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51 Meadowbrook engine rebuild


Worden18

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50 minutes ago, Worden18 said:

First thing I asked Dennis this morning was if that little oil tube was there.  Yes!  He cleaned all of that out and put it back in right where it should be.  He showed me where it was. Whew!  

Don Coatney: thanks for the photo

Didn't mean to scare you but now you know about that oiler tube! Ha Ha!

Good to know it's installed.:)

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On 3/31/2017 at 11:00 PM, knuckleharley said:

When did Mopar start doing that,and did they do it with all their engines?

I believe all the flatheads had it. It didn't continue into the v8s because by then leaded gas took care of that need. 

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Before spinning it on first start up you need to pre-pressurize the lubrication system from an external oil supply. This will refill all the oil galleries and provide lubrication to the new main and rod bearings during initial startup.  Don't think the assembly lube will protect them, it's gone in 1-2 revolutions. And you can't pre-pressurize by spinning the oil  pump through the distributor shaft.  

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1 hour ago, P15-D24 said:

Before spinning it on first start up you need to pre-pressurize the lubrication system from an external oil supply. This will refill all the oil galleries and provide lubrication to the new main and rod bearings during initial startup.  Don't think the assembly lube will protect them, it's gone in 1-2 revolutions. And you can't pre-pressurize by spinning the oil  pump through the distributor shaft.  

Didn't know this.  I will talk to my friends about doing this.  Thanks for your input :)

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I did not pressurize the system as such. In addition to assembly lubrication I used very thick STP on all the bearing inserts during the install. I then (with the spark plugs removed) spun the engine with the starter motor while the engine was still on the bench until I got good oil pressure. I also did a compression test to insure all cylinders were good.

MVC-024F.jpg

comptest.jpg

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I think I would follow your machinist's recommendation on oil  but here is some logic you may want to ponder.

An engine like yours does not filter all the oil unlike the Chrysler six Don Coatney has illustrated.   Detergent oils keep particles in suspension  so the filter can capture them .  Great for engines with full flow filters.   Engines without filters, or those with bypass filters like yours may be better off initially with non detergent oil so that particulates can settle to the bottom of the pan.  After 500 miles this oil  can be drained and a detergent   oil used thereafter.  Lighter oil  is better for break-in.  At the time your car was new, this would have been SAE 20.

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6 hours ago, Don Coatney said:

I did not pressurize the system as such. In addition to assembly lubrication I used very thick STP on all the bearing inserts during the install. I then (with the spark plugs removed) spun the engine with the starter motor while the engine was still on the bench until I got good oil pressure. I also did a compression test to insure all cylinders were good.

MVC-024F.jpg

comptest.jpg

Thanks for the info and pics Don.  I do appreciate everyone's opinions in my thread.  What my builder did (and he's done this for 35 years he says) is smear lubriplate on the bearings, and he used chainsaw bar oil to slather up the pistons really good before installing them; I watched him do both of these things.  I do believe my friend mentioned spinning it over on the bench like you mentioned here.  

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1 minute ago, dpollo said:

I think I would follow your machinist's recommendation on oil  but here is some logic you may want to ponder.

An engine like yours does not filter all the oil unlike the Chrysler six Don Coatney has illustrated.   Detergent oils keep particles in suspension  so the filter can capture them .  Great for engines with full flow filters.   Engines without filters, or those with bypass filters like yours may be better off initially with non detergent oil so that particulates can settle to the bottom of the pan.  After 500 miles this oil  can be drained and a detergent   oil used thereafter.  Lighter oil  is better for break-in.  At the time your car was new, this would have been SAE 20.

dpollo:  I actually talked to my friend about this very thing just a couple of hours ago.  He said SAE 20 non-detergent is the way to go when first firing up the engine.  He told me the exact same things you just posted.  Thanks man :)

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Well I'm pretty sure their is a good reason the start up procedure is in factory manual.  Try manually turning the engine  a revolution or two, pull a bearing cap and see how much lube is left. The bearings ride on a thin film of pressurized oil and without that pressurized oil film it metal on metal at startup. 

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5 minutes ago, P15-D24 said:

Well I'm pretty sure their is a good reason the start up procedure is in factory manual.  Try manually turning the engine  a revolution or two, pull a bearing cap and see how much lube is left. The bearings ride on a thin film of pressurized oil and without that pressurized oil film it metal on metal at startup. 

