True tales of the Super Snipe (Page 5 of 10)

I also look forward to more slow ill handling cars at Buttonwillow.

Next time you need help just post it in here. I'm sure there are lots of people who would lend a hand.

If I'm not busy I'd be willing to come over most weekends. Yesterday I was working on my various motorcycles, but there is no deadline on getting those fixed.

Update coming Sunday.   I'll be working on the engine(s) all weekend.

A bit later than promised, but here it is.   I'll post the next episode tonight.

Episode 19: Tear it all down!

In our last episode, we discovered a spun/stacked rod bearing (brand new!).   This led to the conclusion that an oil passage was plugged.   At the end of the next episode we'll see how correct that assumption is.

Knowing that the crank was in need of a regrind, and that bearings of any size are unavailable, the best hope was that the crank in the '64 parts car was usable.   This was a long shot, given that it had long ago been scavenged for parts, corrosion was everywhere, and the mice had been crapping down the spark plug holes for years.   But I had to know what the insides looked like if I was going to make an informed decision on how to proceed.

You may recall that the parts car was sitting at my friend Bernie's yard in Covina, 30 miles away.   Like most people, I have just one engine hoist.   This means that every time I need to lift something, I have to disassemble it into small pieces, load them into my Volvo, and reassemble it at the new location.  This is complicated by the fact that two of them, my driveway and the patio, are separated by a narrow sidewalk, and my garage is too full of, er, "stuff" to work in.   Also, I am doing 95% of the work all by myself, with nobody to assist.   Thus, even simple tasks take a long time.

Fortunately, the transmission in the '64 had already been removed (Episode 14), and with many parts already missing from the engine, it took me just one day to get it out of the car and ready to move:

The next day my friend Richard came by with his truck and we moved the engine to my driveway.   Bernie also loaned me a very high-quality engine stand (made by OTC in Minnesota!), rated at 1000 American pounds.   Judging by Harbor Freight products, American pounds seem to be about twice as heavy as Chinese pounds.

Moving the engine from my driveway to the patio, besides the disassembly/reassembly of the hoist, required a wagon of some sort.   Harbor Freight sells a fat-tired, mesh deck wagon (SKU 38137) rated at 1000 pounds.
http://www.harborfreight.com/steel-mesh … 38137.html
Don't you believe it!   Even with wood blocks to distribute the load, the weight of the engine pressed the deck down to where it just rubbed on the tires.   But eventually I got the engine mounted on the stand on my patio, and I could begin tearing it down.

The aluminum water pump, thermostat housing, and intake manifold were all badly corroded.   It took lots of penetrating oil and patient tap-tap-tapping to get them off.   Those parts would clearly have to come from the '59 engine.

Much to my surprise, pulling the bearing caps revealed journals and bearings in perfect condition!   This was totally at odds with the condition of everything else.   But now I knew that this was the crank to use, and I wouldn't have to kludge some bearings.   The question then became, do I use this engine in its entirety, or should I try to combine the parts of both?   Let's pull the head and find out!

Ugh!   Removing the valve cover revealed the most god-awful baked-on crud I could have imagined.   It also revealed the most interesting lubrication "fix" I have ever seen.   I had wondered about a thin plastic tube leading from the oil filter base, through a hole in the oil filler cap.   Someone had modified the rocker arm assembly with a fitting for this tube, so that the valve train would get more oil, directly from the output of the oil pump!   This was not looking good for this engine.

Pulling the head was more good/bad news.   The cylinder bores appeared to be in great condition, with just a bit of a ledge at the top of each bore.   Later I would learn that this ledge was almost entirely carbon, showing that the cylinders had very little wear.   The bad news was that the #5 piston had a nasty crack extending from the center to the edge, and down to the wrist pin.   It also had a tiny chunk missing along the crack.

At least I knew that I had a good crankshaft, bearings, and at least one good connecting rod, all of which were toast on the '59 engine.   Things were looking up, but now I had to disassemble the '59 and see how bad its insides were.

Next: It's deja vu, all over again.

The pic of the head actually looks pretty darn good!  The "crud" probably protected the bits from rusting.  A trip to the machine shop would have that cleaned up better than new.  A soak in some mineral spirits or diesel fuel (or whatever you can still get in CA) will probably do fine at home; just takes a little longer.  Any chance you could take an "overall" pic of the head?  I'd like to see how it was put together 'cause I've never seen one.  Thanks!  Keep up the good work!  Were I closer I'd definitely lend a hand.

