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Time for an overhaul...


thebeebe5

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Been quiet lately, but Here’s an update. 

 

Took floor panels to Xpress metal cleaning in phoenix and had them dipped to remove paint and...   wait.  There was no paint.  Took them to remove rust.  Silly me....

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Got ‘em back all nice and clean.   Well, what there was of them.  The panel behind the pedals is actually quite nice.  The floor under my feet was really rusty.   Still, there’s some left.  At least more than my ‘67 Beetle had that I drove around in as a teenager  I painted what there was and will install at the appropriate step. 

 

Also, got the e-brake all cleaned and clear coated.  Looks much better and function well. 

 

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And, hopefully my last big expense....  New driveshaft is done and am installing it this morning.  

 

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One thing tough about the modern U-joint conversions is the nuts are in a tight spot...slow to tighten. You can not get a socket on them... only a open end wrench 1/4 turn a time?

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3 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

One thing tough about the modern U-joint conversions is the nuts are in a tight spot...slow to tighten. You can not get a socket on them... only a open end wrench 1/4 turn a time?

 

I got nuthin’ but time....!  ?

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Final bit yesterday was making the last decision on where to mount the oil filter adapter.  When I had the motor on the stand I’d considered making a bracket that would mount on the pan rail between the pump and bell housing.   Brian thought it best to wait and see how the land laid once the motor was in the car.  Well, with the wedge shape of these old 30s cars and with turbo plans there really isn’t much room.   At all. Anywhere.  The turbo will take some creative planning, but it still apprears the best place for the filter is in my initial location.  It’s mounted way down low (but not below the oil pan) and should be out of the way for turbo plumbing.

 

 

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Beebe..........re the new oil filter mount..........due to where its going it looks like there is no bracing on the engine side of the bracket........... with the overall length of the piece with the filter attached are you confident that there won't be any vibrations/oscillations that may affect its strength?.........not sure that I can offer an alternative mounting suggestion tho'........... however when I installed the 318 poly in my 1940 Dodge I used the same remote filter mount plus I also installed an oil cooler on the sheet metal panel behind the grille........regards, andyd  

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16 hours ago, Andydodge said:

Beebe..........re the new oil filter mount..........due to where its going it looks like there is no bracing on the engine side of the bracket........... with the overall length of the piece with the filter attached are you confident that there won't be any vibrations/oscillations that may affect its strength?.........not sure that I can offer an alternative mounting suggestion tho'........... however when I installed the 318 poly in my 1940 Dodge I used the same remote filter mount plus I also installed an oil cooler on the sheet metal panel behind the grille........regards, andyd  

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Yeah, I’m aware.  I thought of it, but there’s not a lot to do.   I did bevel the metal strapping I used for good welds, and they’re dead-sexy on both sides.   Should be tough as nails, but I’ll be watching it for sure. Also, I’ll be using a modest sized filter, not one of the near quart sized giants.  

 

Which reminds me....    I need to go pick a filter.  

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When i did mine I found that the bracket was to suit a Ford Z9 filter which was 40 yrs ago and still is a readily available filter although there are as you mention shorter filters that use the same thread and seal face..........andyd  

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Yesterday was my wife’s and my 28th anniversary.    Still, she let me go to the shop to make some headway.   ?

 

Got the floor in.  Put an inexpensive layer of insulation down first.  Hand brake installed.   Floor mat down.   Job is starting to look finished.....

 

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Radiator reinstalled.  Not sure I like the flat black, but that’s how it came back.   In it goes. FA1F644A-15BD-4B64-A753-30BC3D717121.jpeg.460efe87751581e566aaf50e1b366c7b.jpeg

 

And finally made up a new oil pressure line.   Hard to see, but it’s in there.

 

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Flat black radiators where the norm for color.

 

Lookin" Good!  ?

 

DJ

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On 2/11/2018 at 1:49 PM, Dodgeb4ya said:

Could you post the Best Gasket Rope Seal instructions and is that what you did?

 

I completely forgot to do this, @Dodgeb4ya.  Sincerest apologies....    But I remembered you’d asked when I came upon them while cleaning my shelf space debris in the engine room yesterday, and here they are. 

