Engine rebuilding boy's......... Remineced about the past today......... So- this goes back in the early 80's,and as a HS soph, I could only sit in in the auto shop cl*** with the secret double throw down,double permission arrangement.....= You couldn't do AS until a JR/SR...... So- The first time= engine rebuild....... Got my license at 15=summer school, and was driving at 16. First car, well,ot, but a mint 70 nova from a car lot for $1500. OG and very ,very, nice with OG everything...... Forward- Things and rodding is progressing, and I end up getting a 66 nova that was a true drag car( PHR cover). A bit over my head,but I'm 16,and I know everything! S0- time for a "freshen up"....... SO- my buddy who get's me into AS,who went on to have a career as a machinist,and my career as a wrench, decide to re-build the engine...... 16/17 here....... So it's a "corvette" engine as they all were! LOL! Your basic .0010 chevy block,and ring/bearings deal... It was a big deal then...... Fortunately, we had the smarts to measure and check things...... which turned out ok...... =game on. Here's where the fun starts..... We ring/bearing it,and all ready for fire.... Yes- excited! Too bad we wired the distributor backwards,and when we let it crank,it sounded like a circus calliope! Wait= there's more! So- we fix that problem laughing,and the older hot rod guy's get a chuckle out of it......(uugghh). it lights off,and make's noise.=Cool! The downside is I did this in my parents house( attatched garage/shop),with a 8ft ceiling,and had fenderwell headers upside down! Needless to say,POP wasn't too pleased(me painting)....... And to add- you know we had to whack the throttle= damn thing nearly tipped over on the 3 legged stand,but we both caught it,burned our hand's doing so, and had that "look" of scared ****less........ Just relived this today,and we both laughed our ***es off,shook our heads,and said=well........ I know I'm not the only one......
HS=High School JR=Sophomore SR=Senior AS= Auto Shop,,,,, and OG= lol! Not "original gangster" more like Original,as in "factory cherry pie"...... Geeze- I'm not THAT old!!!!! And WTF?? = Would Tuesday Fall?
I was 14, but not afraid...it was just an old junk car that my dad bought for us kids to take apart. Wish I still had it...
I always had, and still do have the at***ude that if you work carefully and systematically, and do your homework, putting an engine together that runs and stays together is a pretty straightforward process. I had another advantage, a mentor who built very serious race engines for the local MP and gas cl*** racers, but I HAD that mentor BECAUSE I took the at***ude and approach outlined above, and he saw that. There is no black magic, but there is ALWAYS more to learn, I am fated to die having just scratched the surface. Should have went to university and got a degree in thermodynamics... But I'll never forget the first time I witnessed Bob fire a fresh racemotor. He was pretty much always all business, usually about as funny as uncle Joe Stalin, but after we shut it off, he looked at me, grinned, and said "gives you a hard-on, doesn't it?"
one thing about teenage years you are invincible and can do anything - only fear was getting caught doing stuff you knew that you should not be doing.
My dad walked me thru rebuilding the 53 Merc motor for my 50 Crestliner. I was not afraid..just impatient! And I was 15. I smiled alot when we cranked it up the first time..open headers, 4 barrel carb...yeah!
My bad!!!! went to auto shop as a soph........ really couldn't attend until a jr..... Just for P's and Q's- senior project was a rebuilt engine=running,and a paint job done by the end of the school year....... Engine was machined/***embled/running in three weeks...... Yes- I did all the machining= boring/decking,and somewhat balancing...... I was able to get a "free p***" to skip cl*** and do body/paint work at home....... Although I painted(first job) at the high school booth, It was awesome..... Then when I got pulled over leaving without EVERYTHING besides sheet metal,and got a ticket a mile long..... Actually- I worked with the same officer,who has retired as a captian,after a 30 year run,remembered that day vividly........... full circle......
grew up on a farm with my grandparents so my first engine job was on a Allis Chalmers WD wopping 5:1 compression ( was 13-14 ) nothing like taking one of them apart and getting it back together again had to work on a step ladder to do some work , and found out about magneatos and the impulse coupling and clocking the hard way , after I learned how to set them up they would fire easily , also found out what a 12V battery does on a 6 v system ( had to convert it to a alternator and do some rewiring after hand cranking it over for 1/2 the summer ) but 12v on a 6v starter with a cold motor in the winter made it a easy start . I still remeber the weird head the wd had the spark plug was in a little box and the rest of the head was flat no chamber , the chamber was in the piston and hemi shaped , , then later it was a BUDA diesel in a WD-45 , my first fracture job ( split the motor from the the trans as the motor is part of the frame ) , then I got to do heads on the farm trucks and rebuilt my own car engine in college with a little help from my uncle I like orange engines , not hemis or chevys but Big Allis Orange .. didn't help we lived 20 miles from the laporte Rumley ( A-C ) plant
When I did my machinist training, the school had this big old fifties-era IH bulldozer the heavy duty mechanics cl*** was trying to get running. We machined new injector nozzles for it, really cool project. I still remember when they started it up for the first time.
I decided to edit sounds too much like bragging. My first overhaul done by myself was a '59 English Reilly. No problems just a simple bore to clean the cylinders up and polish the crank. Rings and inserts and a valve grind. I was never allowed to believe that there was anything I couldn't do so I didn't go into it fearful. I also was not allowed to take auto shop either and I was a straight A student. Only the sosch kids got into auto shop and I was a hood and there was no one to buy my way in. Doesn't matter I made a lot of money keeping their old heaps going for them. my cars and bikes got me into a lot of trouble when I was young, not so much any more.
My first motor was when I was 13. My dad's friends ran a dirt track race car (Ford coupes). To fund the racing, he s****ped cars. One day my dad & I were at the guy's shop and he asked me if I wanted to tear a motor apart? They had pulled a running motor from a car they were junking. So he sent me out with a hand full of tools and told me to take it apart, if I needed any help, I should come to the garage and get him. He helped me loosen the intake and head bolts. He helped me roll it over so I could take off the oil pan. He showed me how to remove the pistons. Then he told me when I was finished, I should come and get him. When I thought I had it all apart, I went and got him. He said, "sure enough, its all apart, now put it back together! He helped me with putting the pistons back in, instructed me how to attach the rod caps. helped me remove the old gaskets (put it together without gaskets) and over saw the engine re***embly. Upon completion, he said "Think we can get it to run?" By now the whole crew was there. We rounded up a battery, hooked up a gas line, and cranked it over sitting on the ground. We messed with it for quite a while, he kept doing some things to it. Finally, it fired to life! Smoke, oil flying all over, lots of noises, but the dumb thing ran about 30 seconds before it became a locked up smoldering mess! Everyone was surprised, but they all cheered when it fired off. He told me it was my first engine tear down, re***embly, and that I "built" a running motor. It was a great day, but it ruined me for life! It would be a couple years later, and a 3 HP lawn mower motor that was my actual 1st rebuild. Somehow, that 3 HP story doesn't hold a candle to the junk yard motor build though. There were several after the mower motor, but its been a few years since the last one. I don't believe that nervous excitement before a fresh motor first fires, ever goes away. Gene
We all started somewhere.......And there's as many "first times'' as members......The crate engine craze would be a long ways away.........MOST (gasp) have been there/done that,wear the honor badge=good or bad,but we jumped in the pool in the deep end..... Hey- we can swim now........
Tell what DID make me a little uneasy. The first time I rebuilt a slushbox. All my pals were like "your gonna do what??!!" Actually, once you got up the nerve to tear it apart, it was pretty easy. Wouldn't have tried it without a shop manual though.
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