Thanks Bob. This project has taken longer than expected but don't they all? My rear seal is the newer type with a small thin spacer that Tony sent me. Haven't looked into yet. Have to get some paint on all the new pieces and frame after the refit then the engine will become the target as well as that tranny that likes to pop out of 2nd on coasting.
Woke up at 2am yesterday and as is so typical of us older hot rodders, I laid there rethinking the recent changes I have made to the 31. I had planned on removing the engine next but in the early morning hours I came to the conclusion that I had better check fit the clutch slave cylinder and bracket before removing the engine just to be certain there is no issue. I mean really what could go wrong? Ha! So wouldn't you know, one cannot bleed the slave now with that steering ujoint right on top the bleeder and the 3/16 line is way too close to the rotating hardware for my comfort. In the end, I had to remove the steering shaft and add 1 1/4 inches to it's length as I raised the column shaft to get more lift changing the angle just enough to get at the bleeder. Then I made a new line and routed it differently to avoid any compromise in the future. All said and done that chewed up most of morning. After lunch I pulled the engine for the last time I hope! And that pesty little slave that got in the way!
I bleed my clutch without touching the bleed screw. The slave cylinder mounts to the bell housing with 2 bolts. I unbolt it, take out the pushed and bolt it back on with just one bolt so that the pushed end of the slave cylinder is pointed downwards. Using a screwdriver, I pump the piston a few times and the air escapes upwards into the master cylinder. Bolt everything back, and it is done.
I understand. You've got 10 years on me and I know I feel slower than I was. But I still love working on old cars. You've got way more skills than me and I find that inspirational. Keep on keeping on! Love how your car is coming along.
Thanks for the positive comments, Chet! Glad to see that I am an inspiration to someone. There are days that I find it hard to be an inspiration to myself! HA! The garage and the projects are certainly my outlet. Many days I don't get much done but I am usually out there doing something however insignificant it might be. And it keeps me out from under my brides' feet all day
Yesterday I started to prep to spot paint the frame. Sanded with 600 and wiped with prep sol then mixed up some primer and spotted in the areas that I had previously worked on. I lifted the front up as high as I could with the use of my cherry picker and some jack stands that are mounted on my skids. Makes it easy to position the car wherever I need it and the height makes it so much easier to work on. Went over to my buddy's shop and retrieved enough materials to spot this in. This is single stage urethane, not easy to blend I am told but what the hell do I know about that. He gave me a rattle can of SEM Blendz which when applied correctly over the fresh paint will blend the edges together. Sounds like science fiction to me but what the hell can go wrong that sand paper can't fix, right? Suppose to be 50 today and with the heat cranked up It should be toasty enough to lay down a little paint......guess we will see. Turning my attention to my new column mast I was not happy with the way the tube meets the flare on my steering wheel hub. Just looked like I forgot to finish it although it is not that one can see it easily. I went up to my friends shop with the idea of using his old exhaust tubing bender to stretch a small piece of 1 3/4 to fit over the mast and then I could flare it on his machine as well. So, that did not work out as he did not have any attachments for my pipe size. Returned to the shop. Figured I can try to do this the old way before these grand machines were around. I put a chunk of pipe in the vise and heated the end with my torch, then used a piece of 3/4 round to flare the end slightly by rotating it around the end. Didn't come out too bad, think I can work with it. Slit one side on the band saw and expanded it enough to slide over the mast which leaves a space of about 3/8 of an inch. I will tack in a piece to fill that in and then flare the end to match. Not perfect but I can work with it. Hmmm, forgot the to take a pic of it on the mast. I will fix that later if I survive the painting episode!
Got out to the shop yesterday late. Temps are going to 50 which is what we call the "January thaw" around here. Snow is gone, rain coming in today. Good day to get the shop up to 70 to paint! First, I revisited that flare deal on the mast. Wasn't feeling it, looked too much like an afterthought, so I remeasured the mast and determined that I had enough length to allow putting a slight flare on the mast itself. Pulled it apart, heated the end and put a slight flare in the end. Assembled it and feel better about how it looks. Sprayed some black paint on the small pieces and then blew some urethane on the frame. Wouldn't you know I ended up with a run right where it is clearly visible. Will deal with that after it dries enough to be fixed. All in all, not a bad day for a year end task. Now that I have a garage that smells like a paint booth I am going to relax for a few days and watch the rest of this year pass by. Happy New Year guys.
