The engine is toast....

January 13th 2007

I've had my first major automotive setback: the big American V8 needs a rebuild... When I picked up my car from the mechanic that had fitted LPG in October he warned me he'd heard some engine noises that indicated problems with (at least) one cylinder and connecting-rod bearing. He thought it could take a long time before anything serious would happen if I don't put my foot down. Worst case scenario is one or more pistons exploding out of the engine block. I think the phrase rimes with 'clucking bell'.

No thanks. I decided to have the engine completely rebuilt by a shop suggested to me by two friends. The shop doesn't have to advertise as it is always booked the next six months. The shop mainly does American engines. The first time I was there he was rebuilding a 462. Maybe that was a sign... Anyway this was bound to happen sometime, I just hadn't expected it so soon: I've been driving it since last august. On the bright side once rebuilt I won't have to worry about that engine for the next fourty odd years, right?

Items you should check for their condition/replace/restore after 42 years on these cars are the harmonic balancer, water pump, (crank mounted) power steering pump, flywheel flex plate & ring gear, radiator & expansion tank.

 

As you can see previous owner went chrome-nuts on the engine bay... I like original cars myself so I will redo this in the right color (black). No sense spending big bucks on a rebuilt engine and later regretting the fact I didn't paint things as they should be. This means getting replacement parts because you can't paint or powder coat over chrome (well you can but you really shouldn't).

Things that will go from chrome to black are: air cleaner housing & snorkel with flapper (kinda cool because these have often been removed and therefore a nice finishing and rare touch), fan shroud, oil filler tube & cap, gas pump heat shield, fender braces, hood hinges & brackets. The valve covers, intake manifold and oil pan will be powder coated. I bought replacement parts on eBay. Things are coming along nicely. 

The power steering fluid reservoir was covered in oily crud but cleaned up beautifully. I'm not going to replace this one with original factory black. Some chrome might look nice. The other few remaining shiny parts will be the oil filler cap, gas pump cap, and one or two brackets.

January 26th & 27th 2007

Disassembly begin.Two afternoons of hard work and the engine bay went from this:

To this:

To this:

I took my time taking everything off because I had never done this before. There's nothing to it really. Just think about what you're doing, read the shop manual first to get an idea of the steps involved, one thing at a time, punt nuts and bolts for different things in different baggies & label them, and of course take loads of pictures - the digital camera is your friend. I have a very basic tool set and had to borrow a socket from someone else only twice. I did help the car was on a bridge. I wouldn't like to do this job without one.... Also, I had a mechanic friend pull the engine while I 'helped' (got in the way & took pictures). Because I did all the prep work we got it out in a jiffy.

What happens when you pull the engine out of a slabside that has two huge LPG tanks in the trunk and suffers from old, saggy leaf springs? You end up with a lowrider!

Painting the engine bay, May 2007

In preparation of a freshly rebuilt engine I've spent three Saturdays cleaning & degreasing the engine bay. I've not taken it down to bare metal because the factory primer is very good. If hasn't come off at this point it won't come off. Most restorers even leave it on because modern day environmental friendly primers & paints aren't as good. I painted everything with two coats of POR-15 rust preventive paint and two coats of POR-15 self-etching primer. After that I painted the engine bay with spray cans I had made to match the colour of the exterior. It's a 96% match & came out well...