Da' further adventures of da' trusty billy-goat wagon!

[cwmcobra]

Edouard , 
    If I had a lifter that looked like that in my engine I would definately  be taking it all the way apart .   Thats a little more than cosmetic to me .
Hopefully they get it figured out for you soon with minimal cost to you .   I,d be concerned about how the lifter bore looks also .
Good luck with it .

I agree with John.  Lots of stuff going on in there.  Sending it to TA for disassembly and assessment is definitely the right move 

Hoping for a reasonable resolution, Eduouard!

 

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear Barb, Michael, John, Chuck, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

   If I had a lifter that looked like that in my engine I would definately  be taking it all the way apart .   Thats a little more than cosmetic to me .
Hopefully they get it figured out for you soon with minimal cost to you .   I,d be concerned about how the lifter bore looks also .
Good luck with it .

John you are definitely resonating with the crew at Orinda Motors.  To score metal like this takes something really nasty and if the lifter has been damaged like this, what about the bearing, pistons, cylinder walls, etc?  Here are two pictures of the metallic debris that was in the oil filter:

 

Here is what a magnet picked up in the oil:



All this debris was captured by the filter, but it had to have been circulating in the engine until it reached the filter.  The oil was changed in late October and there isn't 100 miles on the new oil.  Something looks really wrong here.  I'm going to go back and take some more pictures and make some additional checks.  Alas, I do think the damage is more extensive than these pictures can convey.

Stay tuned, . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard

[Barb69]

Oh my,  this is starting to worry the heck out of me.  I hope is not more then what they suspect.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[elagache]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick owners of patients with serious "issuez,"

Oh my,  this is starting to worry the heck out of me.  I hope is not more then what they suspect.

I went over to take some photos of the motor oil that was pulled out of Biquette's engine.  Here is one photo:



Here is another photo showing the depth of debris:



This oil was top of the line Joe Gibbs HR-1 oil that was changed at the end of October.  With all the rains in California, I haven't put 100 miles on this engine since the oil change.  The cause will have to wait for TA-Performance to break the engine down and see what they fine.  However, this just doesn't look good.

Oh well,  Edouard

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Orinda Motors was finally able to pull my trusty wagon's engine out so that it can be sent to TA-Performance.  Since It was out, I could take a few photos:



Here is the driver's side:



I really like the way the Buick and TA-Performance logos pop out of the nailhead green valve covers:

Here is the front:



Finally here is the passenger side:



With that done, it was time to have Biquette transported home.  Orinda Motors classic car division has become an extremely busy place and they needed the stall space.  So I had her transported home.  Here is Biquette waiting to be loaded on the truck:



Without an engine the front is riding way too high.  Here is a photo of the flatbed truck pulling her up in front of the Orinda Classic Car Center sign:



Our "junior Buick," Coquette is in the foreground.  At home Biquette came off of the truck:



Finally with a little human muscle power she was pushed into her spot in the garage:



One of the priests suggested that you take on a particularly difficult task on Good Friday.  Well, I think I found exactly such a thing.  Now for the wait until I find out what went wrong . . . . .

That's how one Buick spent today . . . . .

Edouard

[GS66]

That is a great looking motor, can't wait until you inform us she's mighty again!

[TrunkMonkey]

Edouard,

Will keep the Biskit in best thoughts and hope to see a good report soon.

She is indeed a beauty and it's always difficult when family is ill.

Michael

[elagache]

Dear Jim, Michael, and members of the mid-60s Buick brotherhood and sisterhood,

Thanks for your support everybody!  It's a tough place to be but Biquette and I will do our best to get through it!

Cheers, Edouard

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

This morning my trusty wagon's engine was ready for its trip to Arizona.  It was safely secured inside a wooden crate:



The crate was labeled and ready for the truck to pick it up:



Next stop: Scottsdale, Arizona and TA-Performance!

Cheers, Edouard

[TrunkMonkey]

Doigts crois?s!

[schlepcar]

I hope that thing doesn't get put in that same storage building they used in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It would be nice to see it back together and on the road.

[Rollaround]

I'm hoping after repair it gets miss directed in shipping and winds up on my door step. I think it would look very nice in a red convertible.

[elagache]

Dear Dan, Kevin, and mid-60s Buick fans of more!

I'm hoping after repair it gets miss directed in shipping and winds up on my door step.

. . . . Well, I kinda had a similar thought only on the departure.  After all, if the engine got lost in shipping - the shipper's insurance would have to pay to build me a completely new engine.  I thought about putting a sign on the box: "steal this engine - please!" but I thought that might be a little too obvious! 

I think it would look very nice in a red convertible.

. . . .For shame!!  Don't you think that a green engine would clash terribly with a red exterior? . . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Barb69]

Hi, buddy how is your girl now a days?  I do not log in enough lately.  Is she back yet?

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[elagache]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick owners of cars that are members of the family,

Hi, buddy how is your girl now a days?  I do not log in enough lately.  Is she back yet?

Well, no the engine hasn't come back from TA-Performance, but the news is thus far encouraging.  I spoke with Mike Tomaszewski a week ago Friday and thus far he hasn't need any extreme damage that the metal shards and scoring would have suggested.  He went ahead and had the head casting impregnated with epoxy.  In fact he had the process done twice!  That should absolutely positively eliminate any leaks from those castings.  Nonetheless, there is something really strange going on with those castings.  They passed the pressure tests back in 2014 and passed them again before the imprecation process.  I can't understand how oil could seep in places that compressed air couldn't get through.  Oh well, so much for standard physics!

 Mike hadn't had a chance to dismantle the lower part of the engine.  However, there wasn't any reason to expect a problem there.  So the plan is to go through everything and if nothing else wrong is found, redo the valve job and upgrade, at least, the lifters.  Mike's hypothesis is that one of the lifters got stuck and that was the source of the ticking sound.  So if all this happens, and the engine test run successfully, then it could be headed back to my trusty wagon in the not too distant future!

Since I was resigned to perhaps waiting for years,   this is definitely good news!!

Thanks for asking!

Cheers, Edouard