Got the car back on the ground now and turned my attention to the engine and tranny. Pulled the tranny off as I need to get the flywheel off to have it cut. Since day one I have had a slight clutch chatter. First thought was that I had never refaced the flywheel so now that will be done. Then there is the rear oil leak that needs some attention. Slight oil trace at the bottom of the lower bell housing was suspicious. After tearing it all apart I found a lot of oil trace between the lower housing and the engine bell. Clearly the seal area was wet indicating a rear seal leak. The area above the seal is dry precluding one of the galley plugs leaking so it now seems I will have to pull the pan and replace the seal. Got the engine prepped to put it on the stand. Now I will need to order some gaskets. Currently the rear seal is not a standard rope seal. I had a conversion seal kit from Ross that I installed way back when I did the engine 8 years ago. Might check with him now to see if there is something new out there that might work better. The tranny is another story and challenge. Works fine, goes thru the gears as expected but has a problem staying in 2nd when coasting or on deacceleration and once it pops out you cannot get it back into 2nd without going into 3rd first then back into 2nd. Thinking synchros here but I do not have a spare and '57 Olds synchros aren't hanging around on every corner. It can also be clearances and excessive play. Kind of winging it here as I have limited experience with transmissions. We will see where this goes.
short day yesterday but I did manage to get the new column installed and the carpet reinstalled. Rerouted the wiring harness out through the firewall. Will tie that off until the engine is back in its place permanently. Then I pulled my engine stand out of storage and assembled that. This is the same one that I had an Olds attached to that tipped over leaving a nice depression in my concrete floor at my other garage. Scary moment standing next to it while attempting to move the engine to a new spot. That led to a quick addition of a wider front floor support to gain more stability. Even to this day it still gives me concern when rolling this thing around. I left the Hurst style mount on the front so I could improvise with some additional vertical supports which makes it all very stable now. Going to enlist the assistance of my younger athletic neighbor to help me roll it over to get the pan off so we can see why this seal has decided to leak. Be glad when this thing is off of this engine stand and back in the car!
I almost tipped mine over too. That rear block extension makes them precarious on most modern engine stands. I’m waiting until I get the engine in the chassis to put the heads on.
Started looking around the web for a few replacement pieces for the tranny in case I decide to change a few items out. General consensus is that the synchro is most likely worn causing the 2nd gear to pop out. Pulled my GM transmission parts manual out and started searching Olds, Pontiac and Buick for the pieces I may need. Interesting the way GM used many identical parts over such a spread of years. Ended up with quite a list and the thought occurred to me that it may be of some assistance to others that might need this info so I put it in a spreadsheet and copied it to insert it here. Also listed the rear extension numbers which might be handy when looking at transmission that are lying around to ID the year and make. Pontiac and Olds look similar, but they do not always cross over. OLDS TRANSMISSION PART CROSSOVER OEM #'s SYNCHRO GP 4.380 51-64 Oldsmobile 1314644 56-57 Pontiac 1314644 40-42 Buick 60 70 80 90 series 1314644 46-48 Buick 70 series 1314644 53-55 Buick 50 60 series 1314644 56-60 Buick 40 &4400 series 1314644 2ND SPEED GEAR GP 4.395 51-56 Oldsmobile 1314645 21 teeth 57-64 Oldsmobile 1193094 21 teeth 57 Pontiac 1193094 40-42 Buick 60-90 series 1314645 46-48 Buick 70 series 1314645 53-55 Buick 50-60 series 1314645 56 Buick 40 series 1314645 57-60 Buick 40 & 4400 series 1193094 1ST/REVERSE GEAR GP4.417 51-56 Oldsmobile 1319384 31 teeth 57-64 Oldsmobile 1189186 Ex J88 39-54 Pontiac 1307764 55 Pontiac 1166484 56 Pontiac 1319384 57 Pontiac 1189186 39-52 Buick 40-50 series 1307764 41-42 Buick 60 70 90 series 1319384 46-48 Buick 70 series 1319384 53-55 Buick 50 60 series 1319384 56 Buick 40 series 1319384 MAIN INPUT DRIVE GEAR GP 4.351 51-56 Oldsmobile 1343941 17 teeth 57-64 Oldsmobile 1189233 18 teeth REAR EXTENSION TAILSTOCK GP4.317 52-53 Oldsmobile 1165431 88, S88 52-53 Oldsmobile 1165184 98 54-56 Oldsmobile 1165184 88 S88 Police 54-56 Oldsmobile 1165431 88 S88 57-60 Oldsmobile 1173969 55 Pontiac 1166528 56-57 Pontiac 1170639 58-60 Pontiac 3776817 all, ex. Taxi police 58-60 Pontiac 3719075 taxi, police 61-63 Pontiac 3787066
Been a while so I had better add to this thread. I have been looking around for replacement parts for the tranny but have not been able to find exactly what I need. I think I am going to put my spare tranny in to fix the issue of 2nd popping out of gear. If this is successful, I will then keep looking for the pieces I need for the other unit. In the meantime, I have replaced the rear seal which gave me an opportunity to freshen my ability to utter profane statements. This conversion piece now offered is a real pain in the butt to get installed correctly with that very thin spacer material that must be installed first before pushing the rubber seal in. If this thing leaks (and I suspect it will) I am going back to the old rope seal! I reinstalled the oil pan only to find that the rear seal blew out so I got the chance to do this over again with a bit more success thankfully. Now the engine is buttoned up and I am concentrating on installing a 4x2 OL496. concerned at the moment on how to connect the PCV system to this piece with it's runner design. Going to pick up my flywheel this PM so things will be going back together soon.
Picked up the flywheel yesterday. It did not turn out well as it has the usual hardened spots, and they did not cooperate well with the cutting. It will need to be cut with a stone and there is only one facility in the area that does that. Napa will deliver it to the vendor this week. More delays which I should be used to by now. Lots of little things to do though in the meantime not the least of which is the 8 inches of snow coming in tonight that we will deal with tomorrow.
Bob, I have had that intake on the shelf for probably 10 years. Had it on the engine for break in with 2 carbs as primaries but it really needed all 4 to work correctly so I removed it and installed the 3x2's that would allow me to run on the center which was a simpler fix back then. I like the look of the staggered four carbs. Don't see many in my area anymore.
Every time I look at your avatar I wish that my coupe either had a standard roof with a chop or the current “special “ top and the car was painted black. Yours has the perfect hot rod look.
Long time dedication to a well chosen project! The car is sheer perfection, (albeit 'trying' at times, regarding the paint adventure(s)!) I am abreast with the sometimes 'mystery' of the second gear 'popout', as I have built, owned, and repaired more than a few with LaSalle, Olds, and Buick floorshift transmissions. (May I agree with you that the Buick sounds more like a 'clearance' problem in the main drive? Worn synchro O.K., BUT I'd dare it had to be in addition to excessive main drive clearance. I bought a '50 Olds around 1961 from an older rodder that had a problem with the LaSalle behind the new J-2 Olds. 3 times he installed the 'repaired' '37 LaSalle, put it reverse and it terminally locked up. (Broke 2 clusters) I purchased the car for a low price... Pulled the gearbox, found a crack along the front shaft bore, tore everything out the bottom and found gears, spacers, and a shaft that were all foreign to the '37 LaSalle 'family'. LOL A stern lesson... Thankfully, Sut's Auto Wreckers was THE Cad/LaSalle rebuilders then, and son Wilbur Sut shook his head, credited me on a few pieces still usable, and provided me with an exchange. Whew! I then worked with a friend on LaSalle boxes, and when the right stuff was at hand, success followed. Still reading this thread with interest. Thanks for all the details!
Thanks for your input, Mike. Both my Buick's are using the 57 Olds gear set so it is easy to look at each on the bench to do a visual inspection. Honestly, they appear to be in the same shape. The teeth on the synchros all look a bit rounded and the 2nd gears seem to be sloppy so it just might be clearances and worn parts. I have located some gears but not a good synchro yet. I am going to install my spare tranny which has never been run since I built it. Maybe I will get lucky. Ha! Tomorrow I am taking the flywheel down to the city where I have an 8 o'clock appt to get it cut with a stone at Universal Auto. They are over an hours ride each way but I have no choice as Napa no longer provides a service to the city since Covid. Don't dare ship it as it is the only one I have, and I cannot afford to have it get "lost" in transportation. And it now appears that winter is rearing it's ugly head as more snow is coming tomorrow afternoon. I just finished shoveling off two roofs this afternoon and it looks like a repeat is shaping up. So I will be dealing with that but I should be back in the shop in a day or two. Anxious to get that engine/tranny back in the frame.
