Project Alf's Ageing Autos

[danthecapriman]

Weird?!

I've had similar things with my old stuff though. Ran fine when I put it away last time, come back to use it again and something like that's happened. This inspite of not touching anything!

 

At least you've got it sorted now though.

[Guest Hooli]

I had a XR4i that did that occasionally. Some bits of plastic had broke & didn't retain the bob weights in the dizzy. Now & then it all jammed up & spun round as the key was turned.

[alf892]

This turned up this morning.............

 

 

Seller was great.....drained it and strapped it on a pallet. It came out of a truck that was having a V8 fitted.

 

I located it late last year but one thing or another delayed it......not helped by me being a bit cba about it.

 

I had it picked up by a pallet network....it was ready for drop of next day but I wasn't. I've now had it dropped at work but it was only £35.

 

All I've got to do now is unbolt all the front panels on the truck.........

[alf892]

I've known that I need to get on with this for a while...........so I gave myself a good talking to.

 

Last weekend I removed the grille. Took me all day to do this and look at how the wings would come off. Also spent quite a bit of time running die nuts down the exposed threads of any fixings. These are bloody useful little things - they are basically a die but are normal spanner size. Anything helps to avoid breaking off those boxed nuts. I'd like to get some for metric threads but not sure of the proper name.

 

This made wing removal quite easy - although bloody awkward to handle as there are bulky.

 

And I had to cut the loom - this will get joined with modern connectors.

 

The wings bolt to the rad frame which in turn bolts to the front crossmember with two bolts. These had been loose and were nearly worn in half.

 

Then I realised the gearbox would need to come out first as it sits behind the crossmember and there is not enough room under the bulkhead to lift it high enough. That was a bugger as the brake and clutch pedals hang off it......as does the handbrake. Also the first part of the propshaft is enclosed.

 

Eventually all was undone and it lift out OK - having a sloping drive does not help on the way out though!

 

So now I've got loads of bits to swap over and a couple of things to overcome...... I think the ring gear is buggered.....and I know the water pump wont fit as it is too long - I think this can be bodgineered. You can buy ones to fit in the USA but by the time it gets here it would be £300.

[danthecapriman]

Excellent work.

The access on these old trucks is brilliant once the wings, I mean fenders are removed. Loads of space to work.

 

What was your 'new' 6 pot out of originally? Presumably it's a later variant of engine than your current one?

[alf892]

yes..........loads of room. But it makes it look like it will never run again.

 

I went for the 6 again because I don't need to go any faster but would like to run for longer. The old 216 was splash lube and ran fine..........I would have left it if it wasn't for the water going into the oil.

 

The 235 I'm fitting is the same external dimensions and you use the 216 bellhousing, flywheel and clutch. The main advantage is that it has pressure fed big ends and service bits like plugs and points are easier to get. And you can add an oil filter fairly easily.

 

I want it back on the road for May bank holiday weekend but we will have to see how that goes. I'm pretty sure it needs a ring gear and starter bendix and they will have to come from US.

 

Will the panels are off I want to weld up a few little cracks and put some paint on the panel joint faces as that is where rot can quietly take hold

[danthecapriman]

Nothing wrong with the yank 6's! Everyone wants a V8 so these are often binned for no other reason than that. I'd gladly have a yank with a 6 anyway, just makes it more useable, especially in this country.

I was watching gas monkey garage the other day and they pulled a similar straight 6 out of a pickup and fitted a V8, the 6 was fine and the truck was perfectly good with its original engine but they just threw it straight into the scrap skip. Seemed a complete waste to me.

[alf892]

I've got updates to write up on the truck.....but now it is assembled it is time to bring my baby home.....

 

OMG barn find. Well I knew it was there........but don't they all.

 

I dropped it off last November with every intention of visiting a few times through winter but my brother in law died the next day so I never had the time...so covers off..

Because it had been a while I took my jump box and some tools.......but I hopped in and it fired straight up so I set off for home.....about 30 miles.

 

Stopped for a quick photo

 

 

Made it home fine although it does have a water leak from a hose which I'll have to do before using it.

[alf892]

Catch up time. This is from the weekend before Easter

 

I ordered a new ring gear as it was buggered. In the meantime I did some odd jobs to get it ready to go back together.

 

To fit in the behind the rad the water pump needs to be shorter. This is achieved by buying a new (expensive) water pump and matching pulley. Or you can modify yourself by cutting down the pump shaft and pulley.

So this:

 

Becomes this:

 

Then the pump boss needs pressing down the shaft. It has to go a long way……….

 

But it is bloody tight

 

Then a few odd bits welding up cracks.

and a piece was missing from the wing where the grill fits

So piece welded in

I gave all the edges a coat of owatrol oil and left it to dry.

[alf892]

Its now Good Friday and the plan is to get it finished this weekend. Plenty of odds and ends to get done though.

