Projects Mish-Mash Nash -'52 Rambler Wagon

Is it a runner?

 

I was told so, and was removed from a running car. Initial peek under the RH valve cover last night revealed some sludge-- not terrible, but not super clean, either.

I started tearing it down this morning, and after the intake manifold was removed, I looked into each intake port and saw this in #7:



It looks like the valve guide has dropped 1/4" or so. Hmmm, time to tear it all down.

Lifter valley was not pretty, but it looks a bit worse in the pics than in person:



Oil pan had no sparkles nor pieces of anything, just some silver sludge...which cleaned up easily:





Cylinder heads both look good, lifters range from "those could be re-used in a pinch" to "failure is imminent", and it looks like one of the rocker shafts was recently changed or removed:





I'm pretty sure that is not how you install a cotter pin. The seller did mention he had four of these engines at one time, so I'm guessing some parts swapping may have occurred and this one was the last of the four.

Cylinder bores have some scratches here and there, including a larger scratch in #5. Overall, about what I expected for a used 60+ year old engine.

 

Cylinder heads look good and are the 10.25 variety as expected:





No nuts down the intake.



Bottom end looks good, the rod journals surprisingly nice:



Rod bearings show wear, but little to no scoring:





Pistons show some significant wear on the skirts, #8, on the right in the below image being the worst of the bunch:



Broken top ring on #2:



#7 is the worst bore, showing some vertical scoring:



On the bright side, I have two blocks to chose from now, and have the heads I've been looking for, so I'm in good shape.

 

As long as the Alum isn't rotted in the block, heads or waterpump area - you're golden...
Marcus...

 

Coolant passages look good, and I even had to drain a bit of coolant out, so I'm in the clear there.

Water pump was replaced at some point, and not too many miles on it:





Considering a NOS or rebuilt water pump is in the $200+ range, I'm good with this. This one is definitely better than the other used one I have, and I can't use the later Buick 300 style due to how the alternator bracket mounts.

Timing cover is a bit worse for wear, and has some corrosion in one spot, plus, the usual oil pump gear wear:







Crank (and specifically the journals) looks very nice:





Main bearings look to be original?:

 

Yup, corrosion from wrong type antifreeze, or none at all, is the old die-cast Alum engine killer.
As for the corrosion that's there, those Alum "welding/soldering" sticks actually work well - if used correctly. Getting(& keeping) things clean & not overheating the parts is the trick. You've got a good start. .
Marcus...

 

Amazing rescue.
Keep it coming.
Thanks

 

I started cleaning the block tonight, and after knocking out the freeze plugs, had a peek inside each hole:





There was a tiny bit of crusty stuff around the freeze plugs, but the inside of the block looks good and water flowed through all passages and holes cleanly.

I got the heads 90% clean, with some stubborn areas yet to do, but no surprises, really. There are some tiny pits on the quench pad areas on one head, which only became apparent when my phone camera auto-focused:





I also took some time to button things up on the body, making sure I covered any bare metal areas. It has been humid here, especially when there's a NE, E, or SE wind blowing all of that Lake Michigan moisture inland:



I did get the new RH rocker panel fully welded in place, but I still need to add another small patch and replace the bottom of the B-pillar/door jamb (yellow arrow above) before I can get some primer on the bare metal.

I found a good deal on a Melling oil pump kit, too, which arrived the other day: