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S 3 : Ep 31

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The restoration of the 396 big-block from Hagerty’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro has been coming along nicely. The 50-year-old big-block was in need of a refresh, as it was consuming oil and generally not performing like a 396 should. Through compression and leak down testing, the pistons rings on cylinder #3 were found to be failing, along with the gaskets between the intake manifold and cylinder heads. These failures allowed the engine to run low on oil, foul up spark plugs, and lose power.

Our latest round of progress spans three Redline Update videos. We start at the end of what Davin can do with his set of tools. That means it’s time for the project to go to the machine shop, then on to assembly.

The first stop is at the machine shop, where the cylinder heads received fresh valve seats and guides. The engine block was given a bake to remove the paint and contaminates before being prepared for boring. Because the cylinders were machined to 40-thousandths in a previous rebuild, plus the wear from running low on oil, we decided to use an aggressive hone rather than a cutter to achieve a 60-over diameter.

With all the parts freshly machined, the next stop was the paint shop before returning to the Redline Rebuild garage for assembly. To properly assemble the bottom end of the engine requires a quick double check of all the parts with a micrometer, to ensure enough room for oil to flow between the crankshaft and the bearing.

Now the engine is going back together, starting with the cylinder heads. Davin’s first task in assembling the iron factory castings was to ensure the spring height was correct. That involves totaling up the tolerances of the parts from the valve seat to the keeper, which ensures as the valve moves through its travel there is no binding in the valve spring. With the heads assembled, the next task is to ensure the valves do not contact the pistons as the engine cycles. Thanks to a bit of clay and the old head gasket, Davin can confidently install the heads and get this engine that much closer to firing up.

The Redline Updates are stacking up, and that’s not by mistake. This engine will be running and back in the Camaro in time for a full Redline Rebuild time-lapse very soon. If you want to be the first to hear it rumble, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube page. You will receive notifications every time a new video goes live.

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Our Camaro SS396 hasn’t been acting like an SS396. Now it’s in the Redline Rebuild garage for a refresh because of too much blow-by past the piston rings, and oil consumption measuring in quarts. Now the big-block is out and on the engine stand. Let the tear-down commence!

This engine was assembled just five years ago, but according to Hagerty rebuild guru Davin Reckow, a lack of oil prematurely wore the piston rings and cylinder walls. The piston rings in cylinder number three were especially bad, leaving the spark plug covered in oil. Davin noted he would have been surprised it was firing.

Now the engine is out and being torn down, the innards have an interesting story to tell. One valve stem was hammered and mushroomed, again thanks to lack of oil. The valve shortening that took place as a result of this damage was absorbed by the hydraulic lifter, most likely, which kept the system quiet and did not invite cause to inspect under the valve cover.

“It’s a bit of a bummer to see everything this worn after just five years,” Davin says, “but it really underscores the importance of proper oiling in every engine. A little low on oil for a short time can cause a lot of damage.”

With the engine internals laid out on the bench, the block and cylinder heads are headed for the machine shop to see if any machining will need to be done. Be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube page for notifications when each update goes live.

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Hagerty’s Hugger Orange 1969 Camaro has been rough around the edges for a while now. The big-block is consuming oil at a considerable rate, and power output feels inadequate, so in-house wrench and Redline Rebuilds maestro Davin Reckow ran some some tests to see just how bad things were under the hood. The results were not good.

Last episode of Redline Update laid out how to run a compression test and also a leak-down test, which helped Davin determine that compression on the number three cylinder was 20 percent lower than it should have been, with only 130 psi of pressure. A leak-down test using compressed air showed that it was not the valves or head gasket leaking—it was the pistons rings.

So, the engine needed to come out and we’ll need to perform a full rebuild. This quick Redline Update episode is all about removing the engine from the Camaro and the process of taking off parts to give the V-8 exit clearance over the radiator support.

Now, the Camaro on course to be on layaway for a bit while Davin gets down to the business of tearing down this iron giant. For starters, he knows the V-8 will need a fresh set of pistons rings, but there’s no telling what other surprises the engine might hold once he tears into it further. Tune in for the next Redline Update to find out, and be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube page to get notified when the episode releases.

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The Hagerty employee-restored 1969 Chevrolet Camaro is not running well. It has racked up miles driving from sea to shining sea, but the latest trip has brought it to the Redline Rebuild garage for Davin to diagnose excessive oil consumption and poor running. That calls for a compression test, but Davin takes it one step further and completes a leakdown test as well—showing you exactly how to do it yourself along the way.

