Soaking Wet Noob here in So. Cal with tons of 401 nailhead Q's

I'll start a new thread with the title for a meet-up. This tacked on the bottom took me about ten minutes to find.

 

take a real , real, hard look at the nose of the crank and make sure that the bad balancer did not damage it.... if it did you will have to repair the crank before building the engine....
like stated , the MINIMUM tork is 200# and the max is 400#.... so you will not over tork it, with out a 5 foot cheater bar and a couple of buddies to help you....:laugh::laugh:
Which reminds me... Many years ago,, right after time began,,,:laugh: i had a friend that called me and said he could not get the balancer off of his chebby engine.... I went over and checked it out... some idiot had welded it on....:laugh::laugh: correction; some idjet had welded it on,,, he was beyond the idiot stage....

 

Got my engine home last night. Builder did have to do a bit of machining on the crank snout but not much he said. He called it knurling? Which I thought was something done on handles & such.

Anyhow, here she is

 

Knurling is a standard repair that will increase the outside diameter of the crank snout. In this case, the balancer pulley was probably a little loose. I hope he miked the inside of the balancer and the OD of the crank to make sure which one needed the work.

 

your gonna get a lot of oooo's and ahhhh's with that engine.... and enjoy using it too... looks really good....no engine looks as unique and good as a spiffed up nailhead.....:Brow::Brow::3gears::3gears:

 

...and yes, that sure is purdy!

 

Very Nice!!:TU:

 

Nice lookin Engine Dad! :TU:

 

Thank you gentlemen. I couldn't have done it without you guys. Still have questions.

1) How bad is 60 over on these blocks? I apparently had some bad scoring & water damage that wouldn't clean up at 30 over?

2) I am gonna be running a Carter Carb with an polished finned alum Mooneyes air filter. Will I have issues with the hood hitting?

3) I would like to use exhaust manifold bolts that match the polished stainless bolts I am using throughout. Is that realistic? Or will they lose their luster & change color with the heat?

Thank again

 

.060 is thin for a nailhead.... if you have one or two thin cyls. put a sleeve in there .... and bore back to the same size as all the others.....
a carter afb with a cast aluminum air cleaner probably will clear.... a holly carb is shorter.... and I think that a qjet is taller....
Stainless bolts are not as strong as a regular grade 8 bolt.... they can shear off.... just use a tork wrench when you tighten them up..... and anti seize compound when installing them....

 

Hello Doc,
I need your advice (and any one else's). Apparently, my machinist bored all 8 cylinders .060 over. He claims he wanted to sleeved it only if I had 3 bad cylinders max. Unfortunately, I had more. So that's that. When I stressed my concerns of possible overheating issues he stated that I shouldn't have any problems if my cooling system is in good order.

Now I am on the hunt for some Grade 8 exhaust manifold bolts. I have ditched the stainless steel idea and found issues with finding the correct lengths. I need two different length 3/8" bolts right? The driver side rear exhaust mani uses two 3 1/4" bolts and all the rest are 1 1/8". I went to 3 different hardware locations for the bolts and the closest I found was 1" & 3". How critical do I new to be on the correct lengths of these? I also want to use French Locks for added security and for the detailed look. Some bolts I saw today had flanged heads which wouldn't allow for French Locks if I bought those right? If I go with French Locks do they naturally offset themselves on the two driver side exhaust ports which have the two different height castings?

Thx in advance, any help is appreciated.

 

David,,, the 3''bolts should work....treat the threads with anti-seize compound....and dont over tighten them... use your tork wrench.... and ,,,, I always throw the locks away,,, they skin your knuckles when you are working on other stuff....never had a bolt come loose... dont use gaskets on exhaust manifolds and port match them to the heads and the heads to the manifolds before you put them back on... that is all a exhaust manifold gasket is good for... a template to port match with....:Brow: and,,, when you are tightening up the manifolds, start in the middle first and then work to both ends....:idea2:
Anyway,, what does it matter what the machinist wants??? you are paying him to do what you want,,,, it aint his engine, it is yours.... and your money.... i have had my share of battles with people who wanted to tell me what to do with my stuff.... the more cyls he sleeves the more money he makes... he should be happy with that, and you will be happy getting the engine you want....
mutter, mutter,, grumble,,, grouch.....grrrrrrr......

