Take lots of pictures as you go and keep the bolts in bags that are labeled... Also write the size of the socket/wrench required for the bolts to make it quicker to put back together... Eventually you will remember all the sizes LOL:beers2:
Sean.. Is there any reason you can't remove either style rod cap???I don't see what the difference would be..
This is what Jay is refering to: post #16 " inspect the bearings for copper showing and that if the rod caps have nuts and bolts instead of the cap screws you can pull them off to check the bearings and put them back on and re-torque without messing anything up." It makes it sound like you can't do that with capscew rods.
i replaced gaskets & seals, in the engine & tranny of my 72 gs 350, almost 10 years ago. i might be wrong, but i think felpro makes various quality gasket kits for the 350. if they do, buy the best. i think the kit also does not include the thermostat housing gasket. i do not like victor gaskets. i do like felpro. u have a very neat car.
That was the info that I got from Mike at TA performance. That was the way it sounded to me as well. Thanks! I agree, I'm a fan of Fel-Pro. I believe Mike said his kit was the same as Fel-Pro. I did not know about the thermostat housing, at this point I'll just have to grab one from the auto parts store. There will be lots of pictures! You guys will feel like you are there with us, lol!
We started today! Here is the story told in pictures: Before: Disconnecting everything: Pulling the engine out: It's out, but dirty: Cleaned up a little: The cowl tag, can anyone translate? Sandblasted parts ready for paint: That was a full day but it went great! We ran into a few little problems though. There is a fitting on the back of the intake manifold that has a metal line and then has a rubber line which goes over to the brake booster. That fitting snapped off in the manifold, any ideas on where to get a new one? Also the front passenger corner of the intake manifold was broken off where the bolt is. I don't think it's a problem but just wanted to make sure. Tomorrow we are painting the bolt ons, tearing the engine down some more, cleaning up the rest of the block and heads, and hopefully painting them as well.
Today we spent a lot of time cleaning both the bay and the engine. We also got everything off the block (heads, timing chain, etc.) and got the block cleaned prepped and sprayed in Buick Red. We have 3 broken bolts (one exhaust bolt in the head and two water pump bolts in the timing cover) that we are going to take to a machine shop in the morning for quick removal. Then we are going to clean and paint the heads and other bolt on components and start reassembling the block. Still on schedule! Cleaning up the firewall and bay Powered by me!
Looking good, so far! A couple more suggestions... If you haven't already planned on doing it, while you have the engine out and are cleaning up the engine compartment, spray bomb the brake booster (if you can't find the exact zinc color, then some metallic color like "aluminum" could work, according to your tastes in appearance). Also, hit the inner fender wells-- maybe use a semi-gloss black (again, if you can find the exact factory color, use it). Otherwise, make it clean-looking, according to your tastes-- but do take this opportunity to clean everything up while you have the working room. You'll be glad you did when it's all back together. Also, regarding the gas tank and fuel lines... In addition to making sure the tank itself is cleaned out, you said you were going to install a new sock filter. That's good. But don't forget to blow out all of the fuel-related lines (main pickup line, vent line and return line) with compressed air. If one or more of the lines are clogged you won't get good fuel pressure, and in the case of the vent line, if it's clogged, you may have fuel vacuum problems that could cause rough idling and stalling (and be hard to trace the source of them) later on. Just my humble suggestions here, but they shouldn't be too hard for you to tackle while the engine's out. Also, BTW, we all are on a friendly, first-name basis here on the Board, so most guys put their name in their signatures so we can call you by name (if you don't mind). Thanks for your consideration, & welcome! --Chris
