Stuff at the Shop

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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Dual Port »

The 1600SP went smoothly, here's the case ready to mate together. The crank looked great to begin with but I polished it using a drill to spin it and 1000 grit, it looked like a mirror when done. The bearings are marked and "lined" to make sure they're seated correctly on the dowels, the case flanges are cleaned and gooped with sealer and it's already been dry-fit to make sure everything spins free.
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Here's the short block done, it spins freely with zero effort.
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I've been drilling an extra drain hole in the case to relieve pressure on the rear seal, the hole should be at 6 o'clock and the Germans put it at 8 o'clock for some reason. This leaves an ounce of oil against the lip of the seal when the car is parked and sometimes ends up on the driveway.
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The heads had less than 1000 miles since last ground, I disassembled them.....
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And blasted everything. I don't like the "valve grinding compounds" sold lately for lapping as they're too coarse and make little grooves in the valve face and seat, it's like sand in a paste carrier. I tried using rubbing compound this time and it worked great. (you can see a bit of it in the tub in the left background) I used a power drill running really slow and reversed directions a lot, maybe 2-3 seconds at a time and refreshed the compound.
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Parts done and ready to assemble, German jugs ball honed and checked, no wear or out-of-round measurable. Pistons soda blasted and re-ringed. Heads assembled and ready to go.
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I always air check heads as soon as they go on to make sure everything is air tight. The compound must have worked well as there was not a bit of leakage.
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Long block done.
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Oil system complete and priming, I was able to get 40psi cranking. Note the spark plugs and rocker shafts are off to relieve pressure, the engine spins very free like this to build oil pressure. You can see the "4" written on top of the piston and the notches in each jug to match- 4 notches on #4 jug, 3 on 3. I only use engine oil as an assembly lube, no fancy greases or assembly lubes.
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Runs perfect and great oil pressure, I use a really thin oil initially on the stand (like 0w-20) while the rings seat in for a few hours and then change to 0w-40 Mobil 1. I'm not finishing the sheet metal trim on this engine because I don't know what it's going into, that's why there's VGs on the heat riser pipes.
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Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
Six Volt
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Six Volt »

I stoppd by when the engine was running. Sounded really smooth. The best part was seeing Bruce's "exhaust removal and dissipation system" in use. :P
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Karl Kombi
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Karl Kombi »

I've seen that exhaust scavenging system -- magnificent engineering!
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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Dual Port »

I thought I'd post this to give you guys something to look at. I've been pressure testing cylinders for a long time, as soon as I bolt the heads on I apply air and listen for leaks. A couple of times I've had valves that weren't seating and the head had to come off and go back to the machinist. I thought it wouldn't be hard to make up a jig to do this before the engine is assembled and I have plenty of junk parts, so have at it. In school we vacuum checked valves but I think shop air is much more effective.

Take an old jug, knock the fins off of it with an air hammer, weld some head studs to it, bolt a piston in with a ring, seal it with RTV, and voila! I have a hillbilly test jig to make sure the valves seat. The welds aren't as bad as they look, and if you can't weld good, weld a lot. :mrgreen: There's a lot of force on the piston (like 1700 lbs if I use full shop air) so the bolts go through the steel reinforcements in the skirts. I have a shutoff valve in the airline right next to my bench so I start with low pressure and work my way up if everything is tight, and I'm not hovering over it during testing. ;) That piston would probably leave a mark if it got loose.

I was going through some heads that had low mileage- TRW valves, tight guides, good looking seats. Clean everything, lap the valves, check contact with bluing and pressure test them, they're totally airtight.
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Stop laughing!
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Karl Kombi
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Karl Kombi »

"That piston would probably leave a mark if it got loose."

That stings when that happens... :P
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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Dual Port »

OK, I'll admit I'm starting to get a little anxious from being locked in. I've been really good, still going to the shop every day but obviously not much else. I don't go to parts stores for the most part, ordering everything I can online. Even HF type stuff I've been buying online and get it shipped rather than go in a store. Pat does the grocery shopping and we do carryout a few times a week to help keep the restaurants in business as I feel really sorry for them (and a lot of other people out of work). Tip your waiters! I was supposed to go to Florida for the Lakeland show, I had tickets for concerts and plays and other crap which all cancelled of course. I've been reading a lot of books, I'll probably post later about those in case you're interested.

