POWER

The Engine is pretty well assembled, and the tranny is attached. Boy is that thing heavy. Putting all that in place in one piece is going to be a challenge.

Tranny's Done

Got the Cast Iron Powerglide back from the overhaul shop. No problems were found. The overhaul was preventative in nature. Can't wait to get it in, but we have a lot of work to do first.

Engine Block Boring

The cylinder bores checked out to be 0.010 worn, not real cylindrical, with a bit of houglass taper. Into the boring machine she goes. It will take 0.040 oversize to get clean and true bore holes. Not bad, as this is a standard size piston. The engine should be ready for reassembly next week. The last 3 photos are videos. Click on the arrow.

CAST IRON POWERGLIDE

The damm thing weighs a ton. It takes a crane to get it in the van or on the bench. And to think, Doug and I pulled this thing out with the engine attached. We got it cleaned up and off to the rebuild shop. Below are the photos of the initial disassembly. All the hardware looks good. I got the overhaul kit in todays mail, so next week some time, we should get it back.

Engine tear down

As much as we were trying to avoid rebuilding the bottom end of the engine, once it was out and up in my shop, there was no turning back. I pulled off the flywheel and housing and mounted it on my stand. I stripped off the harmonic balancer, timing gears, and removed the cam. I reamed the ridge off the top of the cylinders and pulled all the pistons. Then out came the crank. The cam looks OK, but we will probably replace it anyway. There are signs of wear and some pits, besides we already have the new lifters. I found broken top compression rings in the #2, 3, & 7 holes but no damage. Cylinders and pistons look pretty good. All the bearings looked real nice, as do the journals. I got everything cleaned up and brought it up to the machine shop for measurement and assessment. I am hopeful that we can hone the cylinders, throw in a new set of rings and bearings and get away cheap. I don't want to bore it out unless I have to, as that would mean all new pistons. We'll make the decision by the numbers. Should know more in a few days.

Engine comes out

After much consternation, Doug and I decided that it would be best to yank out the engine and tranny. Cleaning the engine compartment will be much easier and I can do a much better rebuild on the engine when I have it out and on a stand. So Fathers Day, Out it came.

I picked up a good crane off Craig's list, set it up and we had the whole thing out in pretty short order. That assembly is HUGE!

We split the tranny off the engine and loaded it all up for a trip up to the Spa.

The sum of the parts

After removing the heads, and disassembling them we found the valve stems to be pretty worn and the exhaust valve seats to be pitted. After a good cleaning, I took them to Reeds machine shop and had new hardened exhaust valve seats installed. Also had the exhaust valve guides knurled. We replaced all the valves and had a complete valve grind done. It took about .008" of a skim cut on the main face to get it flat and clean. A new set of lifters was only $40 bucks so we gave up on re-useing the old ones. Reeds also talked me into replacing the oil pump. Cheap insurance. The heads are preserved and painted, in my shop loft waiting for installation day.

There is a lot of stuff in my loft! The manifolds, the heads, the valve covers, the oil pan, the starter, the generator, the water pump, the fuel pump and the heater fan have all been cleaned, checked out and painted.

We dropped the drive shaft last weekend and changed the oil in the rear end. We were very happy to find clean oil at the right level when we pulled the plugs. The shaft and yoke came up to the spa where the U-joints have been pressed out, and everything cleaned and painted. Once I press in new U-joints they too will live in the loft for a while.

I removed the wiring harness from under the hood. Once I separated out all the crap that had been cobbled in over the years, the harness doesn't look too bad. I've got the voltage regulator, the horns, the horn relay, and the start/run resister out as well. These too will get the spa treatment, as will the battery box, the winshild wiper motor, and a host of other small parts, brackets, and gizmos.