March 15th 2021 Finished the first pass with SCT and angle grinder tools. Went on to deal with the pesky oil galley plugs that are giving me conniption fits. Concentrated on the one threaded pipe plug first. I got a 5/16" pipe plug socket last week and was able to break the plug loose with a 24" breaker bar after heating up the plug with the MAP torch and quenching with penetrating oil. Several of the press in plugs were drilled with a small hole and pulled out with a self-tapping bolt and claw hammer. The press in plugs at the opposite ends of the galleys were tapped out from behind by placing two steel rods in the galleys and tapping from the opposite end. These rods were from my teenage days for locating the '59 Ford transmission I was changing so often. The last press in plug was a 1" dia plug at the back of the block. Its purpose was to give access to the smaller press in plug at the end of the lifter galley. I pulled and pulled without luck until I realized that I could drive it in and it would fall to the floor. I'm a little slow sometimes. Professional mechanics deal with these plugs on a daily basis and think little of it, but for me, this was an epic struggle. I had to go into Deep Ponder Mode after each failure and there was a lot of that but, it's behind me now. Onward. Background music was Steve Miller Band's Brave New World.
I know the feeling. Sometimes we are like cavemen inventing the wheel. Once we have struggled enough, it becomes obvious how we should have done it in the first place.
March 22nd 2021 Continued the nailhead block cleaning operations. Used a ball hone on a drill motor to refresh the cylinder bores and get the 45 degree cross-hatch. Marvel Mystery Oil provided lubrication. Did a final pass of the machined surfaces with a 320 grit drum in the SCT tool. Cleaned the cylinders, lifter bores and oil passages with nylon bottle brushes, Oileater and Hoppes number 9 passes. Chased all the bolt holes with thread straightener taps after cleaning with telescoping magnet and compressed air passes. The block is now ready for its hot soapy water cleaning. Background music was Eddie Cochran and Friends One minute to one, Vol II.
March 25th 2021 Need to free up the engine hoist by getting the 302 Jimmy to a better storage location than on its side in the middle of the floor. It's current position is a good one for access to the clutch, however, so I decided to try to extract the clutch before moving the engine. I want to find out if the Hays clutch will fit the nailhead flywheel and Trans-Dapt HC-25 Adapter bellhousing. Turned out to be easier than I anticipated. It was out and on the workbench in about fifteen minutes. The Hays 11" Street/Strip pressure plate mounting circle pattern is about 1/4" too big and the flywheel will have to be re-drilled if I use the Hays clutch. It looks like it will work but drilling a flywheel is beyond my experience and I need some Deep Ponder Mode musing on this. Good news is that the Jimmy's ball pivot for the throw-out bearing fork is a direct bolt-in for the Trans-Dapt bellhousing. Beer of the day was Wooden Cask Brewing Company's The Scotchman Scotch Ale.
April 8th 2021 Started setting up a DIY hot tank for the engine cleaning. Cleaned a plastic trash can the landlord's contractor left behind when he absconded with my fourteen foot step ladder. Found a hole in the bottom which was probably the reason he left it. Ordered one off the intarweb. Filled it with water and lowered the nailhead block into it. Placed a submersible spa pump for circulation and a submersible heating element, digital thermometer and a small amount of Dawn dishwashing soap and watched a bit to see that the suds didn't get out of control. Background music was Stone Free, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix.
April 12th 2021 Took almost thirty-five gallons to submerge the block. Had to monitor the operation closely as the heating element would have the water boiling if left alone. No switch or thermostat on it. The pump turned out to be more of an aquarium pump than a spa pump. I kept the heat between 130 and 140 degrees as I did not know how much heat the plastic tub could take. The water moved in a slow circular pattern without suds. When the nailhead was pulled from the dirty soup, it was blown dry with my electric weed blower and an air hose. And then the wheels fell off. The hydraulic ram on the Carroll and Taylor engine hoist malfunctioned and quit working. I settled into Deep Ponder Mode to sort things out with the beer of the day, Florida Beer Company's Sunshine State Amber Lager.
Thanx John. It did. This post was from back in April. I got the engine hoist fixed with a new generic ram that has a slightly longer reach. The hoist is special to me and I didn't just want to replace it. I bought it from my friend, Bill Carroll. This thing is a heavy duty monster and it has a history. Bill was the driver of the Bill Carroll and Roger Taylor Drag Racing Team and they campaigned a 40 Willys gasser in the sixties, winning the Indy Nationals in 1966. They were inducted into the East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2009. This hoist was used during their racing days. I asked him if he wanted to sign the engine hoist for me and he just gave me a "Don't be an asshole" look. When my new landlord forced me to lease more space to stay, I got ambitious and dragged the Carroll-Taylor Racing Team engine hoist out of the corner and put it together, now that I had the room. This thing is heavier than a fire and brimstone preacher on his way to hell. I marveled at the engineering simplicity of it. Held together with gravity latches and two pins with locking toggles. No wrenching or cotter pins required. Two guys can assemble or dismantle this thing in thirty seconds. The hydraulic ram still worked too (at that time).
