Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Will pull the heads this week or next hopefully and check the piston to valve clearances. Should be ok, but just want to be absolutely sure. That will be the last thing that I need to do to the engine mechanically before I can run it. I just wish my exhaust collectors, etc. were done so I could actually start it. I’ve spent the last two week almost entirely working on my daughter’s car. Just wrapped working on it yesterday. Also I picked a new piece of glass yesterday for the cabinet so will get that installed today and do some blasting of parts for my truck.

 

No piston/valve clearance problems with a flathead.

 

Lol! Wasn’t thinking before typing.

 

Managed to do some checking with piston to head clearance and valve clearances with head. Posted stuff on the Barn in this thread, but thought I would include some pics here as well.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2226827#post2226827

Figuring out TDC for cyl #1.

 

Checking was done with Felpro gasket in place - 0.055” thk. Headbolts were torqued to 25 ft-lbs in sequence. Piston to head clearance was about 0.073”.

 

Aside from the valve to head clearances, I also checked clearance between the sparkplug electrode and exhaust valve. Clearance was about 0.128”, but the electrode is on an angle with the valve surface.

 

PS head is installed. Sprayed Felpro head gasket with a couple of coats of Permatex Copper Spray-A-Gasket. Applied Permatex High Temperature Thread Sealant to all the headbolts. Torqued in three steps: 30/45/65 ft-lbs.

 

Want to check torque on the spark plugs, but then this happened sometime today. Didn’t touch it at all today.

 

It was probably time for a cleanup and reorganize .

Phil

 

Haha! Fell down last year - my fault. This time it was my kiddo that pulled out all the drawers looking for a some pliers to pull quills out from the dog’s snout.

 

Buttoned up the head on the PS this morning. This means the engine is finally assembled! Almost 5 yrs in the making. Also got my 2022 dash plaque! It’s a special day for sure.

 

Been a while. Lots has happened to me personally. Youngest is off to university to study mech engineering in Montreal. Oldest moved out and seems to have found her path, and it seems I will be officially going on medical retirement at the end of the year.
Not even sure where I left off, but I know I had been occupied with rebuilding the T5 and had ordered various parts. Of course, can’t remember a thing about what needs to be done, so have to kinda start over. So, being that winter is here, and my personal life is a little more sorted, I feel I need to get back into it. I’ll be splitting my spare time between this project, and my off-road rig which has to be road ready for travels to the USA south west next summer/fall.

 

The day the garage had a tremor......Glad no one was hurt...at an former place of work I had a 5' tall rolling 10 drawer toolbox that weighed A LOT...one of my colleagues was pushing it out of the way where he needed to access and he was pushing from the back side not the drawer side and a wheel hit a fastener sitting on the floor jamming the roll...I was watching this from a distance coincidentally and watched every drawer roll open and down she went...There was huge boom and vibration through the shop...it even clipped our product on the way down and dinged it...No-one injured luckily and lets say it was a tad more than 52 pickup...most tools survived and I banged out a couple dents and onward we went...I had a safety bar on the box but he didn't engage it...

Hope you didn't loose anything in that incident...except a couple subtle expletives...quills in the nose yowser...

Thoughts your way on life in the fast lane...and yes time to batten the hatches for a little white stuff...

 

I'll be looking forward to your updates.

 

Think I’ve figured out that I’m missing parts. Also had a shifter adapter from a Chevy/GMC AstroVan which has disappeared somewhere. Want this to move the shifter from out of between my legs. Watched a few YT vids last night on the T5 rebuild. Seems Tremec ceased making the syncros for the WC version late last year and the aftermarket stuff is no good. Think mine are ok, but will need to confirm. I have a couple of spare units if need be.

 

Was enough to remove the T5 from the engine as it was supported under the MDL hogshead adapter. The trans support rubber mount was just a bit of friction fit against the frame crossmember. Thus time, I’ll be bagging and tagging everything that comes off. Will start be cleaning out all the internal threads on the main T5 body, and removing and installing the front race for the countershaft.

 

Decided to check some drawers that I had kept some of my flathead engine parts in, and sure enough, found three drawers filled with the “missing” T5 parts. That’s a relief. Usually it’s not that easy.

 

Had to look up " MDL hogshead adapter"
Is that paint on tranny or something else?

 

Decided to borrow one of the drain plugs from another spare T5 trans body because of this.



Don’t have any 3/8” drive impact extensions, so grabbed a no-name one, and promptly snapped it with my cordless Makita 1/2” drive impact. Did manage to get the bigger out by hand.



The plugs cleaned up nicely.

 

Front countershaft bearing race is pressed in. Came in a SKF box, but race is from Timken.

 

Plugs installed.

 

Made this little adapter to press on the bearings for the countershaft.

 

Came across this vid.



Like his method better for installing the rear bearing for the countershaft than what Paul Cangialosi did on Eric The Car Guy’s channel. He tapped the bearing into place using a punch, while the bearing on the other end of the shaft was seated in its’ race. Maybe ok to do it that way, but prefer to press it into place.

 

Also installed the magnet and retainer clip.

 

New reverse idler gear installed with shaft.



Cannot believe how mangled the old reverse idler gear was.

 

Mocked up the new machined steel rear cluster retaining plate. Will now need to order a shim kit to get the correct pre-load. With the original shim, there doesn’t seem to be any discernible endplay, but shaft seems to spin too easily. According to Paul, there should be a bit of drag. According to Junkyard Dogg’s vid, end play should be between 0.002” and 0.004”, and shaft should spin freely. Interesting.

 

Have you prior experience building trannys?
Always seemed like a job I didn't want to attempt.

 

Son took car out to party...and didn't say anything at all...

 

No. First one. I felt the same way, but after watching Paul’s vids, I decided why the hell not.

 

Checked the play without the shim. Measured about 0.105”-0.106”. Hard to get an exact figure due to wobble of shaft once it moves up. Shim measures at 0.105”, so in theory I have about zero play. Think it is good, so buttoned up the bearing retainer with some blue threadlocker on the screws.






Noticed two of the screws protruding past the inner wall. Didn’t look right, and noticed the other two screws were shorter, so swapped them out as it seemed the longer screws might hit the gear on the main shaft.