Hey Everyone,
Couple weekends ago I took my Southwind with a 455 Olds out to Elsinore for a "last of the year" run. Ran great, made around 10 passes or so, everything seemed fine.
Lats run of the morning, on the way back around, noticed the classic milkshake puking out of the breathers. Cylinders started dropping like flys, and we were able to limp it back to the launch ramp on 4.
After tearing into it, I discovered that one head had dropped a valve seat, and it got stuck between the valve and head, causing it not to close. I noticed the piston got slighly marred up from striking the valve seat ring, I will take some pics in the morning. I assume that once this happened it blew the head gasket, causing milkshake?
Thsi is the first time I dug into the motor since I bought the boat. I noticed the cylinder walls felt fine. Everything looked recently rebuilt. There was some rust in a couple cylinders, I believe that to be due to a faulty timing cover plate when I acquired it. It did have a water problem then.
Sorry for the lame terms, not an expert in this field! But appreciate all the help I can get. What would u guys do? I am on a 3k-4k budget to get back on water by spring. Would you rebuild the top end? Would U rebuild the whole engine? Would you swap it out for a 454 or 460? Is there possibly damage to the lower end? I am leaning towards the rebuild since I already have brand new motor mounts, bell housing etc. for the olds, including headers...argh
Thanks in advance guys! I will follow your leads!
:rollside: