the biggest problems with the new points are the springs. i try to take them off the old ones when i can.
Didn't get much more done today. The grandson took a nap. And A guy I went to school with came by. Hadnt seen him in ten years. He was in a wagon being pulled by a pair of really nice young mules. they where full brothers one white and the other bay. they weighed about 800 pounds each. We talked a couple hours while the mules rested. and it was too pretty a day and folks seen me and kept stopping and wanting to talk about something. later today I am going to help my youngest son with a kitchen remodel. Ill let the engine soak a few days.
Well I went and spent a hour working on the 283. I pulled the rod caps and drove out the rod bolts, Removed all the main caps and took the crankshaft out. Its not got any serious rust. I then tapped on the piston tops with a bore sized chunk of wood. 6 of them moved down in the bore easily. So I cleaned up where they previously had been resting and using a hickory handle tapped them out of the block. number 6 & 8 pistons are stuck tight. So I leveled up the deck and poured auto trans fluid on the piston tops. Then took my torch and heated the block water jackets until the fluid boiled. tomorrow after the block cools I will give them another try. Not gonna mess with the cam & lifters for now. after I get the remaining pistons out the block will get a molasses electrolysis treatment. that might make the cam & lifters removal easier?
Sure he could do that, hell anyone could do that, but where is the adventure in that? Just imagine the stories this thing will create, and it will be epic when it fires up for the first time. Or, he could sit around and talk about the time he turned to page 26, picked out the crate 350 he wanted and ordered it online. I think the first one will be the better story. Besides it doesn't sound like he's planning on spending a lot of money on it and doesn't need it up and running by the end of the week, so why not. I know I've dumped money and time into worse things.
Laying hands on a relic of a bygone era and breathing new life into it is at the core of traditional hotroding. In fact what Old Wolf is sharing with us here is the connection to tradition. Tradition IS by it's definition a handing down of things from the past, like banger's, flathead's, old 283's, stovebolt 6's, 354 hemis, studebaker motors, and that list goes on. What is not on that list are brand new crate motors. Is re-powering something with a brand new power plant hotroding? ABSOLUTELY! Is re-powering something with a brand new power plant traditional? NO! Tradition needs time to develop, plain and simple. I personally love what Old Wolf is doing here. Thanks for taking the time to share with us your efforts to salvage a traditional power plant. I'll be watching every step.
Granted the old engine is in pretty horrible cond. In my neck of the woods there are a considerable number of old iron enthuasist. they relish the idea of finding a rusty broken neglected item of machinery or old tractor and getting it operational again. I sold one group a complete but rusted H farmall. the engine had been rained in and it was stuck. They could have bought a running tractor cheaper than what they spent restoring that one. And restore it they did. It looked ,operated and was better than when it was new. I used to work at the local recycling scrap yard. And I seen potential in a lot of the items that where sold for scrap. I spent part of my pay every week on some item I saved. Things like aluminum valve covers & intakes, torque thrust wheels, Engines of all kinds. I would at lunch time prowl the latest arrivals. If I was interested in a engine. I checked to see if it would turn over. If that was good Pull the spark plugs if they weren't oil fouled chances are it was a good mill. Ive got engines I bought and never started crammed in bread vans and school buses. I grabbed all the center dump Y block 2 ton truck exhaust manifolds that I seen. double hump chevy heads. And lots of entire vehicles. I never had a 401 or anything. My hoard became my retirement fund. Now I get a social security Ponzi check and its time to play with the junk. and to me it isn't work or a chore its fun. I have two complete running in good condition 350 engines. I could just get one of those and use it easier. But where is the fun and challenge in that?
I'll just leave this right here. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lame-power-plants.1007294/page-5#post-11373237
Ok heres a picture of the engine I built for my 55 handyman wagon. the 327 block has new rings and bearings. I was in a 69 chevy wagom my brother in law bought new. The heads are stagger bolt extensively reworked 57 heads that came on the first 55 cheve I ever owned. The valve covers are some cal custom finned one,s I bought when I was a teen. the intake a C4B ive had for decades. It has a new 30-30 cam. Now ive got 202 heads that have all new valves ect. and plenty of different intakes. And I know the cam leaves a lot to be desired. But I wanted to use my old parts. I also have a set of corvette valve covers and a two four intake that could go on it.
