[Caddylack]

You can't say that nothing is objective. That in itself is an objective statement.

That's not true. Language itself is extremely primitive and limiting. As soon as you start breaking it down, it falls apart in your hands, and you come to realize you are just making noises with your mouth.

I got really wrapped up in all that philosophy stuff in my 20s and honestly it really didn't affect my daily life that much.

Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water. I would say it depends what you are looking to "affect".

But serving my team and my customer well at work, providing for my family, protecting/loving my wife, raising my kids and helping those less fortunate than I.... THAT'S a life well lived.

While I don't disagree with you, that's still just your opinion.

And this is a car forum, not a theology/philosophy forum. So let's get back to the task at hand.

That's fine... I don't feel any need to carry on.

BUT... When you speak as though you have things like human existence and parenting figured out, you can't be surprised when someone responds. Certain issues tend to be that way.

Don't give me so much to respond to!

 

[Caddylack]

Sorry... Part of the reason I picked on you was the Socrates quote that you used to have in your sig. You seemed like a good target for my rambling. 😁

 

[Z09B4U]

You mention having cheap bearings in one that's noisy, don't want to replace noise with noise on mine!

The 6303 bearing was about 20$ and MNJ471 was $5 from NAPA.

This was the only part number(size) I could find. You chose your favorite brand.

 

[Caddylack]

How do I decide if a harmonic balancer is "still good"?

Is there a preferred "cheap" option? Current LT1 build is a stock bottom end with mild top end mods (hot cam, etc.).

 

[sherlock9c1]

Whatever's cheapest on Rock Auto. And it's a damper, not a balancer.

 

[sherlock9c1]

One more accessory before we dive into transmissions...

The power steering pump wasn't making any noise but once 1slow96 showed me how easy it was to rebuild the existing unit, I ordered a rebuild kit and dived in. This issue is a bit personal to me because a whiny power steering pump was one of the reasons I sold my 9C1 back in 2014. I just didn't feel like going through the hassle of pulling the pulley off and all that jazz. I even had a rebuilt one in a box in the trunk when I sold it. At that point I was emotionally done with the car.

He swore it could be rebuilt without removing the pulley. Well shoot, let's try.

First step, remove retainer ring from the rear. There's a drill hole in the side opposite the pressure port that you can push the retainer ring out with.

Back comes off, remove the spring and the first plate. Note the pin orientation at the 11am and 4pm positions. The two high pressure exits are at the top of the picture. If I ever take this pump apart again, I will take my dremel and smooth the left and right edges to see if that lowers the shushing noise a little. Do not port down or up, only sideways.

Remove the spring and plate, and there's the guts. Looks much like a transmission pump inside. The pictures making that rear plate look much worse than it is. And even if you didn't like it, you could have a machine shop just mill down the face a few thousandths.

Barely visible on the end of the rotor is a small snapring. This must be removed to get the rest of the pump apart. It was tricky; a guy on youtube spent a half hour messing with it. It didn't take me that long, but I had to use a combination of picks and small screwdrivers to get it out. My normal snapring pliers were too big for it.

The R indicates which side faces the rear. At least that's how I interpreted it.
Rotor and front face were in excellent condition, as were all the vanes.

It should be said that I examined the vanes for a long time to see if one end was shaped differently than the other; This is very obvious on transmission pump vanes but on these I couldn't tell a difference, so I just cleaned and reinstalled them. The pump runs very quietly.

These were the only two internal o-rings that could be replaced. And yes, the existing ones were very flexible and had no paint worn off of them. Oh well, while I'm in there, let's reset the maintenance clock.

Remove the shaft and replace the front seal. Old seal came right out with a seal puller. The bushing was in excellent shape so I left it.

I use a block of wood wrapped in a plastic bag to hammer new seals in (the bag catches any dust or splinters).

The rest of the o-rings go inside the pressure regulator valve. Use an impact gun to blast it loose and it comes right out.

Reassembly is the reverse. The whole process took as long as just removing the old pulley and unbolting the pump from the bracket, and now I KNOW the guts of the pump are good. I will never replace another power steering pump again; rebuilds from here on out.

 

[96Lt1civi]

Sweet! Any links to a rebuild kit?

 

[sherlock9c1]

"Power Steering Pump Seal kit" on Rock Auto.

 

[Dezrat]

Good Morning Sherlock9c1,
This has been great documentation of your build process.
I don’t know if I missed it, but how did you washout the block and heads (coolant areas)? If I remember correctly the engine had stop leak in it.
Any hints of flushing stop leak would be appreciated.
Thanks and keep the post coming.
Cheers Dezrat

 

[sherlock9c1]

The '96s were particularly prone to the factory fill stopleak plugging everything. The lower parts of the block never really see enough flow during normal operation to physically flush out particulates. The best way to do it is to remove the knock sensors. When I had the engine on the stand, I removed the knock sensors... and nothing came out. The areas behind them were stopped up. I used some picks to dig out the crud and then flushed and flushed and flushed with water through all of the openings. But I'm sure any factory 96 block that hasn't been hot tanked still has crud inside the water jacket.

When I get some time, I am going to try this product: Thoroflush, by Irontite.

 

[Chicagoareabmx]

Thanks for the photos and explanations of the pump rebuild process. I was going to buy a new pump and rebuild the existing as a spare, but now I'm re-evaluating..... I imagine it's a pressure balance thing if there's an internal leak, causing the whine when hot and occasional notchy-ness when dead cold?

 

[Caddylack]

If a person were to, say, shove a garden hose inside the engine and let it run for an extended period of time... How effective would this be at... well... anything?

