Chuck’s engine build thread!

[ChuckN]

In the meantime, required reading…

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[Grit dog]

Called around and found one of my buddies that has an engine stand and cherry picker and is dropping it off on Monday. I stopped at the hardware store and bought some 3/8 grade 8 bolts for the engine stand, and an engine pulling plate for the intake manifold. So I guess I’ll have to put the head back on, and then reinstall the intake manifold. No big deal. I just put the bolts back in the head, and leave it partially snugged. The old head gasket is still there, not scraped off yet.

That means tomorrow, I’ll need to pull the bell housing bolts, the starter, and disconnect the fuel lines. As well as the header. Then the last thing would be the motor mounts.

Man, I wouldn’t reassemble. Throw a couple head bolts in the block thru the ends of a length of chain and getter.
Assuming you’re not pulling with the trans attached.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Man, I wouldn’t reassemble. Throw a couple head bolts in the block thru the ends of a length of chain and getter.
Assuming you’re not pulling with the trans attached.

It's already out, disassembled and at the machinist

 

[ChuckN]

Man, I wouldn’t reassemble. Throw a couple head bolts in the block thru the ends of a length of chain and getter.
Assuming you’re not pulling with the trans attached.

Nope, didn’t reassemble. Upon many suggestions, that’s exactly what I did.

 

[Grit dog]

It's already out, disassembled and at the machinist

Oops sorry

 

[ChuckN]

Oops sorry

Haha, no worries. Can you imagine if we actually went back and read the entirety of every thread? You’d never leave the house!

I’m gonna leave the machinist alone for a bit. Today begins the engine bay cleaning. I see original number markings on the firewall and the core support. Going to clean around them and make sure they stay there.

 

[82SquareBurb]

Nice to see another spicy small block build! Doing an EFI/Turbo rebuild/refresh on my 82 with a 4L80E trans.

 

[hoagster]

Ha ha ha, why do they call them "mini" vans anyway? They aren't mini by any stretch.
Behold the multi purpose vehicle. Covered transport in my mind. This was back when mama's hardbody had a defective transmission

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I call them family funster's.

 

[hoagster]

I used Super Clean on mine, it worked very well. Didn't even use a pressure washer, just the hose/super clean and various wire brushes till I was happy with it. Then let it dry, gave it a quicky wipe down with some laquer thinner on a rag and then used VHT Chassis Black on the rails and crossmembers

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I have found that Dawn Power Wash works awesome.

 

[ChuckN]

Sold the Halibrands this morning to fund the project. Sad to see them go but they went to the right feller.

I keep trying to go the the garage to clean the engine bay and I do for a few minutes at a time, but it’s like an icebox out there with the cold snap- hard to keep the hands warm working with liquids.

 

[ChuckN]

Today I cleaned the garage and deluged myself with antifreeze while moving the radiator. Apparently they hide more in there after you thought it was empty.

I stopped by the machine shop- the other guy will be back on Monday. He said after that, things should get back to normal pretty quickly. We went through what he does and what I will need to do when I get the block back. But before I take it home, he wants the rotating assembly so he can make sure everything is up to snuff. I left pretty happy and am excited about my shop choice.

While I was out, I took the old cam to a metal recycler and found that the numbers were actually stamped at the front of the cam under the sprocket- I didn’t bother looking there previously because was always told it was on the back of the cam. Turns out it was a 12-671-4 comp cam, muscle nostalgia. It is allegedly an updated L79 cam with a little more lift and a lot more exhaust duration, on a 112 degree lobe separation.

 

[ChuckN]

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This engine bay cleaning project has me seriously reconsidering how far I want to go. 1/4 inch thick grease everywhere. I used to say that 70 year old grease on our old ‘54 was nothing to trifle with. 45 year old grease isn’t much better.

Might just spritz it with black the best I can and later on take it to a place where I can power wash it after it is running. What a nightmare.

 

[Rustisbest]

Just a quick rinse or wipe down and it looks ready for paint from my house lol. If you havent bought any yet, the Rustoleum 2x satin canyon black spray paint is my go to for anything black

 

[ChuckN]

Just a quick rinse or wipe down and it looks ready for paint from my house lol. If you havent bought any yet, the Rustoleum 2x satin canyon black spray paint is my go to for anything black

That’s what I’m thinking. It’s too easy to get into the weeds with all the nooks and crannies.

I’m definitely going to get some more sludge off the bottom crossmember before I do a final wipe down and then call it good. My expectations and reality weren’t really aligned, lol.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Engine is out. Have adulting to do for the rest of the day, but I’m very thankful for a fellow human being that stopped over to help. Much easier to remove the hood and pull the engine having extra hands and eyes. Wednesday I’ll pull it apart and probably have the bare block to the shop on Thursday.

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stupid adulting!
grr
i thought u were building an engine, what ever happened to that plan?