I wouldn't normally post this except I have a LOT of free time on my hands right now, all my classes cancelled until June (at least!) and maybe more cancellations coming. (Not that I teach, I quit that 2 years ago) I'm really lucky to have my shop/mancave to hang out in. Recently I upgraded the stereo with some excellent freebee stuff, I now have a great amp powering 6 great studio monitor speakers that kick ass. Most of the time I work, sometimes I just sit, blast the music and contemplate life. :shock:

Anyway, I have a really nice Thing in the shop right now.
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The owners don't belong to Leakoil or any other club, they just like their Thing, which is great. Normally I don't post non-LO cars but since I have time and you might enjoy reading this I'll do it, you don't have to read it if you don't want to. I did a ton of work to this car last year and it's been great for a year but like all classic cars a few issues popped up. The owners bought the glass side windows to replace the curtains (Thanks, Brandon!)
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The main complaint was gasoline odor that could not be visually identified. Last year I did all fuel lines and vapor lines in the front, it's a '74 so it has a bunch. Visual inspection of those (and everything else I did last year) showed no issues. All is dry.

I found the fuel odor issue to be the right side intake manifold boot seeping fuel. Normally the intake manifold supplies a vaporized air/fuel mixture to the cylinders, but there can be some liquid fuel separation when the engine is cold which settles on the bottom of the intake manifold. Things must have a pattern failure here as both of the boots were rotted on this Thing, and Rob's Thing a couple of years ago had the same problem, except his escalated into a perforated boot which upset his idle obviously.
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Step 1, yank the engine and strip the top of it to get to the intake boots.
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The boots look like shit and are dry rotted to the point of being porous. OEG boots commonly look different and many times feel like brand new when removed.
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Might as well look at the clutch and stuff to find the disc wearing unevenly and the rear seal leaking. I cleaned up the back of the case and put in a new seal. I also bead blasted the flywheel to give the new clutch a nice surface to wear into.
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Attachments
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Last edited by Dual Port on Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Dual Port »

The clutch on this Thing was kind of grabby, and other Things I've driven were the same way so once again I wonder if it's a Mexican motor issue or just a 45 year old clutch issue. Anyway, I ordered a new Sachs clutch assy hoping it was German. Well, the TOB was German but the disc and PP were Korean. Oh well. It works great so no complaints I guess.
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I blasted and painted the manifolds to make them pretty and adjusted the valves.
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The owner got some pretty good sized stone chips in the paint and wanted them touched up, so I took one of the doors to the body supply shop where they used their camera to ID the color of the paint.
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The match is pretty good, oddly it comes up as a Chrysler color. I was going to buy a quart in case I need to shoot something but they offered me a $15 touch up bottle so I got that.
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Here the engine is back together and ready to go in, I rotated the generator 1/4 turn to put it where it's supposed to be. The prior tech had it spun to the left. When pulling the engine the dist, EGR tube and fan belt were hitting the engine rubber seal and making it hard to get out so I pulled the dist and left the EGR and belt off while installing the engine. It made a big difference, it went in easier than it came out which is odd.
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Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

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The PO painted the car but did a shitty job on the bumpers. Between that and damage from shipping they needed to be removed, straightened and painted. The damage was weird- not impact damage but "pulling" damage from either being dragged around the bodyshop/museum or loaded onto the car carrier with a strap. Anyway I straightened them as good as could be.
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I still have giant C-clamps from my truck days, those aren't Chinese cheapies but forged-in-USA clamps. I bet they're $200 each these days or more. I used a piece of 6" I beam for a jig.
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I filled in some low spots and electric weld divots to make them smooth. Note how many layers of paint there are!
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They're in primer right now and will get black satin shortly. Yes, that's my primer gun, the HF cheapie. I can't believe how good those guns work, it seems like you can't kill them. For $10 they're barely worth cleaning, maybe just throw them away after each use. I shot a riding mower red last month with this one.
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I sent the mirrors to Thingparts to be refurbished too.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Ken
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Ken »

Good to see you are staying busy as usual. :D Carolyn and I spent 6 weeks in Florida this winter. Its good to be home even under the present conditions. Now that the weather is improving, I am getting over to the Meister Rd. Shop and back to the busses. Yea!
1963 Single Cab
1964 Bowman & Sons Camper (Vegas Bus)
1966 Westy S0-42 Hardtop
1967 Westy SO-42 Pop Top
1968 Single Cab
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Dual Port
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Re: Stuff at the Shop

Post by Dual Port »

The bumpers came out really nice, they look like new. Satin black doesn't photograph well but trust me, they look nice.
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Still waiting on the mirrors from Thingparts in NY, I'll disinfect them when they arrive. :mrgreen:
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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