I have just rebuilt a 352 ci engine out of a 1967 ford f-100, changed the crank and connecting rods to make it a 390ci, at the same time I also rebuilt the C-6 trans, after mating the two together and droping it in the truck, I pulled the spark plugs out and cranked the engine to lubericate it before starting the engine. The trans had only 5 qts of type F in it when I primed the engine, (I forgot to put fluid in the torque converter). After priming the engine I started it, it ran rough and only for a couple of seconds before shutting it off, I then checked the trans fluid and found that the pump was working and had pumped out my 5 qts to the torque converter so I then added more trans fluid, I repeated this process until I had 10 qts of trans fluid in. I stopped there and called it a night. The next day I tried to start the engine to break in the cam, I got nothing, it cranked slow and would not fire, I replaced the starter, battery cables and battery tested fine. I tried to crank the engine over by hand and it wont budge, my rotating assembly was fine when I mated the trans and engine, the only thing that has changed since the last time it was running to now was the trans fluid level (5qts to 7qts to 10qts) so as of today the engine wont even crank slow anymore it just buzzs at me from the silanoid (fender mounted). Any and all ideas are welcome, the next step for me is explosives. Please help!
Find out if the engine is locked up. Pull the spark plugs. Turn the engine over by hand. You might need to put a boxed-end wrench on the crankshaft bolt. If it won’t turn, remove the starter and try to turn it by hand, again. After you do that, let us know the results. Somebody be here twenty four seven.
are you ready.the engine run only for a few seconds. did you use break lube on bearings also on the cam? did you mike the crank for proper size mains. you could have the lifters too tight. did you mike the cyl walls for proper rings. are you sure since you changed crank you installed the proper length connecting rods what about the pistons are the new pistons higher. recheck the complete timeing chain and cam, crank. , I would think things over.
i agree with boxwrench there is just entirely to much that could have went wrong in assembly
You did not forget the engine oil did you?
If the engine is full of oil then it’s going to be near impossible from here to guess at what is locking the engine up.
Now that this thing has been stroked from 352 to 390 you DID check piston/valve/cylinder head clearance when assembling the engine I hope, since stroke, rod length, piston type, cam lift, etc. all has an affect on it.
What crankshaft, camshaft, connecting rods, and pistons were used? The 390 has a stroke .284 longer than a 352 and that’s a bunch.
On second thought, forget the comments about piston/valve interference, etc. I had forgotten your comment about cranking it over to prime it so I’m assuming there were no unusual thumps and noises during the priming process.
No problem mating the engine and transmission together was it? Flanges on both engine and trans went right together with no forcing? Just wondering if the torque converter was not on all of the splines.
Is the torque converter mated to the flywheel and the transmission correctly? A way to check is to see if there is any play between the flywheel and the converter. A way to check is put a 15/16" socket on a breaker bar and try to turn the motor over by the balancer, and see if there is any play between the studs on the converter and the flywheel. There has to be a little play in the holes, if there isn’t that would cause to lock it up like that.
The C6 fluid capacity is around 12 qts.
I would disconect the torque converter from the flexplate and then try and rotate the engine to determine if the problem is the trany or the engine.