I couldn't agree more. A lot of the old stuff we have now is because someone spent the time to fix and restore it to be used once again. That is how things used to be done. I applaud Old Wolf for taking the time to show us that something most people would write off can actually be saved and used again. Not only is he showing us it can be done, he is showing us HOW to do it. This is the kind of stuff they don't teach in school or in books. This is the stuff you can only learn from guys like him. I will be watching this build and looking forward to hearing it run.
Beware Wolfie. The tech troll will hammer you for the 30-30 cam. Yes, its 3 weeks worth of R&D for the ramp speed/split duration/spring rate/jet/degree/open-closed/ect,ect,ect for a street racer instead of driving the old car 10' of thousands of miles. Like you know the original intention.
You can stick a 30-30 cam in a engine degree it in straight up (center the overlap) and run a stock valve train no problems. I set the lash a bit tighter at .o28 hot
I was digging around in my hoard today looking for 283 stuff. and got sidetracked when I encountered all of my small block 400 parts. And got to posting over on that thread. As tempting as it is to start on the 400. Im gonna fix ole rusty first.
Hmmm. Hey Wolf, wasn't that the Z/.028 lash setting? They set it back when they put the 327/365/375hp cam in the 302. I still think you've been covering up your hidden inner engineer. What's a "tech troll"? Just hav'n fun, you.
After reading up to this point I'm casting my vote with drifters cc. Subscribed, I have a much nicer one in my shop that has been waiting for over 5 years now (how time fly's). Maybe this will be the inspiration needed to swap out the 235 6 on the Nomad next winter (Or start on a custom roadster).
If it was upside down without a filter on it for years, I'd be real concerned about getting the oil passages clean enough. I'd still try to save it, but I'd have a shop thoroughly clean it. Gary
I run a rifle cleaning brush through all the oil galleys. its a copper bristle brush. and I will high pressure wash all the oil galleys with hot water. Having everything as clean as possible is a necessity. Around here the EPA rules have just about closed all the little auto parts store machine shops hot tanks. Those guys would hot tank your parts for a nominal fee. I don't know if there is a hot tank within 50 miles of here. The block will spend time in a electrolysis molasses bath. Afterward its a pressure washer hooked to my home hot water heater. I use oven cleaner on the really crusty bits. Solvent a wire brush and elbow grease. and Then hot soapy water and a scrub brush. Blow it dry and oil the machined surfaces and paint the cast surfaces. A tap run through all the threaded holes. Another thing I do is radius out the drilled oil passages in the main webs to match the hole in the upper main bearings.
It really is hard to find a hot tank anymore.Most shops are using the block washers that use hot water and detergent in a closed "washing machine" sort of thing.In theory it should work well,IME they get the block about 2 hours work away from being clean enough to put together.Last hot tank in this area went two years ago.
Ive found that you can scrape off the thick grease on the exterior. and wash it with the hot water pressure washer. Then spray oven cleaner on what doesn't come off. and let that set a hour and wash it again. Then put it in a molasses electrolysis bath and that will remove a lot of the water jacket and other rust. Then you have a block that is ready to start cleaning on. I use paper towels. that way you are using something clean every time. shop rags tend to leave lint and get use after that are already soiled. For many years I dreamed of owning a hot tank and one of those diesel fired commercial hot water high pressure washers. Those washers cost a few thousand new. And ive bought three at auction and none of them where any good the heating coils where bad. Money gambled and wasted .so its a 4 horse gas powered 2500 psi troy built power washer hooked to my home hot water heater. It has a hose that can be used to make your water soapy.
Repairing/rebuilding what you have, this is great. Passing the knowledge on the your Grandson, priceless!! Love threads/stories like this. I left a 283 short block in the back of a pickup that I brought to the junkyard near me, But I did fill the cylinders with grease and cover with a tarp. Maybe I will see if it's still there. Ryan.
I was my dads parts cleaner. He worked away and was home weekends. So he tore stuff apart and had me clean the parts during the week when he was away. Then I eventually got brave and put stuff back together and had it fixed before he returned the next weekend. Also I read about everything. I read every story about Gus and the Model Garage in the popular mechanix magazine. Any books about cars, engines & racing in the school library. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would have the place tools and hoard of stuff that We have now. If I wasn't so old hard to say what would happen.
The Jalopy Journal