 

[sherlock9c1]

If a person were to, say, shove a garden hose inside the engine and let it run for an extended period of time... How effective would this be at... well... anything?

I've tried that. My namesake '95 9C1 would clog the heater core every year despite lots and lots of flushes and pretty regular maintenance by the police dept. The problem is there's just areas in the block that don't get much turbulence no matter what you do.

Thanks for the photos and explanations of the pump rebuild process. I was going to buy a new pump and rebuild the existing as a spare, but now I'm re-evaluating..... I imagine it's a pressure balance thing if there's an internal leak, causing the whine when hot and occasional notchy-ness when dead cold?

Honestly, given the low cost of the seal kit and the ease of which you can remove the alternator on a B-body, I'd just go through the pump you have and see what that does. Then go from there. My guess is that the whine is likely some sort of harmonic caused because of the frequency of the pump interacting with itself. Again, just my guess. Heck, you could probably study the fluid flow through the pump, then take a Dremel and port a lot of the passages inside the pump body and see what that does to noise. This pump is dead quiet except when giving assist; then it has a very quiet hiss sound that's likely just hydraulic fluid rushing through the lines.

 

[tayto]

If a person were to, say, shove a garden hose inside the engine and let it run for an extended period of time... How effective would this be at... well... anything?

about 14 years ago i got my first sbc "rebuilt". i got busy so engine sat for a few years. time came around to swap engines so i figured i'd get it dyno'd before installing it. after dyno we went to drain the coolant from the block and found they were plugged from crud. ended up tearing down and found bearing clearances too tight, blah blah so it got rebuilt AGAIN. machine shop said the hot tanking would take care of everything. got the engine home and was about to install heads when I noticed around the cylinders was PACKED with crud. many hours later and many pieces of tig rod later i removed a sandwhich zip lock bag full of crud.

short answer: NO


BTW, that engine ran for about 100 hours, and then got sold to a friend for his boat. we figured it'd be a good idea to check bearings and what not before installing it. needless to say it ended up getting rebuilt a THIRD TIME.

 

[95wagon]

And thats why , on used scuzzy jobs , you put foaming shave cream in the water passages of the old heads before you lean over the engine and plunk them into place

 

[Marky Dissod]

If a person were to, say, shove a garden hose inside the engine and let it run for an extended period of time … How effective would this be at … well … anything?

I've tried that. My namesake '95 9C1 would clog the heater core every year despite lots and lots of flushes and pretty regular maintenance by the police dept. The problem is there's just areas in the block that don't get much turbulence no matter what you do.

hmmm …
Obviously this idea is not practical for everyone, but …
If the engine is not in an engine bay, what sort of danger is posed by turning the block upside down and then forcing a cleansing solvent thru the block's coolant passages?
Just wondering. I doubt much can be done while the engine is right side up, and even less while it's in an engine bay.

 

[Lance]

Thanks again for this awesome thread. Great to see the passion for our cars is still going strong. I'm really enjoying the old forum again.

I have been wanting a DCM 96SS for years now since I sold the BBB 96SS awhile ago. Already miss the 95 Caprice wagon I just sold. My 96 9c1 is for drag racing and thrashing on the road course and Autox. I just want a close to stock 96SS to fix up and use as a DD. I truly miss the stock ride and performance of the SS.

Sherlock, your thread has inspired me to finally make it happen. I'm in the process of purchasing my first DCM 96SS from a good friend. Needs a lot of cosmetic TLC. Especially in the interior but mechanically it is sound. Drives and handles fantastic. Completely stock except for a paint job (GM DCM) and a rotted out cat back. After a serious cleaning the following will be done: replace steering wheel; refurbish both front seats with new foam and covers; new cat back; Eibach Pro Kit lowering springs; replace windshield; 20% tint; repair the common rear intake oil leak at the EGR exhaust tube location; replace thermostat and do a serious coolant flush with Thoro Flush (thanks!); change the oil; and finish with a tune.

Excited and looking forward to my project. Thanks again for sharing your experience and knowledge with the B-Body community!

 

[Lance]

And thats why , on used scuzzy jobs , you put foaming shave cream in the water passages of the old heads before you lean over the engine and plunk them into place

Please explain.

 

[tayto]

so crud doesn't fall in your cylinders or on your freshly prep deck/hradgaskets. never heard of this tip before but it is a good idea. normally when a cylinder head comes off (for me) it gets sent out to get overhauled and cleaned up so this is not needed.

solvent will not break down whats around the cylinders in the water jackets. this stuff is hard and must be chiseled out. it is from using cheap coolant and not doing regular flushes and YEARS and YEARS of running. the engine i mentioned above was from an ex-cop car turned taxi cab. had almost 300,000 miles on it.

 

[Caddylack]

about 14 years ago i got my first sbc "rebuilt". i got busy so engine sat for a few years. time came around to swap engines so i figured i'd get it dyno'd before installing it. after dyno we went to drain the coolant from the block and found they were plugged from crud. ended up tearing down and found bearing clearances too tight, blah blah so it got rebuilt AGAIN. machine shop said the hot tanking would take care of everything. got the engine home and was about to install heads when I noticed around the cylinders was PACKED with crud. many hours later and many pieces of tig rod later i removed a sandwhich zip lock bag full of crud.

short answer: NO


BTW, that engine ran for about 100 hours, and then got sold to a friend for his boat. we figured it'd be a good idea to check bearings and what not before installing it. needless to say it ended up getting rebuilt a THIRD TIME.

I must be missing something. How was this engine different from other engines that haven't been rebuilt 3 times?

EDIT: Does anybody know how this problem affects LT1's in comparison to first gen SBC's or LS engines?