“Tire leak testing tub.” I remember seeing them at every service station back in the day. Looking good Larry!
August 13th 2021 Pulled the crankshaft from the Evapo-Rust dip after twenty-four hours, misted it with Marvel Mystery Oil and started setting up to polish the journals. Cut sheets of 800 and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper into strips as wide as the journals and cannibalized my oldest pair of PF Flyers for shoestrings to provide motive power for the polishing. WD-40 to wet the paper and Blue Magic polish for the finish. Got Dad's '59 Chilton Manual out to check the specs for main and rod journals and commenced measuring the crank journals with a 3" micrometer. I was confused by my initial readings as my precision measurement Kung Fu is not strong. I will recalibrate the mic and go again. Beer of the day is Fulton Brewing's 300 IPA Hop Royalty. Background music was Always in my Heart Classic WWII Songs Volume Two.
August 16th 2021 Was a little bit under the weather over the weekend, probably due to barometric changes of Fred passing by and blowin' the stink off us. I relapsed into lazy for most of the weekend. I did get started with the nailhead crankshaft polishing and ran into pitting of the rear main seal surface. Spent some time pondering the best approach to fixing that problem. Beer of the day is Hamburg Brewing Company's Southtown American Style Stout. Background music was LeAnn Rimes Blue.
Dang Larry, looking good! I don’t know what Southtown American style stout tastes like, but I do know what LeAnn Rimes sounds like. Awesome music!
August 19th 2021 Polishing the nailhead crank journals is taking some time. Ops went a little faster once I established a rhythm. Almost finished with the first pass of 800 grit paper. My friend, Dave Kerry, asked about run out and offered that he had the v-blocks and precision dial indicator to check it. Decided to take a timeout from the polishing tedium and do an initial check myself. Since I don't have v-blocks to support the crankshaft, I oiled main journal one and five bearing halves and installed them in the block, then the crankshaft followed, touching only the two bearing halves. I set up my dial indicator to measure the run out at main journal three. First time I've used the dial indicator and I fumbled around a bit setting it up. It didn't come with instructions. Measuring the journal, front and back, resulted in readings of .009 and .0085 inches between low and high points. I haven't researched run out yet and my WAG is that some of this could be due to journal out-of-round. My next step, after polishing operations are complete will be to check all main journals for run out and to mic the high and low points to check out-of-round. Beer of the day is Uinta Brewing Company's Sum'r Ale. Background music was Johnny Winter Lone Star Shootout.
That's a lot, or are you off a decimal point? Here's a discussion on Speedtalk. 'GoFast' Gary (post #9) used to post here, seems to know Nailheads well. It's a good read, and I just scanned page 1 out of the 14 pages! 0.002" is mentioned as a reasonable limit, depends on application too. If it's just bent a little it can be straightened. https://www.speed-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25136 I'm enjoying your thread, great to see the daily updates.
Agreed. I will be revisiting those measurements soon. I've read the 0.002" as well as 0.006" for big block chevys (back in the day). If the numbers are too sketchy, I'll bite the bullet and start making local machine shop inquiries. As much as I want it, completing this build without any machining may be a bridge too far.
“Like a bridge over troubled waters?” I just had to say that Larry. I enjoy reading your thread every day. Keep going forward sir!
Yeah, Gary is/was a great guy to know/converse with & talk too. He did the "Nail" in Buddys Henry J that still runs & has held togehter ALL these years. A wealth of info/experience that ALL could learn from. Unfortnately he has recently passed. RIP Tom T.
Tom, I gave you a like for sharing some news with us. So sorry to hear anyone pass. Sure makes you think about how valuable life is.
With this log entry, we are up to date. Future log entries will be posted on the day I write them up, typically one or two a week. August 26th 2021 Hot August nights sapping my energy in the shop. It's a broiler, even at midnight. I slacked off for a couple of days but then got back to it before I lost my momentum. Finished the nailhead crank journal polishing with 800 grit, 1000 grit and Blue Magic passes. Cleaned the oil passages with nylon brushes, Oileater and Hoppes number 9 passes. Decided against chamfering for this low RPM shadetree build. Now it's time to measure, measure, measure. Beer of the day was The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Milk Stout. Background music was Jonny Lang Lie to Me.
From the BillyBob Shop log September 7th 2021 I measured, measured, measured the nailhead crankshaft until I was confident of my numbers. Those numbers put me into indecision mode for a bit while I tried to chart my best course of action with the crankshaft. If I come to the conclusion the numbers are too sketchy, I'll bite the bullet and start making local machine shop inquiries or look for another crankshaft. As much as I want it, completing this build without any machining may be a bridge too far. I tend to dither a long time with dilemmas like this in Terra Incognito so, in the meantime, I pulled out the Buick's heads to clean and inspect. Unfortunately, I leaned too far forward setting down the second head and there was a pop in my lower back. Couldn't move for about thirty seconds while the waves of pain rolled through. If I'm real lucky, I will only be crippled for a few days. One thing is for certain. I won't be free lifting the heads any more. Beer of the day was Uinta Brewing Company's Trader IPA. Background music was Bob Dylan Bringing it all Back Home.
Dang Larry, sorry to hear about your back. I did the same thing back in June moving a set of heads. Those suckers are heavy. Hope you have a full recovery soon sir.
Thanx. It's my own damn fault. Nobody to blame 'cept me. Now, the low part of my day is opening the 10'x12' overhead door to get my daily driver in and out of the shop.
Those cylinder heads have gotten heavier in the last 60 year. Sad that I now use an engine hoist to remove and replace. What are the clearances (plasti-gauge)? Mine was slightly out of tolerances and is still quiet with good oil pressure after 130,000 miles.
I used my engine hoist yesterday to lower the crankshaft into the engine block to check run out again. the only irritant is that the hoist control is five feet away from the work so there's a lot of back and forth to lower anything precisely. I haven't used the plasti-gauge yet but will at some point.
Thanx. I've lost about eighty percent of my wrenching strength so my 24" breaker bar has become my new best friend. The low part of my day has become lifting the 10x12 roll up door to my shop to get my '17 Caddy two-door, three-pedal ATS-V fast mover daily driver in and out. I've pretty much decided on new bearings but won't be ordering until I'm sure of the journal measurements.
From the BillyBob Shop log September 13th 2021 Summer isn't finished with us yet. It was a scorched earth weekend here in South Florida. Made the decision to clean and inspect both heads together to save some time. Applied Kroil penetrating oil to the spark plugs, valve cover studs, plug wire cover studs and the valve stems. At minimum, one of the exhaust valves is stuck. Made short work of getting the studs out except for two of the spark plug wiring cover studs, One loosened up enough for the stud extractor after heating with MAP torch and quenching with Kroil penetrating oil. When I popped my back I lost about eighty percent of my wrenching strength and, as a result, my 24" breaker bar has become my new best friend. Unfortunately, it's use twisted the other stuck stud off. Oh well, we'll circle back to that later. Started the first cleaning pass of the combustion chambers with a brass wire wheel in an electric die grinder. Beer of the day was The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Hoppy Bunny American Black Ale. Background music was Link Wray Be What You Want To.
