thebeebe5

ARP rod bolts are in. Time to resize some rods...

I don't believe 4g would be noticeable in a low reving engine. JMO. I'd run with it. Your other option would be to weight match every other piston. IIRC you arent doing a complete tear-down, correct?

Had wanted to keep it stock. If i go the Spicer route I'll just have a whole new shaft made. It is a consideration. Can't do that until the Engine and trans are back in the car and I can take measurements. I'll take it to MasterShaft in PHX. If they can't get the trunnions out I'll wait and get them measurements once I'm all reassembled.

Good image. The resource states filler tubes were all black, or the engines at that point?

Tried pressing out the trunnions on my '37 driveshaft and was unsuccessfull even with a 10 ton Sunnen press. The manual doesn't mention any pins or retaining hardware, and the given spec for installation having each side be within 0.006" once reinstalled makes me think there's no such hardware. So, can these things just be that stubborn? I'll try some heat next, but wondering what other's experiences have been. Here's a look at my joint boots. At some point the rear boot split and a homemade "boot" installed. Actually, this joint had grease in it. The rigged fix did its job. Front was quite dry, but it still had what I am guessing was the original leather boot in place. Hardened with age... Maybe never taken off or serviced.

Looks great. Looking forward to getting to this point with my own.

You'll get mixed opinions on this if you have the original main caps, but at our shop every block gets checked. If you sourced the main caps from another block then I would absolutely have the line bore or line hone done!

That's interesting.... Have any pictures...?

By the end of the day I was beat, but still needed to torque the main caps and rods and give 'em a check. Mains are out of spec with each being 0.0005"-0.001" under spec. Each tapered towards the tighter end at the back of the cap with the exception of the rear cap wich ran 0.001" under spec front to back. BUT, rotate the bore gauge 30-40° and it is evident that the caps need attention. The hole on the rear cap went up to spec about 30° one way, but droped to two mil under spec when rotated the other way. Also, cap numer 2 can literally be rotated in its register, so it will never repeatably torque to the same spot. I'll ask Pat (the machinist) to tighten up the loose one (ones, I think #1 is too lose as well) and grind the caps to bring that main bore to spec front to back. Rods also need attention. Torqued a couple of caps and checked them on the Sunnen honing machine and both were well out of spec with variances in the big ends roundness up to 1.5 mil. Figured as much. Resizing is pretty routine, but when all these bearing bores are attended to I'll have a real nice foundation for this motor. Also, took apart this synchro that came in a second transmission I purchased from a superb forum member. It looks like new. At least, way better than the one in my original trans. Think it's a replacement because the gears in that second trans were far more worn than mine. It had been disassembled at some point in the past as evidenced by the scribe mark on one face no longer matching up between the inner and outer portions. I'll clean it up thoroughly and reassemble prior to installing in my trans.

Saturday's progress: Spent most of the day cleaning parts. The parts washer ran from 8am to noon washing all the grimy, nasty engine parts and cleaning transmission up internals. All the trans parts got a final cleaning in SafeTClean parts washer by hand. Lots of other parts got bead blasted and a few got painted like the crank pulley.

Distributor all done. Turned out well. And had a little fun with the boss on his birthday... Waiting for him to notice I flowed my head this am...

On a '37 biz coupe are the brackets such as generator, front motor mount etc pained along with the engine or are they a different color? Realize I can do whatever I want in this regard, but how would they have come from the factory? Edit:. The oil fill and breather are clearly black and appear to have always been.... Not a speck of paint left on anything else in the engine compartment to go by on this car....

Rekbender,. This number looks good. I held a caliper at the parting line just now and came up with 2.404". I'll get the caps torqued this Saturday and make a proper measurement with a bore gauge.

@rekbender, thank you! Ordered bearings from Bernbaum and asked them, but they didn't have the information. Hoping the bearings they send are correct. What bearing supplier does your pal use? Tried to find mine on my own through F/M and Clevite using cross reference numbers from Todd Fitch's site after the bearing manufacturer's books appeared to not go back quite that far, but no luck. I also reached out to and received a call back from Tom Langdon. He believes he has some rod specs, but says they're dependent on rod casting numbers. Might just be to verify the year and proper rod size. I'll get back to him this evening with what I have and see if we can get it all nailed down. I'll feel great if his info matches yours.

Thanks. Our F/M and Clevite books goes back to a 218, but no further...

Thanks dpollo. I'll check the bore this week. My real job is light on Wednesday and maybe I can do it then. Fingers crossed it doesn't need it.

It may not need it, but we check every single block here.

I've been shaking @Plymouthy Adams I work at the machine shop. We aren't familiar with this engine and at this point I need to line hone this block and resize the rods, but I have no specs for this engine. SBC? Easy. SBF? Done. 1963 426 max wedge? Just finished one this spring. Vintage Alfa romeo, Ferrari, jaguar all numbers we have. I don't care where the shop is located. I can call someone in Austrailia and ask for specs if needed, but I need a name. It's my personal car and if I wanted the easy route id toss this motor in favor of a SBF and be done, but I want this car original. Just have to find the right tree. Hoped the name of a shop someone here was familiar with would work. I'll find the numbers somehow....

Excellent advice, Don. Can you peovide me with the name of a shop that is familiar with these engines please?

Thanks dpollo. I need the main bore secs so we can line hone the mains and have the bearings fit porperly. Likewise the rod big ends.

Need to check the main bore and rod big ends for bearing fitment for the '37 201. Can anyone direct me to a source or perhaps a shop that is familiar with these L engines that might be able to assist? Duffee has only done one other, and it was a '28 Chrysler that had babbitt bearings. They actually welded that crank up for an off the shelf insert bearing, so we can't use prior information for my build.

You have some fun in your future...! Probably a few busted knuckles too, but fun none the less.

I like all your posts @Frank Elder, but i can only like 10 posts daily. Thanks for the information!!

Question regarding timing per your numbers.... Is the maximum mechanical advance 11°, and it should be all-in at 1850rpm? I'll definitely be mapping out my advance curve once the "beast" is up and running. Impossible to tell where those springs let the curve fall without a distributor machine, but can easily be done on the running car with a bit of effort.... Good information today everyone. Loads of thanks.