Pulled valve cover from the 1978 chevy nova I6 manual.

[Dallas69]

Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
But... but.... why do the geezers call them “the good old days”?

I’m pretty sure that’s the same model I was conceived in. That, or a ‘73 Chevrolet with a 307. Neither one is paticularly inspiring

The Good Old Days-
No Amazon
No Social Media
No Starbucks
Sounds good to me.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted By: Dallas69
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
But... but.... why do the geezers call them “the good old days”?

I’m pretty sure that’s the same model I was conceived in. That, or a ‘73 Chevrolet with a 307. Neither one is paticularly inspiring

The Good Old Days-
No Amazon
No Social Media
No Starbucks
Sounds good to me.





Right on!!!!!

 

[danez_yoda]

Do you know what oil was used and what were the ocis?

 

[Oildudeny]

I am no auto mechanic but that looks pretty darn good and clean.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Originally Posted By: jakewells
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Made during the Malaise period. Likely a mid week production.

?



Check out some stories during that time. Cars were junk back then. Rusting on the showroom floor, missing parts, on and on. It was a bad time for the American auto manufacturers not to mention the economy was in the dumps.


Would something from Japan or Germany have been better in terms of quality?

Many times better IMO judging from my own experience working on them in that era.

 

[andyd]

That's a clean looking set of rockers. Button 'er up and don't alter your oil change routine

 

[Kira]

"Good Old Days" = When you were younger and your body was in better shape.

"Golden Age of Television" = Anything before yesterday because it's just a marketing phrase.

My '76 ran like a watch. T200 (GM scandal car) OUT when the reverse piston cracked. T450 installed as replacement. Add 2 new U-joints and balance the driveshaft and I got a limo.

 

[NYEngineer]

That head has absolutely been off that engine. Maybe it will stay that clean with today's oils but no way back then.
When I was 18-19 back in 1984-85, I worked in a marine engine building shop. We had regular deliveries of Chevy 305,350 and 454 that my boss bought from his brother that owned an auto wrecking yard. These engines came in pulled out of cars and trucks that were getting shredded.
We would strip these engines of any automotive parts and only keep the blocks, caps, cranks, heads, valves, intake manifolds, pushros and valve covers. Everything went into the hot tank and was machined and built into marine engines. Anyway, the valve covers and intakes would come off and it would just be a hard, black cake of cooked, hardened oil and carbon. That all had to be chipped out so not to gook up the hot tank. Oils back then were not so good.
The OP's I6 is stellar.

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Don't leave that screw in there.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: Dallas69
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
But... but.... why do the geezers call them “the good old days”?
I’m pretty sure that’s the same model I was conceived in. That, or a ‘73 Chevrolet with a 307. Neither one is paticularly inspiring

The Good Old Days-
No Amazon
No Social Media
No Starbucks
Sounds good to me.

Yeah, but you're forgetting;
Inflation
Disco
Pointy Collars
Sounds BAD to me! And I was there...

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Don't let this get political.



That's freakin HILARIOUS!!

 

[Kira]

ADDITIONAL RESPONSE:

Anyone who implies that there were no differences in [censored]/German QC vs that of US cars in the '70's & '80'S is a troll.

The garbage quality of US cars was flabbergasting. So, so often the owners of US cars had a friend or relative in the car business it became normal to ask who it was whenever a new US car appeared.

Really too bad to watch happen.

In fact, I remember a review of a latter VW beetle and the reviewer said, "Everything feels like it works well" when describing the knobs etc.

With all the GM "brand bloating" and cheapness during that time, it's too bad Ford didn't zero in on quality with just Ford, Mercury and Lincoln. I suppose Chrysler could've done the same thing with their QC but didn't.

Regarding drinking and smoking on the job? Do drug testing. What's so puzzling?

 

[CT8]

Push rod engine are so nice.

 

[CourierDriver]

Never heard of a chevy 6 giving anyone grief...most likely hearsay....remember some folks are just angry and wanting to vent,,imho. A long time ago I posted my 67 Beetle, got a lot of grief from some on how their VW beetle did not keep them warm and so on and so and it turned out to be one of the best cars I owned, never gave me any trouble and we ran it hard,,,ancient old 30 wgt oil or 10w30 back then...

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
Never heard of a chevy 6 giving anyone grief...most likely hearsay....remember some folks are just angry and wanting to vent,,imho. A long time ago I posted my 67 Beetle, got a lot of grief from some on how their VW beetle did not keep them warm and so on and so and it turned out to be one of the best cars I owned, never gave me any trouble and we ran it hard,,,ancient old 30 wgt oil or 10w30 back then...
the intregal head 250 was garbage. My dad had a 76 camaro with one.

 

[beanoil]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: jakewells
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Made during the Malaise period. Likely a mid week production.

?


He hates "GovMo" and unions, so clearly a good car couldn't have been built on a Monday when the union guys were hungover from the weekend or Friday when they started drinking on the job in anticipation of the weekend.

You know, cause that's what American workers do...

I have been told by several auto workers that drinking on their breaks in the parking lot was very common every day.


Yep. Chrysler has had problems that made the news about workers that drank and smoked weed on lunch hours. Back in the day, I used to have the opportunity to get into the GM plant on Union Ave. Even in the early to mid eighties, alcohol was freely and openly consumed by workers in the parking lot over lunch. A sandwich, some Lays, and a 40 ounce back then was the norm. BUT, it was no different than anywhere else in that time period. At the Federal Building downtown, a guy used to hit 905 liquor store at lunch, and keep his 40 ounce Busch right outside his door to the parking garage in the winter to keep it cold. Half was gone with lunch, half on the 3pm break.

 

[bullwinkle]

If you could keep the head together (usually maintaining the cooling system did the trick), they were pretty decent motors. I had a '68 Nova 230 manual, a '70 Tempest 250 with a Turbo 350, and an '81 C10 Chevy pickup work truck with the integral head 250, they all ran well (although I did put a HG on the Tempest due to overheating/warped when I bought it, and put a 350 in the '68 due to the 250 needing rebuilt due to neglect). Biggest issue today would be gasohol eating the carbs on them, every GM carb I've used with E10 got damaged by it.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Smog Wheezers

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
... We had regular deliveries of Chevy 305,350 and 454 that my boss bought from his brother that owned an auto wrecking yard. ... Anyway, the valve covers and intakes would come off and it would just be a hard, black cake of cooked, hardened oil and carbon. That all had to be chipped out so not to gook up the hot tank. Oils back then were not so good. ...
You didn't know the maintenance histories of those engines, I'll guess. Decently maintained '70s cars didn't normally have that kind of buildup in valve covers.

 

[NYEngineer]

Originally Posted By: CR94
Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
... We had regular deliveries of Chevy 305,350 and 454 that my boss bought from his brother that owned an auto wrecking yard. ... Anyway, the valve covers and intakes would come off and it would just be a hard, black cake of cooked, hardened oil and carbon. That all had to be chipped out so not to gook up the hot tank. Oils back then were not so good. ...
You didn't know the maintenance histories of those engines, I'll guess. Decently maintained '70s cars didn't normally have that kind of buildup in valve covers.


Not at all. These were from cars that were brought to the wrecking yard. He just brought us all the 350s and 454s and the occasional 302 ford.