Episode 20: It's deja vu, all over again.

When we last left the '59 car, it was sitting in my driveway getting the cage installed.   That was completed, but I now had to pull the engine.   As you recall from Episode 18, my driveway is slanted in two directions, with a "V" diagonally across it.   It is also so short that an engine hoist would stick out into the street.   I may be crazy, but I'm not (very) stupid, so it had to be moved to Bernie's yard in Covina.

Unfortunately, my wife was home that day and vetoed my transport idea.   I was going to hook a rental trailer to my Volvo, park it down the hill from the house, and use gravity and inertia to roll the Super Snipe down the street and onto the trailer.  What could possibly go wrong?      With no Lemons friends around to convince her of the lack of fail in my plan, I was forced to pay a friendly tow truck driver to make the trip.   It may have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that I heard the neighbors cheering as we drove away.

This time, it took two days to get the engine out: one day to remove the transmission, and a second to unhook everything and actually pull the engine.   On the third day, Richard had time to come by with his truck and bring it back to my house.   Bernie also loaned me his other engine stand!   Don't you envy people who are so well-equipped that they have two engine stands?   Unfortunately, this one, which Bernie swore would hold a big-block American V8, was not up to the task of holding this big inline hemi 6 from England.   It would barely hold it, and it seemed to be sagging.

Thanks to a convenient sales flyer and a 20% off coupon, Harbor Freight was again my destination.   They have three models of engine stands: #32915 (750 pounds), #32916 (1000 pounds), and #67015 (2000 pounds).   Needless to say, I got the biggest.   http://www.harborfreight.com/2000-lb-fo … 67015.html

When I got it assembled, I compared it to the American-made OTC stand, rated at 1000 pounds, and it still came up short, but not by much.   Therefore, I conclude that Chinese pounds are only half as heavy as American pounds.   First the wagon, now the engine stand.   Gravity must be different over there.   You have been warned.

Disassembling the '59 engine went relatively smoothly.   Since it was complete with all accessories, there was a lot more to take off.   Also, I took the time to clean everything as I removed it so as to make assembly go faster (and cleaner).   I also tagged every part so I knew which engine it came off of, as well as the order of such things as valve lifters.   I used little 3/4" by 1" pieces of stainless steel shim stock, stamped with numbers:

Over the years, my wife has learned how to deal with my dirty outdoor activities.   She provides a 5-gallon bucket of water and Doctor Bronner's soap solution.   I must undress outdoors and put my clothes in to soak.   After a couple of water/soap changes, they are clean enough, in her opinion, to run through the washing machine.   She also sews patches on my jeans.   How can you beat that for support!

As of last night, the '59 engine is now completely stripped down to a bare block, and almost all the parts cleaned.   In general, it looks in much better shape that I had any right to expect.

I ran a ridge reamer on the bores of both engines and found that the ridge on both of them was only carbon.   With the exception of the wrist pin on the #1 piston (the one with the spun bearing) and the gouged up big end on the rod, the pistons & rods from the '59 look good -- at least not unreasonable.   They will all need to have the ring grooves cleaned, however, as a couple of rings are stuck.

The rings on the '64 engine are all stuck with baked-on carbon, plus one of the pistons is cracked.   I think I will just use one connecting rod and wrist pin from it.

Now I have to finish cleaning everything and diagnose why the #1 bearing got spun/stacked.   I'm having trouble finding a place to have the blocks cleaned, so I may have to do it at home.   A couple of places will do caustic cleaning, but it will destroy the cam bearings which are unobtanium.   I got a small child's wading pool to contain the mess, so we'll see how that works.

Next: I'm getting cranky.

I don't know, seems like once again you are running out of time

+1

After all he's been  through I hope the Powers That Be let this guy slide on BS laps. (You listening, Jay?)

For hands I find a mix of Gojo Orange with pumice and whatever pump hand soap my wife buys works wonders. I also find olive oil based bar soap will get the grime out of your finger prints and everything.

For laundry I spay really bad spots with simple green and toss in a little Borax with the laundry soap. I get things clean I didn't think would ever be that way again.

I think I can do it.   I've got the rest of today off, plus the weekend, so I think I can make good progress.

Now I just need to find some drivers.   My three friends from Utah can't make it to Buttonwillow!   By the end of this weekend (5/20) I should have a good idea of whether or not the engine will be OK, so I will defer a formal announcement until then.

I'm going to have some engine questions by tomorrow (Saturday).