3C's & a D?
Senior Member
I finally got around to pulling the engine out of my '71 Newport, a 383 which failed last year. It was just a touch low on oil (my fault) and was running at about 80 MPH for 120 miles when I brought it up to 110 MPH for a couple of minutes. I then heard one of the worst sounds I have ever heard and coasted to the ditch. The car came to rest with a vacuum/pump motion. It was towed home. Using a breaker bar on the crank I could rotate it 3/4's one way and 3/4's the other. I assumed a connecting rod had broken. I should have done this sooner as I am now having trouble rotating it at all, so while it's on the hoist and I'm soaking it again, I was curious to see where the rod broke/if the block is still good? After dropping the pan I am suprized and happy to see all of the rods are intact, yet confused, what went wrong? Then I see some rather large chunks in the pan. I'm guessing these are from the original timing chain? Anyone care to shed some light on what exactly happened? Also, if the engine is ok? (relatively) it was time for a rebuild anyway.