VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Any stovebolt six experts near Dayton Ohio

I have been trying to chase down the source of a rattle in a 57 235 that I have in my 37 p/u for a few years,I am going to bring it back home in a couple weeks and would like another ear or two to listen to it before I start tearing it apart. I did pick up two other motors but since there has been alot done to this motor I would like to see if I can save it first before tossing in the scrap pile.

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I do not consider myself an expert but if you let me know when you have it home I'll stop by your house and give it a listen.

I think its either a rod bearing or a sleeve coming loose,I narrowed it down to #2 cylinder and I think its the one that was sleeved so I picked up a scope to look in the cylinder. I just need someone to listen to it that has more experience with these motors before I go tearing it apart,right now I am doing a axle bearing repair on the convertible and as soon as its done I will bring it home which should be in a couple days

If it does not rain I will have it home tomorrow night after work.

I have it home and driving it some and wondering if its normal noises in a vehicle that old,I am going to put a tank of premium in it and see if its spark knock before taking it apart. I can get it to rattle while driving but not without a load on it now like I could before so maybe its the crappy gas we have,I could also be spoiled on how the 50s and newer vehicles were a little more quieter then the 40s on back.

I don't profess to be an expert by any stretch but in a couple of weeks there will be a bunch of folks in Dover for the Happy Days Tour.

While road testing this vehicle, take the time to retard the timing a bit, one tiny step at a time.

If you hear a difference, with the timing retarded, your concerns will come to a conclusion, quickly.

The more I can limit the travel of the vacumn advance the less I hear the rattle so I think its advancing too much,I have gotten rid of 75 percent of the rattle so I think its in the distributor. I have a Petronix kit and a extra distributor so I will let someone I know in Indy that builds distributors go through it and get it right,shortly after I got it on the road I found that the vacumn advance was not working so I got a reman distributor and a NOS vacumn advance and I think that was the start of the problems. If it was a rod knocking the motor would have self destructed long before I got 15 years of driving out of it.

Bumped the main jet in the carb from a 55 to a 57 and when it quits raining will go for a test drive.

Prepping the new motor to go in while I run the present motor,I do not think any of my tinkering is going to solve the problem and it will need to come out to repair. I have a 60 car motor that will be going in and its going on the stand tonight so I can reseal and repaint,I heard this one run and is good and tear down the rattler when it comes out to see what went wrong.

Will be interested, as to what you discover with the "rattler".

My money is still saying its'related to timing.

I still want another set of ears to listen to it before its pulled or taken apart,the more I think about it I think I heard it ever since I started driving it 15 years ago. Back then I thought it was valve train rattle but if it was it would do it all the time and not come and go,its driving me nuts.

The frustration is understood, but I'm betting the culprit is not major ...... after running for 15 years, without a break down or a KABOOM.

I am going to get the other motor ready just in case its needed and would be ready for another vehicle if I get the rattler fixed.

While waiting for my cordless impact battery to charge I disconnected the vacumn line to the distributor and took it for a hour drive and no excessive rattle,I did hear some noise from the valvetrain which should be normal so after I get back from the U pull junkyard I am going to install the distributor from the 56 car motor and see how it does. I think I might be getting a little too picky on noises with this truck since I am used to 50s and newer vehicles that are much more quiter and have more insulation so most noises under the hood are not heard.

As you stated earlier, another individual can comment on what you're hearing, and give their opinion.

I would get the opinion of another, with a 216 / 235 background.

I was hoping for a simple solution but I think the motor will need to come apart,I had alot of work done to this motor and it was not right and will be installing a used motor in the truck. When I was able to isolate the noise I found it was #2 cylinder so that is where I am going to start looking,first I am going to drop the pan and check that rod and go from there.

What happens (what do you hear or not hear) when engine is running and you pull #2 plug wire off ?

After I realized it was not in the valve train I started pulling plug wires as I reved it up and the noise went away with the #2 plug wire off,now it will not do it but I do have thicker oil in it with some Lucas oil stabilizer. It will make the noise while driving but not when I am parked reving it up so I think #2 piston and rod will need to come out first.

Thicker oil is not user friendly to the 235 engine. Many threads and posts on that subject.

I understand it may be down the road, when this engine comes apart, but will be interested, as to what you discover.

It was making the noise before it got thicker oil and it seemed to help for awhile then came back,I am going to drop the pan and check the bearing and check the piston for cracks since it could of been damaged when installed on the rod. I took a friend a ride in it and he could not tell what it was but its a noise that should not be there.

Drove it today and its getting a little more noisier so its on the stands and going to be dropping the pan this weekend.

Dropped the pan and checked #2 and 5 bearings and it looks like I did not clean out the oil passages good enough and the bearings are scarred but the crank is not hurt,the upper bearing halves are down to copper which to me seems unusual since the motor had about 10,000 miles.Going to pull a main cap and probably just put a new set of bearings in it and button it back up and see how it does.

Sounds like you have the solution. I was going to suggest after reading the thread, until last post, to look at the transmission. That is if you are using a manual transmission. I had a noice once that I isolated to low fluid and the idler.