350 Rocket gunky oil?

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Hey all, I have recently got my hands on my '72 350 Rocket and she looks nice on the outside but when I pulled a valve cover off today it looked nasty. The oil ( I think it was oil) was gunky and sludge like (no fluidity in it at all) and there looked to be bits of rust in it. The guy I got the motor from said it ran up until he pulled it 3 years ago and set it in his garage. He said he put something in the motor to keep it from seizing. The motor still moves good when I turn the flywheel. Is this just something I can clean out? The heads are good #6 heads. Everything seems okay just looks like it needs fresh gaskets, new cam and timing, and intake. Would love opinions, response, what I can do to cleans this and get moving in on my new project.

Thanks!

 

[RegalBegal]

If you check, you may find the rear oil return holes in the head are probably clogged. That happens in V8's that are primarily used on short trips and would explain the gunk, the oil sits on the hot head and cooks. I doesn't mean the engine is shot, just needs a good cleaning. I had this problem on an Olds 260. Fixed that with a wire hangar.

 

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

If you check, you may find the rear oil return holes in the head are probably clogged. That happens in V8's that are primarily used on short trips and would explain the gunk, the oil sits on the hot head and cooks. I doesn't mean the engine is shot, just needs a good cleaning. I had this problem on an Olds 260. Fixed that with a wire hangar.

Okay, I'll check that. It does looked cooked and sludgy.

 

[lilbowtie]

I would go through the motor and you know what you have.

 

[Fox80]

I would also go through that motor to see what it is, the sludge build up is a sure sign of lack of proper care, at least if you were gonna change all the gaskets pull a couple mains and rod caps to look at the bearings and put a new oil pump in it, it's a lot of work to put a motor in just to have it spin a bearing a week later

 

[rccktmn2]

That can be pretty typical if the engine has never been apart. The oil sludge buildup can come from several issues, lack of proper warm up, not changing the oil at proper intervals, wrong viscosities, etc. Definitely needs to be torn down and cleaned, the oil passages is where most of this gunk is probably hiding and needs to be cleaned out before going any further.

 

[jae]

Not trying to scare you but is the oil somewhat milky as well? The teardown will help verify if the engine has coolant leak. Be sure to check the bearings as well - that could be your "rust" bits...

 

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Not trying to scare you but is the oil somewhat milky as well? The teardown will help verify if the engine has coolant leak. Be sure to check the bearings as well - that could be your "rust" bits...

Not milky just hard/gunky thick oil. The rust is my main concern. The guy never told me what he put in the motor to keep it from seizing up while sitting. It looks like the rust is coming from the edge of the rockers and on the inside of the valve covers. I think I am just going to do the following to this engine...

* New Gaskets
* New Timing Chain and Cam (Possibly timing gears instead, would love opinions)
* 4-Barrel Aluminum Intake (Off a 307)
* Chrome Kit (Valve Covers, FIlters, Bolts)
* new Head bolts
* Have the heads cleaned and checked.

Would love to know if and how I could clean the heads at home or school. We have a parts washer at my Tech School but just wanna make sure it's safe.

 

[Fox80]

Sounds like a good plan but I would still at least look at the bearings in the bottom end, as far as cleaning the heads all I did with mine is just pulled the valves and springs out and sandblasted the sh&$ out of them then had the guides cut out and bronze ones installed new seats and valves and had them milled to my specs

 

[lilbowtie]

Your already going that far - a re-ring kit from Northern Auto is $150.00 Includes rings,rod/main bearings, and a complete gasket kit