JohnTeee Posted November 18, 2011 Report Posted November 18, 2011 I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Valves are hand lapped, retainers in place and cold adjustment done. Head torqued and almost all the hardware back in place. Manifolds installed, exhaust connected and fuel pump heat shield back in place. Decided that while I was doing as much as I was, and as much trouble as I had with the gas, might as well rebuild the carb. Good choice! It was full of lacquer crap. Parts are soaking now. Finish that up tomorrow. Now, if I only don't forget how everything went back together. The darn printout/exploded diagram that came with the carb kit was NOT of the best quality. Then I have to finish running down my laundry list of little things to finish up . . . maybe we'll be running this week. Cheers! John Quote
littlemo Posted November 18, 2011 Report Posted November 18, 2011 How about some other pics of that rebuilt engine and the "ride" it's going into?? lol... Cass, alias littlemo... PS. see ya for "coffee" tomorrow morning !! Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Posted November 18, 2011 @LittleMO - It's not very pretty right now, hood off, right front jacked up to get at valves and dirty in general. Manana! @54Illinois - this will look impressive, nice shot of the parts I've just had off and repainted. The rest of the bay is a little ratty. Cheers! John Quote
54Illinois Posted November 18, 2011 Report Posted November 18, 2011 Yes very impressive! What brand/color of paint on the block did you use? Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Posted November 18, 2011 Yes very impressive! What brand/color of paint on the block did you use? Morning 54Illinois, Thanks! You want to see something impressive, check out Bob Toft's engine bay pics. I'm envious. As for mine, that was kind of a cheater shot. This has been in-chassis valve work. The block is ratty, with the remains of paint that had been brushed on 50 years ago; same thing the manifolds had. Pulled them off and you could see drip marks where the paint ran from the top. They were basically painted where you could see. <grin> Everything I had out: manifolds, head, thermostat housing, valve covers, oil filter bracket, air filter support got cleaned up and shot. I hope it holds up. The head and manifolds were painted with Rustoleum 500F Engine Enamel, Color 'Aluminum'. Same for the black parts with semi-gloss black. I'm going to have to try to touch up around the bolt heads after my repeated re-torques. Tightening down the head tore up the paint around the bolt heads. Sigh. Cheers! John Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 18, 2011 Report Posted November 18, 2011 What head bolts did you use? They appear to be standard grade 8 bolts. Is the shank undercut as pictured below? This is necessary as if you use standard bolts with no undercut shank they will rust "fast" to the inside of the head and be very difficult to remove. Quote
carls 49 Posted November 18, 2011 Report Posted November 18, 2011 nice job john, won't be long now. Quote
littlemo Posted November 19, 2011 Report Posted November 19, 2011 John; It was great meeting you today, thanks for the "coffee"!! lol.. Everythings looking great, can't wait to see your ride in person and hear her run. Cass, alias littlemo... Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Posted November 19, 2011 @54Illinois - Here's a bit better engine bay shot . . . @Don - Er, well, they ARE standard Grade 8 bolts. Sounds like I'll be replacing them sometime in the new future . . . It was an affordable start. @LittleMO - Enjoyed it! Look forward to seeing your ride one of these days. I anticipate having Special D running tomorrow or the first of the week. Cheers! John Quote
1941Rick Posted November 19, 2011 Report Posted November 19, 2011 If it runs as good as it looks you have a winner Quote
RobertKB Posted November 19, 2011 Report Posted November 19, 2011 Looking good and hopefully runs as well. Don's advice about using correct headbolts is very sound. I would replace them fairly quickly to avoid problems down the road. Headbolts are a very specialized item on any engine. Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Posted November 19, 2011 Tried a couple of parts stores for the Chevy bolts referred to elseshere in the forums. Everyone seemed to have similar packages that contained a fixed number of bolts, some the needed size bolt and some other not needed sizes. I'll keep looking. Cheers! John Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 19, 2011 Report Posted November 19, 2011 What was wrong with your old head bolts? Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Posted November 19, 2011 Nothing that I KNOW of . . . Just had been reading in the forums that it might be a good idea to replace them if you have the head off. Bolt stretching, etc. The last time this engine was really touched was before '60 or '61, so I was hoping to fend of future problems. I imagine going to have to rebuild ONE of these days . . . Cheers! John Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Posted November 19, 2011 Here's a picture of my old head bolts. A cookie to the first person to find what's not right . . . Cheers! John Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 19, 2011 Report Posted November 19, 2011 I have been lucky all my life as I can still count to 21. However when I counted your head bolts I was left hanging on to my last digit. Also you have three bolts with large heads. Are these bolts drilled and tapped in the center of the bolt head? I use two such bolts on my engine as that is where my carburetor linkage is secured. Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Posted November 19, 2011 Don, I owe you a cookie the next time I see you. If we don't forget . . . You aren't as slow as the other forum guys say you are!!! I took a triangle file to one of the head bolts to make a chaser for the head bolt holes. Three were setup as you described. Seems like someone mentioned in another thread that (original?) grounds were to one of these on the head? My ground is to the generator bracket frame. I think dads '48 is to the head. Cheers! John Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 20, 2011 Author Report Posted November 20, 2011 A short video - It LIVES, Master! Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 20, 2011 Report Posted November 20, 2011 Are you sure the spark plug wires are on correctly:D Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 20, 2011 Author Report Posted November 20, 2011 Are you sure the spark plug wires are on correctly:D Some people paint by numbers; I mechanic by the numbers! Cheers! John Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 20, 2011 Author Report Posted November 20, 2011 sounds good. Had some tappet noise at this point. Sounded a lot better after I got the valves adjusted, the valve covers on and air cleaner on. I tried to adjust valves while running, but it's not happening. Regular box wrenches, straight feeler gauge and part of the inner panel in my way . .. I adjusted hot. Cheers! John Quote
JohnTeee Posted November 21, 2011 Author Report Posted November 21, 2011 I think I screwed up and bent a valve. Got the compression checker out to see how the engine looked after buttoning things up. Did not notice that the compression adapter had longer threads than the spark plugs do. And, perhaps, my brand new, Cylinder #2 Intake valve sits up a little higher than the old ones. Cylinder #1 was fine. Cylinder #2 I heard an audible 'BAP' when I cranked to test compression. Was not sure what it might have been until I went to remove the compression tester. Threads on the tester (brass, luckily) were galled and that thing was a bugger to get out. Fired it up afteward and it was running and idling fairly well, occasional backfires on start, but I kept thinking it did not sound quite like it was running on all six. Got the timing light out and set the timing to about 4 degrees BTDC. Vacuum advance seemed to be working right and I could see it advance counter-clockwise. So, problems I was experiencing: 1, On start, there is backfiring until it gets to running at an idle. 2. I could hear a tick-tick-tick from the tip of the exhaust pipe, but it was not really audible up front. 3. When I put a load on it (drive up the back driveway, it started missing and acting like the choke was on ( can look down the throat and see the butterfly valve vertical) 4. When I put a driving load on it, the sound of not running on all six is more pronounced and it tends to start choking and hesitating. 5. Compression on all cylinders had been between 90-98, this go around. No #2 has done a lot of bouncing and reads about 50 PSI. After some reading of the forums, and all the trouble I'd had from fuel before (it's fresh now) I got it good and warm and slowly added 16 oz of water through the carb, revving it to keep it going. It started and road tested a little bit better (well, just a little bit), but that did not fix it. I did just rebuild the carb, I'm open to other ideas, but I'm afraid it's the valve. It's a learning experience . . . It's a learning experience . . . John Quote
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