Engine Trouble Shooting question

When I cranked my 351 for the first time, I had what sounded like a scraping sound. What I found was that I had tightened the lower radiator hose clamp in a position that saused the screw to reach out and just enter the path of the fan. The tip of the screw was barely contacting each fan blade and resulted in an awful sound. I would just check all of the external moving parts to be sure there is no interference. This is not always an easy thing to do with the engine off. You may not want to do this with it running, as you may end up missing a few digits. Look for shiny metal on the tips of brackets, bolts, or anything near moving parts. I was lucky enough to spot shiny metal on the fan tips. A flash light may help with your search.

Good luck
ssscode

did you remember to put oil in the motor?

How about engine plate (metal plate between trans and engine block) scraping aginst flywheel, or torque converter access cover touching torque converter.

Thanks I'll check the flywheel and metal plate. The engine
has oil in it. Hehehe... I'm not the greatest mechanic but
I did remember that much.
Kevin

I had the front bearing in my alternator go bad. I kept hearing a noise at highway speed, but, couldn't figure out where it was comming from. I could turn the fan, and the engine, and alternator would turn... Looked for the problem for a couple of weeks, but never found it. Then it started getting worse. I took the alternator off, and couldn't turn it by hand.....Replaced it, and now no noise.
Need to check things out closely, and maybe you will find something dumb, like my problem.

You can always disable all the accessories by removing the belts and then attempt to duplicate the problem. The engine can run for 3-5 minutes, when started cold, without a water pump with no problem.

Did you buy this as an engine/trans unit or just the engine?

If the sound is metallic, likely it's caused by something amiss in the marriage of engine and trans...

Get back to us....

Eh, I am was planning to try "no belt" launch once this summer, so I am glad you gave a reference how long the engine could be run without pump.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to do some trial and error today.
I did hear that the starters on a manual trans and auto where different. Is this true? I'm not sure which one I've
got. I put one of the two I have on.
Kevin

The 3-5 minute window was a conservative estimate, based on how long it takes the race car engine to get to 180 with the water pump off...and running at a modest rpm (2000 or so)

YMMV...*G*

Well the flywheel is scraping on the starter. I have two
and they both are rubbing. I'm heading to the parts store
to check starters and get muffelers.
Kevin

It seems to be rubbing on the face of the starter behind the gear. Sorry my descriptions aren't very good. Maybe the
gear isn't returning back after I hit the key.
Kevin