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Matt Wilson

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Everything posted by Matt Wilson

  1. Merry Christmas to all, and yes, like Keith, I will probably go to the garage for a couple of hours before my wife and I head to see her family nearby.
  2. Thanks, Joe. I thought about buying a ball hone and doing that, but I will just take it to my machinist to have him do the honing. As for WD-40, my intention was to displace the water that I just used for cleaning the engine, not as a lube. I can't tell you how many sources (numerous) recommended the use of WD-40 after water-washing the block, including a local highly reputable engine builder I spoke to in person a couple of years ago, who says he pressure washes his blocks and then sprays generous quantities of WD-40 and has no rust issues. I also read several articles and watched several YouTube videos by pro builders, most of which said the same, along with all the readers/viewers' comments to these articles and videos. I figured with all that testimony, it must be the way to do it (despite my gut telling me otherwise, honestly). No more water for me - except for the cylinders themselves, to remove honing grit, but I will use hot water and will blow dry them immediately with compressed air and oil them down, not WD-40. Geez, a hard lesson. Seems like I've learned a few of those with this build, but so far, none were insurmountable.
  3. I spoke to a tech rep at the ring manufacturer this morning (JE Pistons). I was hoping he could tell me whether or not the crosshatching being visible means I'll still have proper ring break-in. He wouldn't give me any answer without seeing it in person. I completely understand that, but figured it was worth a try. He recommended I call the machinist, so I did and he said it would probably be best to re-hone, to be on the safe side. He said the minimum material removal is in the 0.0003 - 0.0005" range (3 - 5 ten-thousandths). That's not too bad, I suppose. So I will probably take it to him to do that.
  4. Thanks, Farmer Jon. I appreciate the encouragement. It's definitely needed. I spent this afternoon and evening scrubbing the cylinders with a stainless steel wire brush (hand-held, no power tools). I tried scotchbrite in one area and didn't like how it seemed to polish the surface a bit too much. The wire brush didn't do that, so I used it to get nearly all of the rust protrusions off. Took a fair amount of scrubbing in some places. I did actually follow up with a quick once-over using the scotchbrite in each cylinder to get any remaining protrusions, as I was having trouble getting some with the brush). Hopefully none of that did anything negative to the crosshatch finish. I will say the bores don't look as brilliantly bright as they did before the scrubbing. They are now a kind of dull gray color, but crosshatching is still easily visible. That dull gray may be debris from scrubbing with the brush and I'll see if it comes off and cylinders brighten up when I clean them. And yes, the bores were all recently bored and honed to a larger-than-standard size. You mentioned compressed air. I didn't use it and that's probably where I went wrong, along with using a plastic bag. Although when I rebuilt a flathead 20 years ago, I used a bag and never had an issue, but I only used water on the cylinders, not the whole block (but wasn't hot water) and I think I used compressed air to dry that out quickly. I didn't use WD-40. Now all the rust bumps seem to be gone, but upon close examination, the remaining stained metal can be seen, as shown in the photos, but I have to hold the light at just the right angle to see the staining. The presence of stains means to me that there is a little bit of pitting, although it may be microscopic in depth. After all the scrubbing, I used the pick in the photo to probe the stains and in some cases, there was a bit of an increased drag as the pick passed over some of the stains. To me, that means the pitting is probably a bit deeper in those areas, although probably (hopefully) still microscopic. I'm hoping those don't cause any issues with ring function. Any thoughts on whether honing would be warranted? I will try calling the ring manufacturer tomorrow to see what they say. It seems to me that a lot of assembled engines would have comparable amounts of rust from sitting, and they do just fine, but their rings are seated in by that point, whereas mine are not.
  5. I'm out in the garage, rubbing the bores with lint-free paper towels soaked with Evaporust and it's doing nothing to the rust dots and smears, and wherever I can see those types of things, I can definitely feel them with my finger tips. The dots are definite bumps, and the smears feel almost like sand paper. They don't look that bad visually, but they feel BAD. And if I feel them, then so will the rings and pistons. I don't see how any amount of rubbing with cloth and chemicals will remove those. I spoke to my machinist just now. He said using water, then trying to use WD-40, then bagging up the block was the worst thing I could do. Even though I flooded the whole thing with WD-40, he said he's not surprised at the outcome, saying that WD-40 is marginal at best for this kind of thing. His only recommendation is to try to use some fine Scotchbrite to remove the rust hills. He didn't think the Scotchbrite would cause an issue with the crosshatching.....but he didn't sound all that certain. I can probably knock off the rust peaks, but what about the valleys? Seems like those will still contain abrasive rust particles that will eventually come into contact with the rings. Anyone have other suggestions? I've made my own nightmare.