A couple more things... You said you want to keep things original, and that's fine. But would you consider using a Pertronix points conversion in that stock distributor? No one will know, and you'll have better performance and (best of all) no points to change or adjust!-- Again, just a friendly suggestion, but I've used them on almost all of my cars and they work great. Use the "Lobe Sensor" style if you do decide to use one-- they're easier to install. Also, I noticed in your "slightly cleaned up" engine pic that you had removed the firewall ground strap that was bolted to the back of the rt. (pass. side) head. DO NOT lose that strap or forget to re-attach it. The engine will run without it, but not properly, and you may end up chasing various electrical gremlins down the road. And finally, regarding your request to decode your data tag, I don't have every single code here, but here are the main codes: ST71 = (Body)Style 1971 (i.e., 1971 Model year) TR = Trim (interior color & type)-- 140 = Green Cloth interior 44469 is your vehicle model (Skylark 4-door Custom Sedan) The "FL1" is Flint, MI assembly plant, and the "194754" is your body number (not the same as build sequence number shown in last few digits of your VIN, but an internal build sequence # used in the factory). "41" = Paint code 41 ("Silver Fern")-- nice color, btw. "05B" = 2nd week of May build date. Again, nice project car. Hope this info. helps a little. Cheers! --Chris
Thanks! It's coming along great! Thanks for the tips Chris, I'm Nathan by the way. As it is it doesn't look like i'm going to get to mess with the gas tank this trip. Maybe next time. I'm not familiar with the Pertronix Conversion, I'll have to look into it. I won't forget the ground strap. Thanks for decoding my cowl tag! Ok so its Silver Fern, I was thinking it was willow mist. That's very good to know! Here are some pics from today: Paining stuff The block Work space Installing the timing components As it sits at the end of the day. Today, in addition to what you can see in the pictures, we took one of the heads and the timing cover to a machine shop to remove three broken bolts, we got the rear main seal out and installed a new neoprene one, and we ordered new motor mounts because one was broken completely in half and the other was cracked. Tomorrow we are installing the pulleys, carburetor, spark plugs, brackets, distributer, coil, motor mounts, water pump, fuel pump and hopefully dropping it back in the bay and hooking everything back up.
Thanks! Haha, the wagon was my Dad's idea. At first her rolled it over for something to sit on but it didn't take long to fill up with tools!
Today we got everything else bolted back on and got the engine back in the bay. We bolted up the trans, starter, fuel pump, lower radiator hose, power steering pump, A/C compressor, ground strap, and a few other things. Tomorrow we need to bolt on the carburetor, alternator, spark plug wires, hook up all the wires and the rest of the hoses, bolt the hood back on, and it should be ready to go. Bolting everything back on Dropping it back in End of the day shot
Great work, Nathan! You guys really cleaned & painted that engine well. Are you going to install new plugs & wires & do a full tuneup now?
Bet you had a blast doing this with your Dad. I did similar projects with my own Dad and then my own son. Good memories!
Thanks! We put in new AC Delco plugs but the wires were only a few years old so we left them. We did throw in new timing sprockets and chain, motor mounts, thermostat, water pump, and a few other small things. Yeah this has been fun! We actually took the day off from working on the car today and spent the day with the whole family. My Dad and I were sitting on a bench in the mall while my Mom and Sister were in a store shopping and my Dad looked at me and said, "You know, I'd rather be in the garage working on the Skylark" and I said, "Me Too!". Good times! Tomorrow we will finish hooking everything back up, fill her full of fluids, start her up and set the timing. Then I fly back to Texas on Friday and that will be it for the Buick for a while. Thanks so much! We've already started talking about the next project, brakes (Front and rear + the BB/MC), wheels (restoring them), and tires (BFG Radial TA's).
We finished hooking everything up and got it started! Upon starting it we decided to fix a rather large transmission fluid leak that was leaking from the lower transmission cooler line on the transmission itself. It had been leaking for a long time and we finally decided to fix it. It sounded a little off so we hooked up a timing light, dwell meter/tachometer, and vacuum gauge. We turned the distributer to get the timing to 4* advanced (which is as far as we could get it, we'll try again in the morning because it was already dark), the RPMs were 450, the dwell was 29-30*, but the vacuum gauge was showing 0. We checked around but didn't see any obvious vacuum leaks. One thing I noticed was that I'm seeing that the spark plugs (AC Delco R45TS) should be set at .030 but we were told at the auto parts store it was .040 so that what is set at. It still sounds off, any ideas?
Idle should be about 650 rpm I think. If you really had 0 inches of vacuum I don't think the engine would run so either your gauge is faulty or not connected to a vacuum source. Check to make sure your TDC timing mark is actually at TDC for cyl #1. Also to get the best performance read Larry's power timing thread http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=63475&highlight=power+timing