This particular 396-cubic-inch big-block Camaro has been on the road for five years since its restoration. In that time it’s done everything from short test drives to the 2,100-mile Great Race, and is starting to act a bit tired. On top of that, the big block is consuming 10W-30 like Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs.

Davin starts the diagnosis by pulling the spark plugs, as their condition can give a lot of information about the overall health of an engine. These plugs? Not telling a good story.

“The build-up of carbon and oil on the electrodes and insulators of a few of them was real bad,” Davin says. “I could imagine there was at least one cylinder that was not firing, possibly two. With that much oil on them, I had to dig deeper to see exactly where it was coming from.”

That leads to a compression check, which can tell if a cylinder’s pressure is bled off past the piston rings, valves, or into the water jacket or oil passages through the head gasket instead of sealing tight. If the compression is down, like what Davin experiences on cylinder number three, a small amount of oil can be added to the cylinder before completing the compression check again. This oil in the cylinder will help seal the rings during the short test and confirm or deny the hypothesis of tired piston rings. If the compression goes up during the wet test, it confirms the rings need to be replaced.

Even with the compression check telling him enough information to require an engine-out rebuild, Davin takes the extra step and gives the big-block a leakdown test as well. Using a different fitting in place of the spark plug, Davin uses compressed air and a small fixture to measure the amount of compression drop. With sustained pressure in the cylinder, one can usually hear any air leaks, which typically come out the exhaust, intake manifold, or crankcase ventilation.

The short answer is this big-block is headed for the engine stand and a full once-over before it gets back out into the streets. Will there be even more damage hiding inside the engine? With the test results showing it has been run low on oil and possibly overheated, the chances are high. To find out for sure, though, you’ll have to tune in to the next episode of Redline Update.

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Davin received some pretty bad news during the last Redline Rebuild Update episode. The cylinder heads of the Buick V-8 were deemed too far gone and the block was pretty far down the same path. Already busy with two rebuild projects, now a third comes knocking. A glutton for punishment, Davin opens the door.

The trip to the machine shop left Davin questioning if the Nailhead block was going to be a repair or replace proposition. After inspection, the stock pistons and heavy corrosion left enough damage that six or seven of the cylinders would need to be sleeved. Certainly doable, but according to Davin there is a point where it just makes sense to snag a block in better condition. The reusable parts are now being sorted and cleaned to prepare for when the new iron arrives.

A Ford Model A four cylinder is another rebuild in process, but currently it sits apart on a table awaiting machine shop work. This project requires a bit more attention than your standard engine, as the main and rod bearings in this 1930s mill are poured Babbitt. This style of bearing is created in by pouring an alloy consisting mainly of tin, lead, and copper into forms where it cools and is then machined to size. It’s an archaic process, one that neither Davin nor our local machine shop have undertaken previously. As such, the team is currently looking for the right shop to do the work.

While waiting on parts to arrive for the Nailhead, Davin receives a phone call with an opportunity to undertake a project Redline Rebuild fans have been asking for since the beginning—a 396-cubic-inch big-block Chevy. This iconic orange engine is being pulled from an even more iconic orange shell—Hagerty’s employee-restored 1969 Camaro SS396.

“We restored this car about five years ago and use it for events all across the country. It’s got some hard miles on it at this point,” Davin says. “It’s drinking oil and just hasn’t been running like a big-block should. Five years is a short time for a refresh, and I built it the first time, so I’m pretty curious to see what is going on.”

Hoping the 396 would only need some repair, this Redline Update closes with the big-block being yanked from the engine compartment. What will it need? How bad are the internals? Be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube page to get notifications each week when these updates go live.

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The Buick 401 currently getting the Redline Rebuild treatment is also known as a Nailhead. From the headache this V-8 has given our resident wrench Davin Rekow, it is a fitting name. Nothing about pulling this engine apart was easy, but it is finally at the machine shop for inspection to see if what’s left is usable.

The short answer—maybe.

The long answer? The Nailhead’s block isn’t cracked, but the corrosion and rust in the cylinders led the machinists at Thirlby Automotive to think that at least six of the eight cylinders would require sleeves before they would be usable again. Cylinder sleeves are not necessarily a bad thing, in fact the Tri-Power Pontiac 389 from last year was on the receiving end of one cylinder sleeve.