Point noted.  I might just try that on Monday.  My friend says the lubriplate by itself would likely last 5 minutes on its own.  We shall see. 

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Turning the engine  over with the starter until some  oil pressure  shows is a good idea.  Remove the plugs so you get some speed.

Another way is to attach a tank  like a modified filter canister to one of the oil  ports on the left hand side and give it some elevation so oil runs into the galleries. 

While we are talking about filter canisters, make sure yours is connected correctly with the pressure line into the side (or the top) and the return from the bottom to the vertical port near the dipstick.  This is very important.  If it is hooked up backward, material from the filter element may be forced back into the engine.

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While the builder is putting together my engine, I've been working on cleaning the transmission.  I didn't realize how small it was until we dropped it out; even I can lift it by myself.  It was full of 66 years of road grime and caught a lot of leaking oil from the engine.  I scraped it first and then used some degreaser on it.  But now I've been getting into the little cracks and using a wire brush.  I'm getting there, but I have quite a bit of cleaning to do yet.  I uncovered the build date; looks like 7-16-51 followed by D42, the model number of the car.  Not sure what the other casting numbers mean.  I bought a brand new E-brake band which looks really nice compared to the old one, which still worked but hey, I'm not risking my car rolling away with an old worn out e-brake.  Anyway, here's some pics:

Meadowbrook_tranny_(1).jpg

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Things are getting buttoned up at the rebuilder's.  I stopped by today and helped put some things together.  Got the oil canister and lines on, and finished up with the intake and exhaust manifolds.  Dennis had the oil pump and distributor in.  He also took off the old ring gear from the Fluid Drive coupling and put the new one on and welded it (that was fun to see).  Putting the Fluid Drive coupling back on was interesting.  Had I not been there it wouldn't have gotten back on!  My fingers are small enough to get the nuts back on to the studs; there just isn't much room to play with.  After that Dennis put in a whole new clutch assembly and new clutch disc.  When putting the bell housing on, getting the dowel pins back into place was a little tricky, but we got it.  Funny part is that Dennis had painted the engine the color I wanted (aluminum....yeah I know its not the original Mopar silver or whatever it is) and some of the other parts gloss black, while I painted other parts I had at home flat black (which included the oil canister assembly).  Oh well, so they don't match.  It'll just be something that we'll be able to talk about later.  Not sure if the intake manifold and exhaust manifold are supposed to be the same color or not; is what it is.  Its not like I'm going to have the car judged at a show.  Its going to be an every day driver.  Anyway, Dennis is going to put the engine on a pallet and deliver it to where I have the car on Monday.  So things are going to get really busy for me next week.  Pretty excited about it!

IMPORTANT QUESTION:  because the bell housing is lined up with those dowel pins and it ain't gonna move even the slightest bit, can I assume that when putting the transmission back in that it will line up perfectly and I can just bolt it on and go?  I know you guys are familiar with this: the manual shows using a dial indicator to make sure the whole thing is within .005 otherwise there could be hard shifting and other problems, etc.  My question is, how can a guy even indicate it in when those dowel pins are holding the bell housing in an EXACT place that cannot be moved?  Any advice here is greatly appreciated.  Also, do I absolutely NEED the gasket between the tranny and bell housing?

painted engine (1).jpg

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As I remember, without lookng it up in the book, that the dowel pins are removed to check and align the bell housing.  If need be, the holes are enlarged and larger dowel pins are put in.   My hazy memory tells me that my bell housing was right on. 

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Since you are putting together a unit with matched parts, the dowel pins will be right on.  

As for the gasket, Yes, it needs to be there to seal the top shift rail hole.  A thin paper gasket is easily made.

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26 minutes ago, dpollo said:

Since you are putting together a unit with matched parts, the dowel pins will be right on.  

As for the gasket, Yes, it needs to be there to seal the top shift rail hole.  A thin paper gasket is easily made.

Okay thanks man; its nice to know these things. :)  Getting the car out of storage today and into my friend's shop.  Engine gets delivered tomorrow!!

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Make sure you use a pilot alignment tool when putting the clutch in. An input shaft is even better it you can get one. Otherwise expect a long day reinstalling the transmission. If aligned correctly it should just shove in, don't don't force it or you will damage the clutch.

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3 minutes ago, Niel Hoback said:

If you don't have a tool or shaft, put the clutch cover bolts in finger tight so the disc can slide around. Slip the tyranny in and then tighten the clutch cover bolts last.

That's how I have always done it.

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