Take the ride, Walt! I wouldn't want that 'wheel out of my sight! If I want something Blanchard ground, it's a 2 hour ride each way, seems like that Machine Shop op is not as popular as it was previous to 2000 A.D. Last Olds engine I used had a Cad lower bell for starter changeover to passenger side. Came time to install it and there was a dust profile on the shelf where it had sat. (Some kind person took it out for a walk...) That car ended up with starter on the dr.'s side and Cowl Steering! (Out of necessity)
I arrived at the machine shop at around 7:45 this morning and the tech was standing there waiting for me. He surfaced the flywheel and I was back on the road in a half hour. Fantastic service and a nice job on the flywheel. Got it mounted back on the engine and torqued down to 95 lb feet. Then wiped it down with brake cleaner to remove any residue. Next was the clutch and disk. Pretty straight forward and not very exciting but it sure feels good getting some of this stuff back together. Couldn't find my disk alignment tool so I used a 50 Olds input shaft that was hanging around, Actually I like the input shaft better as it is stout and and gives you a more positive feel when aligning the disk. I unboxed my spare Buick trans. I will use this to see how it shifts while I source some parts for the other tranny. I needed a new front gasket that goes between the tranny face and the bell housing. Figured I would bite the bullet and order the Best gasket kit from Cars, Inc down in Jersey. So, when I pull it out of the package it became clear that they sent me one for the small Buick case which is shorter. Fortunately, I had a sheet of gasket material left over from another project so I made my own in the end. That small hole at 5 o'clock in the gasket allows the oil that comes thru the bearing on the input shaft to be returned to the tranny. The input shaft has a reversed spiral that picks up the oil and basically slings it back allowing it to run down thru the candle stick and out the bottom returning it to the trans. The candle stick and the return hole in the case have to be aligned for this to work. The candle stick has a alignment tab at the top of the housing that locks it in place maintaining the drain hole alignment. Well, when I took this apart I noticed that there was a lot of oil hanging around on the face of the tranny. Not something that you really want. Here is the reason why: I did not catch this the first time around. Notice the tab at the top has a notch cut into it. It is not suppose to be that way and in this case it allowed the candle stick to rotate or spin on the input shaft misaligning the drain holes. Glad I noticed that. I have a nice spare so that will fix this and maybe keep the face nice and dry. Tomorrow aside from shoveling off the roofs again, I will try to get the tranny mounted and the engine back in the car. Yahoo!
Got the tranny mounted. No small feat with my aching back! I usually have my neighbor who is a strapping healthy 50 yr. old ex-football player assist me with lifting heavy items, but he was working, and I was too impatient to wait around......you know the deal, I am sure. I emptied the rest of the garage, maneuvered everything into its place and managed to get the engine installed, then messed around with adding the slave cylinder for the clutch. Really tight space and it has to go on after the engine is installed due to space restrictions. Next was the starter and the battery cable only to find that there is interference now with the steering shaft and the battery cable. Will see if I have enough slack to reroute it, but I am thinking I do not so this will be another slight challenge for today's assignment. On a more positive note, the snow turned to H2O so no shoveling today (my back is happy), my brass fittings have arrived for the pcv install and my oldest (27) grandson is coming tonight for the weekend. Ah, a shop assistant! Just in time
Faced with mating my Olds and Hydro, I had to sit and think about that for a while. Both are heavy and there’s not a lot of room to maneuver in my crowded shop. But old age and treachery conquered the task with the help of some decent equipment. In the good old days it would have been 2x4s, muscle and some pinched fingers. We figure it out eventually, don’t we. I don’t remember, did you post info about your Buick brake drum conversion? I like how the backing plate, drum and wheel fit together in the picture above.
Bob, my Buick posts start at post 68 here Projects - At 69 my first A coupe project! | Page 3 | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)
Moving right along today with my assistant in hand! Got the engine all secured, tranny secured, steering box installed and moved the battery cable just enough to clear the steering shaft. The we bled the brakes since I changed out a line I wasn't happy with, tightened up the fittings on the slave for the tranny and bled that off. Off to Napa to retrieve the last fitting for the pcv system and then drilled and tapped the two holes in the runners on the bottom of the intake. Got all of the lines made and installed. Test fitted the manifold on the engine and it appears that it will work out fine. I will post pics tomorrow. Time for some family R&R now.
Got the intake prepped to go on and now a frigid blast is coming through so we are fighting the cold as many are all the way into TX. Going down to 20 below so working out in the garage now is just wasting fuel. Here is the pic of the pcv solution. There is crossflow in the intake from these runners to the other ports. We will see how this works out. Had a comment that these 4 cylinders will run lean. Won't know unless we try and if it does then I will resort to the old draft tube. Mounted on the engine it is at least out of sight for the most part. Got the drive shaft installed so now I can fill the trans and button up the top. Then I will put the radiator on. Slowly moving forward.
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