  6. Thanks, yes, that was actually another thought I had, right after I posted my last message. I will probably start with that, since I have some on hand. I've had good success removing light surface rust from sheet metal parts, using a rag soaked in Evaporust, without having to let the part soak. Any heavier rust does require soaking. I don't want to let the block soak in it for any length because when I've previously done that to portions of the block or head, rust areas developed a black coating on them they wouldn't come off. The Evaporust website says this can happen sometimes due to carbon molecules migrating to the surface, and that it is no issue, but I don't trust that it wouldn't behave as some kind of abrasive in the cylinder. To avoid that, I just won't let it soak.
  7. Thanks. And I guess it won't etch the surface enough to make a difference with the honing hatch marks? Vinegar is a weak acid. I suppose for a brief moment applied with a rag, it wouldn't hurt. I saw other forums talk about using ATF, or a mix of ATF and acetone, or penetrating oil to remove rust. I will probably try those first. Some forums even talk about using Scotchbrite or steel wool, but I hesitate to do that for fear of compromising the crosshatching. But I welcome input on this. Hopefully I didn't already compromise it with the steel wire brush (though I doubt it, as it was just hand-held, not on a drill) and I just did it for probably less than a minute. I have a feeling I'm worrying over nothing, but I'm just aggravated and trying my darndest to make this all go right.
  8. After the above post, I decided I would use hot, soapy water to do a second cleaning of the oil passages, since I had only cleaned those with brake parts cleaner, and since soapy water is generally thought to be the best way to do these things. I pulled the plastic bags off the engine and to my horror there was a lot of rust. I'm in disbelief because, after I flushed out the block with water the other day, I completely drenched it, inside and out, with WD-40 before I bagged it. As I said previously, I used about a half-gallon of it. Apparently that wasn't good enough. Needless to say, I did not use water to clean the oil passages tonight, contrary to my original plans. I will avoid using water to clean engine parts going forward (except cylinder walls, as I understand that to be about the only reliable way to remove honing grit). So tonight, I instead used brushes and more brake cleaner to go through the oil passages, mainly to get rid of any new rust that I couldn't see. As I did so, rust-colored cleaner came running out of those passages. I also scrubbed the heck out of the cylinders, but couldn't get rid of all the little dots that you can see in a couple of the photos. I did a lot of scrubbing with hard plastic bristle brushes, and even scrubbed a little with a fine steel bristle brush, but those dots wouldn't go away. That disturbs me, as I don't know if those will cause any issues. It's hard to tell if I can feel them or if I'm feeling the remnants of the supposedly lint-free cloths I used (soaked with brake cleaner) to get rid of the surface rust that was all over the cylinders. In any case, I'm really unhappy that those dots are there. Not sure if they will interfere with ring break-in, sealing or longevity. The remaining rust in areas such as in the crankcase or tappet chamber can probably be hand-wiped off or brushed off, but the cylinders really concern me. I was on cloud nine a few days ago, after getting the block cleaned up and bagged. Now I'm down in the dumps. I feel like this has been a potentially huge set-back. I have another couple of weeks off from work, during which I have been planning to assemble most of the engine, and now it seems like that's in jeopardy.
  9. Thanks, Ken. I watched several YouTube videos and they usually recommended soap and water, but it just made me nervous - fearing that I would cause a rust problem by trying to use the best cleaning method out there. So much of this scrubbing took such a loooong time to get all the black gunk and grit out of the numerous corners, I didn't think I could move along quickly enough from one area to the next to keep things from rusting. In any case, like I said, I did go back and clean most of the block with soap and water (not hot though) after the more detailed initial cleaning with brake cleaner. I especially gave the cylinders a very thorough soapy water scrubbing, as I know honing grit is not easily removed. Maybe I should have done a soapy water cleaning of the oil passages, and maybe I still will.
