thebeebe5

As I recall (recently reinstalling all my oil galley plugs this past week) they're 1/8" NPT.

Well, I probably could. I had to order a minimum of 100 o-rings... This one had some slop. In fact, it was the worst of two that I had in hand, and I figured to try it as my guinea pig. Worked out fine, and I'll save the better shaft for another day.

The pump that came on the car was rebuilt at Kellogg Automotive way south of me. I took it to them because of their reputation for quality work. Didn't want a Chinee re-pop pump since the pump I had was a genuine Mopar unit. They installed a sealed bearing and eliminated the bushing and replaced the old impeller with a NOS Chrysler unit. I just left it in their hands and they say it will be up to the task of cooling this motor in the Arizona heat. All I can do is give it a try and see how it works.

Today's efforts included (but were not limited to) rebuilding the starter with a new clutch and top switch. It's been painted and waiting for a while. Finally done. Disassembling the generator to find out why one of the field coils is grounded (rats...), knocking a Speedy Sleeve onto the balancer, cleaning and stripping the original (I think) breather cap, and cutting o-ring grooves in the throttle shaft for the BBR-1. If a turbo gets added (as planned) I don't want those fuel filled gasses eeking out past the shaft, and if not, how can it hurt...? Also fixed a broken screw that anchored a part of a neck attachement on my uncle's banjo, just for fun.

Here are the 3/8" lock washers we use for exhaust headers with a standard 3/8" grade 8 split washer in the mix for comparison. These what you are talking about Walt? @49D-24BusCpe

Keeping the original intake and non original exhaust. If I were going the custom exhaust route I'd build a set myself. Nothing wrong with Langdon's, but that's one of the things we do here with regularity. Everything is being reconditioned while apart, that's for sure.

Good to know! This is the first and only mopar flathead I've seen so I wouldn't have known. I wondered about washers, but figured it didn't have head gasket issues prior so figured I'd put it back the way it came to me. Looked at flatheads in general online and see some with, some without. Edit: If I add washers I wonder how much the value of the car would go up...

Not yet. Don't know if they need it. Still a lot more to do. Carb is apart. Generator and starter are apart. Only thing completely done is the transmission. But everything else is getting there. Didn't have washers when I took it apart. Put it back the same way.

Getting closer. Definitely ready to be driving it and not just working on it.... Oil pan still needs a bung welded in for turbo oil return, and we want a turbo in hand before installing it so we get the location right. Welded 1/8" x 3/4" strap to the back of the side covers because I hated how easily they bent in when trying to tighten them. Head is on. Oil pump installed. Water pump assembled, but I'll leave it off to paint the motor first, then install once it's been painted (separately).

Okay, good to know. Anyone else have anything different on that vacuum pot orientation?

It's a '37 engine. Casting date June 16, 1937 This illustration is perfect. Thank you!

Getting near to reinstalling the oil pump and distributor on the '37. When I took the engine apart the vacuum pot was pointed almost straight up at 12 o'clock. Is this where it should be installed? Also, where would one orient the #1 cylinder wire? I realize I could orient them anywhere as long as #1 was firing at the right time and the wires are in the correct order. Knowing this I can determine what orientation i want the slot in the oil pump. I don't see anything in the service manual that makes suggestions for orientation of either.

Took today off my "real" job to try to make some headway. Only having Saturday to work has made this a rather extended project. My last motor (a 390 for my '67F250) was assembled at home in the garage and I had a lot more time to wrench on it... I never could get the oil pickup cleaned to my satusfaction. Every time I'd rinse and dry it out it would still deposit fine, powdery crud when tapped on the bench. Sourced an NOS unit from Ebay. It's rinsed and ready to install. AND I have wanted to degree the cam if for no other reason than practice. I don't get to do it every day, and the process is good for me to go over periodically. Since I don't have a cam card to compare it to I'm simply checking events on the cam and comparing it to "normal" event times for cams in general. And I learned some interesting things about this cam. Compared to my big block, the duration of this cam is rather short. Lift is rather unimpressive (being a '37) and I found with valves adjusted to cold spec that intake lift was 0.315" and exhaust 0.309"-0.310". (Yawn...) This cam profile is dead square with duration and lift of both lobes being identical. Duration is 188°. LSA is 104° which seemed really narrow to me, but Brian explained with such mild lift they're bound to be narrow. Or seem narrow anyways. There's plenty of LSA and 8° of overlap to help draw fuel into the cylinder as the exhaust is closing and intake is opening. If I understood it better I'd be happy to explain or answer questions, but again the process is not completely familiar and I do not claim to be an expert. Simply a student of finer points of building engines. Regardless, it's all interesting. Here are a few pictures of some "events". Intake and exhaust opening and closing were both measured at 0.050" lift. I had to make an adapter to afix the degree wheel to my crank snout as the hole was considerably smaller than the crank pulley nut and I did not want to open the hole in the new degree wheel. Ended up making the adapter twice because I didn’t take into account that the timing pointer on the timing cover was going to contact the back of the wheel. No good. I tried to simply make a spacer, but that didn't leave enough of the adapter to catch enough of the threads in the crank snout to hold the whole assembly tight and still throughout the process. Definitely don't want that wheel to spin and lose your zero while the process is ongoing. Makes it rather difficult. Wheel installed. TDC identified and marked. Ready to start! Intake opening at 23° ATDC Intake closing at 30° ABDC. Actually found the wheel had moved about 1.5° after going through the process and had to reset TDC. This was the only intake closing" pic I took, but it illustrates the point about making sure the wheel stays still!! Exhaust opening at 21° BBDC And closing at 12° BTDC. Now I know a bit more about my cam profile!

