NO "EXPERT" ADVICE! DUEX

 You remember in my last post I had said it was a battle between me and the car as to whether it would get done, or the car would beat me. That comment was meant as a joke. Well, the winner is, STILL UP IN THE AIR!

 2019 started pretty smoothly. We, my wife, kids, and other family attended roughly 30+ car shows over the spring, summer and fall! As I mentioned in other posts, shows that give awards are heavily prejudiced towards 60's Chevys and pro-builds. The number of cars at the shows attended varied from roughly 50 to over 3,000. I actually WON AWARDS at two (2) shows! Second Place for Best of 1950 - 1965 Class and Best in Show for Resto-Mods! As I mentioned earlier in "OK, ITS DONE" was rather humbling and at the same time, I felt as justly deserved. The car went about 1,000 miles in '19, after the rebuild, with the only "problem", OR SO I THOUGHT,  running hot when stuck in traffic, at lights in 90 degree plus temperatures.  

I wasn't really concerned as I had learned Vipers run hot by design. Generation 2 Vipers, which my engine is, came from the factory with a 190 degree thermostat! Most cars have a 180 degree thermostat and start warning about overheating at 190 degrees.  I found Vipers run at a track, often ran at 210 plus! The factory service book said 240 was acceptable under racing conditions! Viper owners in the south and southwest often switched to a 180 or even a 170 degree thermostat. To do that means pulling the entire air and intake manifold on a Gen 2 engine  I wasn't going to attempt that. So my solution was to shut it off at lights and when stuck in heavy traffic on 90 degree days. Rarely went to 220.

Remember in the post titled "MO MO POWER" I mentioned that I had removed the oil pump plugs for an oil cooler and added an engine cooler? That was done at the end of the show season at about a 1,000 miles. During the early course of the build, a number of people recommended that I consult and have any engine and mechanical work done by "motor heads", a local shop, run by an "expert" on hemi and other engines. As part of his work and advice he said that I WOULD NOT NEED AN ENGINE OIL COOLER when I asked.

By late summer 2019, at about 1,600 miles on the engine since the rebuild (the first one) and 600 miles since adding the oil cooler I started hearing a light "Tap". Somewhere down deep and near the rear of the engine or transmission. At first it was at startup only. As time progressed and miles driven rose, it became more progressive and I could feel it through the gas pedal. Then hear it too. I tried everything to isolate it. I used a stethoscope across the engine, valve train and on the transmission. Nothing. The sound was intermittent. I started asking questions and researching. For a while I thought it was valve train. I did a compression test. All OK. As it got worse and more steady I finally drained the oil and cut the filter. The FILTER and OIL WERE FULL OF BEARING MATERIAL! AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! You could actually see it in the oil.

More bad advice or lack of knowledge to ask the right questions? As I said in "Mo Mo Power" the local auto repair shop I found to pull the engine; and engine machine shop, newly staffed by the son of the deceased owner, to pull and rebuild the engine failed mention or recommend the need to boil or flush the block to remove bearing material as part of the necessary rebuilt.. He also failed to tell me that the hydraulic lifters should be replaced as the camshaft had been replaced. The cleaning and flushing of the heads and oil cooler lines should have been recommended as well. I had never blown an engine and knew none of this. MY BAD for proceeding without knowing or asking what I should do.

At the very beginning of the restoration in "I SMELL A RAT" I said get advice before you jump in. I didn't follow my own advice! In retrospect, I questioned myself a number of times for the need of a cooler as the project continued. As I found, even supposed "experts" don't know everything! The more exotic or different your project is, the more you need to find someone qualified on the subject/problem you are working on. In hind-site, I should have let Arrow Racing do the work. Their cost would have been the same as local shops. NEGATING THE NEED FOR A SECOND REBUILD.  Remember that old Fram oil filter ad? PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER! In this case I did in fact talk to the original factory engineers and shop that did development work for the Viper; AFTER IT WAS TOO LATE!

After all the above I had a choice. Either let it sit, or buy a rare, new factory short block, various and sundry pieces, parts, labor and shipping plus $$$$.$$. I just couldn't let it sit. I bit the bullet. But this time the shop that did the rebuilt is known locally and nationally for reliable work on exotics, restorations and custom work. I  requested a 170 thermostat as part of the rebuild. I also changed a homemade pipe fitting that was a restriction in the cooling system. Due to delays and schedules I got the car back in an unusual, rare early March 2020 mild spell. I parked it until late March. Using the nice weather started breaking it in. By that time the early car shows were starting to be cancelled due to Covid 19. In the 300 miles driven  since the rebuild, the car has run much cooler and even tolerated long traffic lights in 80+ temperatures without too much temperature rise. 

The only good to come out of all this was having the car back and ready to show and go. But it very quickly became a NO SHOW SEASON due to COVID 19. Like the TV commercials "BUT THERE'S MORE" on my blog! See "WUP WUP WUP".