Sunday, April 19, 2009

95% Complete

The last four days have been filled with all sorts of engine work fun. After deciding that putting the new engine in would be easier with the heads off as the engine to transmission mounting bolts would be easier to access. I also figured that since I had a set of head gaskets laying around it wouldn't hurt to do the job. So I removed the heads and cleaned out the gunk from cylinders #2 and #8, the ones that got a little wet while the engine was sitting outside. The cylinder walls looked good though!

Thursday, 4/16/2009

My friend Jimmy came over with his wrecker to remove the engine with me. We hooked onto the old block with the tow cable and out the junker came. Then we removed the clutch plates and the flywheel for the new engine. After getting the new engine on the tow cable, we put the flywheel and clutch on, but not without a little bit of a scare with the fit. Apparently the new engine was mated to an automatic transmission (or the manual tranny was different) because there was a 4" spacer on the back of the crankshaft. Fortunately it was held in with just a roll pin and we were able to tap it off with a hammer and some elbow grease. Tragedy averted, the engine was hoisted into the frame and mated with the tranny after a little wiggling. We did have a slight issues as one of the alignment pins stayed in the bell house ear when the old engine came out, so we had to cut the new pin with a hacksaw as we didn't notice until after the tow truck was unhooked. It was easier to just cut it than it was to remove the engine. After that was done, it mated without incident.

Saturday 4/18/2009

We cleaned both the engine block and cylinder head surfaces with a soft die grinder to removed the old rust (thanks to the folks on oldihc.org for the tip) and also did the same to the intake manifold surfaces before putting the manifold back on. The heads went on without a problem, and the intake manifold was a breeze to put on. The exhaust manifolds were a little more difficult, but after some choice words and a few cuts on the hand, they were snug to the engine.

We bolted on the fuel pump next, and then timed the engine to cylinder number eight, without the use of a timing light. All we did was align the timing mark with zero degrees on the compression stroke, picked a post on the distributor cap, and started counting from there. My IHC V-304 rebuild manual that I bought was an excellent resource for this project!

The oil was changed, and a new oil filter was screwed on.

Sunday 4/19/2009

Today was spent putting on the thermostat housing (with a new 160 degree thermostat) which we picked up from Sanel Auto Parts. They didn't have a new gasket available for the housing, so Katherin (my girlfriend) cut a new gasket out of cork using the old one as a guide. The alternator bracket was hooked on and alternator was added. After some head scratching about the alternator and coil wiring, I referred to a diagram I drew that I used to build a new voltage regulator for the truck. (Back in 2007 I had to have the alternator rebuilt, and we discovered the old voltage regulator was bad. The guys at Auto Electric in Brentwood, NH, who also rebuilt the alternator, were able to help me build a replacement from few different pieces.) After everything was hooked up properly, we put the pulleys on the water pump and the crankshaft. The twin V-belts were run, and the carburetor was put onto the manifold. A good battery charge was done as well!

We sprayed a little bit of starting fluid into the carb and closed the choke. After a bit of a crank, the engine sputtered! I sprayed a little more ether, but left the choke open.....and she backfired right out of the carb! There was quite a flame, but I didn't lose my eyebrows. After that lesson, we did it once more. After the engine caught, I forgot that I had the fuel lines connected, and fuel started coming up into the lower filter....I noticed it but figured it wouldn't make it to the second filter before the carb.....boy was I wrong! About 10 seconds after it hit the first filter before the fuel pump, the second filter was full! I told Katherin to shut the engine down as I wasn't ready to have her run on her own...it was simply a test to make sure the truck would even fire!

Tomorrow will be spent putting the radiator in, adding engine coolant, and getting the throttle and choke cables hooked back up. We also have to splice some of the wires back together as I had to cut a few so the engine could get (they ran just above the radiator). After that's done we can spend he rest of the afternoon adjusting the carb for the truck and letting her spend some time running. Maybe she will even sneak a ride onto the road for a test.......

More to follow tomorrow!

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