May 5th 2021 When the engine hoist broke, I sidetracked into a lazy streak for a couple of weeks but I think I'm back on track now. Onward to the nailhead derusting ops. The water was drained and replaced with twenty gallons of Evapo-Rust for the waterjacket derusting. Since I didn't have the quantity needed to completely submerge the block, the operation has to be a two-step dance, front half first, then the rear half of the block, two days in the soup for each. Beer of the day was Bent River Brewing Company's Undercurrent IPA.
Dang Larry... My name is John Carroll. No relationship to Bill Carroll. Bummer!!! I thought I didn’t have any pictures to share with you, but I was wrong. This was the temperature this morning at my house in Virginia. Don’t be jealous as you’re sucking up the awesome Florida humidity.
I have a dehumidifier in my shop, John, and it works well enough that I don't develop heat rash on my forearms in the summer, but I'm still spent by mid-afternoon on the weekends. I do most of my work in the wee hours after mid-night before I head off for my office job during the week.
May 28th 2021Sidetracked again, this time by a nearly immobilizing, nasty, oozing rash that had me feeling sorry for myself most of the time I wasn't at the office. It has pretty much run it's course and now I'm back at it again. Cleaned up after the derusting operations and began preparing the nailhead block for painting. Plugged threaded holes and started masking off machined surfaces for the first stage of painting. My masking Kung Fu is not strong and it's tedjus work. I did use the trick of trimming the masking tape at sharp edges by using a small brass ball-peen hammer to make a cut line in the tape. Beer of the day was Florida Brewing Company's Hurricane Reef IPA.
Be sure to plug the hole (arrow) noted. The factory had a plug that shops remove and don't replace. If not plugged oil will find its way past the pan gasket and give messy leaks.
Many thanx! You are a life saver. As you said, there was not a plug in it when I took the engine apart and I've been scratchin' my head over that hole for months.
June 16th 2021Fellow HAMBer from Sweden, J.Hansen suggested using a file in lieu of the brass hammer to trim the masking tape. Tried it and had moderate success. It's a skill I have to hone some. Masked the rest of the crankcase and turned the block right side up. Used the old throw away juice lifters to mask the lifter bores. That saved some time. The cam bearings, not so much. Fingers are too big to get the masking tape in the confined space. Had to retreat for some deep ponder mode thinking. Brought a paper towel roll tube back to the shop with me from the office. It was a smidgen greater diameter than the cam bearings. I was able to slit it and cut it into rings that masked the cam bearings nicely. Cleaned some creeping flash rust with wire cup in Dremel tool and blew off with electric leaf blower. Gave it a few cycles of PRE Paint Prep dosings followed by more leaf blower blow-offs. Painted as much of the lifter valley with Glyptal red insulating enamel paint as I could reach by brush and finished up what I couldn't reach with spray-bomb. Background music was Dylan and the Dead.
June 18th 2021 Flipped the nailhead block over tango uniform again and painted the cathedral nave crankcase with Glyptal after the PRE Paint Prep treatment and repairing some of the masking dislocated by the first flip. Installed new freeze plugs with Permatex Form-A-Gasket #1. This operation is terra incognita to me and I buggered the first run at it as I'm apt to do. It was a do over but by the time I installed the fourth one, I was feeling semi-pro and a little cocky. Ordered a pair of block drain petcocks. Started the second stage of masking for the nailhead green engine paint from Bill Hirsch. This involves sealing the block interior areas and trimming the masking tape using the gasket set as guide templates. Beer of the day was Bent River Brewing Company's Uncommon Stout Oatmeal Stout with Coffee.
Many of the craft beers are acquired tastes and I'm not a stout guy but, I actually like that one. I could taste the coffee.
June 21st 2021 Got the bottom block masking in place and trimmed, then came across three assortments of paint masking hole plugs I picked up on an impulse buy in the last century. These plugs saved a lot of time masking the numerous holes on the sides and back of the nailhead block. Gave the sides and back of the block the PRE Paint Prep treatment which led to a setback. The old Pontiac blue paint did not like the paint prep and started to flake off. I retired to the deep ponder mode chair. Father's Day background music was a Dean Martin mix CD my Mom made up in my Dad's memory. Slow Boat to China made me think of his time in the CBI during the war.
