Incremental Progress

Not to much to share from this week.  I've been neglecting the yard and such so, this weekend entailed the movement and distribution of 12 cubic yards of mulch.  However, I did find some time to work on the water pump.  Since my engine came from a truck, the accessories and such are not configured to fit under my hood.

Here is the new water pump which I promptly pulled the heater hose end out and tapped the holes for plugs.  The new water pump fits the F-Body vehicle which also required a new harmonic balancer to re-position the serpentine belt.

 

Installation of the new balancer will require a special tool (M12 Threaded Rod) to do the job correctly.  The old seal in the timing cover came out pretty easily and the new one installed without incident.  I figured if I was putting a new balancer on, I better install a new seal.

Previously, I had a concern with clearance on the headers.  I took a shot and ordered a set from Ebay which really solved the problem.  They look to be the same as those sold by SpeedMaster.



Here they are side by side


At least I don't have to go the solid mount route.  The engine is lifted a bit to manage the harmonic balance activity but you can get the essence.  Clearance for the OEM starter is marginal but not an issue.  I still have flash backs of my 70 Chevelle with headers and the headers use to heat up the starter solenoid which caused it to mot start until cooled.

Here are a few pictures of the Chevelle I mentioned earlier and another car I had as a teenager.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Initial Install and clearnace check

Image
Well, the full force of summer has hit Houston but work is still progressing.  This weekend Brandon and I stripped the engine down to the bare essentials.  Basically, I wanted to do a trial run on the installation to see how everything was going to line up. Brandon here, today me and my dad bolted the transmition to the engine then we installed it to the frame.  The combined engine transmission assembly weighed a lot...I estimate 1.5 tons. We had to adjust the engine to align the mounting bolts so, I used a 2x4 board to make subtle movements. Before we installed the engine, we stripped the engine of accessories and manifolds.  I used the impact wrench which made stripping the engine so much easier.  We had to keep changing sockets to fit the different bolts.  When we were finished, we jumped into the pool since we were so hot. Once the engine was cleaned, we did a coarse assembly of the bell housing ...
Read more

Lapse in Activity

Image
I missed last weeks post since activity was impeded by missing parts from Hurst.  The transmission kit I bought had the trans, bell housing, flywheel, pressure plate, hydraulic clutch, throughout bearing, pilot bearing, etc.  What they didn't provide was bolts for the flywheel to crank...really?  If you buy a bolt in kit, shouldn't it come with everything to bolt it into the vehicle? Anyway, I spent some valuable time with the car this weekend which included using Eastwood Exo-Armor to protect the polished components of the engine (  http://www.eastwood.com/exoarmour.html ).  This stuff is suppose to be good to 2000 degrees and held up against 4000 hrs of salt spray. An air brush was used for application.  This stuff needs to have thin coats and it was easy to build too quickly.  Overall, I was quite pleased with the results. I also sprayed the bell housing and transmission to keep them looking new. Here is the intake, A/C Compressor, and m...
Read more

Preparing for Paint

Image
Work and other activities has slowed progress over the past couple weeks.  Today I primed the rear end and door along with a couple other pieces like clutch & brake pedal, deck lid hinges, and the Z-bar. I was doing some online search for possible colors.  This is a pearl base coat color that brings the appearance of being candied.  Don't want to do candied since its hard to touch up / spot in for possible issues. Work has been a bear lately so I'm going to slack on this post.  The next post should have some images of the rear strut mount change to improve the suspension geometry and tire contact patch. Update: (2/5/2021) Decided to change the color to silver.  Looking at the Mercedes AMG McLaren silver as a option.
Read more