Yeah, there's a lot of room in there until... LOL. I'll be sneaking a turbo in there somewhere, and we arent going to mount the oil filter or plumb any exhaust until the motor is back in the car just to be sure of where we'll have the room. I will say (if you drill the pump boss) angle the entry holes away from each other slightly so the fittings will clear each other. The 1/2" fittings we used should be plenty big as they match the crossover tube "pump out" oil galley. The fitting nearest the block has enough room to clear the block without issue, and Summit makes nice 90° fittings that will keep the tubing low on the block and away from exhaust and valve covers. The second fitting is going to touch the first slightly because I didn't angle quite enough, so I'll probably have to install the first and clearance the nut a bit to allow for tightening the outer fitting. I started out drilling 3/8" fittings which were fine, but really didn't like the ID of that smaller fitting. The 1/2" fittings were the way to go but I'll have to "make 'em work".

That gear is the one I took out when I tore it down. Just bead blasted it. There's some wear, but not enough to justify replacement. Your project sounds interesting. Would be loads easier if you didn't have to route oil all the way around the outside of the motor.... That's a long drive!

Sorry for the OT diversion, but that's a good start. I used to bicycle 90-150 miles a week. This, before cell phones were so prevalent. I've lost a lot of friends/co-riders to phone weilding motorists that I have completely quit road riding. Just not worth it....

Looking home made for sure. Definitely no kübel.... A pal in tucson had something similar. Was on a shortened VW pan and retained all the VW running gear. Nothing above knee high was VW though. Could be fun, but in these days of cell phones I'd probably stay off a busy street with it!!

@Cpt.Fred, I hope this is helpful for you. Got the timing chain installed yesterday. Pretty basic stuff. Just match up the timing marks per the service manual. The gear teeth are pretty large, and even one tooth off either direction will make it impossible to line up the timing marks properly. Start with rotating to TDC for #1. You don't really need a dial indicator for this, but I had one. It does make it easier IMO. Timing mark will be pointing right at the cam at this point at approximately 10:30 if you imaging a clock face behind the crankshaft snout. The cam gear has an eccentric bolt pattern and can only be bolted on in one orientation. Good for me, because I need idiot-proofing just about everywhere. Orient the gear where you can finger tighten ALL THREE bolts so you don't make any assumptions about if or not they're lined up. The spring pressure on my engine is pretty light so I was able to hand rotate the cam gear to line up the timing marks. Marks will match up like this: I drew a sharpie line across the face of the cam and gear to make it obvious when I reinstalled the gear with the chain on, and that's the next step. Fit the chain to the cam gear and slip it over the crankshaft gear. Try the cam gear on the cam and see if the marks line up. If not, adjust a tooth (or several, whatever it takes) either way until the marks are back lined up. Thread the bolts in the cam face and double check the timing marks. If all is lined up torque to spec. Note that in this orientation #1 piston is not TDC on its firing stroke. The cam at #1 is actually on the overlap and #6 is firing, seen below. When you rotate the crankshaft 360° (and thus the cam gear 180°) then #1 is at TDC for its firing stroke. Last I got done yesterday was reinstalling the cover (put the balancer/pulley on before torquing the cover bolts to correctly center the balancer in the seal), and the oil tubes underneath. Had a number of tasks in the am and end of day that limited my time a bit. Core plugs installed as well.

Stay with me, Frank, stay with me.

Man, I'd sure like to be, but only having saturdays to complete my overhaul is taking FOREVER!! I will say I drove it right up to the point I pulled the motor/trans, and I'll be driving it again every weekend (almost) as soon as it's done. Hopefully I can join his group of "drivers" soon!! Some really nice looking vehicles here...!

Thanks. Missed the deadline for early/pre order.

Where do you go to order/buy or find information?

Edit: I'll leave my comment but just noticed Adam H had the same thoughts. The HAMB might be the best place for the topic, but if it's the only place it might be time to change the header image and forum description.... Certainly not what I would do unless the car had been previously modified, but it's ultimately up to the owner.

okay... images up! Got the head mounted and shaved 8mil off the top to achieve a nice, level surface for all the head bolts and water neck. Not a necessary step except that there was a fair bit of brass to level for the water neck mating surface and that had to be machined. Just did the whole thing.... Then flipped it over to surface the gasket mating surface. Took a total of 11.2 mil to get completely level.

Sincerely appreciated, @dpollo. The brazing was free. The machine work is being done by me, so that's hard to beat.