 

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Have had better weeks automobile-wise....  Seems the timing chain in my Honda Accord maybe skipped a tooth while commuting for work and tweaked all the valves for its camshaft because in a very sudden moment I now have zero compression.   So that needs to be addressed.  With all my “projects” ongoing I farmed out the R&R job to a pal of Brian’s at AZ Auto Tech.  I’d have to take a week off work to get it fixed, and I just can’t do it.   Good news is that Brian can do the head for me for parts.  With luck that’s all it is.   Engine has run like an absolute champ for 11 years (366,360 miles) with naught but oil changes.  But that’s another story for another forum ?

 

Only a few things left ‘til “turn key” on the Plymouth. 

 

I wrestled with getting the intake and exhaust to mate up nice and sit flat together on the bench.  Ran out of time Friday screwing around with it (after getting my Honda diagnosed and towed to the other shop).  When I came in this morning Brian had figured out the ‘37 intake manifold and the later 23” exhaust manifold were making contact here and needed a little clearancing.   Now they both meet the block tightly and squarely, and the exhaust riser surface meets square and tight too.  He also spot faced the bolt holes on the exhaust manifold because they were far from square.  

 

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Made a vacuum advance line that looks a little better than the one it came with.  Runs around the back instead of over the top.   I’ll see how I like it....  

fan, pully and belt installed.  

Water neck installed.  Hope the thermostat works okay....  it’s an old one....  

Also, I didn’t realize I had a part missing for my lower hose when I ordered the hose kit.  Found a picture of something similar on line and made one up.  Brian was excited to have me use the bead roller.....   Maybe it doesn’t get enough attention (shrug) but we employed it to roll some retention beads on the elbow.  Know there’s no pressure in this system, but this step couldn’t hurt IMO...  Also, the original style clamps ordered from bernbaum do not fit that lower hose.  They just won’t tighten small enough....  I’ll have to find some different ones.  Probably just go with standard fare hose clamps....

 

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Next week: upper radiator hose, plugs and wires and fluids.   Darn close to seeing what I screwed up when we turn the key for the first time.  

Edited by thebeebe5
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Yeah...

That repop hose clamp issue.

Was talking to a second person Friday about the same thing ...leaky hoses because of incorrectly sized  OE style hose clamps?

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Finally.  I’ll post more tomorrow.  Wore out and need a nap now....

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So, a long day yesterday, and the end being in sight I didn’t want to quit.  Neither did my pal Brian who pitched in and ran errands in the evening to get the car started.   

 

In the am I got the radiator hoses on, bypass on and the oil adapter plumbed and painted.   Filled up the radiator with distilled water, or at least started... when I found my first mistake of the day.   I hadn’t tightened the water temp bulb in place and water was pouring out the back of the head.  Sigh....  Also, I’d forgotten to tighten the plug I’d put in the bypass housing as I’m not replacing the useless heater line that was connected to the back of the head when I got the car.  So, got that sorted out and topped it off.  I figured if it was going to leak I’d fill it early and find the issue.  Well, it did and I did.    

 

Also, got the air cleaner and breather decals on. Is there one on top for a ‘37...?   I have a red and black “Chrysler” air cleaner decal that obviously goes on the top of something, but didn’t apply it.  

 

Made up a wire set and made my second mistake of the day.   I’m not sure why I wasn’t thinking by 6pm, but I wasn’t.  Wire set came with the plug ends installed and i threaded them and promptly clamped the wrong end of the cap terminals to the wire.  I have extra terminal ends at home, but not at the shop. Figures.  But Brian had a nice set of mix and match Ford metallic wires on the shelf from another build and we installed those for the start up.

 

While I was screwing that up Brian ran out and got me a battery. Had tried to charge mine overnight but it didn’t take, and there wasn’t enough voltage to even turn the starter motor over without plugs to find the compression stroke for No1.  Then, when he got back, he drained the year old gas from the tank (“I didn’t expect it to take a whole year, Brian”) so we could make an attempt.  Wasn’t much over a dribble in there, so that worked out okay.  

 

First I left the plugs out and cranked the motor over to get oil pressure up.   Installed plugs and cranked for a while and weren’t seeing gas in the fuel pump bowl.  Brian gave the gas tank a bit of compressed air to assist, and within moments there was fuel up and into the pre carb filter.  Tried to fire it again and it wanted to start, but wouldn’t quite.  Took about four attempts to get it to catch and run, but it wouldn’t idle until the fast idle screw was adjusted, and then....   well, it purred.  ?

