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-Or- Don't have Your engine rebuilt by Bruce Fulper of Rock-n-Roll Engineering. |
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after Bruce Fulper did a complete rebuild. This is my story. |
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Los Angeles, California 1992. It was
another hot and beautiful day in The City. My Girl's
odometer would never see the low side of 100K again and she
was playing a lazy tune through her dual exhaust. She was a
special girl to me and she liked to go out and show her
heels to the other hotties on the street. I liked that about
her. No follower. She was always ahead of the pack. I
decided to do something really special to show her how much
she meant to me on those many evenings we cruised together.
No small bobble would do. No, only the best would do for my
baby. What happened next was beyond my experience, beyond
anything I'd ever imagined possible... but it happened to
us. Oh yes. And it could happen to you. ![]() (left to right) My great friend Jim, myself, and Bruce. |
This was Flashing Red Light #1... |
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Cheats and liars usually give themselves away if you are paying attention. They can never remember the last lie they told you. |
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Bruce called me to tell me that my original number matching block was cracked and unusable. I was disappointed because I wanted to keep it original to increase the value of the car and for car show purposes. Now I had just another GTO. He offered to sell me a 1968 service replacement block for only $50, the typical cost for a standard 400 block. Fair enough. He said he could have my numbers stamped on the block and then I would again have a "numbers matching engine". I didn't like the sound of this at all. I said, "No don't do that." Because I hate cheating, stealing and fraud. Eventually cheats are found out and, in my opinion, a person really owns nothing in this world except one's reputation and I value mine. (Really, it only takes a minute to see that the 1968 block part number doesn't match the 1970 car. Anyone with any experience will spot a cheat. How stupid am I? Stupid enough to hire a man who is ready to commit fraud- but I'm not stupid enough to go along with it) I accepted the 1968 block if the numbers were not changed. So now we were back in business again. But this was the second major Red Light flashing in my face to STOP!! |
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What I failed to recall at the time I learned of the cracked block was that Westside performance just 4 blocks away had a totally rebuilt 428 4 bolt short block sitting in the display window for $3000. If I had thought it through I would have realized that my number matching car no longer existed. Had I been smart I would have canceled my job with Bruce, paid for his time and services rendered, picked up my parts and bought the 428 sitting just 4 blocks away! Instead I made a snap decision. I would recall this moment many times in the years to come. |
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After this much time I was beginning to wonder what was going on with my engine rebuild. When I called Bruce I said I needed my engine and he said he would get on it right away. Fine. |
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I called to be sure that Bruce was in fact working on my engine. He told me he had just fired the engine and the head gasket had not sealed and the block filled with water and he would have to tear the whole thing down, clean it up and reassemble it again. I asked what happened and he replied that the copper head gaskets he installed had not sealed. COPPER HEAD GASKETS?! On a totally stock engine with 9.5 compression?! Everyone I spoke to about this says it is unbelievable that he would use copper gaskets on a stock engine and that they cost far too much to even consider in my case. So it seems either he was lying to buy some time or he made a foolish choice. Either way it really made me wonder how big a mistake I had made to hire Bruce to rebuild my engine. And I wondered about the damage that occurred when it supposedly filled with water! Flashing RED LIGHT #3. This time I was freaked out. |
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Bruce called me and said,"Can you hear that?" It was my engine running on his break-in stand. Great. Finally the engine arrived after 3 and a half months. Bruce rolled in with the engine but no old parts. I was not happy about this and stated that he agreed to give me all of the old parts. And he said, "What do I need them for? They're no good?" So I had to demand that he return my parts. Finally he agreed to return with the parts so he could collect his money and get out of there. So I hoisted my engine out of his truck and as I looked for a way to set it down so as not to put the weight on the bottom of the pan he told me to just sit it on the ground on the oil pan. "It's plenty strong- I do it all the time." I was concerned about warping the pan and breaking the oil pan seal, but he assured me it was fine so I set it on the pan because I didn't have an engine stand and isn't he the expert Pontiac builder? (If you don't like what you hear, do as you think is best with your own property. Don't listen to advice you think is unsound- or get another opinion before you act.) As it happens I believe setting the engine on the pan warped the pan and sheared the pan gasket seal and contributed to the oil pan leaks. ![]() It may be difficult to tell but the engine as delivered was painted RED and the intake manifold was BLACK. Not stock colors... and difficult to cover without many layers of paint! What was he thinking about?? (don't ask me!) |
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Bruce returned with the old parts- the block, timing chain, oil pump and pump shaft. No cam, no pistons, no bearings... I said I wanted my cam, which he still had -but didn't bring, and he said I should come out to Riverside and get it since he didn't know when he would be back my way again. At this point he had been paid, I held no leverage. We said good bye.
