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Back in 2005 I found out my Ex-wife was having a year long affair. During our separation she decided she wanted my Truck, I got stuck with the Van. Not wanting to be a single father driving a mini van everywhere I promptly put it up for sale. After it sold I went on the search and found Jezebel. Paying in cash. One day I drove up to get the kids and my Ex yelled "What is that?!?" I replied "It's the van". Since then she has become a symbol of my freedom and desire to remain free.
Meet my love, my freedom mobile, Jezebel
I use to play Capoeira with a group here in town. I was late to the performance and the parking was about a 1/4 mile out. The leader of the group was mad that I would be late after the walk so I pulled Jez into the car show that gave me parking 50 feet from our performance area. This is a picture of her that day.
Me and my boys back when I first got her, she was my daily back then.
In march of this year I decided to upgrade her to an LS1 and remove the old 383 she had in her. The process was painful and did not go anywhere near planned. This is the log I have of the progress till today. I am here to help me redo some of the damage. It looks like I could have a simple clogged oil filter, it could be as bad as a failing pump (looks like the Basic Melling M295 to me, I'll replace it with a 10296 to compensate for her cam if it is bad) or worse, it could be a main bearing is failed and I have to pull the engine and replace it and or more. My father taught me to not give up and this car has helped me make it thru some very hard times, I will obviously repay the favor and get her out of this.
Here are some images as the image was built. If you read thru my Agreement you will see the pain I went thru to get it here and the trouble afterward. At the point this was done, I do not think he had intentions of doing me wrong. Those came later. This gives you an idea of how the block was built.
We went with the ARP kits to hold the heads down better when I put in a supercharger.
This is the Oil Pump that seems to have gone bad, looks like a melling m295 standard flow and pressure. Can anyone confirm?
These are the 317 heads he put on, he claims new springs and valves but they did not look new to me. At this point I had already seen the pictures of the engine he claimed to have done that he did not, I just wanted it in so I had something to work with.
The following picture was the old engine and the reason I decided to replace it. I just wanted her to be drivable and reliable. This 383 had problem with rocker studs. I had replaced 4 of them over the year previous to this. Here is a picture with one of the rockers that fell off on a drive to school with my kiddo. In hindsight, I should have just fixed the underlying issue, but the thought of an LS1 made me feel it was the better choice.
I was going to sell this 383 to a friend so I did in fact fix the issue before he was going to pick it up (Hate selling a problem to a friend) however, the builder demanded the engine out of his garage so he had work space and could not wait for the weekend and the situation scared the friend away from the deal. I found someone from craigslist to buy it. Considering I had swapped all the accessories and repaired the internals the guy got a screaming deal.
After the tune my pressure changed quite a bit. I realize it is idling lower now but I was at 40 PSI before even while in gear. We did a few 1/4 mile runs to 6k RPMs and that was when this actually started to show. Or at least when I noticed it.
So here is some images and a video. so you can see how it is operating.
I did order a high pressure pump by melling to replace it this weekend, I am not looking forward to the job, and I over doing it or does this need to be addressed?
Man that looks fun, It seems to me the PSI is indeed low then, those specs make no sense to me and had me double guessing last night. I'll do the pump this weekend and hope for the best. If it does not do it, I am not really interested in doing the crank bearings right away. Might cover her and regroup at this point if this weekend does not produce a fix.
Unsure how common the issue is, but I got my LQ4 short block from a guy who had to replace his due to no oil pressure, mechanical gauge showed same thing (0 psig) Found it to be a wiped cam bearing. I already planed on a rebuild anyway, so this worked great.
Your issue could be an O-ring on the pickup tube, a bad gauge or sending unit, to a bad bearing....start at the cheap stuff first I guess.
I have the 0 ring, high-pressure pump on the way. I am hoping it not to be a bearing but who knows. This is a fresh rebuild and the guy who did it has proven now to be a total..... **** tard. So I have no idea how reliable the rebuild actually was. I know he somehow pissed off his machinist who I understand supplied the crank bearings and possibly the cam bearings as well. At any rate, it they are bad. I simply do not have the time to deal with it.... but I do not really have a choice either. it's the care or the bike and man is it getting cold. I'll know for sure probably by tomorrow night after I finish the pump and o-ring replacement. checking the bearings will require a pull of the engine and I do not have a picker or an engine stand currently.
Well I did the work, replaced the pump and o-ring but the problem remains. Considering it is in... "Specs" for the dealership to not service if under warranty. I am out of money until summer. So I am driving it to get my kid to school. If it blow... it blows and I will start over. I am frustrated at this point. I miss my old 383, but I do like the gaskets and how tight the LS1 is built.
That would just make me laugh if I did all that... and it was the gauge... I replaced the fittings before. Now I am kicking myself for not taking that step... if it is the gauge you will see a massive self butt kicking.
Back in 2005 I found out my Ex-wife was having a year long affair. During our separation she decided she wanted my Truck, I got stuck with the Van. Not wanting to be a single father driving a mini van everywhere I promptly put it up for sale. After it sold I went on the search and found Jezebel. Paying in cash. One day I drove up to get the kids and my Ex yelled "What is that?!?" I replied "It's the van". Since then she has become a symbol of my freedom and desire to remain free.
Meet my love, my freedom mobile, Jezebel
I use to play Capoeira with a group here in town. I was late to the performance and the parking was about a 1/4 mile out. The leader of the group was mad that I would be late after the walk so I pulled Jez into the car show that gave me parking 50 feet from our performance area. This is a picture of her that day.
Me and my boys back when I first got her, she was my daily back then.
Outstanding, your my hero. Best of luck in life man.
11-09-2016, 12:25 PM
Jezebel - 1968 Camaro Pleasure, Progress and Pain 
