also include decking the block as well...
$550+ Tank and flux the head, you check the valve clearances, have them install new bronze guides and cut the seats...(also you provide the $138 of valves and springs on the cheap)...assume they are going to cut .080 min off the head because you want a little more performance...

That's $1500-600 if doing it all from the ground and you do the assembly and check the machinists work, and the guides and valves are 200K miles and shot...

$700 assembly labor...you drop the block off and he has to disassemble it.
If a good machine shop he has to measure the bores to see what overbore you are going to need, he will also check the crank journals for out of round and if good the engine kit has the bearings...if not $125 for a crank regrind...or if needing crank kit another $250 or so...
Labor for him to reassemble as well...He may also need to plane your manifolds if warped...

If you get the parts together, do the disassembly, have the tools to check the critical measurements and then line the shop out and do the reassmelby and checks yourself, cut a deal on some parts (collect the swap meet bargains over the next year)... you might be able to do it for $1200...

-D.Idiot

I was going to post the same thing. That sounds about right, including labor for a 'drive in drive out' deal.

Wow, it must just be where I live. I have never found anyone who will remove, rebuild, and reinstall an engine for me. Head rebuilds have always run me $300-$500 depending on what I had done, and engine rebuilds have always run me about $1000-$1200. I guess the message is shop around, your prices may vary.

Been shopping around for either a replacement engine or potentially just getting the valves done and hoping that fixes it. In the meantime, I changed oil, pulled all the spark plugs and did another compression test.

90/90/110/90/30/90

The engine wasn't warmed up, though. Still, that 30 don't look too good.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

Well, I bit the bullet and bought another slant from a local guy here (don't know his name, but the two guys in west San Jose, I really appreciate the help in getting this motor over here).

It was rebuilt 2 years ago, and garage stored since. Some very mild rust on the cylinder walls, that I think I can wipe away with a scotch brite and wd40. It has an after market cam, but everything else is stock.

Going to pull the old motor and put in the new one during spring break, hopefully with the help of my brother.

Anything you all think I should pay close attention to in final assembly and install?

Im going to reuse my oil pump. The new motor already has fuel pump and an electronic distributor installed. So, will be upgrading to GM hei at the same time.

For now, I will have to stick the Holley 1920 on there until I can swap for a super six setup.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

And at the risk of overloading the thread with my own posts and questions, I have a more specific question.

The motor has a performance cam, because the previous owner was going to use nitrous. I don't know the specific cam, or any of its lifter specs. (Also, I have all the lifters but none were marked with their correct position)

I've got the stock cam as well. Considering that I don't know the specs on the installed current cam, and I've still got the 1bbl carb (for now) would it be best to just put the stock cam back in?

This is going to be a pure street driven car, with no racing. I certainly don't mind a bit of a kick in power, but I also gotta be able to drive it.

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69 Plymouth Valiant

you can measure valve lift ,duration, lobe center line etc with a dial indicator and magnetic dial stand ,with the tip of the indicator on the valve spring retainer.
A degree wheel will also be needed ,and can be printed off the net and glued to cardboard ,then onto the balancer.

As for the lifters and cam. When I was researching the subject of new lifters with an old cam , the advice seemed to be about 50-50 on whether to use an old cam with new lifters. Some said its fine ,others say not such a good idea ,but you may get away with it.
I would recommend you inspect the installed cam closely.
Definitely use new lifters.
Plenty of moly grease on cam lobes.
Use a break in oil with at least 1200 ppm of zinc additive.
Please understand I have not tried an old cam with new lifters before ,I only researched the idea on-line when considering that as a solution.


enjoy.
Brendan.

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1963 AP5 Valiant 225 PB 904 Stock except extractors & 2 1/4 inch exhaust.


1962 S series valiant 225 PB auto. factory every thing. Full restoration job.
Currently on hold till AP5 is on the road.