  10. Follow-Up: I finished cleaning the block last night. I kept a mental tally of how many hours I spent on it over the last two weeks, and it came out to about 28 hours. Of that, the first 15 or 16 hours were spent on those three "chambers" that were the subject of my initial post. I had to spend so much time because, every time I thought that area was clean, I could spray more brake parts cleaner in there, scrub with a wire brush and come up with more grit. With a mirror and light, I could see a couple of dark patches that looked like baked-on oil. Those seemed to be the source of the grit, so I sprayed that whole area with oven cleaner, till it was foaming out of all those openings, doing so with the block in different orientations every few hours, and leaving it to soak for several hours each time (per the oven cleaner instructions for cleaning of cold surfaces). Then I hosed out the oven cleaner with water. To my amazement, that didn't get rid of the gunk. So I just had to keep at it the hard way, using wire brushes by hand, a wire brush on a Dremel, and using some dental picks to tediously scrape across every square inch, and paper towels and cotton towels with lots of brake cleaner (dozens of cans and also a couple 1-gallon jugs sprayed from one of my Vaper sprayers, which is a knock-off the SureShot sprayer). Eventually, I got to the point where I couldn't produce any more grit and it looked visually very clean, so I was satisfied that it was good to go. Then I moved on to the rest of the block, which went much faster. I used brake cleaner and hand-held wire brushes to clean the crankcase and valve tappet areas, getting in all the little divots and such, and using "pipe cleaner" brushes from a Moroso engine brush kit to clean the various oil gallery passages. Despite the block being cleaned at two different shops, there was still a lot of black gunk that came out of all of those areas. Not impressed with the professional cleaning. I couldn't find the cylinder bore brush from that kit (don't know where I could have put it?), so I used a kitchen brush of similar shape and size that did ok, and also a kitchen sponge with soap and water. I then followed up all of this with a soap-and-water cleaning of all those areas (using the sponge), except the oil passages, as I felt they had been pretty well-cleaned the first go-around with brake cleaner. I was pleased that the sponge came back from all of that looking clean and basically new. That means I had done a good job with my initial cleaning. I then hosed off all the soapy water with the hose sprayer on the "full" setting (forceful stream) and also sprayed out the oil passages. I figure this would help to dislodge any remaining particulates and get them all to drain onto the ground below. Finally, I used my other Vaper sprayer to spray about a half-gallon of WD-40 all over the block - outside, inside the crankcase, valve tappet area, cylinders, oil galleries, etc. The whole thing got completely soaked in WD-40. I finally feel satisfied that it's all clean and ready for assembly. I double-bagged the block with heavy-duty (3-mil) 55-gallon trash bags. After all that, my hands are dry and cracked from the brake parts cleaner, and my finger tips are a little raw and sore from rubbing the rough casting surfaces so much to check for presence of grit. I also have various little cuts and nicks from the sharp edges around the block. Typing kinda hurts. I tried using the best chemical-resistant gloves I could find at the parts store, but they didn't hold up to brake cleaner for more than a few minutes. It was a futile effort. Plus, with the gloves on, I couldn't feel the grit to be able to tell if I needed to do more cleaning. Exposure to chemicals for that long can't be good, but I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to use soap and water for all of that initial cleaning, for fear that the sensitive parts of the block would start to rust. At least I was outdoors, so I wasn't breathing it much; my exposure was mostly limited to the exposure through the skin. If I were to do more engine work like this, I would have to come up with something better.
  11. Thanks very much! Just curious.....why would the coolant ones be more critical, and why more likely to come out due to improper installation? I've got some thoughts on why that might be the case, but would like to hear your thoughts.
  12. Do you guys use sealant (JB Weld, Right Stuff or other) when installing the plug that's directly behind the camshaft? Since that one is exposed to oil (or rather, the oiling system of exposed to it), is there any significant risk of getting pieces of sealant in the oil? I guess one might think there's no difference between using sealant on this plug and using it on a gasket, but I can see how there would be a tendency to want to use more sealant on the plug than on a gasket; hence my question.
  13. Thanks again to everyone. Los_Control, thank you for posting the video. That was interesting. I never knew about heating the block with a MAPP torch to remove moisture before painting. I will definitely do that on mine (and the head). I guess that means I need to do it before assembly, so that the torch doesn't damage gaskets and such that will be in the path of the flame. I had been planning to do the paint after assembly. Also, good suggestion about using bailing wire and picks. I have those things. My dad bought a set of picks that look like dental picks, and he gave them to me. They could be very useful for this. And to everyone - I will use brushes to scrub all the hidden areas and work and work at it till all foreign material is out. I don't think it was baked in an oven, as there was still wet oil in one of those passages. It just didn't get cleaned all that well, but I'm going to remedy that.
