[TPR] Asa's Engine rebuild update

Tue Jul 24 21:33:06 PDT 2012

Okay pussy you did it!!!
Well.done....you DA MAN for a day ;-)

Asa Jay Laughton <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:

>No Rod Bearings again today...
>
>... so I pulled the radiator.
>
>Did I mention I really HATE pulling the radiator?
>I HATE pulling the radiator.
>
>- Drained as much as I could from the radiator.
>- Drained as much as I could from the undercar pipes. (I HATE this part 
>but it's better than dribbling another gallon of coolant on the floor 
>when unhooking the pipes at the radiator)
>- Then as I went to take the hold-down bolts out... and was looking at 
>the concoction I put together to lean it forward, began to HATE the job 
>even more.
>- I couldn't for the life of me remember how I even got the silly thing 
>IN.  (note to self... re-make the lean-forward brackets... LONGER).
>
>So I get the thing unbolted and finally lifted out after about two and 
>half hours.  Did I mention I HATE this job?
>
>Whoa!  Geez the assembly of this radiator is sooo much better than the 
>two pieces of crap I got from Summit.  And this is after 10 years of 
>abuse in my car.  The cooling fins go all the way, tank-to-tank.  And 
>the overwhelming majority of them are still straight, except where 
>larger bugs and gravel have taken a toll.  And the pipe fittings?  Holy 
>Cats!  They look -bigger- and go straight through... no restrictions.  
>It's beautiful.
>
>Now to figure out if it's really leaking.  After fighting as long as I 
>did to get it out... I'm taking the rest of the night off (yes... I'm a 
>pussy).  I'll rinse it out tomorrow, soap down the outside, put some 
>pressure to it and look for bubbles.  Better to do that in the brighter 
>sunlight -anyway-.
>
>Note, you may recall I took an off-course excursion last year and banged 
>up my front valence pretty good.  Boy did I.  It appears I also bent the 
>drivers side radiator mount.  This doesn't look real pretty.  I'm going 
>to have to get in there and do some percussive engineering on it and the 
>valence.  Too bad the lower grill is welded in, I could really use the 
>access. <sigh>  just another -thing- I need to do before putting it all 
>back together.
>
>I hope the bearings get here tomorrow.
>I really hate pulling this radiator.
>
>Asa Jay
>
>
>Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
>&  Shelley Marie
>Spokane, WA
>******************************
>http://www.racingagainstautism.com
>http://www.teampanteraracing.com
>http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>
>
>On 7/23/2012 9:30 PM, Asa Jay Laughton wrote:
>> Rod bearings didn't arrive today, so the engine stayed in the protective
>> plastic bag cocoon.  Instead, I evaluated the oil pump and distributor.
>>
>> The oil pump is a high volume from Ford Racing.  What makes a high
>> volume oil pump you ask?  Good question.  I took this one apart to check
>> the gears and wondered that myself since it looked  identical to the one
>> I took out of the engine.  Well, once I got the original pump next to
>> the new one, it became obvious.
>>
>> A high volume oil pump, in this case, has a taller set of gears.  As in,
>> a half inch taller.  Therefore it moves more oil in any given rotation.
>> That was in interesting tidbit.  I'll take photos and post them later.
>>
>> I began taking apart my Duraspark Distributor that was on the Mach I
>> engine.  Since it has a steel distributor gear compatible with the steel
>> roller camshaft, I was trying to figure out which way to get it into the
>> Pantera.  I had thought I'd just change out the top end, pull the
>> Duraspark pickup out, remove the top shaft and replace with the parts
>> from the Pantera distributor.
>>
>> Can't do that though, the housing is slightly different.  Oh well. Here
>> are my three options:
>> - Pull the steel gear from the Mach I distributor, put on the Pantera
>> distributor.
>> - Buy another new steel gear and put it on the Pantera distributor.
>> - Install Duraspark II in the Pantera.
>>
>> Least cost at this point is to simply swap the gear from one dizzy to
>> the other and that's probably what I'll do.  Next best option is to
>> install Duraspark II in the Pantera, which will cost a little for the
>> module and wiring harness.  Buying another steel gear would probably
>> cost about the same as the Duraspark conversion.  I can wait on this one
>> a little while, no rush.
>>
>> Tomorrow night, if the rod bearings don't show up, the radiator is
>> coming out.  I'm caught up on all other activities in the garage... time
>> to stop procrastinating on the radiator pull.
>>
>> Simple questions:
>> - The oil pan has an extra bung at the front.  Good spot for an oil temp
>> sender?  What are the recommendations for a temp sender/gauge assembly
>> for oil temp?
>> - What is the preferred aftermarket oil pressure gauge?  I'm thinking of
>> mounting it in the engine compartment facing the rear view mirror.
>> Which is better, wired or pressure tubing?  If wired, then I can run it
>> into the cabin... but I have one of those already.
>>
>> Just looking for answers,
>> Asa Jay
>>
>> Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
>> &   Shelley Marie
>> Spokane, WA
>> ******************************
>> http://www.racingagainstautism.com
>> http://www.teampanteraracing.com
>> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TPR mailing list
>> TPR at teampanteraracing.com
>> http://lists.teampanteraracing.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tpr
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 10.0.1424 / Virus Database: 2437/5150 - Release Date: 07/23/12
>>
>>
>_______________________________________________
>TPR mailing list
>TPR at teampanteraracing.com
>http://lists.teampanteraracing.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tpr