No smoke, no misfires, and one leak; just needed a 1/4 turn on the line at the fuel pump that feeds the carburetor to fix that.  No oil leaks so far. No water leaks noted.  DID notice some compression seeping at a few head studs though once it was warm.  Not sure how significant that is or if a retorque post initial heat cycle will fix it.  Hoping so....  

 

Still haven’t driven it yet. It’s penned in by a later model Trans Am on the lift (between me and the door) that is getting fancy suspension installed and my car is too tall to get under it.  Hopefully that project will be gone by next weekend and I’ll get a chance to drive and see how the new clutch and rebuilt transmission work out. 

 

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It seems there is always a couple minor leaks no matter how careful you are!

I had a couple exhaust manifold studs trying to sweat a little coolant on a 354 hemi last year. It healed itself and never leaked again.

Great Job!

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Your build looks great !. I noticed early on you had modded the  oil system to a full flow filter . What was the procedure you followed ? Looks like you tap and or drill as needed to plug the block and then drill and tap the inlet outlet connections. Can you comment on the sizes fittings etc ?

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4 minutes ago, Dartgame said:

Your build looks great !. I noticed early on you had modded the  oil system to a full flow filter . What was the procedure you followed ? Looks like you tap and or drill as needed to plug the block and then drill and tap the inlet outlet connections. Can you comment on the sizes fittings etc ?

 

From memory (without reviewing what I wrote earlier!) in looking for a place on this old block there seemed only one logical spot....  the oil pump boss.  Started out with 3/8”NPT fittings but upsized to 1/2” NPT for more flow.  If I had to do it over again the only change I’d make is to make certain there was more separation between inlet and outlet holes OR that the outlet at least angled away from the inlet more to avoid having to machine the fittings like I did.  Tapped the line with a (IIRC) 3/4” tap and tried to keep it so the plug I made (from 3/4” grade 8 bolt) would stop right between the out/in holes, but overshot slightly.  When I screwed in the plug I dimpled the threads in several places as I screwed the plug home and added some red loctite to the threads as well. It’s not moving I don’t believe.  At least not until someone wants it to.   Should a future owner want it back to normal, remove plug and use 1/2” pipe plugs for the holes and it’s back to normal

flow.   But I can’t imagine it will ever get reversed.....  

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so cool!

 

i had compression seeping out at the beginning, too, but going through a few heat cycles and carefully retorquing it when hot fixed that.

i think i retorqued four times and it always gave in a little until it finally sat right.

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Getting down to the last for this build.    At least I hope I am....  Retorqued the head yesterday.  Marked random nuts and you can see they torqued well past their original location. That gasket still has some room to seat though as compression is still leaking at most studs.  

 

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Also, adjusted clutch, hooked up E brake, found the carb top

was a bit warped and sanded that flat, tweaked float adjustment etc etc.   Just buttoning up in general.   So far no oil or water leaks, and got 5miles on the ODO late yesterday.   Sounding really good so far.  

 

Next week we’ll install a bung for a wideband  O2 sensor and see just where the fuel mix is.  Once the tune is complete I’ll drive it over to another friend’s shop and have a go at his chassis dyno.  Will be interesting to see how close to the stock published HP it is now.   

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I’ll get some better video (without me in it) with a GoPro this weekend.  But here’s the first drive....

 

 

 

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Noticed an unfortunate  radiator leak Monday evening....   Seems to be weeping through the side of the upper tank.  This is a disappointment...

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Retorqued the head again this afternoon.  Gained a little bit more squish on that gasket....  

 

When done we hooked up an O2 sensor to the bung we'd installed Saturday and went for a spin.  Idle AFR was right at 11.3:1.  A bit rich.  I can fiddle with that a bit.  When cold the car didn't like the screw touched though.  We tried turning it in until we saw mid 12's, but the engine didn't sound as happy.  WOT saw 12.8:1 and cruising was right at 15.2:1.  If I can figure out a way to both add more main jet (easy...) and take away a touch of the power circuit I think I can get both of those numbers closer to the mid 13's.  One thing I can say is this thing is really smooth.  You know that Plymouth commercial where they set a glass of water on the fender?  Well, I'm betting I can set it right on top of the air cleaner.  It doesn't budge.

 

 

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