  14. Thanks, Joe! Yes, having it removed from the stand makes it possible to reposition the engine, which is what I've been doing. That's extremely helpful. I had not thought of boiling water (to effectively rinse the passages, I guess). I wonder if it would be almost as effective to use a hose with spray attachment hooked up to my water heater, which is right near my work area. If I turn up the heater to the highest setting, I think that gets me 165-deg water (if I remember right). And I have two sprayers (knock-offs of the Sure-Shot brand sprayer) that hold a quart of liquid and operate under air pressure. I have solvent (just bought two 1-gallon jugs of CRC brake cleaner) that I will put into one, and WD-40 that I will put into the other one. When done cleaning, I will spray WD-40 all over and into the passages. I know WD-40 is only for short-term trust prevention. I fully expect to be assembling the engine in the next few weeks.
  15. Yeah, revisiting the shop would be the best way to go about it, I suppose. The first shop was six years ago and the second shop was a year ago (this project has really been dragging out). I could still take it back to either shop, especially the second shop (being more recent), but I don't want to deal with the delay, as I have a short window of time off from work coming up, when I really need to get this thing done, and I still don't trust that they will get it as clean as I want it, so I'm doing it myself and not waiting on them. The second shop did a great job of boring and honing the cylinders (which the first shop didn't do very well), along with other good work, but not so much on the cleaning. And I agree - lucky you. I went through quite a few shops, getting them to do various aspects of this job because I was unhappy with the quality of work I was getting. As you mentioned, I did check EVERYTHING that was done. I had some measurement tools already, but I bought more, just so I could check all of this stuff. I even bought and learned how to properly use a dial bore indicator to measure my cylinder diameters and came up with the exact same numbers as the shop. I bought radius gages so I could check the filet radii of the crankshaft journals - that's how I found that my first shop did such terrible work, as many of the radii were jagged, not smooth and those that were smooth'ish were well below the minimum radius requirement per the manuals, and both conditions are a recipe for disaster in the form of cracked/broken crankshaft due to fatigue. Ok, I'm just venting at this point, and I could go on with other examples. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and you'd think that with so much competition, the shops would do better work, but I found that this is simply not the case. An experienced builder once talked about using different shops for different aspects of his engine machine work, with each shop having different strengths and weaknesses, and I now know what he meant. When I rebuilt my first flathead 20 years ago, I had a machinist who was pretty sub-par in several ways, and had a terrible attitude on top of that. He had come highly recommended, and I have no idea why. I avoided him this time, but found several others whose attitudes were generally better (sometimes a lot better - truly nice guys), but the quality of workmanship still wasn't up to snuff. This project has been fun and a huge learning experience for me, but I don't think I'd want to do another one - although I suppose I now know more about where to go to get what types of work done, and I know a LOT more about what questions to ask and how to state my requirements. Giving credit or blame where it's due, I will admit that I've made my share of major mistakes on this engine build and had to pay (in terms of money and delays) to get those things corrected. I'm also particularly picky, but several of these machine shop mistakes were truly terrible and you don't have to be picky to reject those. Anyway, I'll get the block cleaned and then on to the assembly, which I look forward to.
  16. Well, it's already been to two different machine shops for various work including cleaning at both shops. Obviously, neither shop did that great a cleaning job. Everything I've read and heard over the years (including from experienced engine rebuilders) is that, whoever is doing doing the final assembly should expect and plan on doing a thorough cleaning of the machined block AFTER the shop has done their cleaning. The limited engine building experience I've had over the years has shown me why this is the case. With all this in mind, I have had every expectation that I'd need to clean it myself, to be sure it's done right but this one area of the engine is particularly difficult. And yes, dog hair is something I've been concerned about, as we have a Corgi that sheds like crazy. As much as I love that little dog, my plan is to stay away from her when I'm in the midst of my cleaning sessions, and I'll probably take off my clothes in the freshly-cleaned garage whenever I come inside, to avoid picking up hair. Might also need to keep the house free of hair (vacuumed) a little more than usual. I'm also thinking about building a little clean room inside my garage, with the intent that it will be spotless.
  17. Thanks to everyone for the replies so far. I guess I should have been clearer up front by saying that the block has already been machined and been through the machine shop's cleaning process - actually cleaned twice at two different shops. The rest of the block came back pretty clean, but not these areas. I have an engine cleaning brush kit with brushes that are like rifle and shot gun brushes. Had not thought of oven cleaner. I'll buy some on the way home this evening.