 

I know it’s been a long time since I started this thread. But here I am to share my “Woes”.

Talk about “learning the hard way”. I have had a handful of issues come up with my Nailhead. All due to having my Nailhead rebuilt by someone other than a Nailhead Guru ‍♂️

 

Let us share in your woes... It sure is perdy!

 

Thank u

Problem #1:
When we first fired the engine during the break-in we seized a valve in the head causing a bent push rod (upper left corner)

I totally think the shop used too tight of valve guides. But he never admitted it. I printed up ALL of Russ Martin’s stuff & the shop owner claimed he even called to talk to Russ.

 

Problem #2:
The look of unpainted freeze plugs gave my engine cool details. Brass freeze plugs in the block & steel plugs in the heads looked awesome!

Wait…what’s that? Is that rust forming on the rear plug? Yup! At the 700 mile mark I sprung a leak

I am NOT a mechanic. But I’m a GREAT parts changer haha. So I was able to change them. But I sure gave myself a scare. I read articles & watch vid’s on how to change them. As I tapped the edge of the plug to spin/rotate it it FELL inside . I damn near had a heart attack haha. When I calmed down & greased my elbows I was able to fish it out. My bad luck, ALL four plugs fell in as I tried to get them to spin/rotate.

 

Problem #3:
I’m guessing it’s related to the previous problem? But I can see rust inside my block. Someone said the shop probably didn’t clean it well enough when the block was “hot tanked?”

Not sure if u can see the brown tint in the coolant when I drained it.

I recently tried a radiator flush. Hope that helps

 

Problem #4:
I was getting motor oil seeping from the front main seal. I couldn’t figure it out. With a new engine why was it leaking?

I don’t know how u guys keep your polished stuff looking so nice. My polished timing chain cover & water pump were super hard to keep nice. I wanted it painted after all.

When I had a mishap with my radiator & needed to replace it I decided to pull the polished pump & cover off to paint it. I found that the shop used the old rope type seal. No biggy right? Well he decided NOT to install the oil slinger. That is why it was leaking…UGH!!

Thx for all the help I got in another thread on how to install that.

My OCD kicked in & I decided to spruce up the paint on the block while it was apart. Here is a before & after shot of polished vs painted stuff. I like that u can see the polished heads on the mounting hardware

 

EvapoRust makes a product (Thermocure) for chelating the inside of the block on an operating engine.

https://www.evapo-rust.com/thermocure


You first need to flush several times to ensure all the coolant is removed as the coolant will diminish the effect of the EvapoRust.

Then you add it, drive it around a few days, drain, flush and add new coolant.

The other thing is to run an inline filter near the intake to the top of the radiator, but you must keep an eye on it and clean the filter several times within a 20-30 minutes of run time in the driveway, and keep a close eye when first driving as a lot of crap will clog the screen/filter very quickly and you want to avoid an overheat condition.

I use the AeroFlow because I like the appearance, ease of cleaning the screen, and it also helps in getting all the air out when adding coolant and I can run it without the screen if I want.

https://www.aeroflowperformance.com...ccessories/radiator-fillers-filters/af64-2043

I am able vent the cap and pull the screen with a pair of needle nose pliers and put the screen back in place.

If the block was not tanked correctly, there is a lot of rust/scale that can break loose and plug radiator tubes.

 

Problem #5:
I’ve been getting a moderate puff of smoke on about 50% of my start-ups. Usually only when engine had already been ran & warm will I see it. But only at start ups. Guys have told me this might go away. It’s still there…

Problem #6:
Rear main seal is leaking now. It’s a slow leak. I get a small drop of oil on my garage floor. It sucks!!

I might drive over to that shop. I just wanna talk to the guy & fill him in on the shoddy work they did. I think I would feel better getting off my chest. But guys say to forget about that shop & move on