“It’s not a question of if hammering in a few sleeves is acceptable.” Says Davin, “That is ok, but there is a point where the cost of machine work will be darn close to a replacement block. We have to weigh out if another block is a better option right now.”

The process of installing a cylinder sleeve involves machining the bore of the cylinder block large enough to press in a new cylinder wall that can then be whittled down to the correct bore size. This process is used in high-performance applications as well as restoration situations, and has proved its worth for decades.

If the Nailhead block is currently the automotive equivalent of a question mark, the cylinder heads are certainly a period. The valve seats appeared hammered, and unapologetically at that. The valve seats in a cylinder head interact with the valves to create a sealing surface, meaning they need to be smooth enough to hold combustion pressure as the engine cycles.

Davin’s look at the valve seats on this set of cylinder heads was all bad news. Appearing more like the surface of the moon than the near polished finish required for the valves to do their job successfully. Similar to cylinder sleeves, new seats can be pressed in—if the head still has enough material after machining to make sure it’ll stay in place.

“The design on these heads is pretty optimized from the factory. They didn’t leave much here for the aftermarket to work with.” Davin said. “Even if we wanted to press in new valve seats there isn’t enough meat left on the head to hold them in.”

That means the heads are destined for the scrap pile, and Davin’s next task is picking up the phone rather than wrenches. What will his search reveal? We’ll find out next week on the fifth Redline Rebuild Update. Be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty Youtube channel to receive an update when each video goes live, so you never miss the latest.

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Want to know how we get gnarly, nasty, crusty engines from a decrepit state to a place where they’re able to be rebuilt? Check out the the third episode of Redline Update, where we take you behind the scenes as Davin tears down a Buick Nailhead 401 V-8 for the next Redline Rebuild video. The engine has been giving up the good fairly easy to this point, but now it is time to deal with the fact the pistons are locked solid in their bores.

This Nailhead’s piston rings and iron cylinder block oxidized together after years of neglect. Attempts at breaking the bond of this corrosion proved fruitless; no concoction of penetrant oils and time allowed the crankshaft to rotate.

“Those cylinders were soaking for the better part of a month.” Davin says, “but now that I’ve seen it with the cylinder heads off, I know that was never going to get this engine free.”

Given the tools required to get the aluminum pistons out of their bores, it would have been a might uphill battle to free this engine up with the cylinder heads still on. A few of the pistons come out in multiple pieces after a few rounds with the big hammer and even an air hammer, and almost all leave a defined ridge in the cylinder bore from the piston rings.

“I was surprised at how beefy the aluminum pistons were, they put up a heck of a fight.” Davin says. “The webbing cast under the domed tops and bracing the skirts is pretty wild compared to a small-block Chevy.”

The tall dome on the tops of the 401-cubic-inch Nailhead pistons were designed to increase compression and thus raise horsepower and torque output. The 364 Nailhead engines do not have such aggressively domed pistons, and have lower compression and engine output as a result. Buick was bound by the same rule as the other General Motors brands during the 1960s regarding displacement and vehicle size, effectively kneecapping many of its mid-sized cars, like the Wildcat, from becoming the muscle cars they could have been.

With the pistons and connecting rods extracted, the crank was the last thing to be liberated from this cursed engine block. Now it is off to the machine shop to see if the cylinder walls have enough meat on them to grind out the ridge left by the rusted piston rings.

If you want to stay tuned in to the latest happening on this Redline Rebuild, be sure to subscribe to Hagerty’s YouTube channel to receive update when each new update goes live. For exclusive members only livestream content and behind the scenes, along with a multitude of other benefits, make sure you join Hagerty Drivers Club.

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The Buick 401 Nailhead is making progress, but with each step the V-8 continues to create more work for Davin. Our last update showed that even in the early phases of disassembly, this grimy mess of an engine was not going to be an easy project. The continued disassembly proves it.

Even just parting the front accessory drive requires the use of hammers and patience, but the real story is hidden in and under the cylinder heads.

“The valvetrain looked pretty good considering the oil looked like it had turned to paste in the engine,” Davin says. “The shaft mounted rockers and near horizontal pushrods are a wild layout compared to a regular small-block Chevy or Ford.”

It is not just the appearance of the shaft rockers that makes them unique. The Nailhead gets its nickname from the near vertical positioning and relatively small size of the valves. With 401 cubic-inches to feed, Buick compensated for the awkward layout and small valves, which restrict flow, by giving the camshaft a profile with more lift to allow the engine to get enough air and fuel.