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(8-24-01) It turns out that the $300
machine work to lower the compression paid to modify .030
over Olds 455 cast pistons. The Olds pistons have a dish on
top which lowers compression but they are .005 larger,
requiring the cylinders be bored .035 over instead of .030,
and the area under the piston pin has to be milled out to
allow the use of Pontiac rods. When the inside of the
pistons were milled, the shop couldn't remove exactly the
same amount from each, resulting in out of balance pistons.
To correct this, holes were drilled into the underside of
the piston heads to remove additional material from 7 of the
heaviest pistons. This drilling creates a very thin, weak
piston head in two spots on each piston. I'm fortunate to
get as far as I did without burning a hole in one or more
pistons. This kind of modification does work but it is
unnecessary and silly. Why not buy the right Pontiac piston
which reduces the compression? I just bought a set of
Federal Mogal pistons #411NP for $150 that accomplish the
same thing as all that silly modification. (approx. 9.0 CR
with 72cc heads) And no weak spots! |
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Bruce did use ARP rod bolts
and Clevite 77 bearings which are good parts. Just lucky, I
guess they came in the kit... The poly-lock nuts didn't fit
the stock rocker studs. The lock screws only had two
threads, yes 2, holding them in place! I removed the studs
and had the tips ground down a bit to allow proper locking.
Thanks, Bruce. If I'd known it wasn't a Ram Air 4 cam I
would have gone back to the stock locking nuts and
reinstalled the oil deflectors that wouldn't fit with the
poly-locks. Efficient oiling of the valvetrain IS important.
This time around I'm using Comp Cams roller tip rockers
installed with locking nuts so my oil deflectors will fit.
(By the way, I just installed the oil deflectors with the
comp cams magnum roller tip rockers and they do work
together with a washer under each oil deflector base and
they still clear the stock valve covers. Bruce left off the
stock valve spring oil deflectors so I had them replaced to
control the amount of oil that gets on the upper valve
train.) I wanted a stock engine but Bruce insists on
modifying parts and leaving things off instead of using
parts that help assure proper lubrication. (An aside- I
recently spoke to a guy in Westside Performance who was
still waiting for his 455 from Bruce. It had been a year! He
wasn't very worried. I guess he has a lot of money and other
cars to drive. A year. Man, not me.) |
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Did I mention the valve job?
No? When the head gasket blew I took the #12 heads in to an
econo-machine shop to have them checked out. The valve
guides were very worn. Obviously no work had been done to
the valve guides. I had no more money at the time so I had
them knurled. (Don't waste your money on knurling the guides
it only lasts 5,000 miles tops. But it was all I could
afford at the time since Bruce had all my money...)
Did I mention that Bruce used bolts with the wrong thread count or metric bolts to hold the windage tray on the main caps? (Will the sloppy work ever end?!) Yes, he jammed the wrong bolts into the holes. Thanks, Bruce. |
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January 1, 2002 ![]() I've left out all details regarding my part by part assembly since I could write an entire book on the subject. I will say that you should take lots of pictures during the tear down and take detailed notes during the rebuild and write yourself separate notes so you don't forget stuff. (Like the fact that there is no oil in the engine or water in the radiator before you fire it up) Notes about the order you installed parts and their clearances could be very handy, especially if you have any questions later or get new information about clearances or you have to take a long break from the project and you can't remember where you left off. Note taking and picture taking is a very small amount of the total time and expense you will incur during your rebuild. Just do it. |
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It is best to work with
an engine builder, or any auto service business, who is
operating within a short distance from you (less than 5
miles) and to stay in close contact with the builder
throughout the process. |
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