tranny out!

I haven't updated in a while, I've been holding back until I can post pictures, but I did get the transmission out.  Going to need a new transmission crossmember (rusted through)... and bolts while I'm at it, they're pretty rusty.  But it's out... got it hosed off for now.  Turns out the shift linkage DOES 'just' lift off of the transmission.  Problem was that it was caked and surrounded with crap so I couldn't really just lift it off, but I was eventually successful.  I'll get the dip stick tube off, tighten the pan bolts, clean it up a bit more and put it into storage on a lower shelf somewhere hopefully in the next couple of days.

So now I can roll the car out of the garage again (since the transmission isn't resting on wooden blocks anymore) and clean up the floor, clean out the car more, etc.  I'd like to get the brakes working and get my bench/table set up so I can practice welding.

Painted manifold

There it is.  :-)

pretty exhaust manifolds...

I degreased and cleaned up the exhaust manifolds and painted them with silver header paint.  They look pretty awesome... all shiny and clean, like new parts!  I can't post the pictures because the camera cable is messed up, but it'll happen one of these days.  Makes me really want to clean off and paint more stuff like the heads, oil pan, etc... but I'm going to be taking the heads to get hot-tanked and everything, so I'll hold off on the paint there.

Engine inspection

So... I commented already that the lifters are concave and need to be replaced along with the camshaft.  Not a big deal except that I was planning to go with the 340 stock cam which has a higher lift than the 318.  I'm assuming (a bad thing, I know) for planning purposes that I could make that swap on a stock 318 motor with no issues, specifically regarding valve clearance with the pistons.  I could check that clearance pretty easily with putty on a piston, bolt the heads and everything back on and use a feeler to measure what thickness of putty is 'unpenetrated' by the valves through an engine cycle... which I will do before I order a new camshaft.

Where the wrinkle comes in is with the pistons.

First of all, the cylinder bores are totally smooth which means they should really be honed by a machine shop after I have the block inspected.  If that honing puts them out of tolerance for stock pistons, I'll need to replace the pistons regardless of anything else.  Another reason I may want to replace the pistons is to increase the compression ratio of the motor (stock is 8.5:1... which is kind of low).  So if I 'have to' replace the pistons due to clearance after honing, why not just get the higher-compression pistons anyway?  Well, because those higher-compression pistons poke up higher into the combustion chamber where the valves are moving...  so if I have a camshaft that pushes those valves into the chamber farther (which increases airflow), the risk of hitting the pistons goes up.  Although, the pistons I was looking at have notches cut into them to accomodate the valves, however those are likely cut for stock valve lift.

So... the future is uncertain.

The safest path is to just keep the stock pistons/compression ratio.  Even if I need new pistons, I can keep them at stock and not risk the valve clearance issue with the new camshaft (I assume).  Actually, the safest path is to just use stock replacement parts, but even though my family insisted that the car had 'plenty of power', MOPAR documenatation says that engine made about 185hp which... doesn't seem like 'plenty' to me.  The camshaft change and bumping up the compression ratio would theoretically be cheap/free ways to get more power out of the motor if I'm already replacing the camshaft and pistons and I'd hate to have to go back into the bottom end of the engine at some point in the future in order to make those changes.

So... bottom line is that the cylinders need to be honed to give them the cross-hatch needed for proper ring operation... I'm going to have the block cleaned/hot-tanked and inspected beforehand so I'll know if it's cracked anywhere or if anything is out of tolerance that needs to be addressed.  I'll also have them put in new cam bearings at that time.  It's also possible that the decks might need to be milled to be flat which would increase the compression ratio even with the stock pistons, but I'll still need to check clearance beforehand to see if the stock pistons with the new cam would still clear if some of the decks are milled down, so I need to make that check of the valve/piston clearance check before I tear it all apart and have the block cleaned and inspected.

Meanwhile, I still have to pull the transmission, clean up the cylinder heads (and transmission), etc.  No rest for the wicked.

heads pulled

Hey, I'm down to the short block!  Some brackets and stuff to get off yet, motor mounts, transmission brace, oil dipstick, etc, but pretty near there.  I have to rent/borrow a puller for the damper too but I may be ready to let it rest for a while, once I get the oil pan all drained.

Took the intake manifold to a car wash to pressure-clean it... much better.  I'll do this with the heads, too.

First pulled cylinder head.  Those are some dirty combustion chambers.  Can't wait to see what the intake valves look like on the other side.

Closeup of combustion chamber deposits.  I may just get new valves.

Much lighter on the stand... I should weigh the intake and heads.  It's fun to turn the crank and see the pistons go.

My shelf of parts gets more loaded.

Checked the lifters, they're worn concave so it's looking like the cam/lifter upgrade/update is required rather than optional.  340cam, here we come!  :-)  I can't figure out how to take the pulley off of the water pump... there are no screw heads or anything that I can see through the holes on the outside of the pulley.  I know it has to come off... because there are bolts in there that won't even come out all of the way with the pulley in the way.