First thing was to fit the water pump to the block………… fan would not fit as it is riveted together and the rivets hit the new pulley.

 

I ground the rivets out and tack welded it together. Bingo.

Then I found the fan blades now hit the bottom pulley. To overcome this I spaced out the fan with a couple of washers and adjusted the pitch of the blades a bit.

 

The alternator bracket was a right twat and I spent most of the time angry so no photos!

 

Then reassembled the bellhousing and clutch. Lining up the clutch was done by taking the input shaft out of the gearbox.

Pretty much ready to go in at this point…….

 

End of Friday and going OK

I gave the gearbox a good swill out and refitted the input shaft.

 

Refitting the selectors is quite fiddly so I opted to fit them with the box on the bench.

 

Saturday the engine was then dropped into the chassis

and I started to connect things back up while waiting for my daughter’s boyfriend to give me a lift in with the box.

Once that was done I refitted the prop, brake and clutch pedals and the cab floor.

 

Sunday was a day off because apparently you can’t spend the whole bank holiday weekend doing enjoyable stuff. Monday was planned for starting up and fitting the wings…………

[alf892]

Bank Holiday Monday morning and all I have to do is fit the panels and fire it up.

 

A mate came around to help with the panels - they are not heavy but awkward to hold and bolt on.

 

First we had a go at firing it up......it took a bit of spinning over but fired but and away she went. But there was a lot a squealing and a smell of burning.

 

When I fitted the rad I hadn't rechecked the fan. It hit the bottom pulley so the smell of burning was the fan belt getting fried as it ran with a jammed water pump.

 

Much head scratching later I decided to drop the rad in the shell a bit.....it still caught but not by much so I trimmed about 10mm off the fan blades.

 

It now ran but had a knock......crank speed.

 

I let it ran for a bit while I listened.........and traced the knock to the sump. So sump removed and found this......

 

 

There was a dent in the sump so no2 big end was just touching the sump.....very slightly but it gave a good knock!

 

Anyway nice to see it was pretty clean inside

 

I bashed the sump out and refitted the sump and all OK so we got on with fitting the panels back on.

 

After this I let it run warm and found the poxy water pump was a bit noisey. I didn't quite reach the target of getting completed but just the grilles to refit, quick grease up and adjust the tappets. And fit a new water pump. I really want it running for May Bank holiday as there is quite a nice show locally.....

[somewhatfoolish]

Last weekend I removed the grille. Took me all day to do this and look at how the wings would come off. Also spent quite a bit of time running die nuts down the exposed threads of any fixings. These are bloody useful little things - they are basically a die but are normal spanner size. Anything helps to avoid breaking off those boxed nuts. I'd like to get some for metric threads but not sure of the proper name.

You've got the sunday name there, they're called die nuts.

[alf892]

I had a bit of luck with a waterpump in that a local place had one in stock. It was the standard type so I had to cut the shaft down again....

 

It was a bugger to fit because the fan is pretty close to the rad........and I had spaced out the fan from the pulley with two washers so it proved impossible to line up the pulley and fan with the pump flange while holding two washers in the middle. In the end I made some studs and put those in the pump boss first - it made it very tight to get the pulley on but at least I could now get it assembled.

 

I took a break at this point as it was such a nice day and went to pick up the Rover which had been in storage all winter. This surprised me by starting on it's own battery and made it home with only a small hole in a hose to fix at some point.

 

So on Sunday the last job on the Chevy was the tappets...one was a bit noisey. On taking the rocker cover off I could see one pushrod was buggered...broken around the top. Also the locknut was loose and when I took it out I could see the ball itself had worn down to a nipple.

 

Quite a few of the others were a bit tight...

 

I had already given the old engine away and the bloke I gave it to was away so I had to wait till Monday to get a pushrod and adjuster from my old engine.

 

Came home and fitted that......new push rod is about 1/8" shorter but all good. I put a strobe on it to check the timing.....which was close enough and just tweaked the carb to get a nice slow tickover.

 

Last night my mate popped round to join the wiring back up......I had to cut it to get the wings off (lack of planning!)

 

Now all finished and ready for the weekend.

[stripped fred]

Good work. Enjoying reading this. Keep the updates coming!

[danthecapriman]

Great stuff. Good to see it all built back up again now too, just in time for bank holiday weekend.

 

What's happening to the original engine? Is it for parts/scrap or rebuild?

[BorniteIdentity]

This is the absolute darling of AS for me.  My son will explode when he sees it!

[alf892]

Great stuff. Good to see it all built back up again now too, just in time for bank holiday weekend.

What's happening to the original engine? Is it for parts/scrap or rebuild?

I gave it to a fella that has some big military truck for spares......it did run really well......just the block was buggered!

[Skizzer]

Brilliant. I love this truck, and there is proper engineering going on here. Love it!