All that is glazing over the real development in this update—the cylinder heads come off and, boy, is it a horror story underneath.

Davin had been trying to free up the pistons in their bores for weeks, filling the cylinders with various penetrating oils and even milkstone remover, which he uses for cleaning and stripping rust from well-worn parts. In this case it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference. The engine remains locked solid, which means the next episode is likely to bring out the heavy tools.

Be sure to stay up to date on the latest developments with this engine and Davin’s other projects by subscribing to the Hagerty YouTube channel to receive a notification when each update goes live. You don’t want to miss a rust-breaking episode.

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The next Redline Rebuild engine is on the stand awaiting surgery, but it’s putting up a fight in the early stages of the overhaul. It’s a Buick 401 Nailhead, a grimy hulk of a V-8 that is locked solid. That is, no motion when we try to turn the crankshaft. The engine was yanked from a 1965 Buick Wildcat that lived in a field for many years, and traditional methods of disassembly proved fruitless.

It’s rough going, but for those curious about the details about how these time-lapse restoration projects get made, Hagerty’s video team and Davin Reckow is here to provide a peek behind the curtain. It might look easy when it’s sped up, but the truth involves a lot more elbow grease than pressing play on YouTube.

“I soaked it on the floor with different penetrating oils and methods for a month and a half, and got absolutely no motion out of the pistons,” Davin says. “I have my suspicions that none of the pistons will be coming out without a fight.”

But before unlocking the engine’s pistons, Davin had to first get it on a stand. That would typically be a simple task, but it devolved into him lighting an oxy-acetylene torch. Given the lack of crank rotation, removing the last of the three bolts holding the torque converter in place proved impossible. Cutting the torque converter away became the only option. The flexplate behind the converter met the same plasma-fueled fate.

Check out the upcoming video for Davin’s full Nailhead experience, which at times probably made him want to drive a nail into his own head. To stay up to date on the latest developments with this engine and Davin’s other projects, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel to receive a notification when each update goes live.

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In the latest Redline Rebuild, a menacing, 840-hp Dodge Demon honored us with a visit to the Hagerty garage. Now, for the behind-the-scenes, black-magic details on how the build came together, watch here. You can watch Davin assemble the beast in just five minutes, but if you want the behind-the-scenes details, Ben and Davin are here to talk about how it all came together.

The 6.2-liter V-8 features a 2.7-liter supercharger pressurizing the intake to 14.5 pounds-per-square-inch. With just 3300 units sold in the U.S. and Canada, Davin was eager to peek inside the exclusive powerplant and see just how the engineers at SRT coerced record horsepower numbers from the iron-block Hemi.

“Looking at piece by piece, I don’t want to say it’s unremarkable, but the individual parts are relatively normal,” Davin says. “It is certainly a case where the sum is greater than its parts.”

While cleaning parts for the next Redline Rebuild, Davin admits there wasn’t one big secret hidden under the SRT’s massive supercharger. Instead, the big Hemi benefitted from many small increases that stacked up to make an efficient and powerful package.

Another item that stuck out to Davin was the lack of keyways on many of the press fit rotating items, like the crankshaft pulley and supercharger rotors. The bolts holding the pulley on each these items is torque-to-yield, like many of the fasteners in this engine. The trick is that clocking, or accurately aligning, the pulleys or supercharger vanes can only be done with a factory jig or fixture.

Torque-to-yield hardware it tightened with a standard torque wrench and then further rotated a prescribed number of degrees. For example, the connecting rod bolts were 45 ft-lbs plus 90 degrees. This process stretches a bolt for additional clamping force in critical areas.

Davin also points out a detail some people might overlook—the gaskets. For this usually cheap part, the Demon eschews traditional cork or paper gasket materials. Instead, the Demon’s gaskets are thin steel with perfectly placed silicone to seal the mating surfaces. The idea is to eliminate the need to hand-apply any additional sealant, further reducing the chance for human error. The oil pan gasket is the exception here, requiring four small dabs of Permatex sealant to cover gaps created by the timing cover and rear main bearing.

The Demon Hemi is a hefty package by almost every definition and measurement, but it clearly translates to big horsepower. It’s insanely impressive, and once you have seen inside the SRT Demon engine from the oil squirters to the massive supercharger, there is no going back. Davin raised a Demon, and we all get to enjoy it.

Enjoy Season 3 stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

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