I'll probably leave it as it is for a while... probably.  We'll see.  There are still brackets and stuff to take off, but nothing big for now, until I get a damper puller and take off the front cover... then the timing chain and whatnot... I should get the transmission out first, but it's so easy and tempting to take things off of the motor.  Also need to play with the welder and work on the body, for that matter.  The engine is a serious distraction...

'as designed'

Okay, update... the 'port' that looked totally caked shut?  there's no port there, that's just some old oil buildup on a solid bit of iron.  Nothing to see here, move along, move along... ;-)

Engine coming apart

Yeah, I have no patience.  I have an excuse, I want to reduce the weight on that engine stand by getting the intake and heads off of it.  But that means it needs to be mostly disassembled.  I'm sure by that point I'll want to take the short block apart, too, but I'm going to try to resist the urge, the heads and intake look like enough work to clean up at this point anyway.  

Took some more stuff off of the intake manifold... and I wanted a reference shot before I went further.  

This was supposed to be a shot of that bracket in the foreground right behind the oil dipstick so I know what it is and where it was before I took it off... then I didn't take it off yet anyway.

 Cleaned up the distributor contact and marked it with a little 'chisel' (aka: regular screwdriver...)

Here's the carburetor. 

 Here's where the distributor used to be.  I get it now (how it connects with the camshaft and everything)

Distributor and mounting bracket with bolt. 

 Lookee here!  The intake manifold!  It's filthy!  That must mean that the engine's 'open'... I'm very excited.  

Look at that!  Camshaft, pushrods, intake ports on heads, water jacket holes... um... is that hole in the middle supposed to be packed solid? 

Close-up... this doesn't look good... something tells me there were some cooling issues, possibly the reason why the freeze plugs blew out?  I hope nothing's cracked.  

This is the opposite-side port.  Looks better.  

I'm going to chip away at those deposits with a screwdriver and hope that they can be cleaned.  I haven't even looked in the intake port yet, I got called back in the house to herd toddlers.  At least none of the pushrods look bent or anything, right?  Next step: more cleaning and getting into the heads...

Motor's out.

Last week I picked up a couple of chains for pulling the motor, one for the motor and another to hold up the transmission.  I was getting everything ready for pulling on Saturday and realized my chain was too short to go from frame to frame (it's only 4 feet long).  Probably should have a 6 foot chain for that.  Anyway, I jacked it up with a block of wood under the trans oil pan and it worked fine.  

Here's the rented hoist in the back of the van... 

...and assembled.  Rated to 1500 pounds, $18 4-hr rental from Ruddy Rents... an outstanding deal, assuming I only need it for four hours...

I was waiting for Mark to get back from his errand, so I rolled it in and lifted the engine just a teensy bit.

After some fighting, she came out no problem.  I had missed a big bolt down by the oil filter, had to take the oil filter off and get that bolt out (5/8 inch).

I had a lot of bad scenarios playing through my head, like will the lift be high enough for the block to clear the car and not too high to clear the garage door... it was just fine.

With the new vantage point and better light, an Asian beetle infestation was revealed.  Also, it's cool seeing the exhaust valves in there.  Filthy... like looking in a chimney... which makes sense, I suppose.

Photo op with Nathan, who was interested to see the engine pulled and really needed a haircut.  The hoist wheeled really easy also, it was great.

Nate wrenching the engine stand bolts onto the block.

And there it is.  It's not a very good engine stand, but it was free. The oil leak at the front of the crank kept going, so I replaced the Crate and Barrel cardboard with the oil pan and have since drained the oil from the oil pan (as best I can... the angle means there's a good amount in the pan yet.

And here's the engine bay with all kinds of room for me to climb in there with a scrub brush.  :-)  I still have to figure out how to remove the shift linkage for the transmission so I can pull it.

Since then I've continued attacking the block with a wire brush to clean things up and took off the carburetor. I also picked up a 'way on sale' stick welder and 4-inch grinder from Northern Tool so I am primed to start some serious work, hopefully... assuming I don't electrocute myself.  With the engine block there and the further work planned, I'm kind of assuming that my car will be parked in the driveway from now on in order for there to be decent room for the van (for Sarah and the kids).  It's cool, it's almost spring anyway.  

I'm going to practice weld chunks of the exhaust pipe to start out and start carefully cutting away the rusted body panels with the grinder to get at the underlying structures that I need to cut pieces of steel to replace.  I'm hoping I don't 'need' to get a band saw for cutting sheet metal, but we'll see.  Also (like I said), need to disconnect the shift linkage to get the transmission out, clean up the engine compartment... then get the car set up so that I can remove the k-member and get set up to replace/repair the frame.  And while I'm at it, proceed with cleaning/disassembly of the motor.  It's good to have something to keep me busy.