  18. Well, I'm finally at the point where I'm going to assemble my engine soon (265 flathead six), and I'm cleaning the block in preparation. I'm wondering....how do you clean the passages/little "chambers" at the back of the block, shown in the photos? These are on the right-rear of the block and are the ones that connect the circular opening for the road draft tube (or positive crankcase ventilation in my case), the rear cam bearing bore, and the lifter chamber. Those chambers or pockets are all connected, but there is no way to getting easy access to them. I spent over two hours today (maybe close to 3), spraying brake parts cleaner in those areas, reaching in there as best I could with my fingers (could only get a single finger in at a time), trying to rub or scratch loose the old oil and chunks of caked-on soot and exhaust debris, sometimes using a rag soaked in cleaner, wearing gloves much of the time, but not always, because I couldn't feel the debris with a glove on. I got a majority of the crud out, but there's still more to address. Every time I thought I got one area clean, I could reach in there and find more loose particles. Wouldn't be surprised if some of what I felt was sand left from the original casting, but I don't want it in my engine. When I resume the job, I think I'll try using a couple of my Dremel wire brush attachments, but even those won't reach all of the nooks and crannies, and then I'll have to be sure I don't leave behind and stray wires. I might also take some of my engine cleaning brushes (from a kit I bought) and bend them 90 degrees to into those areas. I have been hesitant to use Scotchbrite pads for fear that I won't get all of the debris out - that stuff sometimes really clings to rough surfaces such as castings. Eventually, I guess I'll get all of the crud removed, but I'd sure like to hear how you guys clean this particular area of the engine. Thanks! P.S. I found the last photo to be a little humorous. When I first looked at it, it was on my phone (smaller) and was vertical, and it reminded me of the egg-laying creature from the Alien movies - the one that latches onto its victims' faces. Lol.
  19. For us old guys, 36 still seems pretty good, eh?
  20. I don't know if they ever came with brass plugs, but I purchased a NOS brass coolant distribution tube online, and have read that some came from the factory with brass distribution tubes, so it would not surprise me if some also came with brass plugs. If Chrysler fitted some engines with brass tubes, then it seems that they must not be detrimental to the iron block, and I would therefore think the brass plugs would not be either.
  21. I imagine some place like Vintage Power Wagons, Midwest Military (John Bizal) or Andy Bernbaum would have that cam thrust plate.
  22. Hi @Lil Red Roger Unfortunately, I haven't gotten far enough along on the engine rebuild to install the filter. I am making progress, but I've got a ways to go to get to that point.
  23. The first thought that came to mind was that the electric pump is supplying fuel under too much pressure (as mentioned above by Sam). That is not uncommon when switching from a mechanical to an electric fuel pump. I suggest connecting a fuel pressure gage to the fuel line just before the carburetor. I don't recall exactly what the pressure is supposed to be, but I think it's about 3 - 5 psi. If it's much more than that, then you'll need to install a fuel pressure regulator in the line. And as mentioned, you'll need to reset all the adjustments to where they were before.
  24. You just need to be VERY careful using a ridge reamer. You can easily remove too much material without even realizing it, and end up removing cylinder material in the region where the rings would ride. This has happened to me, even though I thought I was paying really close attention to the positioning of the reamer. I still don't know what I could have done differently, and I didn't realize I had done anything incorrectly in the rebuild of two engines until the machinists (two different machine shops, years apart) informed me and recommended against their use. After the first shop mentioned it to me. I thought I must have just not paid good enough attention to detail when using the reamer, so I was extra careful with the second engine but it still wasn't right. Instead of using a ridge reamer, they recommended beating the pistons out of the block, which of course destroys them and the rings, but in a full rebuild, that doesn't matter, other than not allowing you the opportunity to see their condition. If that cylinder has a ridge, then I think there are two approaches I would consider: One is to leave the piston and rings in there, and try to clean up and hone the cylinder with the piston in place, but you'll obviously have to be extremely careful about keeping the cleanup and honing debris from getting onto the piston and into the piston-to-cylinder gap. The second approach is to pound out the piston and rings, knowing you will destroy them, then clean up and hone the cylinder, and install a new piston and rings - that is, assuming you can find a single piston and a single ring set of the correct size for your cylinder.
  25. I haven't driven my '49 Power Wagon in many years, but I'm actively working on it and hope to have it running this coming winter or spring. I've had it since 1990, and have had it inspected quite a few times over that period (although not nearly as many times as one would expect, considering how long I've owned it), and I'm pretty sure it's never been driven by an inspector. As soon as I tell them it's got a non-synchro transmission, and explain to them what that means, they always let me drive it while they ride in the passenger seat. One time, they didn't even make me take them for a ride; they just slapped the inspection sticker on it. I guess they figured the truck didn't fall into the pit or drive on through the far wall as I pulled into the building, so it must be good. Lol.
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