Looking to get a hold of a 351W rebuilder if anyone has one. I have some stuck valves on my 1985 and I think I would like to build a engine for it instead of just doing the heads. Any help would be appreciated.

whats you plan of attack??

you can get an engine from here > www.mabbcomotors.com

thats where i got my shortblock from and it's a good company to do business with.. was very impressed... i have over 500 miles on my shortblock now and it's broke in, doesnt use any oil. no noises.. GREAT COMPRESSION..

they have a performance version with a roller block ready to go...


heres the stock roller version.. dont go flat tappet.. roller is so much better. > http://www.mabbcomotors.com/catalog...O_CORE_REQUIRED_-_90_Day_Limited_Warranty/211

heres the performance version, they can put a cam in it of your choice, flat top pistons hardened rod bolts:
http://www.mabbcomotors.com/catalog...CORE_REQUIRED_-_90_Day_Limited_Warranty_/1011

Plan of attack was to just swap the heads for now with the exsiting block in the truck but I am worried about when I do that the increased pressure in the engine with rebuilt heads and new gaskets may cause problems somewhere else. Maybe?? That's why I was thinking whole engine. But either way I do this I don't have a lot of money to be messing around with it much. I found a pair of rebuilt heads here locally but they are 1970 and I have a 1985 and I am not sure if the specs for the combustion chamber size, valve size and etc.. with the heads are the same or not between the 2 years. Would be awesome if I could just get the vlaves freed up without taking the heads off but I don't think that is going to happen. Any suggestions, comments, or help would be great my truck is getting worse by the day.

the 70's heads, ya need the casting number off of them to know if it's worth it or not to get them.

the heads are different but everything off your 85 will bolt right up to the 70 heads.. just be different chamber size and flow ratings.. wouldnt have any issue swapping them.

and the links to the company, if you want a rebuilt bottom end they are the absolute best bang for your dollar.. you cant do the machine work, rebuild kit, assembly lube etc for what you'd pay them for a real good rebuild with NAME-brand parts. they also have complete long blocks too..

mine had silvolite pistons and a cloyes double roller timing chain in it, with mahle bearings.. great people to buy from..

Yeah I checked out the website I would buy an engine from them but don't have that kind of money right now. Gotta wait until tax return. I just need to make it work better than it is until I get that money which won't until over a month from now. Any ideas on stuck valves without removing the head if possible??

Some things to look for Tall....you need to determine the affected cylinder first of all...if you can conduct a compression test on the engine...if not get a set of the insulated plug wire pliers..run the engine and pull one wire at a time if there is a change put it back on go to next...repeat till there is no change that will be the cylinder affected....then pull that valve cover and inspect that rocker assembly for breakage or looseness...if its loose and the pushrod is not bent it is the lifter that has failed... If all this looks good pull the coil wire and crank the engine over at the selelnoid and watch the rocker arm movement they all should move up & down when the cam lobe comes through its cycle ...i am suspecting either a collasped lifter or a worn cam lobe...report back with your findings....Did you check the plugs or wires,along with the cap and rotor...a bad plug or wire can also make you think the worst.......

I already know what cylinder it is. I pulled the valve cover and found a loose rocker arm on the exhaust valve. With the valve cover off I had a friend watch the rocker arm movment will I bumped the starter and found that one exhaust valve not moving while all the others were moving. I did pull the pushrod for that cylinder and found at that time it was not bent. I already checked plugs,wires,cap and rotor long ago when I thought the problem was something else and they are all good. I need to do something with this truck until I get my money sometime next month. The only idea I had was pulling the pushrods for that cylinder and just running on seven since it is only half working anyway. I only have one other vehicle right now and it's the wife's and I can't take it.

Well Tall...at this point it could be a lifter that has collasped...but the only way to find out is by pulling the intake...remove the affected lifter inspect the bottom for cupping or scoring this will indicate if the cam lobe is worn...if no cupping is present, a lifter doesnt cost much more than 5-7 bucks a piece along with the gaskets.the job could be done under 100 bucks if you replace all of them which i would advise and do the work yourself..Lifters can be tricky to get out..sometimes they get a buildup of sludge on the bottom sides..ive used a lifter removal tool along with a good set of vise grips and using liquid wrench or equivilant lubricant and a twisting action gets them out.

BuzzGun79 said:

Well Tall...at this point it could be a lifter that has collasped...but the only way to find out is by pulling the intake...remove the affected lifter inspect the bottom for cupping or scoring this will indicate if the cam lobe is worn...if no cupping is present, a lifter doesnt cost much more than 5-7 bucks a piece along with the gaskets.the job could be done under 100 bucks if you replace all of them which i would advise and do the work yourself..Lifters can be tricky to get out..sometimes they get a buildup of sludge on the bottom sides..ive used a lifter removal tool along with a good set of vise grips and using liquid wrench or equivilant lubricant and a twisting action gets them out.

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but if it isnt a lifter, then that does mean a valve is stuck, which to me is odd... the only way a valve should be stuck is if it's bent.. and that to me means something else is wrong. as in the engine jumped timing or a few other things..

I wouldn't be surprised if it is a lifter collasped. Unfortunatly for me at this point I don't even have the funds to swap them even for as cheap as what they are. I think I am going to see how it acts when I remove the pushrods for the bad cylinder that way there is no more squealing and valve knocking. If it works ok I will be able to drive it if not then I will park it and have to get rides to and from work and go back to using my bicycle until next month when I get my tax return and just swap engines. It sounds like my problem will go deeper with just fixing this here and that there so I will start over with a new one. Not really sure what else to do other than that at this point.

Flareside the thing that surprises me with my truck is it was working perfect for quite some time until poof one day it started running like crap and I thought I had gotten some bad gas since it started a day or two after filling up one day. So I was troubleshooting that until I found this valve crap the other day and it is getting worse and worse by the day.

is it a broke valve spring????

^^

it just hit me suddenly.. im thinking this may be it..

No the valve spring is not broken. But I would not put it past my truck for that to happen though. I am kinda going with BuzzGun in thinking of the collapsed lifter because if the valve was stuck the pushrod would eventually bend due to the rocker not moving. The pushrods are not bent. Next question is though if I just remove the rocker arms and pushrods on the bad cylinder for now will my lifters pop out of the block and cause problems or not??

how do you know the valve spring isnt broken or collapsed??

this is what happened to me about 3 years ago. i broke a valve spring so it allowed my rocker arm to sit loose and valve was stuck open.. lost all power and was bad.. towed it 4 miles home..

it just suddenly happened driving home from work on the interstate.. stepped on the gas to go around someone and it snapped..

this was on a new set of valve springs with 300 miles... on my old 351W in my previous Flareside with GT40 heads..

I looked at it, it does not look broken to me. Collapsed maybe but I am thinking unlikely in my opinion but possible. I either need to somehow make it work until I get my extra money next month or just leave it parked. That's why I was thinking about disabling that cylinder for now of course not the best idea but a thought. I am going to swap engines with my extra money which I did not plan doing. I was going to use it for some other things for the truck but I can put a few of those things aside for now.

Nice pic of that valve spring. I have not seen that in a long time.

you should be able to grab the valve spring and pull it up, that'll pull that valve at the same time.. is the spring top the same height as the other springs after the rocker arms are loosened?? of not it's in the head.. valve spring or stuck/bent valve

im trying to help pinpoint it. if it's a valve spring it's a super simple fix... like 20 bucks..

I'll have to check the height out tonight and be sure. It was late when I had the valve cover off the other night. I'll let you know on that one.